Global hashrate index ranking: China ranks second, AI hash rate leads the | reading China

In the era of digital economy, computing power has become the core engine of economic growth.

The "2021-2022 Global Computing Power Index Evaluation Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report")," jointly released by IDC, Inspur Information and Tsinghua Institute of Global Industry, shows that the national computing power index and the trend of GDP have shown a significant positive correlation. Judging from the computing power index of the fifteen key countries, the average increase in digital economy size and GDP will increase by 3.5‰ and 1.8‰ respectively, and this trend is expected to continue from 2021 to 2025.

The United States ranks first in the level of hash rate

In the era of digital economy, computing capital can form complementary and synergistic effects with traditional capital, and a country or region's increase in investment in computing power can bring economic growth, and this growth has a long-term nature.

The report shows that the United States and China are in the top two positions in the global hashrate rankings, both in the front-runner position; the catch-up includes Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, South Korea, Australia; India, Italy, Brazil, Russia, South Africa and Malaysia are the starters.

The frontrunners are building on the growth of computing power supply, application market space and infrastructure support to extend the computing power index.com. The report shows that China's computing power level increased the most, reaching 13.5%, becoming the main driving force driving the growth of computing power in the front-runner national camp.

U.S. computing power levels rose 5 percent year-over-year to 77 points. In the context of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the overall macro economy, and the market volume and development level have become more prominent, the SCORE of the United States in some secondary indicators has still achieved significant growth. U.S. hyperscale data centers have further expanded their scale advantages and maintained their position as the world's number one.

In the second place, China, in 2021, the R&D expenditure of enterprises increased by 15.5%, the integration of the digital economy and the real economy accelerated, and the added value of high-tech manufacturing increased by 18.2%. In this context, China's computing power increased by 13.5% year-on-year to 70 points. Most of China's indicators continue the rapid growth of the past few years, among which in terms of computing power, China's AI computing development leads the world, and the scale of AI server expenditure increased by 44.5% year-on-year, surpassing the United States for the first time; in terms of infrastructure support, China's data center scale ranks second in the world, but the energy efficiency level of data centers needs to be improved.

The top three industries in the global hashrate level

AI computing reflects the most cutting-edge computing power of a country, and the level of AI computing development in China has increased rapidly.

Li Donghong, deputy dean of the Global Industry Research Institute of Tsinghua University, told CBN that at the level of computing power, the mainland has a high degree of attention from macro to micro, and the amount of investment and growth are also very fast. "Especially in the field of AI, it is more prominent."

Looking at 15 countries, AI computing power expenditure accounted for 12% of total power expenditure from 9% in 2016, and is expected to reach 25% by 2025, of which China's pulling effect is the most significant, and nearly 60% of the growth of AI computing power expenditure in 15 countries in the past 5 years comes from China.

As an emerging industry, in the past few years, China's AI computing power market has achieved rapid development, and has made great progress in terms of basic theory, computing chip/system, algorithm model/programming framework, industry empowerment solutions, etc., but there is also a disconnect between the underlying technology research and development and actual needs. With the continuous deepening of digital development, the product capabilities of AI computing power, the efficiency of engineering landing, and the actual value generated for customers have become important criteria for judging computing power products.

From the perspective of the industry, the report shows that the top three industries in the global computing power level are the Internet industry, the financial industry, and the manufacturing industry. Overall, the Internet industry is still ahead of other traditional industries in the global computing power level. The total investment and growth rate of the financial industry in computing power and applications represented by artificial intelligence and big data are higher than those in the manufacturing industry, and the ranking in the evaluation of computing power level has risen to second. The top five industries also include industries such as telecommunications.

Li Donghong told First Finance that no matter in which field, it is necessary to avoid overinvestment. "After everyone sees the prospects, capital will pour in and even chase, and local governments will actively introduce industrial planning." In the early stages of development, resources should indeed be encouraged to pool in this area. But on the other hand, it is also necessary to avoid overheating, so as not to bring waste of resources, overcapacity, and blind paving leads to low-level development. ”

The benefits of hyperscale data centers

Data center volume, energy consumption levels, and storage/network infrastructure support guarantee computing power, computing efficiency, and application levels at the macro level. In terms of infrastructure support for national computing power, the report focuses on factors related to the number of data centers, software and services, data center PUE, storage and network infrastructure.

The report shows that the advantages of ultra-large-scale data centers in China and the United States are very prominent, accounting for more than 50% of the total volume in 15 countries. The U.S. still has the largest number of hyperscale data centers, almost four times as large as China. However, driven by the continued rapid development of cloud computing and new infrastructure policies, the number of ultra-large-scale data centers in China has shown a good growth momentum.

The "East Counting West Calculation" project officially launched by the mainland this year has also clarified the construction and layout of future data centers.

The National Development and Reform Commission and other departments recently issued a notice agreeing to start the construction of national computing power hub nodes in 8 places, including Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Chengdu-Chongqing, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Gansu, and Ningxia, and planned 10 national data center clusters. At this point, the national integrated big data center system has completed the overall layout design, and the "East Number West Calculation" project has been officially launched.

"The 'East Counting West' project is to guide from the macro level, so that the national computing power can form a complementary and coordinated development." In addition to the guidance of the government, it is more important to play the role of the market and expand the synergy effect to bring about the rapid development of computing power-related industries. Li Donghong said.

The relevant person in charge of the High Technology Department of the National Development and Reform Commission said in February when introducing the issues related to the "East Number West Calculation" project that in order to resolutely avoid the blind development of data centers, in the current initial stage, 10 data center clusters were planned and set up in 8 computing hubs, delineating physical boundaries, and clarifying development goals such as green energy conservation and shelf rate. For example, the average listing rate of data centers in the cluster should reach at least 65%, and the use rate of renewable energy should be significantly improved.

"The data center industry chain is long, the scale of investment is large, and the driving effect is strong. Through the construction of computing power hubs and data center clusters, it will effectively promote upstream and downstream investment in the industry. Through the layout of computing power facilities from east to west, it will drive the effective transfer of related industries, promote data circulation and value transmission in the east and west, extend the development space in the east, and promote the large-scale development of the western region to form a new pattern. The above-mentioned person in charge said. Cartography/Jiang Haoming