The 7th national supercomputing center in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By Staff Reporters

When the Zhongyuan Computing Valley was recently unveiled in Zhengdong New District, Zhengzhou, Henan province, the city took a crucial step forward in establishing itself as a hub for computing power in central China.

The AI industry has emerged as one of the key industrial chains being forged in Zhengzhou. The city's 2024 government work report explicitly emphasizes the focus on building the "hub of computing power" to speed up the development of Zhengzhou as an AI computing center.

It has now initiated the construction of the national supercomputing Internet core node, AI industry sci-tech parks, and numerical industrial parks. Notable industrial parks like Jinshui Science and Education Park, Baisha Big Data Industrial Park, Kunpeng Software Town, and Tianjianhu Big Data Industrial Park have already been completed.

In addition to expedited infrastructure development, Zhengzhou has issued supportive policies for innovative AI development, aimed to coordinate the supply of smart computing data resources, enhance AI technological innovation, and optimize the ecosystem of the AI industry.

The city encourages enterprises, universities, research institutions, and third-party organizations to jointly establish efficient public computing power services tailored to the needs of the industry.

Furthermore, it has introduced an operating mechanism centered around "computing power vouchers," to facilitate coordinated settlements within computing centers. Efforts are underway to open up public data and industry data to AI enterprises and research institutions in a lawful and compliant manner.

In addition, financial support is given to qualified AI projects and enterprises. For example, a one-time bonus of five million RMB has been set up for AI enterprises that are identified as "unicorns" on international or domestic authoritative lists.

Currently, Zhengzhou has gathered a number of leading AI enterprises, signifying the burgeoning scale of the industry. Statistics reveal that more than 100 AI-related enterprises have been established in Zhengzhou, with 783 companies specialized in blockchain and around 200 engaged in the metaverse field, cultivating a dynamic future industrial ecosystem.

An official from the Zhengzhou Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology said the scale of the AI industry in the city has exceeded 20 billion RMB, and the overall scale of related industries has surpassed 100 billion RMB.