GUIYANG — China has officially kicked off the construction of computing power hubs for an integrated national big data center as the country seeks to tap the value of massive data resources more efficiently, an official with the country's top economic planner said on May 26.

China had earlier released a guideline on the relevant construction in eight key regions including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Guizhou province.

China aims to promote the distribution of big data centers to regions where renewable energy is abundant and climate and geological conditions are favorable, and strengthen network transmission capacity between national hubs, said Shen Zhulin, with the National Development and Reform Commission, at the opening ceremony of the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2021 held in Guizhou.

"China will build a number of big data industrial clusters at national hubs to accelerate the exploration of energy-saving technologies, energy recovery, and renewable energy utilization in big data centers, and promote green and high-quality development," Shen said.

The construction of a national integrated big data center will become a new base for the development of China's digital economy, and national hubs will become new drivers of economic growth, he added.

The status of data as a national strategic resource has become increasingly prominent in recent years, with the average annual growth rate of data increment in China exceeding 30 percent.

The number of data centers in the country has increased from 1.24 million in 2015 to 5 million in 2020, and China has become one of the countries with the most active and optimal environment for big data applications in the world.