New Infrastructure Construction to Push Economic Growth
China is accelerating the construction of new infrastructure, which is expected to create new drivers for economic growth, especially in sectors like new consumption, new manufacturing and new services.
It will accelerate the construction of new infrastructure such as 5G networks, industrial Internet and data centers, a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee said on March 4.
In the industrial era, infrastructure was represented by railways, highways and airports, but in the digital era, digital facilities such as optical cables and mobile communications have become increasingly important.
Liu Duo, President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), said 5G will play a crucial role in digital transformation of many sectors, enhancing innovation and contributing to economic growth and social development.
The accelerated construction of new infrastructure is important for ensuring stable investment and steady and high-quality economic growth, she said.
By 2025, investment in 5G network construction will reach 1.2 trillion yuan ($172.66 billion), which will lead to about 3.5 trillion yuan ($504 billion) of investment in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, the CAICT forecast in an industry report on 5G.
In the next five years, the economic output indirectly driven by 5G businesses in China will hit 24.8 trillion yuan ($3.5 trillion), the report said.
The new infrastructure construction will cover not only Internet infrastructure, but also computing infrastructure, according to market insiders.
“Cloud is defining everything, and everything is defining cloud,” Liu Song, Vice President of the Alibaba Group, said.
The computing landscape has changed greatly compared with five years ago, he said, adding that hardware is important, but it is also important to strengthen the coordination between machines and improve computing capacity.
Cloud computing has maintained rapid growth, creating conditions for many intelligent applications.
Among the distinct trends that have emerged in the digital era, the online office is gaining strong momentum, as more people have been telecommuting amid the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.
Zhang Qingyuan, chief operating officer of Chinese software company Kingsoft Office, said its WPS Office software had more than 239 million monthly active users as of March 2.
He believes 2020 will be the first year of the online office, an important development for many online office software developers.
New business modes are expected to boom amid the accelerated construction of new infrastructure.
Unmanned delivery is one of them. Catering chain brand Xiaoheng Dumplings, for example, is cooperating with an unmanned vehicle enterprise to pilot unmanned delivery services in Beijing. Li Heng, founder of Xiaoheng Dumplings, believes unmanned delivery is the future of the industry as it is safer and more efficient.
The total value of information consumption brought by 5G commerce will exceed 8.3 trillion yuan ($1.1 trillion) by 2025, according to the CAICT report.
The spillover effect of new infrastructure construction is significant, as it will make new consumption and new manufacturing fresh drivers of development, Wang Zhiqin, Vice President of the CAICT, said.
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