China's data economy hits 6.78 trillion yuan amid AI boom

China's data industry continued to expand rapidly in 2025, supporting the development of the fast-growing artificial intelligence (AI) sector, according to official data.

Acoording to Xinhua News Agency, the scale of China's data industry reached 6.78 trillion yuan (about 1 trillion US dollars) in 2025, up 15.7 % year on year, showed figures released at the opening of the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo on Friday.

Data-related software products, including AI application software, and data resource products, including token services, had a combined output value of 4.99 trillion yuan, accounting for 73.6 % of the industry's total.

As of this month, more than 126,000 high-quality datasets had been built nationwide, with a total volume exceeding 1,815 petabytes, an increase of more than 89 % from March.

"AI development is heavily driven by data," said Liu Liehong, head of China's National Data Bureau. "Wherever AI advances, we push forward the construction and application of high-quality datasets."

By late July 2026, Guizhou housed 50 key data centres, with 98.4 % of this capacity was dedicated specifically to AI-related computing.

In 2019, China became the world's first country to formally recognise data as a factor of production, followed by the establishment of the National Data Bureau in 2023.

WAM