{"id":339915,"date":"2025-12-12T07:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339915\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T07:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:06:10","slug":"china-launches-34175-mile-ai-network-that-acts-like-one-massive-supercomputer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339915\/","title":{"rendered":"China Launches 34,175-Mile AI Network That Acts Like One Massive Supercomputer"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, China<\/a> has come up with some impressive technological feats. But as 2025 draws to a close, its latest invention may be the grandest yet: a 1,243-mile-wide computing power pool, essentially allowing the country\u2019s top computing centers to operate as a unified system.<\/p>\n

Last week, state-run Science and Technology Daily reported<\/a> the launch of the Future Network Test Facility (FNTF), a giant distributed AI computing pool capable of connecting distant computing centers. The high-speed optical network spans across 40 cities in China, measuring at about 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometers)\u2014enough to circle the equator 1.5 times, according to the\u00a0South China Morning Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the biggest advantage of the system stems from its efficiency, as it not only connects each computer hub but also achieves 98% of a single center\u2019s efficiency, project director Liu Yunjie told the Daily. This makes the system \u201crevolutionary for scenarios with extremely high real-time demands, such as AI large model training, telemedicine, and the industrial internet,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEast Data, West Computing\u201d <\/p>\n

FNTF is the centerpiece of China\u2019s \u201cEast Data, West Computing\u201d project. First outlined in the country\u2019s sweeping plans<\/a> for major scientific infrastructures in 2013, the \u201cEast-West\u201d project intends to connect resource-rich regions in western China to busier parts of eastern China, where data and AI development demand are highest.<\/p>\n

The new computing hub does just that and runs 24\/7 while supporting 128 diverse networks and simultaneously running 4,096 service trials, the Daily reported. In early tests, Liu\u2019s team transmitted 72 terabytes of data from a radio telescope in under 1.6 hours. On regular internet, the same action would have taken about 699 days to complete, Liu said.<\/p>\n

The hub has also proven effective in AI development, he added.<\/p>\n

A gamble for innovation <\/p>\n

That said, it remains to be seen how well the network will hold up in the long run. The high-speed data transfer system is what\u2019s known as a \u201cdeterministic network,\u201d which treats each data packet like a well-scheduled train running on a fixed timetable.<\/p>\n

While that offers some obvious advantages\u2014as demonstrated by FNTF\u2019s early trial runs\u2014operating such systems, especially at large scales, requires high levels of network stability and energy supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gigantic computer will be the ambitious gamble that could give China the leading edge in AI,\u201d commented The Security Fact<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But China appears confident that things will work out. Wu Hequan, a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Engineering on the evaluation committee for FNTF, told the Daily that already, this facility had supported research in 5G and 6G technologies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the future, this network will be opened to sectors like industrial manufacturing, energy, power, and the low-altitude economy,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year, China has come up with some impressive technological feats. But as 2025 draws to a close,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,95,285,61],"class_list":["post-339915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-china","tag-computing","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}