National Data Bureau: By the end of 2025, more than 100,000 high-quality datasets will have been established nationwide, roughly equivalent to 310 times the total digital resources of the National Library of China.

On March 24, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the situation regarding the Ninth Digital China Construction Summit.

Liu Liehong, director of the National Data Bureau, stated on-site that as of March this year, the daily average Token usage in our country has exceeded 140 trillion. Compared to 100 billion at the beginning of 2024, this represents an increase of over 1,000 times, and compared to 100 trillion at the end of 2025, it has increased by more than 40% in just three months. The significant increase in daily average Token usage fully indicates that China’s artificial intelligence development has entered a rapid growth phase.

Image source: Daily Economic News reporter Zhou Yifei, on-site photography

As of March this year, our country’s daily average Token usage has increased over 1,000 times compared to 100 billion at the beginning of 2024.

Everyday intelligent assistants, industrial intelligent analysis, and more rely on a massive amount of high-quality data as support. What work has the National Data Bureau done to promote high-quality datasets to empower artificial intelligence development, and what plans are in place moving forward?

Liu Liehong stated that the National Data Bureau attaches great importance to the work of empowering artificial intelligence innovation and development with data elements. In response to the issue of constructing high-quality datasets being “small and scattered,” they have organized the selection of 72 leading units in high-quality dataset construction, 140 pilot work units, and 104 typical cases in collaboration with 26 departments, establishing an ecosystem for high-quality dataset construction that involves leading units driving participation, collaborative breakthroughs, co-construction and sharing, and win-win cooperation, continuously promoting the construction of high-quality datasets.

To promote the development of the data labeling industry, the National Data Bureau has laid out seven cities—Chengdu, Shenyang, Hefei, Changsha, Haikou, Baoding, and Datong—to undertake tasks for pioneering data labeling construction. They issued the “Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Data Labeling Industry,” selected 47 excellent cases in data labeling, and guided the hosting of seven supply-demand matchmaking meetings for data labeling. In the next steps, the National Data Bureau will focus on regions with strong technological innovation, solid development foundations, and excellent industrial characteristics, concentrating on the two directions of “knowledge-intensive” and “technology-driven,” and will progressively establish a batch of innovative experimental zones for the data labeling industry that are technically advanced, distinctive, and efficiently empowering.

Liu Liehong further pointed out that the National Data Bureau will continue to cultivate a market consensus for “paying for high-quality data,” promoting the listing, shelving, and trading of high-quality datasets on data exchanges. They will support data circulation service platforms and data merchants in providing circulation and trading services, encourage various data circulation service organizations to explore diversified models for the circulation and utilization of high-quality datasets, promote the orderly matching of supply and demand for high-quality datasets, and support the flow of high-quality datasets in the industry.

Our country has achieved phased results in the construction of high-quality datasets. By the end of 2025, over 100,000 high-quality datasets will have been established nationwide, with a total volume exceeding 890PB (a unit of computer storage capacity), equivalent to about 310 times the total amount of digital resources in the National Library of China. As of March this year, the daily average Token usage in our country has exceeded 140 trillion, which is over 1,000 times the 100 billion at the beginning of 2024, and has increased by more than 40% in just three months compared to the 100 trillion anticipated by the end of 2025.

“The significant increase in daily average Token usage fully indicates that China’s artificial intelligence development has entered a rapid growth phase, with application scenarios deepening continuously, evolving from being able to converse to being able to make decisions and execute them. The competitiveness of China’s artificial intelligence industry has also significantly strengthened. The current hot topic of Token going overseas is a sign of enhanced industrial competitiveness. From the perspective of data, this also marks a significant increase in the supply of datasets, with the value of data elements continuously being released, and the empowerment of artificial intelligence innovation and development by data elements entering a stage of positive interaction,” Liu Liehong introduced.

Liu Liehong emphasized that moving forward, the National Data Bureau will continue to promote data empowerment for artificial intelligence innovation and development, collaborating with various parties to deeply implement a new round of high-quality dataset construction action plan. This includes six key initiatives: strengthening the foundation and expanding capacity, tackling labeling challenges, improving quality and efficiency, empowering applications, managing services, and releasing value, all driven by scenario demand. They will accelerate the promotion of pioneering pilot work and create AI-Ready (AI readiness) high-quality datasets that are technically feasible, practical, and quality-assured, achieving improvements in both the quantity and quality of high-quality dataset supply.

Promote the issuance of policy documents empowering new industrialization with data elements.

Reporters from the Daily Economic News also noted that recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice to launch the Industrial Data Foundation Action, initiating pioneering work for high-quality industry datasets aimed at empowering artificial intelligence. How will this be further advanced?

Wang Yanqing, director of the Information Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that moving forward, to effectively carry out the pilot work, the Ministry will continue to focus on three areas. First, strengthen support and assurance. They will collaborate with local industry and information technology and data authorities to ensure resource support and guidance for the pilot consortium, promptly address any issues encountered, gather experiences, and accelerate the formation of results that can be promoted.

Second, reinforce policy guidance. They will promote the issuance of policy documents empowering new industrialization with data elements, issue reference guidelines for the application of industrial scenario data elements, and strengthen guidance on development and promotion of models.

Third, foster a favorable ecosystem. They will accelerate the development of industrial data standards, grow data service enterprises such as data consulting, data governance, and data labeling, support the hosting of a series of technical seminars, supply-demand matchmaking meetings, etc., and strengthen and optimize the artificial intelligence open-source community to create a hub of high-quality open-source data resources. Particularly, at the upcoming summit this year, the Ministry will also host a special meeting on empowering new industrialization with data elements, inviting representatives from pilot units to share their experiences. Additionally, they will kick off a competition for empowering new industrialization with data elements in 2026.