China’s NDA: Fuelling AI Dominance in Digital Era

In the digital era, data has become more valuable than oil, and to ensure that it remains at the vanguard, China has established a new agency. Government officials assert that the National Data Administration (NDA) will advance China’s goals regarding artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

As President Xi Jinping’s newest initiative to digitize government services, construct smart cities, and facilitate data sharing between public and private entities, NDA was initially introduced in March.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s preeminent economic planner, oversees the NDA.

The Cyberspace Administration of China will be relieved of specific duties, according to the South China Morning Post.

Establishing the framework and benchmarks for data exchange will constitute a significant duty. China is a major contributor to global data production, generating 8.1 zettabytes of data in 2022, second only to the United States.

However, this information resides on the servers of tens of thousands of public and private organizations.

It will also be the responsibility of the new agency to expand China’s digital economy. The East Asian nation has emerged as a dominant force in the digital sector, as exemplified by market leaders Tencent, Bytedance, and Alibaba, among others.

The Chinese government estimates that the digital economy is worth 50.2 trillion yuan (approximately $690 billion).

However, the rise of AI is Jinping’s primary motivation for establishing the new agency.

Competition between China and the West to dominate the new technology has increased trade restrictions on commodities and technologies between the two blocs.

By improving how his nation gathers, stores, and distributes data, Jinping will significantly propel China ahead in this competition, given that AI is data-driven.

I believe artificial intelligence is the most direct impetus for establishing the data agency. “In light of China’s determination to advance artificial intelligence, its enormous data sets must be made accessible and pertinent,” stated Zeng Liaoyuan, an ICT professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Liu Liehong is appointed as the leader of the new agency. The IT industry veteran most recently served as chairman of China Unicom, the sixth-largest global mobile provider and state-owned telecommunications behemoth.