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.

Every reporter｜Zhou Yifei Every editor｜Bi Luming

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 by March of this year, the average daily Token usage in our country has exceeded 140 trillion. Compared to the 100 billion at the beginning of 2024, it has increased more than 1,000 times, and compared to the 100 trillion at the end of 2025, it has grown by over 40% in just three months. The significant increase in the average daily Token usage fully indicates that the development of artificial intelligence in China has entered a rapid growth phase.

Image source: Every reporter Zhou Yifei on-site photography

By March of this year, the average daily Token usage in our country has increased more than 1,000 times compared to the 100 billion at the beginning of 2024.

Everyday smart assistants, industrial intelligent analysis, etc., rely on vast amounts of high-quality data as support. What work has the National Data Bureau done to promote high-quality data sets to empower artificial intelligence development, and what arrangements are there for the future?

Liu Liehong stated that the National Data Bureau attaches great importance to the work of empowering artificial intelligence innovation development with data elements. In response to the problem of “small and scattered” high-quality data set construction, it has organized the selection of 72 leading units for high-quality data set construction, 140 pilot work units, and 104 typical cases in collaboration with 26 departments, building an ecosystem for high-quality data set construction characterized by leadership-driven approaches, multi-party participation, joint tackling of challenges, co-construction and sharing, and win-win cooperation, continuously promoting the construction of high-quality data sets.

To promote the development of the data annotation industry, the National Data Bureau has laid out seven cities—Chengdu, Shenyang, Hefei, Changsha, Haikou, Baoding, and Datong—to undertake data annotation pilot construction tasks. It has issued the “Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Data Annotation Industry,” selected 47 exemplary data annotation cases, and guided the holding of seven supply-demand matchmaking meetings for data annotation. In the next step, the National Data Bureau will focus on regions with strong technological innovation, solid development foundations, and distinctive industrial characteristics, concentrating on two directions: “knowledge-intensive” and “technology-driven,” and will incrementally establish a number of innovative experimental zones for the data annotation industry that are technologically advanced, distinctive, and efficiently empowering.

Liu Liehong further pointed out that the National Data Bureau will also continue to cultivate a market consensus for “paying for high-quality data,” promoting high-quality data sets to be listed, shelved, and traded on data exchanges. It supports data circulation service platforms, data merchants, and other institutions to provide circulation trading services, encourages various data circulation service agencies to explore diversified high-quality data set circulation and utilization models, promotes orderly matching of supply and demand for high-quality data sets, and supports the flow of high-quality data sets in the industry.

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

“The significant increase in the average daily Token usage fully indicates that the development of artificial intelligence in China has entered a rapid growth phase, with application scenarios continuously deepening, evolving from conversational capabilities to decision-making execution agents. The competitiveness of China’s artificial intelligence industry has also significantly strengthened. The current hot topic of Token going overseas is a sign of this enhanced industrial competitiveness. From the perspective of data, it also signifies that the supply of data sets is increasing significantly, the value of data elements is being continuously released, and the empowerment of artificial intelligence innovation development by data elements has entered a stage of positive interaction,” Liu Liehong introduced.

Liu Liehong emphasized that in the next step, the National Data Bureau will continue to promote data empowerment for artificial intelligence innovation development, collaborating with all parties to implement a new round of high-quality data set construction action plan, which includes six special actions: strengthening foundation and expansion, tackling annotation challenges, improving quality and efficiency, empowering applications, management services, and value release. It will accelerate the advancement of pilot work driven by scenario demand and create high-quality data sets that are technically feasible, practical, and quality-assured, achieving a quantitative and qualitative improvement in the supply of high-quality data sets.

Promoting the introduction of policy documents empowering new industrialization with data elements

Reporters from “Daily Economic News” also noticed that recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice to initiate the Industrial Data Foundation Building Action, launching pilot construction for high-quality industry data sets empowered by artificial intelligence. How will further progress be made?

Wang Yanqing, director of the Information Technology Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that in the next step, to effectively carry out pilot work, the Ministry will continue to focus on three areas. First, strengthen support and guarantee. Collaborate with local industrial and information departments and data supervisory authorities to provide resource support and guidance for the pilot consortium, promptly address encountered issues, pool experiences, and accelerate the formation of results that can be promoted.

Second, reinforce policy guidance. Promote the introduction of policy documents empowering new industrialization with data elements, issue reference guidelines for applying industrial scenario data elements, and enhance guidance on development and promotion of models.

Third, cultivate a favorable ecosystem. Accelerate the development of industrial data standards, grow data consulting, data governance, data annotation, and other data service enterprises, support hosting a series of technical seminars, supply-demand matchmaking meetings, etc., while strengthening and enhancing open-source communities for artificial intelligence to create a hub for high-quality open-source data resources. Notably, this year at the upcoming summit, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will also host a thematic meeting on empowering new industrialization with data elements and will invite representatives from pilot units to share some experiences. Additionally, it will initiate a competition for empowering new industrialization with data elements in 2026.