China's State Grid Corporation plans to invest 4 trillion yuan (US$574 billion) by 2030 to build a more efficient power system integrating renewables, aiming to secure an edge in the US-China tech rivalry. Experts note that electricity is China's undeniable advantage in the AI race.
China boasts the world's largest power system, and Beijing is moving to lock in this advantage through record investment. The State Grid Corporation of China expects to invest 4 trillion yuan (US$574 billion) by 2030, a company record, to accelerate the building of a “new-type power system”—a more efficient and flexible grid designed to integrate renewables. The expansion could raise electricity’s share of end-use energy consumption to 35 per cent, with about 200 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity added annually, the company announced on Thursday.
“In the AI race, computing power comes down to chips, electricity and algorithms – and electricity is the one area where China holds an undeniable advantage,” said Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform, a think tank affiliated with the provincial government.
This initiative comes amid intensifying US-China tech rivalry, with the US pressuring China on chips, while China bolsters its power infrastructure to support AI growth. Keywords from the National Energy Administration include AI, SpaceX, Tesla, and Elon Musk, but the focus is on electricity's role in powering AI.
