China’s ‘high-speed rail for computers’ will boost AI development: scientists

The country’s optical fibre-based CENI network is operational and achieving zero packet loss with delays of less than 20 microseconds

Reading Time:2 minutes

China’s cutting-edge internet infrastructure is delivering a level of efficient and stable data transfer that will increase computer power and enhance development of artificial intelligence, a scientific conference has heard. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 12:29pm, 6 Jan 2025Updated: 10:11pm, 6 Jan 2025

China has announced the completion of its cutting-edge computer network, which is expected to boost development of artificial intelligence while offering fast, reliable and high-capacity data services across the country.

Industry experts likened the internet service – realised through the China Environment for Network Innovations (CENI), a national research facility connecting the country’s largest cities – to a “high-speed rail for computers”.

The network’s completion was announced on Thursday at a scientific conference in Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu in eastern China and headquarters of Zijin Mountain Laboratory, also known as Purple Mountain Laboratory, which led the collaborative effort.

According to Xinhua Daily, the CENI service is based on an innovative network architecture that combines the strengths of optical communication technology and deterministic networking to deliver fast, reliable and high-capacity data services.

By integrating the high-speed transmission capabilities of optical communications with the low latency and high reliability of deterministic networks, CENI enabled efficient and stable data transfer, it said.

“CENI has achieved zero packet loss, with delay jitter under 20 microseconds, even under full network load, spanning 13 provinces, 13,000km (8,080 miles), and handling 10,000 deterministic services,” said Liu Yunjie, the laboratory’s chief scientist and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

According to Liu, the network service is set to support industrial internet applications and AI model training, as well as help with China’s “Eastern Data, Western Computing” strategy.