1、 Development status of data center in China
The Internet Data Center is a place built according to unified standards to provide a stable and reliable operating environment for centralized storage of IT application systems with computing, storage, and information interaction capabilities. According to different functions and functions, the data center can be divided into IT infrastructure, data collection, data integration and analysis, data security, server, operation and maintenance and other modules.
Data shows that in 2019, the market size of China's Internet data center will reach 156.25 billion yuan. There are about 74000 data centers in China, accounting for 23% of the total number of global data centers. Among the existing data centers, the number of super large and large data centers accounts for 12.7%. Among the 320 data centers planned to be built in 2020, the number of super large and large data centers accounts for 36.1%. It is estimated that the market size of China's data centers will exceed 3200.5 billion yuan in 2022, entering a new round of explosion.
In addition, from the perspective of regional layout, China's data center market has formed a multi regional development pattern with the Yangtze River Delta, Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area as the core. In terms of market share, North China accounts for about 30% of the national market, East China for about 25%, South China for about 25%, and West China for about 20%. From the perspective of application value, data center customers are mostly concentrated in the Internet industry, which is the core driving force for its development.
In December 2018, the Central Economic Work Conference put forward the concept of "new infrastructure construction" (hereinafter referred to as "new infrastructure construction"), including 5G, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet and the Internet of Things. Since 2020, the policy deployment and industrial planning of "new infrastructure" have been intensively introduced. As an important information infrastructure, the data center provides computing support for big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies, as well as an important data base for "new infrastructure".
In recent years, there are some problems in the rapid development of traditional data centers in China, which are mainly shown in: First, the planning and construction of data centers are not scientific and reasonable, and blind construction and repeated construction exist in some regions, leading to the vacancy of productivity of data centers in some western regions. Second, the data center consumes huge energy and relies heavily on power resources, which has become one of the contradictions constraining its development and needs to be resolved urgently. According to the survey, there are more than 70000 data centers with different scales in various industries and regions, but the total power generation of Three Gorges Hydropower Station is not enough to supply the energy consumption of these data centers, and even the scale and energy consumption of data centers may continue to maintain a rapid growth of more than 30% in the future. Third, the degree of intelligence of the data center is insufficient. The rapid development of big data and cloud computing technology has put forward higher requirements for the degree of intelligence of the data center. The traditional data center can no longer meet the current development of industrial digitalization and digital industrialization, while the new data center needs to meet the challenges of flexibility, energy conservation and efficiency of the Internet and high-tech industries. Fourth, the scope of service objects of traditional data centers is limited. At present, customers in the Internet industry are an important driving force for the expansion of data centers. However, the construction of data centers cannot be confined to serving the Internet industry, and the service scope should be gradually expanded. In the future, the application of the data center should also be promoted to "data+medical care", "data+finance", "data+government" and other fields
2、 The significance of accelerating the construction of data center
As the cornerstone of digital infrastructure, the data center provides a powerful engine for digital technology development and industrial digital transformation. On the one hand, the "new infrastructure" has created positive conditions for China's economic rebirth, innovation and change in the post epidemic era. On the other hand, the COVID-19 epidemic has accelerated the integration of digital technology and the real economy, promoted the strong development of "new infrastructure", and accelerated the arrival of the inflection point of data centers.
（1） The data center is an indispensable link in the new infrastructure system, playing a connecting role
According to the latest definition of the National Development and Reform Commission, the new infrastructure is an infrastructure system that adheres to the new development concept, is driven by technological innovation, is based on information networks, and faces the needs of high-quality development, and provides services such as digital transformation, intelligent upgrading, and integrated innovation. Big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, 5G, Internet of Things, and industrial Internet are both emerging industries and infrastructure, while data centers are the bricks and "soil" of infrastructure. In addition, relying on the good momentum of the acceleration of "new infrastructure", digital technology has been widely applied, which not only helps to promote the upgrading of emerging industries, expand effective demand, and ensure the livelihood of the people, but also is an important starting point for stable growth. It provides the government and enterprises with scientific basis for decision-making and precise means of implementation. At the same time, vigorously developing the data center will improve the level of digital economy serving the real industry and smart life, The influence of digital economy has penetrated into all aspects of social economy, playing an indispensable role in helping to improve the national governance system and modernize the governance capacity.
（2） Data center is the underlying information infrastructure supporting many Internet applications
As the value of data is gradually explored and recognized, the role of data center is gradually highlighted. If big data is raw material, then the data center is a warehouse, which is an upstream and downstream component of a complete industrial chain. As the underlying architecture, the data center paves the way for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, industrial Internet and other new technologies and industries. In 2018, China's digital economy reached 31.4 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world, accounting for 34.8% of GDP. This shows that the data economy is exerting the "leverage effect" of leveraging the domestic economy. By starting with production factors such as technology and data, we can ease the contradiction between the rapid development of the digital economy and the unbalanced and inadequate development of industry digitization, and promote the digital transformation of traditional industries. Information infrastructure will not only reduce costs, improve efficiency and innovate business models, but also promote the research and application of new materials, new devices, new processes and new technologies, promote the technological transformation and equipment upgrading of manufacturing industry, and provide necessary support for the formation of new technologies, new industries, new formats and new models.
（3） "New infrastructure is essentially digital infrastructure construction
The reason why it is "new" is that it has different characteristics from traditional infrastructure construction. First, new technologies. "New infrastructure" focuses on emerging technologies to create intelligent manufacturing; Second, the scope is new. Different from roads, railways and bridges in traditional infrastructure construction, "new infrastructure" is based on Internet, information and communication technology and innovation integration infrastructure construction; Third, the scope of investment is new. Traditional infrastructure is mainly dominated by government funds, which is easy to produce a crowding out effect. "New infrastructure" will introduce more private capital to jointly build and explore the PPP model. "New infrastructure" has the characteristics of "old infrastructure", and is different from "old infrastructure". It is more in line with the trend of the times, playing a role of connecting the past and the future, and transforming the old and new drivers.
In combination with the current epidemic prevention and control in China and the "six stability" and "six guarantees", the policy measures for the counter cyclical adjustment of the economy include the "new infrastructure", including the data center, which is expected to be an effective means to lead the expansion of domestic demand for consumption and investment and boost confidence in economic development. In the context of fighting against the epidemic and economic downturn, China's digital economy has once again demonstrated strong competitiveness. In the first quarter, the added value of information transmission, software and information technology services increased 13.2% year on year. Online office, online conference, online education, new retail and other services played a huge role in ensuring people's lives and production operations. In March, the high-tech manufacturing industry grew 8.9% year on year, including the computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing industry grew 9.9%, and the industrial robot industry grew 12.9%. The growth of these data can not be separated from the rapid development of the data center, which shows the huge momentum of China's digital infrastructure and the unique advantages of the development of the data center. The data center will have great potential in the post epidemic era.
3、 Development trend of data center
（1） The policy is favorable for the data center, and the investment and construction are strengthened
In order to effectively cope with the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic economy, the "new infrastructure" represented by data centers is highly expected. On March 4, 2020, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee first proposed to accelerate the construction of new infrastructure such as data centers. On March 9, the Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Building a More Perfect System and Mechanism for Market based Allocation of Factors emphasized that we should speed up the cultivation of data factor markets. On April 20, the National Development and Reform Commission clarified the content and scope of the new infrastructure. The Ministry of Information Technology of the People's Republic of China, which listed the data center as the computing infrastructure in the information infrastructure, also accelerated the design of rules and systems, and accelerated the promotion of the data center, industrial Internet, 5G, cloud platform, etc. as the core security guarantee facilities. From the local perspective, Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan, Anhui, Guangdong, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Yunnan and other provinces and cities have increased investment projects in 5G, industrial Internet, data center and other fields in the government's work plan. The Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and Beijing Tianjin Hebei have also made efforts in digital infrastructure at the national strategic level to stimulate vitality and tap potential with "new infrastructure". From the perspective of local finance and government special bonds, the local government's special bond investment in "new infrastructure" has increased significantly since this year, and the scale is four times that of last year. In the future, the central government, ministries and local governments will focus more on the development of digital economy and the construction of data centers to provide adequate policies, institutional supplies and social security.
（2） The COVID-19 epidemic has stimulated the market demand for data centers
The outbreak of COVID-19 has made it widely used in epidemic prevention and control, enterprise relief, resumption of work and production, and digital transformation of traditional industries. Remote office, teleconferencing, online education, e-commerce and various "cloud life" based on cloud computing have fostered a large number of emerging customer needs. At the same time, the development of the Internet of Things, cloud computing, e-government, smart cities and other fields will also further promote the development of the data center in scale. It is estimated that by 2024, the global data center market size is expected to exceed 1150 billion yuan.
（3） Large scale, specialization, centralization, modularization, automation, intelligence and greening are the development trends of data centers
With the development of 5G, Internet of Things, industrial Internet, e-government, smart cities and other upstream industrial chains, in the next few years, Beijing Tianjin Hebei, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, large urban business districts, etc. will generate a large amount of native data, requiring the data center to have a new generation of digital capabilities. The high-quality development of the data center is required to follow the principle of "safety and reliability, advanced technology, moderate advance, economy and practicality, overall planning and step-by-step implementation". In the process of construction and implementation, it is necessary to consider meeting the performance of "progressiveness, standardization, availability and manageability". In addition, energy conservation, environmental protection and economic applicability are also important goals of data center construction. In February 2019, the Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Green Data Centers jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Energy Administration pointed out that "in 2022, the average energy consumption of data centers will basically reach the international advanced level, and the PUE (the index for evaluating the energy consumption of data centers) of new large and super large data centers will reach below 1.4."
4、 The construction path of China's data center
The investment and construction of the data center is a systematic project, which requires multi party cooperation and collaborative promotion to give full play to the scale effect, scope effect, network effect and synergy effect of the data center.
(1) Do a good job in top-level design and industrial planning
The construction of a new data center requires a top-level design, a forward-looking industrial development plan for the data center, and the principles of scientific, orderly, reasonable, and safe, to gradually establish components covering the data center, such as storage, computing, network connectivity, operation and maintenance, and hardware support. At the same time, a data center with sustainable development capability must first comply with relevant national industrial policies, current national, local and industrial standards and specifications, and the pain points and needs of users in the planning, design and construction stages. In terms of site selection, the construction of the data center should first consider the demand side factors, comprehensively evaluate its own resource endowment and medium - and long-term technology trends, and avoid blindly starting to cause a new round of resource waste. In the construction and operation, the data center should also focus on balancing the functional positioning of the existing data center and the planned new data center to promote the digital transformation. In short, the construction of the data center should enable other industries to get through data fragmentation, data isolation and data islands among different industries.
（2） Optimize resource allocation and promote technological innovation
In terms of optimizing resource allocation, we should promote capital, technology and other production factors to fully serve the product and business development. In terms of capital allocation, we should strengthen cost management and improve liquidity management under the condition of focusing on assets in view of the characteristics of high access threshold, high construction cost and long profit cycle of the data center. In terms of product design, we should focus on customer needs and pain points, and take into account universality and personalization, Avoid resource waste caused by homogeneous competition; In terms of technology development, due to the high technical threshold of the data center, we should fully encourage technological innovation, ensure that the existing technology is fully utilized, and manage the data center through new technologies such as machine learning, so as to reduce the cost of development, operation and maintenance. Strengthen the research on core technologies, reduce the energy consumption of the data center, and enhance the application value of the data center. At the same time, improve the intelligent level of data, realize data combination, software programming, service expansion, and R&D to adapt to the digital development of industry.
（3） Do a good job in data center security protection and disaster recovery
Data center security and performance are equally important. It is necessary to build a multi-layer security "firewall" for the data center from both software and hardware aspects. In terms of software application, the data center can use encryption ring signature, multi-party security computing, federal learning, etc. to ensure the security of the data transmission environment, use algorithms and risk control models to monitor the operating status of servers, plants, etc. in real time, and give real-time feedback and early warning. It can also introduce blockchain distributed ledgers to store at nodes to prevent data leakage or destruction. In terms of hardware, data fault-tolerant and disaster recovery schemes are formulated, and data security is protected by means of cold storage, standby servers, uninterruptible power supplies, local and remote disaster recovery centers, etc. Through the collaboration of software and hardware, online and offline, the security of the data center is improved to the greatest extent and the high-quality development of the data center is promoted.
（4） Improve the legal system and strengthen data governance and protection
The existing legal norms have not yet established a complete data protection system. Although the Personal Information Security Norms, Network Security Law and other legal norms have been promulgated since 2016, which have played a certain role in the use and protection of data, issues related to the attributes of data, the boundaries of data rights, data governance, data openness and other issues have not been clarified. The implementation of data center construction requires laws and regulations to create a good environment for data center construction, further improve data governance and protection, and promote data value discovery and factor market-oriented configuration. We should speed up the promulgation of data related laws and regulations, strengthen the supply of systems, promote the promulgation of the Data Security Management Measures and the Personal Information Protection Law as soon as possible, accelerate the development of standards for data collection, use, transmission, etc., provide legal protection and institutional framework for the construction and implementation of the data center, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the data center.