On September 12, the 2026 China Computing Power Conference, under the theme "Co-Weaving Computing Networks, Wisdom-Driven New Future," officially commenced in Langfang City, Hebei Province. The opening ceremony was attended by Wang Zhengpu, Deputy Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Governor, while Vice Governor Zhao Dachun and Zhong Zhihong, Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), delivered addresses.

Zhao Dachun highlighted Hebei's unwavering commitment to positioning computing power as a core element for future competitiveness. The province is seizing opportunities from the national integrated computing network initiative by continuously refining policies, strengthening supply, building platforms, and expanding application scenarios. Hebei is actively advancing the integrated development of computing power, data, and algorithms, with a focus on creating a smart computing cluster surrounding Beijing. The province has laid a solid foundation, achieving a total smart computing capacity of 556 EFLOPS (FP16) and operating 2.5 million standard racks, both ranking first nationally. Over the past two years, Hebei's comprehensive computing power index has consistently ranked first among 31 provinces, with Langfang and Zhangjiakou maintaining top-two positions in city-level computing indices.

Emphasizing application-enabled growth, the province has deepened its "Artificial Intelligence+" initiative, developing 441 vertical large models and 98 intelligent agents across 26 sectors, including steel, chemicals, transportation, and healthcare. By fostering industrial clustering, Hebei has introduced innovative support measures such as "computing vouchers, token vouchers, model vouchers," and "computing+" industry funds, attracting nearly 200 upstream and downstream companies to establish operations. The province's computing resource utilization rate exceeds 80%, steadily transforming its computing advantages into industrial strengths.

Zhao further stated that Hebei is capitalizing on the "AI+" opportunity to gather global advanced resources, vigorously develop the computing industry, and cultivate new forms of the intelligent economy. With overlapping major opportunities, distinct geographical advantages, unique resource endowments, and diverse application scenarios, the province offers vast prospects for computing industry growth. He extended a warm invitation to all sectors to engage with and invest in Hebei, weaving the computing network together on the Yan-Zhao land.

Zhong Zhihong noted that the MIIT, in collaboration with relevant departments, continues to advance computing infrastructure construction and enhance industrial innovation capabilities. As of June this year, China's intelligent computing scale reached 2,185 EFLOPS (FP16), a year-on-year increase of 177%, with over 70 computing transmission channels linking hubs and key regions, and 17 national computing interconnection regional nodes approved. Computing power has become indispensable new information infrastructure in the digital intelligence era, warranting high-quality development to serve major national strategies and socio-economic needs. He outlined four key actions: First, strengthen systematic planning to improve computing utilization efficiency by accelerating the construction of a multi-level "hub-regional-edge" architecture and enhancing the China Computing Platform for resource coordination and efficient use. Second, deepen computing-network integration to build a resilient foundation by developing high-speed, ultra-low-latency transmission channels and advancing node interconnection systems. Third, intensify technological innovation to foster a self-reliant ecosystem, supporting breakthroughs in high-end chips and architecture design, and accelerating the formulation of computing standards. Fourth, empower applications to activate the digital-physical integration engine, reducing computing costs and barriers to transform "inclusive computing dividends" into "development momentum for SMEs," and promoting "AI+" initiatives across sectors for digital, intelligent, and green upgrades.

Liu Yuan, Mayor of Langfang, presented the city's advantages and resource endowments for computing development. Positioned at the core of the Beijing-Tianjin-Xiong'an triangle, Langfang boasts a mere 1-millisecond data round-trip to Beijing's core nodes, efficiently absorbing real-time computing spillover from the capital, enabling businesses to achieve "computing in Langfang without being there." Adopting differentiated and distinctive development, the city leverages its near-Beijing low-latency advantage to focus on real-time computing for AI inference and internet services, complementing the "East Data, West Computing" western hub nodes to forge a national collaborative computing landscape. Langfang's city computing index has topped the nation for two consecutive years, with 7 of China's top 10 computing service providers deeply involved. The city operates 36 large data centers with smart computing capacity exceeding 200,000 P. Embedded in the Beijing-Tianjin and Beijing-Xiong'an new quality productivity corridors, Langfang leads innovation in computing technology, positioning itself as a real-time computing bridgehead for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, an integrated training-inference smart computing hub, a platform for AI innovation commercialization, and a highland for computing and intelligent agent equipment manufacturing.

During the ceremony, the China Computing Platform unveiled its nationwide integrated computing monitoring capabilities, marking the initial formation of a "one network, one board, integrated development" pattern for national computing. Additionally, the "2026 Comprehensive Computing Power Panoramic Analysis" was released, the National Computing Interconnection Regional (Hebei) Node was activated, the first batch of inclusive computing services for SME empowerment was announced, and the "One Network, Three Integration" computing financial ecosystem initiative was launched. The conference adopts a "1+2+X+Y" framework, featuring one opening ceremony, two main forums, X parallel sessions, and Y special activities, creating a comprehensive, multi-level platform for industry exchange and cooperation, covering infrastructure, core technology breakthroughs, scenario implementation, and ecosystem cultivation. Highlights include the "Computing Industry Venture Capital 50 Forum," the release of the "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Space Computing Industry Corridor Initiative," the "Domestic Intelligent Computing Token Efficiency Optimization System (TEOS)," the "AI Trusted Computing (AITC)" framework, annual breakthrough achievements, and best academic papers. The event also marked the launch of the "China Computing · Langfang Computing" scheduling and service platform.

As an aside, BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) shares rose over 2% to $64.91, while Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) shares increased by more than 2% to $195.84, reflecting broader market movements on the day.