China has developed approximately 120,000 high-quality datasets as part of a broader effort to strengthen its digital infrastructure and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence across research, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors.
According to the National Data Administration, the country had accumulated more than 547 times the total digital data resources held by the National Library of China by the end of June. The volume of high-quality datasets exceeded 1,565 petabytes, an increase of 60% compared to the first quarter of 2026.
The datasets are designed to support applications that require large-scale, reliable information for analysis, automation, and machine learning. They are expected to improve the availability and quality of resources for research and AI-enabled medical services, including projects linked to regional cooperation.
China has also expanded data annotation programmes across several pilot cities. Seven cities, including Chengdu, Shenyang, Hefei, and Changsha, have collectively completed annotation work covering more than 119 petabytes, helping improve data quality for AI systems.
The growing availability of structured datasets is expected to play an increasingly important role in training machine learning models, enhancing digital services and supporting scientific research. The expansion forms part of China’s broader digital development strategy, with continued investment in research capability, industrial innovation and advanced infrastructure.
