The Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Further Deepening Reform and Promoting Chinese-style Modernization adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China mentions "artificial intelligence" in many places, and proposes to improve policies and governance systems to promote the development of strategic industries such as artificial intelligence.
In 2020, the Leading Group for the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong Province planned Pazhou as the core area of the Guangzhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone in the form of Document No. 1. This year, Haizhu has received support from the municipal level and has obtained the differentiated functional positioning of developing a demonstration area for the application of artificial intelligence large models.
As a Chengyang Island District, how can Haizhu develop artificial intelligence under the coexistence of location advantages and space tension? At this year's city-wide high-quality development conference, Cai Shu, secretary of the Haizhu District Party Committee, proposed that he would make every effort to build a modern industrial system and strengthen the construction of the digital economy with a strong pillar of the digital economy. Mao Songbai, mayor of Haizhu District, pointed out in this year's district government work report that he will seize the new opportunities of artificial intelligence large models, firmly hold the "bull's nose" of artificial intelligence, the development of new quality productivity, and accelerate the innovation and development of artificial intelligence technology.
A few days ago, the Nandu High-quality Development Research Institute found in the survey that Haizhu District has laid a certain foundation in the three pillars of artificial intelligence, "data, algorithms, and computing power", and has initially explored a development path featuring large models.
Experts suggest that Haizhu should give full play to the ecological and intellectual advantages of the jurisdiction and enhance the value of space; Leading ahead and planning forward-looking to achieve sustainable and high-quality development; Increase the introduction of talents and help the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
In 2012, next to the west gate of Sun Yat-sen University, Heyuanda Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Heyuanda"), which was supported by only a few personnel, was established. Today, this company, which has grown in scale after several relocations, but is still rooted in Haizhu District, has grown into an excellent "data empowerment application" service provider in China.
In September 2024, the 3rd Pazhou Algorithm Competition Awards and Ecological Empowerment Conference was held, and the company of Qumaru Technology won the global championship of this competition in one fell swoop with the "'Singing Duck · Tianpule' AI Music Model" submitted. At present, the company is building a global headquarters building in Pazhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone.
Whether it is starting here or newly deployed, a large number of artificial intelligence companies like Heyuanda and Qumaru Technology have gathered in Haizhu District, Guangzhou, forming a vigorous development trend.
If Haizhu's development of artificial intelligence is compared to a game of chess, then what pieces has Haizhu fallen in this game of chess? What about the situation? When the Nandu High-quality Development Research Institute launched a survey on Haizhu's artificial intelligence industry, it specifically investigated the five aspects of big data, computing power, AI large model, chip and industrial Internet that Haizhu has focused on planning in recent years.
Big Data & Computing Power
The number of big data companies exceeded 3,000
Set up a computing power center to supply nearby
At the entrance of Yuanda, a huge display screen is hung to demonstrate the application of the company's data products. After years of exploration and accumulation, Yuanda has formed two major business segments, "Data Application" and "Data Empowerment", covering platform construction, ICT integration, data product development, circulation and operation, from infrastructure solutions to application analysis, data analysis, data monetization and other projects.
In the exhibition hall of Yuanda, a data map made based on a map. Photographer: Nandu reporter Huang Xiaoyan
He Yuanda is an early explorer in the field of big data in China, and Chairman Wang Guozhang recalled: "In 2013 and 2014, there was a wind of big data, but unfortunately it was a 'fake wind', just lip service. However, the signs of the development of the industry are already emerging, "like seeing a cloud drifting by, and everyone predicts that a heavy rain is coming." Although it didn't rain right away, it was a sign."
From 2012 to 2018, the main business of Yuanda was focused on data governance. "But gradually, we also realized that the focus of the company's business development is not on this, but on the realization of higher data value and making data products." In July 2021, Guangdong took the lead in launching the market-oriented allocation reform of data elements in the country, and in 2022, it carried out a pilot project of data brokers in Haizhu, Guangzhou. In 2023, the scope of the pilot work will be expanded, and the number of pilot enterprises will expand to 59, and Yuanda will be one of them.
Since January 1 this year, the Interim Provisions on the Accounting Treatment of Enterprise Data Resources issued by the Ministry of Finance have been officially implemented, and data resources can be included in the financial statements as assets. As an important institutional breakthrough in the reform of the market-oriented allocation of data elements, under the vigorous promotion of the Haizhu District Government Service and Data Management Bureau, Heyuanda has completed the implementation of the first data resource entry into the table.
Statistics show that by the end of last year, with the continuous expansion of data scenarios, the number of big data-related enterprises in Haizhu District has exceeded 3,000. Data is only one of the "three carriages" of the artificial intelligence exhibition, and computing power is inseparable from the foundation of the artificial intelligence exhibition. In 2022, the work report of the Haizhu District Government proposed to strengthen the core of the industry in the Pazhou Pilot Zone and build a "China Computing Valley". In July of the same year, 10 promotion measures for the construction of "Pazhou Calculation Valley" in Haizhu District were officially released.
Pazhou Computing Valley • Shaxi Intelligent Computing Center is a strategic deployment of Haizhu District to build a new engine for new quality productivity, and realizes the function of nearby computing power supply. The relevant person in charge of Haizhu District said, "The positioning service model of the intelligent computing center mainly serves the R&D and application of the large model from the Guangzhou Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which will accelerate the intelligent process of industrial development, urban governance, public services and other aspects, and promote the digital intelligence level in various fields such as smart healthcare, smart transportation, intelligent networking, and unmanned driving."
On April 29 this year, the operation of Pazhou Computing Valley and Shaxi Intelligent Computing Center was launched, and 100P computing power was operated externally.
As Huawei's latest self-developed AI training chip, the center is equipped with Huawei's latest high-end computing power chip, Ascend 910B, which has high chip integration and energy efficiency ratio, and has the same performance as the A100 in large model training scenarios. The scend AI architecture has excellent deep learning capabilities and can provide strong support for the digitalization and intelligence of various industries. At present, Pazhou Computing Valley • Shaxi Intelligent Computing Center has built a computing power of 100P, and plans to expand to 300P within two years, and strive to build an overall computing power scheduling platform through three years, realize the dispatchable computing power of 10000P, and fully meet the demand for computing power for the development of large models.
Industry model > chip
There are more than 50 large models in the industry
The chip industry aims at domestic substitution
Haizhu District's planning and layout in terms of algorithms, computing power, and data have laid the foundation for the development of AI large models. Since last year, with the strong support of Guangzhou, Haizhu District has focused on the development of the most profitable large model and accelerated the construction of the first artificial intelligence large model application demonstration zone in China. As of July, Haizhu District has accumulated more than 50 industry models.
Qumaru Technology is one of the large-scale model enterprises in the industry stationed in Haizhu. As a national high-tech enterprise, Qumaru Technology has diversified its layout in the fields of artificial intelligence, interest socialization, and e-sports. TT Voice, the flagship product, now has more than 200 million registered users, making it one of the largest interest social platforms in China. The company's Singing Duck App is a new generation of AI+ mass application music creation platform, and it is also the only product in South China that has been selected as one of the "Top Ten Cases of Digital Innovation and Practice in Culture and Tourism in 2022" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
In 2024, Fun Pill Technology will launch the world's first self-developed multi-modal music generation model, Tianpule. The model integrates leading technologies such as audio processing, deep learning and big data analysis, and not only supports Wensheng music and audio raw music, but also pioneers the picture/video raw music function, and the generated songs have their own vocal lyrics, and the effect reaches the professional distribution level.
"To put it simply, users only need to enter a sentence, a photo or a video, and they can generate a song with a relatively complete lyrics and song structure in 1-2 minutes." Jia Shuo, vice president of Qumaru Technology, introduced.
The large model is based on the Transformer architecture, and its number of parameters and data is particularly large. "For example, people have to learn more, make more friends, travel more, and see enough things to know what good things look like. The model also needs to be seen more in the world, so that it can summarize an understanding that is in line with human aesthetics. Jia Shuo said that after applying the Tianpu music model to the Singing Duck App, the effect of music generation has been greatly improved. For most non-professional users, AI music is very close to the passing score in terms of the finished product." At present, 46 million people have used the Singing Duck App for AI music creation, and nearly 10 million AI songs have been created.
Singing Duck, a self-developed AI+ mass application-based music creation platform, has lowered the threshold for creation while improving creative efficiency.
As the basis of the large model, the breakthrough of chip technology will directly affect the efficiency and application scope of the model, and Haizhu District has also made a long-term strategic plan for this purpose - to introduce chip companies in technology application and promote the research and development of integrated circuits.
Founded in January 2021, Weidu Microelectronics focuses on AMOLED mobile phones, medium-sized OLED notebook display drivers, and on-board display central control, forming a display chip product matrix covering mobile phones, medium-sized IT, and on-board displays. In 2023, when Guangzhou Industrial Investment Group went to Shanghai for inspection, it extended an olive branch to Weidu Microelectronics. After several rounds of communication and negotiation, it was finally decided to complete the investment promotion in the form of two-level linkage between the industry investment group (Guangzhou Industrial Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd.) + Haizhu Chengfa (Guangzhou Haizhu City Construction and Development Group Co., Ltd.) and the urban area. In April 2024, the company officially landed in Haizhu.
Display driver chips are the dominant industries of United States, Korea and Taiwan in the early days, and the current global proportion of domestic OLED screen driver chips is less than 3%, and the domestic substitution space is huge. Weidu Microelectronics has a number of top experts in the key technology field of OLED display, which is one of the few companies in China that has the ability to develop medium-sized TCON+Source Driver products.
Industrial Internet & Efficient Collaboration
Local advantageous industries give birth to industrial Internet enterprises
The foundation of the real industry promotes the "integration of data and reality"
Guangzhou's economic data for the first half of 2024 shows that Haizhu District ranks among the top in the city with a growth rate of 6.5%. The industrial and consumer Internet in the zone has further expanded, and the Internet platforms of the six characteristic industries of equipment manufacturing, textiles, medicine, customized home furnishing, supply chain finance and MRO industrial products have grown well, and the revenue of industrial Internet-related enterprises has increased by 43.7% in the first half of the year.
Zhijing Technology is an Internet enterprise in the textile industry bred in Haizhu District. After the rapid rise of e-commerce live broadcast and Internet economy, the speed of trend hotspots began to be measured in minutes and seconds, and the time from design to shelves of a piece of clothing was greatly shortened. How to be one step ahead, accurately match fabrics, and improve order efficiency has become a problem for many enterprises. "Looking back at the business starting point of Zhijing Technology, it is based on the core scenario of 'finding cloth'." Song Zhenyi, co-founder of Guangzhou Zhijing Information Technology Co., Ltd., said that the Zhongda cloth market in Haizhu District has a strong ability to gather resources and allocate market factors, which is highly consistent with the business starting point and development of Zhijing.
In 2013, Zhijing Technology was established to solve the problem of "difficult to find cloth and slow to find cloth" by building a "hundred cloth" finished cloth trading platform; In 2018, for the upstream production links, the textile industry Internet platforms "Quanbu" and "Shuttle Intelligent Spinning" were launched to promote the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of upstream production and help factories reduce costs and increase efficiency; In 2020, the company's business began to extend to downstream garment production, and the "Tiangong" clothing intelligent manufacturing cloud platform was established; In 2021, we will expand the development of clusters such as textile intelligent manufacturing parks and centralized warehouse logistics parks. Today, by comprehensively promoting digitalization, intelligence and clustering, Zhijing Technology can provide one-stop and intensive production and design services for the upstream and downstream of traditional textile and garment enterprises, and promote the digital and intelligent upgrading of the whole industry chain.
Zhijing Technology's textile factory that applies the digital system of Shuttle Intelligent Spinning.
"Based on the rich style, fabric and color parameters and other big data of the apparel industry, combined with advanced recommendation algorithms and deep learning technology, it can achieve Wensheng Diagram and Tusheng Diagram, and fully release the productivity of AIGC technology in clothing design." Song Zhenyi believes that the significance of artificial intelligence empowering traditional industries lies in the fact that it can promote industrial upgrading through scientific and technological innovation, reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve quality, which not only helps to enhance the competitiveness of traditional industries in China and even the world, but also gives birth to new formats and new models to inject new impetus into economic growth.
In the government report at the beginning of the year, Haizhu District proposed to further promote the integration of data and reality, and focus on the development of the industrial Internet while focusing on the layout of the digital economy. For example, taking the textile and garment industry as an example, through the integration of digital technology, traditional industries such as textile and garment can be transformed in an all-round, full-angle and full-chain manner, so as to improve production efficiency and innovation capabilities." Song Zhenyi introduced.
Industrial Ecology & Agglomeration Effect
The ecology of the artificial intelligence industry has taken shape
A virtuous cycle of investment attraction has initially emerged
With the AI model as the starting point, we will make a forward-looking layout of the chip industry, and at the same time empower traditional industries with the digital economy to promote the combination of data and reality...... Through enterprise visits, it can be seen that in the development of the field of artificial intelligence, the ecology of the artificial intelligence industry in Haizhu District has been initially formed, and a virtuous circle of promoting investment promotion with industrial ecology has also initially emerged.
"Algorithms, computing power, data and scenarios are the four core elements of the development of large models, and all four are indispensable, and Haizhu District firmly grasps these four fields and works hard." Although Heyuanda is striving to develop the main line of business in the field of big data, Wang Guozhang focuses on the creation of the entire industrial ecology: "Through policy support, giving full play to the role of land, and bringing enterprises together to form an ecology, this is the leading point of Haizhu District in the development of the digital economy." It is in this ecosystem that we have been able to grow from a small start-up to an industry leader, helping leading customers in many industries to achieve digital transformation and data monetization.
From Shanghai to Guangzhou, talking about the reason for finally settling in Haizhu, the relevant person in charge of Weidu Microelectronics said: "In addition to attracting the company's headquarters to move in by way of equity investment, it is more important to take us as an important part of the 'strong core supplement chain' in the field of integrated circuits and displays in Guangzhou, and work with upstream and downstream enterprises to strengthen the industrial chain." ”
Guangzhou, as the capital city of Guangdong, a major economic province, occupies a place in the field of ultra-high-definition video industry in the country. In 2022, the scale of Guangzhou's ultra-high-definition video and new display industry will exceed 260 billion yuan, and it will also gather LGD 8.5 generation LCD panel production line, OLED panel production line, and Zengcheng Visionox OLED module line. Guangzhou Chaoshi Sakai 10.5 generation TFT-LCD, TCL Huaxing t9 project, China's first 8.5 generation AMOLED production line and other major projects have been implemented. "Recently, Guangzhou's 8.5th generation LCD panel production line was sold to TCL Huaxing for more than 10 billion yuan, or it will reshape the connotation of Guangzhou as the 'world display capital'. As a strong manufacturing province, Guangzhou has strong ecological demand for downstream white-label home appliances and car companies. From the perspective of the entire ecology, Guangzhou needs to have a specialized display driver chip design company, so we decided to take root in Guangzhou, integrate into the ecology, and realize the complement and strengthen the chain. The relevant person in charge of Weidu Microelectronics said.
In the exhibition hall of Qumaru Technology, in addition to the Singing Duck App, there are many products applied by artificial intelligence technology displayed here. At present, Qumaru Technology has built a full-stack AI interactive technology industry ecology, and has maintained both R&D investment and R&D intensity growth for many years. As of December 2023, the company's R&D personnel account for more than 62%. Talent is becoming an important asset for companies. "At present, Haizhu District has gathered a lot of leading Internet companies. If you look at the headquarters of many Internet companies, you can see them. This means that Haizhu District has a huge talent advantage. Jia Shuo believes that the gathering of enterprises will also produce a talent gathering effect, and technological innovation will also benefit from the gathering and flow of talents.
Chip design companies are also the highland of talents. High-quality talents often need good university resources, superior office environment, convenient transportation, education, medical resources and a dynamic livable environment. "As the core area of Guangzhou, Haizhu District has the most advantageous geographical location, pleasant ecological space and good business environment, with a unique wetland park in the central city, low-density office buildings and university resources such as university towns. The relevant person in charge of Weidu Microelectronics said.
Written by: Research Group of Nandu High-quality Development Research Institute
Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee (except for attribution)