China Launches National Data Group in Xiongan to Develop Data Resources and Support AI

A New Central Enterprise Takes Shape in Xiongan

China established China National Data Group Co., Ltd. in Xiongan New Area, Hebei province, on October 20, 2026, creating a central government enterprise dedicated to developing and using data resources. Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang attended the inauguration and called for faster construction of data infrastructure, stronger technology research and services that support the country's artificial intelligence ambitions.

The group will be headquartered in Xiongan and operate as a state enterprise directly administered by the central government. Its assigned roles span national data services, connections between data infrastructure and innovation in data science and technology.

Jian Qin, previously general manager and deputy Party secretary of China Unicom, becomes the group's chairman and Party secretary. Chen Ronghui, previously a deputy director of the National Data Administration, becomes general manager and deputy Party secretary. Their appointments bring experience in telecommunications, national data policy and provincial data operations into the new enterprise.

Ding linked the launch to China's Digital China programme and its effort to build new competitive strengths. He also urged the company to coordinate development with security, placing the protection of data alongside the drive to put it to greater economic use.

What the Group Is Expected to Do

China National Data Group's main business is the development and use of data resources. The company said its establishment is intended to unlock the value of data, support artificial intelligence and expand the network of businesses working in the data industry.

Zhang Xianghong, a member of the National Data Expert Advisory Committee, said the group would develop, integrate and operate national data resources through commercial and specialist operations. He expects it to help data move between industries and regions, making resources held in different places easier to use together.

Data resources are collections of information that can be processed for a useful purpose. Transport records, for example, can help identify where congestion occurs. Turning those records into a reliable service requires organisation, technical processing and rules governing access and use.

The group said it would work under the guidance of relevant departments, strengthen cooperation between central and local organisations, and deepen collaboration across industries. Its stated approach includes sharing capabilities and experience and developing business together.

How the Company Differs From the Data Administration

China established the National Data Administration in 2023. The arrival of a national data company adds a commercial operator alongside that government body, with a different set of responsibilities.

Zhang described the division in practical terms: the administration is responsible chiefly for basic data institutions and policy design, while the group concentrates on developing and using resources through market operations and implementation.

The administration's work concerns the framework within which data activity takes place. The company's work concerns turning resources into usable services and business activity within that framework. This separates the task of setting policy from the task of operating a business.

Zhang expects the new group to help connect infrastructure and make valuable data more accessible to businesses. Those are expected benefits of its operating model. The launch announcement gave no timetable for its first services, access arrangements or prices.

Why Connecting Data Matters for AI

Ding identified artificial intelligence as a central reason for establishing the enterprise. AI systems use data to learn patterns and perform tasks, so the usefulness of the information available to developers can affect what those systems can do.

The practical challenge extends beyond collecting more information. Data held by different organisations may use different formats, sit on separate systems or carry different conditions for access. Making it usable across those boundaries requires technical connections and working arrangements between the organisations involved.

Zhang said the group could help break down isolated stores of information, often called data silos. In plain terms, these are collections that remain separated even when combining or comparing them could serve a useful purpose.

Ding urged the company to accelerate data infrastructure construction and pursue breakthroughs in key technologies. He also called on related enterprises to strengthen cooperation, giving the group's national mission a wider industrial dimension.

How One Dataset Can Support Several Businesses

City traffic information illustrates the economic model behind the launch. Once processed, the same underlying information could help navigation software predict congestion, support the training of intelligent driving systems and help businesses assess customer traffic when choosing a location.

Each use serves a different customer. A navigation provider needs route information, a vehicle developer needs material relevant to driving systems, and a retailer needs evidence about movement around a potential shop. Reusing information allows one resource to support several services.

The group is expected to work with multiple participants to explore commercial models in a data industry described as having a scale measured in trillions of yuan. Its task therefore includes finding workable ways to organise cooperation and turn processed information into services that customers need.

Zhang expects broader access to valuable resources to lower entry barriers for more businesses. Whether a smaller company can make use of that access will depend on the services, technical requirements and commercial terms that emerge.

Data Rights and Security Shape the Business

China's policy framework for this activity includes the December 2022 opinions issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council on building basic data institutions and making better use of data as a production factor. A production factor is a resource used to create goods or services, such as labour, capital or technology.

The opinions set out a framework separating three kinds of rights: holding data resources, processing and using data, and operating data products. This gives different participants defined roles in the use of information.

Under that approach, the organisation holding a dataset, the business processing it and the company operating a product based on it may perform different functions. The framework addresses how those activities can be organised as data moves into wider commercial use.

The outline of China's 15th Five Year Plan also calls for a national data market that is open, shared and secure. Regional divisions and barriers between industries remain obstacles to that goal, while access must be managed alongside security requirements.

Ding's instruction to coordinate development and security places both responsibilities within the new group's mission. Connecting more resources will require arrangements for who may access information, how it may be used and how it is protected.

Provincial Groups Provide an Existing Base

Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Hunan, Henan and Fujian have already established provincial data groups. The national enterprise enters a sector where local governments have been building their own operating organisations.

Shanghai Data Group has registered capital of 5 billion yuan, while Fujian Big Data Group has registered capital of 10 billion yuan. Fujian's figure is twice Shanghai's, illustrating the scale of the corporate structures already established at provincial level. Registered capital is the amount shareholders commit to a company, rather than a measure of its annual revenue.

Fujian has presented its group as part of efforts to develop a market for data resources and advance Digital Fujian. Henan has linked its group to plans for an important data trading hub in central China.

China National Data Group's pledge to strengthen central and local cooperation connects its national role to this existing network. Zhang's expectation of more movement across regions points to a practical objective: making resources useful beyond the boundaries of the province or industry where they are held.

Who Will Lead the New Enterprise?

Jian Qin brings a career spanning major communications and postal enterprises. Before joining China Unicom as a director, general manager and deputy Party secretary in March 2024, he held leadership positions at provincial China Mobile businesses, China Mobile's parent group and China Post.

Chen Ronghui brings experience closer to the development of data institutions and provincial data businesses. His previous roles included work at Fujian's economic information centre, its Digital Fujian offices and its big data administration.

Chen became general manager of Fujian's provincial big data company in July 2021 and continued in that role after it became Fujian Big Data Group. He moved to the National Data Administration as a deputy director and Party leadership member in December 2023.

The appointments place a former telecommunications executive and a former data regulator with company operating experience at the head of the new group. Its responsibilities combine infrastructure, cooperation between organisations and the development of commercially useful data services.

Xiongan's Role and the Steps Leading to Launch

Xiongan is both the new company's headquarters and part of a wider effort to move functions unrelated to Beijing's role as the national capital out of the city. During an inspection of the area, Ding called for that relocation to proceed in an orderly way and for development to remain consistent with Xiongan's assigned role.

Ding also urged government departments to increase support, local authorities to provide necessary resources, and stronger policies and services to support Xiongan's development. For the area, the headquarters adds a central enterprise with a nationwide operating mission.

The institutional steps leading to the launch span several years:

• December 2022: The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council issued opinions setting out basic data institutions, including the separation of three kinds of data rights.
• 2023: China established the National Data Administration to work on data institutions and policy.
• December 2023: Chen Ronghui moved from Fujian's data sector to the National Data Administration.
• March 2024: Jian Qin became a director, general manager and deputy Party secretary of China Unicom.
• October 20, 2026: China National Data Group was established in Xiongan, with Jian as chairman and Chen as general manager.

Key Points

• China National Data Group was launched in Xiongan on October 20, 2026, as a central government enterprise focused on developing and using data resources.
• Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang called for support for AI, faster infrastructure construction, technology research and coordination between development and security.
• The group will handle commercial operations, while the National Data Administration focuses on institutions and policy.
• Jian Qin becomes chairman and Party secretary; Chen Ronghui becomes general manager and deputy Party secretary.
• The company plans cooperation across regions and industries to make data resources more widely usable.
• No launch timetable for its first services, access arrangements or prices was announced.