China’s data industry reached 6.78 trillion yuan ($1.01 trillion) in 2025, expanding 15.7% from a year earlier as demand for data to power artificial intelligence continued to rise, according to a report released in Guiyang.

The figure was published on 28 August at the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2026, where the National Institute of Data Development released the China Data Industry Development Report 2026. The report also put the number of data-related companies in China at 482,000 by the end of 2025.

Data-related software products, including AI application software, together with data-resource products, generated 4.99 trillion yuan in output in 2025, accounting for 73.6% of the industry's total.

China has also been rapidly expanding the supply of datasets used to train and develop AI systems. More than 126,000 high-quality datasets had been built nationwide by August 2026, with a combined volume exceeding 1,815 petabytes — more than 89% higher than in March, according to official figures.

“AI development is heavily driven by data,” Liu Liehong, head of China's National Data Bureau, said. “Wherever AI advances, we push forward the construction and application of high-quality datasets.”

Guizhou province, where the expo is being held, has become an important centre for China's computing infrastructure. By the end of July, it had 50 key data centres with combined computing capacity of 176.57 exaflops, of which about 98.4% was dedicated to AI-related computing.

The 2026 expo, running from 28 to 30 August in Guiyang, has attracted 372 domestic and international companies and more than 16,000 registered guests. The event focuses on computing infrastructure, data supply, AI applications, security and other areas of the digital economy.

China has spent years building a policy framework around data. It formally recognised data as a factor of production in 2019 and established the National Data Administration in 2023. The latest report forecasts continued growth in the industry as AI creates further demand for data, while synthetic data and AI-native data technologies are expected to become more important.

The United States is also moving towards treating data as an economic asset, although its statistical approach differs from China's industry measure. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis has developed experimental estimates for company-produced data and databases held for internal use.

The BEA estimates that such data accounted for 8.01% of capital services in the US economy in 2024, compared with an average of 7.85% between 2002 and 2024. The agency stresses that the figure represents a share of capital services, not 8.01% of US GDP.

A separate BEA study found that including own-account data as an intangible asset would raise the contribution of information-technology-related capital to US GDP growth by about one-third over 2002–2024. The estimates remain experimental; the BEA's research paper notes that international guidance targets implementation of the revised treatment of data in national accounts in 2029–2030.