China’s He Lifeng calls for more financial support for AI and computing

China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng wants more money flowing into artificial intelligence and computing. His message is simple: the country’s AI ambitions need serious financial backing to become real infrastructure.

The call came during an inspection tour of Shanxi Province on November 1-2, 2026. When an official of He’s rank tours a province and talks about investment, local governments and state lenders tend to take notes.

What He Lifeng said in Shanxi

He visited energy, technology and renewables projects in the cities of Datong and Shuozhou. His central theme was linking two things that usually get planned separately: computing power and electricity.

He pressed for faster, coordinated development of both, along with the build-out of computing power networks.

He also stressed the need for effective investment to support these goals. His recent statements have put financing for infrastructure at the center of the push to integrate AI across Chinese industries.

He framed the effort as essential to high-quality growth and technological upgrading. He singled out power-dependent sectors such as coal and renewables as areas where this work could pay off.

The numbers behind China’s computing push

China’s intelligent computing capacity stood at 2,185 EFLOPS as of June 30, 2026. An EFLOP, or exaflop, measures a quintillion calculations per second.

Projections suggest that capacity could rise to approximately 9,800 EFLOPS by 2030. Hitting that mark would mean more than quadrupling the current figure in roughly four years.

Shanxi is a telling place to make this pitch. The province has long been associated with coal, and the region is now trying to diversify toward a broader mix of energy sources.

Why the timing and the messenger matter

He’s remarks followed the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Plenary sessions set the broad direction for policy, and senior officials typically spend the following weeks translating that direction into concrete priorities.

The push is also part of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. That plan aims to boost domestic production and technological self-reliance as global competition intensifies.

He has served as Vice Premier since March 2023, succeeding Liu He in various roles. He oversees broad economic planning and has repeatedly emphasized combining scientific innovation with industry.

His close connections to President Xi Jinping put him near the center of China’s major economic and technology decisions.