Just as oil is affecting the current war in Iran, so data is impacting the global AI race.  To shield its economy from oil shortages associated with conflicts and other geopolitical crises, China has been managing its oil stockpiles strategically.  These stockpiles are now estimated to cover slightly more than 100 days of the country’s net crude oil imports.  In a similar manner, China has been taking steps to strategically manage its data as a key element in the development of AI.

To accelerate the country’s AI growth, China has been implementing the “Data Elements ×” Three-Year Action Plan.  While the plan is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026, its “multiplier effect” will, however, continue.  This is because China’s newly adopted five-year national economic and social development plan identifies “deepen[ing] the implementation of the ‘Data Elements ×’ Action” as one of the tasks that the country needs to focus on during the period from 2026 to 2030.  More importantly, China’s national legislature just passed a new law to render this and other tasks included in the five-year plan—which, despite its significance, is not law—legally binding.

A New Type of Production Element

The significance of data as perceived by Chinese leaders became clear in December 2022, when the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, together with the State Council, issued the Opinions on the Establishment of Fundamental Data Systems to Better Leverage the Role of Data Elements.  The opening paragraph of the document cannot be more explicit about this perception.  After stating that data, as “a new type of production element”, serves as the foundation for digitalization as well as network-based and intelligence-based transformation, the paragraph emphasizes that the establishment of “fundamental data systems” is critical to the “national development and security”.

“To allow China to fully leverage its advantages of having massive amounts of data and rich application scenarios and thereby […].”

To allow China to fully leverage its advantages of having massive amounts of data and rich application scenarios and thereby, to “strengthen, optimize, and expand the digital economy”, the Central Committee and the State Council listed in the document their “opinions” about what the country should focus on.  Among these opinions is, for example, “Fostering an Ecosystem for Data Element Circulation and Trading Services”.  To this end, the document states:

[…] In key sectors—such as intelligent manufacturing, energy conservation and carbon reduction, green construction, new energy, and smart cities—[we will] vigorously cultivate sector-specific and industrial-scale data providers that closely align with business needs, while encouraging data providers of various ownership structures to develop jointly and compete on equal terms […].

[emphasis added]

A Three-Year Action Plan

To turn the opinions stated in the aforementioned document into action, China’s National Data Administration, in conjunction with 16 ministries or other authoritative bodies such as the Ministry of Science and Technology and the People’s Bank of China—formulated the “Data Elements ×” Three-Year Action Plan (2024–2026) in December 2023.

With the purpose of “fully leveraging the multiplier effect of data elements to empower economic and social development”, the action plan aims to, among other goals, feature by the end of 2026 “over 300 exemplary application scenarios characterized by strong demonstrative value, high visibility, and broad ripple effects”.

For example, in line with the action plan’s “Data Elements × Modern Agriculture” focus, eight exemplary application scenarios were selected in 2024 for widespread circulation.  Two of these eight scenarios were about the development of a “technological model for intelligent production of fruits and vegetables” and a “cloud-based agricultural experimental field” capable of accelerating the development and utilization of agricultural scientific research data.  Approximately 150 other scenarios demonstrating how data elements can be applied to “industrial manufacturing”, “financial services”, “culture and tourism”, and other sectors were also selected for widespread circulation, in the hope of inspiring stakeholders across the country to learn from these scenarios and follow suit.

A Legally Binding Task

Apparently, the ongoing “Data Elements ×” Action has been quite effective and this led to the identification of “deepen[ing] the implementation of the ‘Data Elements ×’ Action” as a task in the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development—the formal title of China’s five-year national economic and social development plan (2026–2030).

On March 12, 2026, apart from approving the five-year plan, the National People’s Congress also passed a new law titled Law of the People’s Republic of China on National Development Plans.  The adoption of this law represents a major and unprecedented step taken by China to regulate the formulation and implementation of “national development plans”.  The law defines the term “national development plans” as “the Outlines of the Five-Year Plans for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China, including long-range objectives set forth as deemed necessary.”

According to Article 22 Paragraph 1 of the law, the State Council is responsible for organizing the implementation of each national development plan.  Paragraph 2 states that a specific department of the State Council, together with relevant national departments, “shall formulate opinions for the implementation of the national development plan”.  Once approved in accordance with certain procedures, these opinions “shall be implemented”.  Paragraph 3 provides that all regions and government departments in China “should, in accordance with the national development plan and its implementation opinions, specify the specific work arrangements and implementation measures pertaining to their respective regions and sectors”.

“Chinese leaders’ determination to secure strict adherence to these national development plans crafted meticulously by them is best reflected in Article 35 […].”

Chinese leaders’ determination to secure strict adherence to these national development plans crafted meticulously by them is best reflected in Article 35, which provides:

State functionaries who, in the course of [conducting] work related to national development plans, abuse their authority, neglect their duties, engage in favoritism or malpractice, or commit other unlawful acts shall be held accountable in accordance with law.

The State Council’s opinions for the implementation of the current five-year plan remain unclear.  However, once issued, the implementation opinions will reveal how China seeks to further “multiply” its AI growth by enhancing the “Data Elements ×” Action from 2026 to 2030.  The adoption of the five-year plan is, therefore, just the beginning.

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• The citation of this article is: Dr. Mei Gechlik, How China “Multiplies” Its AI Growth, SINOTALKS.COM^®, SINOTALKS^® In Brief, Mar. 25, 2026, https://sinotalks.com/inbrief/data-element-artificial-intelligence.

• The original, English version of this article was edited by Nathan Harpainter.  The information and views set out in this article are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the work or views of SINOTALKS^®. ↩︎