(Yicai) March 27 -- China’s three biggest telecoms operators are pouring an increasingly large share of their capital expenditure into computing power, with one allocating more than 35 percent this year, even as revenue growth slows, as they pivot from simple network providers to builders of core computing power infrastructure in the era of artificial intelligence.

China Mobile Communications Group will scale back spending on traditional telecom networks, while sharply increasing investment in computing and intelligent networks, it said in its latest earnings report. The Beijing-based firm plans to trim capital expenditure by 9.5 percent this year from last year to CNY136.6 billion (USD19.7 billion). Of this, spending on computing networks will surge 62.4 percent to CNY37.8 billion, making up about 28 percent of the total, while investment in smart networks will jump 19.8 percent to CNY8.9 billion.

China United Network Communications Group plans to boost spending on computing power to around 35 percent of its total capital expenditure at about CNY50 billion (USD7.2 billion) this year, the firm said in its 2025 financial report, without disclosing any specific figures for 2025. Approximately16 percent of the company’s main business revenue went toward capital expenditure last year, amounting to CNY54.2 billion (USD7.8 billion).

While China Telecommunications Corp. spent around a quarter of its capital expenditure of CNY80.4 billion (USD 11.6 billion) on computing infrastructure last year.

This is despite all three carriers logging slow revenue growth. China Mobile’s operating revenue edged up 0.9 percent in 2025 from the year before to top the CNY1 trillion mark at CNY1.05 trillion (USD151.9 billion), while net profit dipped 0.9 percent to CNY137 billion.

China Telecom’s operating revenue climbed 0.1 percent to CNY529.6 billion (USD76.6 billion), while net profit nudged up 0.5 percent to CNY33.18 billion. And China Unicom’s operating revenue advanced 0.7 percent to CNY392.2 billion and net profit gained 1.1 percent to reach CNY9.12 billion.

As of now, China Mobile’s intelligence computing capacity, including both self-built and leased, has reached 92.5 EFLOPS (FP16), covering everything from 100 AI accelerator cards to over 10,000. China Telecom’s total computing capacity, both self-built and non-self-built, has reached 91 EFLOPS, while China Unicom’s stands at 45 EFLOPS.

Editor: Kim Taylor