21st century business herald reporter Lei Chen intern Yuan Tingting Beijing report

IDC's "2022-2023 China Artificial Intelligence Computing Power Development Evaluation Report" points out that AI application penetration in all walks of life is deepening, which is bound to give rise to a rapid growth in demand for intelligent computing power. It is estimated that the annual compound growth rate of China's intelligent computing power scale will reach 52.3 in the next five years.

As a national team player in the computing industry chain, in recent years, Zhongke Shuguang (603019.SH) has been extending its layout to the computing ecological business. From September 19 to 23, Zhongke Shuguang appeared at the 23rd China International Industry Fair. During the exhibition, the company released the first domestic industrial real-time simulation computing system and exhibited a number of industrial digital solutions.

in fact, in addition to introducing products and solutions such as storage, network security, big data and cloud computing, and completing the layout of the whole industrial chain of "core-end-cloud", zhongke shuguang also participates in and controls Haiguang information (688041.SH), zhongke star map (688568.SH), shuguang digital creation (872808.BJ), shuguang cloud computing, zhongke sanqing, zhongke tianji and other companies.

However, with the end of the semi-annual report disclosure, the 21st century business herald reporter found that AI has not yet had a significant driving effect on its performance. The company also admitted that the computing business is still in the early stages of development.

Zhongke Shuguang said that this year and in the future, it may increase more resource revenue in computing network and computing services, involving the research and development and iteration of algorithm service platform, computing operation and application service construction.

" we (zhongke shuguang) should gather industry forces to open up the AI industry software and hardware ecology, optimize the construction of computing power infrastructure, and build a multi-collaborative computing power network ." Li Bin, senior vice president of Zhongke Shuguang, said when attending the event recently.

AI push effect to be shown

As artificial intelligence enters a new era, the AI industry has put forward new requirements for computing power supply.

"Big computing power is a prerequisite for the development of the AI industry, and the construction of computing power infrastructure is gradually deepening, showing demand characteristics such as green, intensive and large-scale. At the same time, in the face of the imbalance of computing power layout, the construction of computing power network has become imperative, and users need computing power services as convenient as hydropower." Li Bin pointed out.

In February 2023, the Overall Layout Plan for Digital China Construction was issued. In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed the construction of the computing network again, pointing out that the next step will be to accelerate the deployment of network facilities and computing power facilities, further optimize and upgrade the network architecture, strengthen the monitoring of the computing power network, and build a capacity system to meet the needs of various computing power applications.

In the eyes of many people in the industry, the wave of building a smart computing center has arrived.

in the past few years, zhongke shuguang has participated in the establishment of a number of computing power centers nationwide and set up an integrated computing power service platform. by linking computing centers around the country, it provides users with integrated computing power services from computing power production to scheduling and application results incubation, making full use of idle or unbalanced computing power resources around the country.

the company said that it will increase more resources in computing network and computing services, involving the research and development and iteration of algorithm service platform, computing operation, application service construction, etc.

In the first half of this year, Zhongke Shuguang achieved total operating income of 5.4 billion billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.33; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 0.544 billion billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.1. From the perspective of business structure, IT equipment revenue generated 4.93 billion yuan in the first half of the year, accounting for 91%. Revenue from software development, system integration and technical services was 0.468 billion yuan.

But judging from the performance in the first half of the year, artificial intelligence has not yet played a significant role in promoting the performance of Zhongke Shuguang.

Zhongke Shuguang said bluntly that at present, the computing business is still in the early stage of development, and the follow-up company will gradually improve its profitability by continuously increasing R & D investment and expanding the market. This year and in the future, the company may increase more resource revenue in computing network and computing services, involving the research and development and iteration of algorithm service platform, computing operation, application service construction.

it is reported that since the start of the "east-west calculation" project and the construction of data centers in various places, the company has actively participated in the construction of national hub nodes and built a number of benchmark demonstration projects based on core products. it not only exports high-performance and low-energy products and solutions for many places, but also creates a joint infrastructure operation plan with ecological partners.

At the same time, as a leader in core information infrastructure, Zhongke Shuguang participated in the design and construction of advanced data centers in many cities across the country, covering many key industries such as scientific research, finance, communications, and the Internet.

In addition, the company has built a "national integrated computing power service platform" to realize the integrated scheduling and flexible supply of intelligent computing power and general computing power resources nationwide through a unified computing power service portal to meet the needs of various users for the diversification, reliability and convenience of computing power.

A-share "family" work together

In recent years, Zhongke Shuguang has continuously extended its layout to the computing ecological business, actively carrying out ecological construction work in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, relying on its first-mover advantages and technical details in the computing field, closely centering on the needs of China's local market, and working with many partners in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to carry out comprehensive work in the fields of high-end computing, storage, security, data center, etc.

in addition to the introduction of storage, network security, big data, cloud computing and other products and solutions to complete the "core-end-cloud" layout of the entire industrial chain, zhongke dawning also holds and participates in Haiguang information, zhongke star map, dawning cloud computing, zhongke sanqing, zhongke tianJi, dawning digital creation and other assets.

" company and participating holding company cover all aspects from upstream chips, server hardware, IO storage to midstream cloud computing platform, big data platform, computing service platform and downstream cloud service providers. the layout of subsidiaries has a strong synergy effect with the company's main businesses such as high-end computers and storage, and will also contribute sustained impetus to the company's performance growth. " the company said.

21st century business herald found that there are already three listed companies under Zhongke Shuguang, namely Haiguang Information, Zhongke Star Chart and Shuguang Digital Creation. Among them, Zhongke Star Map and Haiguang Information are the participating subsidiaries of Zhongke Shuguang, and Shuguang Digital Creation is an indirect holding subsidiary of Zhongke Shuguang.

In the first half of 2023, the performance of these three listed companies showed different growth rates. Haiguang Information, China Science and Technology Star Map, and Dawning Number in the first half of this year, operating income growth rates were 3.24 percent, 60.78 percent, and 58.25 percent, respectively; net profit growth rates were 42.35 percent, 55.88 percent, and 56.89 percent, respectively.

Haiguang Information was established on October 24, 2014. Its main business is scientific research and technical services. Zhongke Shuguang holds 27.96 of its shares. During the reporting period, Haiguang Information realized operating income of 2.612 billion yuan and net profit of 0.677 billion yuan. As of the end of the first half of the year, the total assets of the consolidated caliber of Haiguang Information were 22.871 billion yuan.

Zhongke Shuguang holds a 15.67 per cent stake in Zhongke Star Chart. The latter was established on January 20, 2006, mainly engaged in technology development and computer sales. In the first half of this year, Zhongke Xingtu realized operating income of 0.722 billion yuan and net profit of 35.3181 million yuan.

Shuguang Digital Creation is a holding subsidiary of Shuguang Information, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhongke Shuguang, and is the head enterprise of the liquid-cooled circuit. According to the 2023 semi-annual report, Dawn Information holds a 62.07 per cent stake in Dawn. In the first half of the year, the company's operating income was 0.225 billion yuan, up 58.25 percent from the same period last year; net profit attributable to the parent was 47.7439 million yuan, up 56.89 percent from the same period last year

Some people say that 2023 is the first year of liquid cooling, because suddenly there are many cases of liquid cooling in data centers this year. Zhang Peng, vice president of Shuguang Digital, recently told reporters in 21st century business herald that "our company is about to start, and will further expand its advantages and hold the first place in the next three years. "

At the same time, Zhongke Shuguang Holdings of Shuguang Zhiyu, Shuguang Cloud, in which Zhongke Sanqing, Zhongke Tianji and other companies also had significant results during the reporting period.

Among them, Shuguang Smart Computing successfully passed the evaluation of "Trusted Computing Service-Smart Computing Platform" and became one of the first four manufacturers to pass the trusted computing service announced by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. Shuguang Cloud takes the construction and operation of "city cloud" as its main business model, and has been distributed in many cities across the country, basically forming a safe and credible city cloud service system.

Overall, by extensively connecting the supply and demand sides of computing power, data, software and services, Zhongke Shuguang continues to build a multi-computing power integration and multi-center collaborative computing power network.

Create a new model for the computing industry

" we need to gather industry forces to open up the software and hardware ecology of AI industry, optimize the construction of computing power infrastructure, and build a multi-collaborative computing power network ." Li Bin said that based on the demand of the computing industry, Dawn has launched a series of practical explorations in technical solutions and model innovation from the computing center to the computing network.

In a recent survey of investors, Zhongke Shuguang said that the company has its own advantages in the establishment of computing network. In the first half of this year, the company invested 1.242 billion yuan in research and development, up 27.62 year on year.

Up to now, Zhongke Shuguang has 3 intelligent manufacturing production bases and 5 R & D centers. Since 2020, the company has invested a total of 6.189 billion billion yuan in research and development, and the company and its subsidiaries have obtained a total of 1163 patents, including 786 invention patents; the company and its subsidiaries have obtained qualifications such as national high-tech enterprises, national recognized enterprise technology centers, "top 100 innovations" and "little giants.

"The company will continue to develop high-end computers based on domestic processors, IO modules, built-in active firmware, continue to improve product performance in terms of component performance management, product stability, high-speed interconnection, etc., and comprehensively upgrade the server's scalability and manageability. Through a unified computing service portal, we can realize the integrated scheduling and flexible supply of intelligent computing power and general computing power resources nationwide to meet the needs of various users for the diversification, reliability and convenience of computing power." Zhongke Shuguang said.

the research paper published by west China securities mentioned that zhongke shuguang has leading advantages in China's credit creation server, AI, computing power and other fields, and will benefit from the rapid development of credit creation, AI and other industries. it is predicted that the operating income from 2023 to 2025 will be 154.11/180.20/20.791 billion yuan, with good future development prospects.

Some brokerage analysts also believe that cloud computing services and computing service platforms will become more powerful growth points for the company in the future.

The 21st century business herald reporter also noticed that Haiguang Information, Zhongke Star Map and Shuguang Digital Creation all increased their size in the first half of the year.R & D investment.

among them, haiguang information invested 1.23 billion yuan in research and development in the first half of the year, up 36.87 year on year. According to the semi-annual report, the company's research project implementation progress accelerated, during the reporting period, the company's next generation CPU products Haiguang 4, Haiguang 5, DCU products deep calculation 2, deep calculation 3 research and development progress smoothly.

the total R & D investment in the first half of the year was 0.18 billion yuan, up 72.4 year on year. During the reporting period, the company researched and broke through the cross-domain hybrid parallel scheduling engine technology, which can meet the large-scale computing power demand caused by data processing and model training, and at the same time, it added 239 new intellectual property applications in the directions of big data and visualization, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and high-performance computing, and space big data processing.

dawning number hit 29.4327 million yuan in research and development expenses in the first half of the year, up 54.27 year on year. It is reported that Dawn Digital Innovation aims at "green computing power". At present, the liquid-cooled data center under construction has exceeded 260mv, which has reduced carbon emissions by more than 100,000 tons for the society. The relevant authorized patents for the data center have been obtained 125.

From computing infrastructure to computing network construction, a new model of computing industry with the theme of integration and co-creation is coming. " dawning hopes to link more industrial ecological forces, open up a more efficient and collaborative computing power track, and empower AI industry to move towards a new highland of high-quality development ." Li Bin said.