LIVE FROM MWC SHANGHAI 2026: The world’s largest mobile market now boasts the majority of its connections running over 5G, with the technology powering 55% of all connections since the end of last year.

The GSMA’s Mobile Economy China 2026 report – released on the eve of the show this week – predicts 5G will account for 61% of connections in the country by the end of this year and 88% by 2030.

The performance of 5G in China so far means the nation already accounts for over 40% of global 5G connections.

China surpassed 1 billion 5G connections in 2024, highlighting the rapid adoption of the technology since its launch five years ago.

“The influence of national policy should help sustain 5G’s momentum in China,” notes the report. “The Chinese government has made 5G a national priority as part of broader goals targeting digital transformation and making the economy internationally competitive. Such goals are directly integrated into the agendas and corporate strategies of operators and network vendors, boosting the supply side of the 5G market.”

The report adds that with 5G services now firmly established, the focus of Chinese operators and vendors is shifting to 5G-Advanced.

It claims 5G-Advanced is now commercialised across more than 330 mainland cities, surpassing 30 million users.

“China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom have all conducted early trials and deployments of the technology, focusing on unlocking new applications in areas such as autonomous vehicles, drones and extended reality (XR).”

Economic impact
As always, the latest GSMA report was keen to talk up mobile’s boost to China’s economy, driving growth across industries, creating jobs and boosting gross domestic product (GDP).

Mobile technologies and services now generate around 6.2% of China’s GDP – a contribution that amounts to $1.2 trillion of economic value added. By 2030, the report states this will rise to approximately $2 trillion, equivalent to 8.3% of GDP.

“Much of this will be driven by the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the continued expansion of mobile services and the growing adoption of digital technologies, including 5G, IoT and AI.”

Usage gap
Surprisingly, there remains work to be done on ensuring everyone that lives within reach of a mobile network can access services. In fact, despite 91% internet connectivity across the country, a usage gap of 18% remains, representing millions of people yet to benefit fully from China’s digital economy. This approximate 250 million people not using mobile internet is mostly from the youngest and oldest age groups.

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China’s commerce ministry is reportedly targeting broader use of AI across the country’s consumer economy, unveiling 17 policy measures intended to push the technology beyond industrial applications.

State broadcaster CCTV reported the ministry will use the measures to embed AI into households and businesses, viewing the technology as a lever for economic stimulus.

As part of the plan, it is apparently looking at a fundamental shift in how consumer electronics are designed and sold.

The way devices operate is also a target, moving from functional tools towards AI-integrated systems.

Advancing humanoid robotics in the home is high on the agenda, and the sector has already gained government and private investment.

Chinese players including Unitree and Ubtech were cited as front-runners in the market. They are vying to establish themselves commercially in industrial and consumer spaces.

Structural issues
On the services side, China wants to expand AI’s presence in retail services to public and personal areas.

CCTV cited comments from Lin Jian, deputy director of the international trade cooperation institute at the ministry of commerce, who said the measures are designed to solve structural issues within the country’s services sector.

These include addressing challenges around high labour costs and poor standardisation in service consumption, added Lin.

Beijing is stepping up its AI plans, with Bloomberg reporting earlier this month the government is planning to invest $295 billion over the next five years to build out data centres in the country.

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Nvidia reportedly told Chinese customers its new Vera CPU for AI data centres could be available in August, in a move to regain ground in a market where its advanced GPU business has been stalled by US export curbs.

Reuters reported the chipmaker is pitching Vera as an alternative route into China after shipments of its H200 AI chip stalled for months. CEO Jensen Huang (pictured) previously said Nvidia’s market share in China had effectively fallen to zero, reflecting tighter US restrictions and Beijing’s push to support domestic suppliers.

The news site noted Vera is Nvidia’s first standalone CPU for agentic AI workloads, with the company claiming it delivers up to 1.8 times the performance of rival processors.

Huang unveiled Vera in March as part of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin architecture and cast the CPU as a major new growth engine, as the company looks to expand beyond GPUs and into the server processor market.

Sources told Reuters one major Chinese cloud provider is planning to order more than 300 servers containing two Vera CPUs each for testing, with the chips set to be deployed first in overseas data centres before any wider commitment.

The move also sharpens Nvidia’s challenge to Intel and AMD, which dominate the server CPU market.

Because Vera is based on Arm architecture rather than x86, Nvidia is entering the segment as AI infrastructure demand shifts further toward inference and agentic computing, where CPUs are becoming increasingly important alongside accelerators.

Reuters added selling CPUs into China may prove easier for Nvidia than shipping high-end GPUs, which remain subject to stricter US controls.

Broader adoption, however, is likely to hinge on software compatibility and the willingness of Chinese operators to move workloads away from domestic AI silicon.

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China is reportedly plotting an outlay of around CNY2 trillion ($295 billion) over the next five years to build out data centres across the country, with state-owned telecoms operators tasked with managing the sites and vendor Huawei providing the bulk of the technology.

Bloomberg sources claim government agencies including the National Development and Reform Commission are drafting up plans to construct a network of “inter-connected computing hubs”, as part of a government initiative to boost domestic AI and increase competition with the US.

Operators China Mobile and China Telecom are named as being tasked with operating and connecting the bulk of the data centres, while suppliers including Huawei will be charged with providing at least 80% of the technology including AI chips.

The plan is in line with steps taken in recent years by the state to pump resources into domestic heavyweights like Huawei, effectively squeezing out US competitors such as Nvidia and AMD.

Funding for the plan will mainly come from sovereign debt including long-term special government bonds with more than a 10 year tenure and state funds for investment in strategic industries, added the sources.

In addition to the AI facilities, which will include data centres and faster mobile infrastructure, China also apparently plans to integrate the power grid to the project.

The planned investment figure does not include separate outlays planned by the country’s technology heavyweights including Alibaba and Tencent, added the sources.

Nvidia locked out
Notably, US AI companies are also planning for major AI investment. Meta Platform has set capex guidance of $125 billion to $145 billion for 2026, while Microsoft has committed to a $190 billion spend over the same period.

Robert Lea, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence said the big winner of China’s plan will be the nation’s economy, rather than private sector companies like Alibaba and Baidu.

“Domestic infrastructure suppliers including Huawei stand to benefit most, with Nvidia unlikely to get a look in,” he added.

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