China has brought a vast high-speed optical network online to connect computing resources nationwide, enabling distributed systems to operate with near supercomputer-level performance.
China has officially placed its Future Network Experimental Facility (FNEF) into operation, marking a major milestone in the country’s next-generation computing and communications infrastructure, according to state media reports.
The facility links computing and research centers in 40 cities across China through a newly constructed high-speed optical fiber network spanning more than 55,000 kilometers or 34,175 miles. The system allows geographically distributed computing resources to be scheduled and operated collectively, enabling performance that approaches a single large-scale supercomputer.
The Future Network Experimental Facility supports advanced networking capabilities. These include up to 128 independent virtual networks operating simultaneously, as many as 4,096 concurrent experimental services and deterministic ultra-low-latency high-reliability data transmission.
Together, these features are designed to support Artificial Intelligence model training, high-performance scientific computing, industrial simulations and other data-intensive applications that require tightly coordinated computing resources across long distances.
During testing, the network transmitted a 72-terabyte dataset generated by China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, known as FAST. The transfer was completed in approximately 1.6 hours, a task that would normally take hundreds of days using conventional Internet connections.
Officials said the demonstration highlighted the facility’s ability to support large-scale scientific research and near real-time data processing workloads.
The facility forms part of China’s broader East Data, West Computing initiative, which aims to balance national computing demand by linking data-rich eastern regions with major computing hubs in central and western China.
According to project leaders, the network is expected to operate as a shared national platform for research institutions, universities and enterprises, supporting innovation in Artificial Intelligence, next-generation Internet technologies, smart manufacturing, remote services and future network research.
Officials added that continued expansion, open access policies and collaboration with industry partners will help ensure long-term reliability, security and global relevance for China’s evolving national computing infrastructure in coming years ahead.
