Multiple A-share firms disclose AI compute contracts; China Life plans 4.5 bln yuan AI fund, Alibaba capex up 46.6%

Multiple A-share listed companies have recently disclosed significant updates on their computing power businesses, with contracts covering server procurement, computing center expansion, GPU purchases, and computing power leasing.

Major Computing Power Contracts Announced

Digital China (DigitalZhengTong) announced on the evening of the 24th that its wholly-owned second-tier subsidiary, ZhengTong Intelligent Computing (Jinan) Technology Co., Ltd., signed a contract with Company A to procure 64 server units, with a total estimated amount of RMB 576 million. This accounts for 15.06% of the company's latest audited total assets. The company stated that the procurement will provide infrastructure support for computing power service projects, help enhance computing resource supply capacity, and improve its computing power business layout. However, it will also result in significant capital expenditure, increasing financing needs and financial costs.

Guanghuan Xinwang (GDS Holdings) announced on the same day a plan to invest an additional RMB 1.265 billion in the Helinger Intelligent Computing Center project, bringing the total investment to RMB 2.5 billion — an increase of 102.43% from the previous plan. The company noted that as AI large model training and inference businesses move from the technology validation phase to large-scale commercial application, demand for intelligent computing power in the northern region has continued to grow rapidly. Customer order load requirements in 2025 have significantly increased compared to 2024, and the original capacity of 60MW–100MW can no longer accommodate full-scale computing power orders. After the adjustment, the project's IT load will increase to 90MW–120MW, with total building area expanding to approximately 121,200 square meters. At full load operation, the project is expected to generate annual revenue of RMB 722 million and net profit of RMB 111 million.

Aoni Electronics announced on the afternoon of the 24th that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Aoni Intelligent, signed a GPU computing card procurement contract with Company B, with a total contract value of USD 232 million (approximately RMB 1.556 billion). The company cautioned that the semiconductor industry as a whole faces common challenges of tight raw material supply and rising costs. However, if the contract is successfully executed, it is expected to have a positive impact on the company's operating results during the performance period.

Xingyun Technology announced on the 23rd that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Changsha Xiangshuyun Technology Co., Ltd., signed an "Intelligent Computing Resource Leasing Service Contract" with a VE customer. The service term is five years, with a total contract value (including tax) of RMB 872 million. The company stated that the corresponding server procurement has been completed and is currently under acceptance inspection, with delivery expected by September 30, 2026.

Industry-Level Outlook

A joint report released by IDC and Inspur Information forecasts that China's intelligent computing power scale will reach 2,576.5 EFLOPS in 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 87.9%. Computing power is accelerating its role as a national strategic infrastructure on par with water conservancy and power grids.

Huayuan Securities believes that domestic super-nodes, leveraging advantages in high-density integration, high-speed interconnection, and global coordination, are expected to achieve mass production and increased penetration. The firm continues to hold a positive outlook on the high-growth domestic computing power sector.

Upstream Investment and Infrastructure Expansion

On the investment side, China Life Insurance announced on the 24th that it plans to jointly establish the Qingdao Chengxin Zhida Equity Investment Center (Limited Partnership) with Guoshou Chengda and other related parties. The fund size will not exceed RMB 6 billion, with China Life contributing no more than RMB 4.5 billion. The fund will focus on investing in high-quality unlisted equity in the AI and semiconductor sectors. According to the announcement, the fund has a six-year term and will target companies with core technological barriers and broad potential for domestic substitution in the industrial chain. This initiative is part of the company's implementation of its "15th Five-Year Plan" and efforts to cultivate new productive forces.

On the infrastructure side, Alibaba announced at the 2026 Apsara Conference its full commitment to AI infrastructure construction, with a target of operating over 20GW of global data center capacity by 2032. Data shows that Alibaba's capital expenditure for fiscal year 2026 reached RMB 126.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 46.6%. The latest single-quarter capital expenditure rose to RMB 67.7 billion, a 75% year-on-year increase. At the conference, Alibaba's T-Head also released its self-developed AI chip, the Zhenwu V900, which delivers three times the computing power of its predecessor and can scale to 500,000 cards in a single cluster. The next-generation Qwen4 large model, based on the new architecture, is already in training, with subsequent versions expected to expand parameter scales to 5T–10T.

Analyst Commentary

Guotai Haitong Securities noted that in the second quarter of 2026, overseas cloud vendors' combined capital expenditure reached USD 171.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 80.19%. Overseas AI investment intensity continues to be revised upward, and tech giants' capital expenditure guidance is also rising. The AI computing power industry chain is expected to maintain a positive outlook.

Guoxin Securities stated that as AI applications move from pilot verification to production-level deployment, computing power demand will extend from centralized training to high-frequency inference and multi-scenario invocation, driving coordinated investment in computing, data centers, and power infrastructure.