Investment in 'new infrastructure' projects rises in Binhai

Construction began on 14 key projects in Tianjin's Binhai New Area on June 5.

The projects cover a variety of areas, including 5G networks, artificial intelligence, smart cities, intelligent transportation, industrial inter-connectivity and innovation.

With a total investment of 1.39 billion yuan ($196.45 million), the projects, which can be described as "new infrastructure", are expected to support Binhai's industrial upgrading and high-quality growth.

For the first time, the phrase "new infrastructure" was mentioned in the annual Government Work Report delivered in this year's national legislative session.

One of the highlights of these projects is a 280-mu (18.67 hectares)data center invested by China's tech giant Tencent. According to Feng Hu, general manager of Tencent's Tianjin branch, 10 billion yuan will be invested in the project, and the center will be equipped with 300,000 servers and Tencent's latest T-block technology.

Upon its completion, the project will be one of Tencent's eight data centers in China and play a key role in a national cloud computing center and cloud service platform. It will support the internet giant's business in North China and serving internet users all over the country while providing comprehensive cloud platform services to third-party enterprises.

According to Feng, the first phase is expected to be put into use next June with all the servers of the center installed in the following five to eight years.

Tianjin Meiteng Technology Co, a national high-tech enterprise, said it will expand its presence in Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City.

"We will invest to build asci-tech research and development center and intelligent manufacturing plant in the eco city, and Meiteng will make greater contributions to the intellectualization of industry and mining in the future," said Li Taiyou, chairman of the company.

In recent years, the company has witnessed leapfrog development and has established strategic cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ali-Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, and leading high-tech firms Siemens and Advantech, reporting rapid growth in its operating revenue.

Among the new projects, there are many AI-backed projects that have much to do with people's livelihoods, such as a smart community called Jijingfengge in the eco-city.

The project was built by Singapore-based property company Keppel Land, which will roll out guidelines for smart communities and improve management services and utilization of social resources to better satisfy residents' demands.

Meanwhile, a total of 30 AI-powered application scenarios, which cover more than 50 functions, will be applied to enhance self-governance, health services, safety and ecology as well as property management in the community.

Other projects in progress include Huawei's intelligent transportation project, China Mobile's 5G coverage projects for the marine museum and a library of the eco-city, an operation center of a smart city project by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, and IFLYTEK's AI scheduling platform that serves as the "brain" of an eco-city.