The first Long March 12B on the pad at Jiuquan's Dongfeng innovation zone with a sunset backdrop. Credit: CASC
HELSINKI — China is establishing an industrial policy framework to support a push to build space-based computing infrastructure, with the emergence of influential coordinating bodies.
The Space Computing Working Committee of the China Computer Industry Association, established under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) Electronic Information Department, held its inaugural meeting in Beijing June 3, according to a report from China News Service. Wang Jianyu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was elected chairman, while the committee claimed to have already received applications from more than 100 organizations spanning radiation-hardened chips, computing hardware, power supply and thermal management systems, data transmission, constellation infrastructure and launch services.
It is the second such committee formed in 2026, following the establishment of the Space Computing Power Professional Committee at the 2026 Space Computing Industry Conference in Beijing’s Yizhuang economic zone in April. In contrast to the earlier mentioned committee, which appears more hardware focused, the Space Computing Power Professional Committee is concerned with standards, applications and terrestrial-space integration. The parallel formation of two bodies with overlapping mandates appears characteristic of Chinese industrial policy, with different institutional parents serving different parts of the value chain.
