China is reportedly preparing to commit about 2 trillion yuan - roughly $295 billion - over the next five years to establish an extensive national data center network focused on AI workloads, and Citi has flagged a set of companies it expects to be among the primary beneficiaries.
The program, led by the NDRC, will be chiefly operated by major state-owned operators and includes a requirement that at least 80% of deployed AI chips be domestically sourced. Citi described the initiative as "a monumental catalyst for China's digital infrastructure."
On the facilities side, Citi pointed to two listed data center operators - GDS and VNET - as already showing momentum ahead of the rollout. The bank cited record wholesale bookings in the first quarter of 2026, with GDS recording about 200 megawatts of new bookings and VNET signing in excess of 500 megawatts of new orders during the period. Citi said these trends are directly aligned with the accelerating demand the national plan is expected to generate.
Using an assumed all-in unit cost of roughly 200 million yuan per megawatt, Citi calculated that the investment implies approximately 10 gigawatts of additional AI data center capacity over five years - an average pace of about 2 gigawatts per year. Against an estimated current installed base of 20 gigawatts of AI-grade capacity, that incremental build would represent an expansion of roughly 50%.
Beyond operators and colocators, Citi highlighted beneficiaries along the localized supply chain. The bank identified IEIT, Lenovo and ZTE as key plays representing a local AI server ecosystem proxy, noting that the domestic chip mandate is expected to drive AI server demand for these companies, which the report describes as supply-constrained in their server businesses.
Additional names cited by Citi include Accelink - singled out as a leading domestic optical transceiver maker - and Chinasoft, described as a partner to Huawei in ITS and ISV capacities. Together, the bank's list spans both the data center infrastructure and the equipment and software ecosystem that supports server deployments and networking.
The plan's scale and the explicit push for localized chips and components create a concentrated demand signal for infrastructure and suppliers. Citi's capacity and cost assumptions are central to its estimate of the program's output, and its selection of favored names reflects companies that stand to capture direct orders or component demand tied to the initiative.
Key beneficiaries named by Citi:
- Data center operators: GDS, VNET
- Server and equipment ecosystem: IEIT, Lenovo, ZTE
- Component and software partners: Accelink, Chinasoft