Public cloud is a public digital infrastructure that provides inclusive computing power and intelligent services to the whole society. Its core attributes are publicness, inclusiveness, and universality, which can transform high threshold intelligent technologies into on-demand scheduling and widely covered public services. It is the optimal carrier for promoting the inclusive implementation of intelligent computing cloud.
In the past year, various artificial intelligence applications have been implemented on a large scale, and new formats such as cloud model as a service and intelligent agent as a service have accelerated their emergence. Cloud computing, as a key foundation for empowering the development of intelligent economy, has become the core component of new quality productivity and digital infrastructure, and is the core engine driving the intelligent upgrading of thousands of industries. The Government Work Report of 2026 and the Outline of the 15th Five Year Plan both explicitly propose to support the development of public cloud and innovate the development of standardized and scalable intelligent computing cloud services.
On July 28th, at the 2026 Trusted Cloud Conference and the first Token Cloud Service Conference, the Cloud Computing and Digitalization Research Institute of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (referred to as "CAICT") released the "Cloud Computing Industry Development Research Report (2026)". Li Wei, Deputy Director (in charge of the work) of CAICT Cloud Computing and Digitalization Research Institute, interpreted the report.
The report focuses on the new demands and changes in the cloud computing industry driven by artificial intelligence, sorts out global cloud computing strategy policies, market trends, and application practices, and deeply analyzes the development trends of key tracks such as public cloud, intelligent computing cloud, and cloud going global. Facing the "15th Five Year Plan" stage, cloud computing, as the core technology support and key service carrier of the new form of intelligent economy, will continue to deepen the innovation of cloud intelligence integration technology and upgrade the business format, and activate the endogenous driving force of intelligent transformation of thousands of industries.
Report Core Viewpoints
1. "Cloud+AI" has become a global strategic direction, and the scale of the cloud computing industry is steadily growing
Global cloud computing is developing towards deep integration of "cloud+AI", and countries are accelerating the layout of cloud infrastructure and the construction of ecosystems. By 2025, the global cloud computing market will reach $823 billion, a year-on-year increase of 18.8%, and will exceed $1.6 trillion by 2029. China has successively released policy documents to guide the rapid and orderly development of the public cloud and intelligent computing cloud industries. By 2025, the size of China's cloud computing market will reach 1.0692 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%, and the market size is expected to exceed 2.5 trillion yuan by 2029.
2. Public Cloud: Public Digital Infrastructure in the Era of Intelligent Economy
Public cloud is a public digital infrastructure that provides inclusive computing power and intelligent services to the whole society. Its core attributes are publicness, inclusiveness, and universality, which can transform high threshold intelligent technologies into on-demand scheduling and widely covered public services. It is the optimal carrier for promoting the inclusive implementation of intelligent computing cloud. As a key carrier that carries intelligent elements such as computing power, data, and models, and supports the upgrading of industrial intelligence, public cloud has undergone systematic changes in its strategic positioning, service capabilities, industrial formats, and business models. It has achieved a fundamental transformation from a carrier of computing power resources in the digital economy era to a public digital infrastructure in the intelligent economy era. Its core positioning as a universal service base that supports the large-scale landing of artificial intelligence and promotes the digital intelligence upgrading of thousands of industries has been basically established.
3. Intelligent computing cloud: a key carrier for empowering AI scale applications
Intelligent computing cloud is an artificial intelligence full lifecycle technology service system that integrates heterogeneous computing power, data resources, intelligent models, and development tools. Its core attributes are professionalism, efficiency, and scene adaptability, and it is the core upgrade direction of public cloud in the era of intelligent economy. Intelligent computing cloud, relying on its core capability of deep integration of cloud and intelligent resources such as computing power, data, and models, is becoming a key carrier for empowering AI scale applications. The technological architecture, management paradigm, service model, application scenarios, and security system of Intelligent Computing Cloud have achieved breakthrough evolution, not only reshaping the way computing power is supplied, but also accelerating the deep penetration of AI technology in various industries through efficient, secure, and easy-to-use services, becoming the core engine driving the intelligent transformation of the real economy and unleashing the dividends of the intelligent economy.
4. Cloud Going Global: Expanding New Space for Digital Trade in the Era of Globalization
Cloud going global has become the core strategic track for China's digital technology to "go global". Cloud computing going global, as a key track for China's digital technology to "go global", is not only an inevitable choice to meet the surge in global computing power demand and serve the global layout of Chinese enterprises, but also an important support for promoting China's transition from a digital power to a digital powerhouse and building a new development pattern of domestic and international dual circulation. At present, cloud going global has entered a new stage of global layout, high-speed growth, and deep local cultivation, with computing power services, platform solutions, and ecological collaboration as the core, and possessing the triple attributes of technology output, service output, and standard output. The three major players of public cloud service providers, device manufacturers, and SaaS software vendors are working together to explore differentiated paths for going global, driving the entire industry chain of chips, servers, operating systems, databases, and artificial intelligence applications to go global synchronously, forming a global closed loop of "technology product service ecology".
