China's AI Infrastructure Stack: An Executive Field Guide
Map China's AI infrastructure stack across compute, networking, data platforms, model serving and applications, with costs and dependencies at each layer.
An AI infrastructure comparison should follow a workload through the stack. Compute, networking, storage, data preparation and model serving can each determine cost and reliability. Ask where a platform's responsibility ends and where your own team or another supplier must provide integration and support.
What to evaluate
Compute layer
Examine accelerators, clusters, networking, utilisation and energy constraints.
Model layer
Compare capability, adaptation, evaluation, inference cost and release discipline.
Platform layer
Inspect data tooling, orchestration, security and observability.
Application layer
Trace how business workflows create value and feed evidence back into the stack.
Worked evaluation exercise
The following is an illustrative assessment exercise, not a reported customer result.
For a retrieval-based assistant, trace a document from ingestion through indexing, retrieval, inference and logging. Measure where delays and failures occur before buying more compute. Ask how the system handles an index rebuild or a model change, and identify which interfaces make a future supplier change possible. Compare the whole service cost, including data preparation and operational support, rather than treating an accelerator price as the cost of AI.
Questions for the operating team
- Where is the real bottleneck today: chips, data, integration, talent or demand?
- Which layers can be substituted without redesigning the system?
- How is total cost measured at production volume?
Warning signs
- Benchmark scores without workload context.
- Architecture diagrams that omit data rights and operations.
- Unit prices presented without utilisation.
Planning the visit
Use these questions to scope an industry-focused China AI program. Agree which records and operating workflows can be examined before confirming meetings; host participation and access require confirmation. Our research method explains how we structure the brief and follow-up.
References and scope
These references provide policy or risk-management context. They do not independently verify a host's performance or the illustrative exercise above.