Every leap in human history has almost always been accompanied by a breakthrough in some key productive force.The steam engine of the 18th century initiated the Industrial Revolution, allowing humanity to replace muscle with machinery for the first time;the electricity and automation of the 20th century made large-scale industrial manufacturing possible; and today, computing power is gradually becoming the new foundation of productivity in this era.
We are already living in a society driven by computation, but our understanding of “computing power” has not yet kept pace with its speed of changing the world.
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From Steam to Silicon Chips: How Technology is Changing the Underlying Structure of Society?
Looking back at modern human history, every technological innovation has brought about a comprehensive change in labor methods, social organization, and value systems.
•The steam engine introduced power into machines, propelling humanity from an agricultural society to a mechanical industrial society. It broke the family production structure centered on handicrafts, giving rise to the factory system and urban concentration.
•Electricity liberated the constraints of production layout, making assembly line operations, nighttime lighting, and large-scale long-distance communication a reality, forming a “highly organized” industrial society.
•The rise of information technology has introduced “data” as a new element into the economic system. From transistors, computers, and the internet to smartphones and cloud computing, we have gradually established a new society centered around digital technology.
Today, the “engine of operation” for this system is—computing power.
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What is computing power? Why is it called “new electricity”?
In simple terms, computing power is the total ability of devices to process information. This includes the computational performance of hardware (such as CPU/GPU), as well as data storage, transmission, scheduling, and other aspects.
Why is computing power referred to as “new electricity”? Because its role is increasingly similar to that of the power grid a century ago:
•Electricity drives the operation of machines, while computing power drives the operation of models, algorithms, and systems;
•Without electricity, factories come to a halt; without computing power, digital systems collapse;
•Electricity is the infrastructure of the industrial age, while computing power is the foundation of the digital society.
Electricity makes machines run, while computing power makes intelligence operate.
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Smart chips are becoming the “steam engines” of this era.
Smart chips, which are the core components supporting capabilities such as AI, big data, image recognition, and autonomous driving, are gradually becoming the “power heart” of the new era.
These chips come in various forms such as GPU, NPU, TPU , etc. They can perform large-scale parallel computations, handling complex tasks such as neural networks, video frames, 3D modeling, and language generation. Just as steam engines were installed in factories 200 years ago, today’s chips are being integrated into cloud servers, autonomous vehicles, edge gateways, smartphones, and wearable devices.
Especially after the rise of large models, applications like ChatGPT, Sora, Wenxin Yiyan, Tongyi Qianwen, etc., all require massive “intelligent computing centers” to provide support. In this “intelligent industrial revolution,” chips are the new steam, and computing power is the new fuel.
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Social structures are being reshaped by computing power.
The deep impact of computing power is not limited to the tech circle or data centers; it is permeating the operational logic of society as a whole.
1.Production methods have changed.
Factories use AI to detect defects, predict equipment failures, and simulate production processes, no longer relying solely on human experience, but rather on data and model-driven decision-making.
2.Organizational structures have been restructured.
Digital platformization has led companies to organize human resources not by a “departmental system” but by “systems + services” to organize algorithms, computing power, and resources. Internal operations of enterprises are increasingly resembling a scheduling system rather than a pyramid.
3.The logic of governance has been refreshed.
Government systems use computing power to process vast amounts of public data, assist in decision-making, and achieve precise regulation; the judiciary uses intelligent assistance for case adjudication, and traffic uses algorithms to predict congestion. This represents a deep upgrade in governance efficiency.
4.The way value is created has been disrupted.
Content creators can leverage AI to operate the workload of an entire team; algorithmic trading replaces traditional investment advisory; industries such as education, healthcare, law, and design are also experiencing a transformation in the collaborative model of “human + computing power”.
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Why is everyone talking about computing power now?
Because we have just entered a stage of technological dividends known as the “infrastructure period.”
•At the national level, the “East Data West Computing” project is promoting the coordinated allocation of computing resources between the east and west;
•At the industrial level, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Baidu Intelligent Cloud, and others are building intelligent computing centers;
•At the capital level, investing in chips, algorithms, and large models has become a hot track;
•At the public level, AI is becoming a daily application, and creators, developers, and organizations all need to “feed” their models and tools with computing power.
In other words: the digital society is standing at the “starting line of computing power”; whoever owns, schedules, and efficiently utilizes computing power will seize the opportunity in the next era.
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Understanding computing power is to understand the “dynamics” of the digital society.
In the past, we said, “He who controls water controls the world”; later it became, “He who controls electricity controls industry”; now we must realize: He who controls computing power controls intelligence.
It may not appear directly in front of us, but it will be deeply embedded in our lives. The future of production efficiency, urban governance, personal creativity, and even national competitiveness will largely be closely related to computing power.
Therefore, discussing computing power today is not about chips, not about computers, but about the future—discussing a “digital momentum” that is redefining the way society operates.
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