Understand the new infrastructure of BATH in one article: 5G is the foundation, AI is the core

Battle between giants: Baidu has the most comprehensive applications, Huawei dominates 5G

Although the four giants of BATH have in-depth layout in various fields of new infrastructure, each company has different endowments and advantages, and the specific ideas for promoting new infrastructure are also different. For example, Baidu emphasizes "AI new infrastructure", Alibaba emphasizes "digital new infrastructure", Tencent embraces the "industrial Internet", and Huawei calls for building an "intelligent world where everything is connected."

The ultimate goal of new infrastructure is to drive industrial transformation and upgrading and build an "intelligent society." Realizing an intelligent society requires three technologies as the cornerstone: 5G, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing.

The wide connectivity feature of 5G makes it possible to connect everything, and on this basis, a large amount of data is generated. The large bandwidth and low latency features greatly improve the transmission efficiency and reliability of data; the massive storage and high computing power of cloud computing ensure Remote storage and computing processing of data; the deep mining and analysis capabilities of artificial intelligence allow machines to learn deeply and upgrade intelligently to gradually assist and serve people. So in these three major new infrastructure fields, what is the current situation of the giants?

illustrate:

• Regarding the scope of new infrastructure, the National Development and Reform Commission has divided it into three aspects: information infrastructure, converged infrastructure, and innovative infrastructure. This diagram is drawn to facilitate readers to understand the causal and logical relationships between various applications and technologies of new infrastructure.

• New infrastructure covers a large area. Although this chart only attempts to sort out the main businesses of BATH personally competing for new infrastructure, and does not include the companies they invest in, it is still inevitable to miss out on everything.

5G new infrastructure: Huawei dominates

Huawei is the undisputed leader in the 5G field.After years of mergers and consolidations, global network communication equipment manufacturers are currently competing for hegemony among the top four, namely Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and ZTE. According to Dell'Oro Group statistics, the market shares of Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson, and ZTE in 2018 were 28.8%, 17.2%, 13.4%, and 8.1% respectively, and the total market share reached 67.5%.

New cloud computing infrastructure: Alibaba accounts for nearly half of the market share and Baidu AI Cloud ranks first

The domestic cloud computing market is mainly divided up by BAT, of which Alibaba accounts for nearly half and occupies a leading position.British research organization Canalys released the China Public Cloud Service Market Report for the fourth quarter of 2019. The data shows that Alibaba Cloud ranked first with a market share of 46.4%; followed by Tencent Cloud with a market share of 18% and Baidu Cloud with a market share of 8.8%.

It is worth noting that IDC released the "China Artificial Intelligence Cloud Service Market Research Report (2019)", which shows that in the overall market structure of China's AI public cloud services, Baidu Smart Cloud ranks first in terms of overall call volume and market share. First, it has the largest number of AI products, leading manufacturers such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, AWS and Huawei Cloud. This is the second consecutive year that Baidu Intelligent Cloud has ranked first in China in the field of AI cloud. 

AI new infrastructure: Baidu has the most comprehensive applications

AI is the core of new infrastructure.Analyzing the technical characteristics of artificial intelligence itself, the artificial intelligence industry structure can be divided into three layers: basic layer, technical layer, and application layer. The basic layer is the foundation of the artificial intelligence industry, mainly including hardware(such as chip),software(like algorithm), data three parts; the technical layer is the middle reaches of the artificial intelligence industry, starting from simulating human intelligence-related characteristics to build a technical path, the key technologies include computer vision, natural language processing, speech processing and other technologies; the application layer is artificial intelligence products, Services and solutions are suitable for security, transportation, medical, robotics, education and other fields. From the basic layer to the application layer, it is actually the process of applying data, computing power and algorithms to various subdivided scenarios. In this process, the role of data is similar to raw materials such as crude oil and electricity, computing power is similar to production tools, and artificial intelligence algorithms are the core of truly converting raw materials into productivity.

Take AI giant Baidu as an example. Baidu has built new AI technology infrastructure such as Baidu Brain, Feipiao Deep Learning Platform, Baidu Smart Cloud, AI chips, and data centers. The number of global AI patent applications has exceeded 10,000. This is typical. information infrastructure.

Behind the information infrastructure is real industrial application. Baidu's AI capabilities are deeply integrated with industries, promoting industrial intelligent upgrades in fields such as smart transportation, smart energy, smart cities, smart finance, smart customer service and marketing/smart office, smart medical care, smart cars, industrial Internet, and smart manufacturing. This is creating a series of converged infrastructure.

Baidu also supports research on artificial intelligence technology and longer-term industrial development through a series of innovative infrastructure. For example, the Flying Paddle deep learning open source open platform independently developed by Baidu, and the National Engineering Laboratory for Deep Learning Technology and Applications led by Baidu. In addition, Baidu is also actively promoting the training of AI talents. So far, Baidu has trained more than 1 million AI talents.

From technology to application to innovation to talent, Baidu has formed a closed-loop construction system in the layout of new infrastructure.

AI penetrates eight major industries: Baidu occupies six seats, Tencent and Huawei are "partially specialized"

The "2019 Artificial Intelligence Development White Paper" released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed the penetration rate of artificial intelligence technology in different industries and found that from the perspective of industry usage of technology, security and finance are the highest, followed by retail, transportation, education, medical, manufacturing, and health industries. Second. A large part of the reason why artificial intelligence has penetrated so quickly in the above eight industries is that the solutions provided by artificial intelligence can effectively solve industry pain points and empower industrial transformation and upgrading.

Taking the financial industry as an example, artificial intelligence can be effectively overcome in the financial field through intelligent customer service, intelligent marketing, intelligent investment advisory, intelligent investment research, intelligent risk control and other means, making financial services more automated and intelligent.Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Ping An, etc. all have plans in the field of smart finance. Among them, Alibaba is leading in the field of smart finance relying on platforms such as Alibaba Cloud, Tmall, Taobao, Ant Financial, and Alipay. Typical application scenarios of artificial intelligence in the field of smart finance are financial cloud solutions, in which cloud computing provides super computing power, and artificial intelligence determines the entire architecture and application system of the financial cloud and is the core of smart finance. According to International Data Corporation(IDC)The latest release of "China Financial Cloud Market"(Second half of 2019)"Tracking" report shows that as of the second half of 2019 in the smart financial cloud solution market, the market shares of Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, Huawei, and JD.com were 12.1%, 7.2%, 6.2%, 5.4%, and 4.7% respectively.

Looking at the transportation industry, the typical application scenario of artificial intelligence in the transportation industry is autonomous driving. Autonomous driving has five major advantages: safer, energy-saving, efficient, simple to operate, and significantly reduced labor costs; it is an important trend in the development of the automobile industry.In 2019, intellectual property media IPRdaily and incoPat Innovation Index Research Center released the "2018 Global Autonomous Driving Technology Invention Patent Ranking"(TOP 100)”, the report shows that during 2018, among the top 100 companies in the autonomous driving patent rankings, 36 were from China; the top 10 companies are: Baidu, Huawei, Zhixingzhi, Geely, ZTE, and Airunwu Lianlian, NIO, LeTV, SAIC and BAIC. Among them, Baidu and Huawei are far ahead in the number of patents and are the only two companies to enter the global TOP10.

Baidu currently ranks first in China in more than 20 autonomous driving categories. It has 150 test licenses, has been deployed in 24 cities, has a test mileage of 6 million+ kilometers, and has the first pre-assembled mass-produced Robotaxi in China. Baidu Internet of Vehicles cooperates with 60+ automobile companies, covering 400+ models on the market, serving a total of 10 million+ car owners, and the cumulative journey in 2019 exceeded 1 billion kilometers.Since March 2020, Baidu Apollo has successively won bids for test base construction projects such as intelligent network connection and autonomous driving vehicle-road coordination in Chongqing, Hefei, Chengdu and other cities, and has reached strategic cooperation with China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. and other institutions to accelerate Internet of Vehicles and intelligent transportation construction. Compared with Alibaba and Tencent, Baidu not only has a deep accumulation in software, but also has strong hardware capabilities, which allows its artificial intelligence territory to expand into physical industries with high technical barriers such as automobile transportation.

In addition to finance and transportation, the above eight major industries, artificial intelligence solutions and corresponding companies are displayed as shown in the table below. The in-depth analysis and in-depth mining functions of artificial intelligence are the key to enabling intelligent upgrades of applications in various industries.

Based on the above analysis, we rated BATH’s layout in the above eight typical artificial intelligence scenarios. It can be foundExcept for Huawei's relatively late transition to artificial intelligence, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent basically have layouts in the above scenarios, but each has its own focus; Baidu focuses on transportation, health, education, etc., Alibaba focuses on finance and retail, and Tencent focuses on industry, finance, and retail; Overall, Baidu has the most comprehensive applications of artificial intelligence, especially in the six industries of transportation, energy, medical, urban, education, and finance. With the help of Ant Financial and Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba has strong comprehensive strength and e-commerce-related They are even more powerful in the field, while Tencent and Huawei are relatively "scientific".

epilogue

It is no accident that new infrastructure has been promoted to unprecedented heights.

Looking at the overall macroeconomic background, after more than 40 years of reform and opening up, China's demographic dividend has come to an end. The marginal benefits of traditional infrastructure represented by high-speed rail have continued to diminish. We will never be able to go back to the time when a chopstick inserted into a root can sprout and grow. It’s the age of towering trees.

In terms of the quality of economic development, a series of problems such as high development costs for China's economy and enterprises, high dependence on foreign energy, and low levels of digitalization of government and enterprises have become increasingly prominent.

At the same time, the smart economy based on artificial intelligence and 5G is becoming a new engine for global economic development, and the fourth industrial revolution represented by quantum information technology is about to arrive.

Therefore, when the epidemic gradually passes, new infrastructure will assume the dual mission of stimulating short-term demand and increasing long-term supply, injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of the Chinese economy and the digital transformation and upgrading of various industries.

New infrastructure built with high-tech industries such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and big data centers as core technologies will set off a wave of intelligent application of science and technology, boosting the Chinese economy to accelerate the conversion of old and new driving forces, and add to the arrival of the era of smart economy. fuel.

Over the past 20 years, BATH(Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei)It is the most successful technology company in China. With the rapid growth of China's economy, it has established a huge business empire. In the future, the four giants will develop in AI, big data, cloud computing, IoT(Internet of Things)and 5G and other new technological fields to lay a solid foundation for the new economy, which will also have a profound impact on social people's livelihood, economic development, and social governance.

The effective implementation and advancement of new infrastructure will not only accelerate economic transformation, but also bring a new round of development to platform companies with deep accumulation in high-tech, such as Baidu and Huawei.