By 2025, going global is no longer an option but a necessity for Chinese enterprises, with the 'speed of global expansion' emerging as a crucial differentiator.

The pace of localized manufacturing, channel establishment, and adoption of digital and intelligent operations is widening the gap between overseas enterprises under similar conditions. This is because, unlike the initial stages of globalization, the efficient circulation of data has become the most critical production factor in the current era of large-scale industrial and supply chain overseas expansion.

The cost and efficiency of information services have become prerequisites for success.

From a consumer perspective, the public has noticed a steady decline in the cost of overseas data usage. Domestic operators, led by China Mobile, are accelerating their global business layouts.

However, regarding enterprises going global, many believe that telecommunication operators are still at the stage of providing network and computing infrastructure. Yet, China Mobile has ranked first in Omdia's 'Digital Strategy Benchmark Analysis of Telecom Operators' for three consecutive years.

This is akin to NVIDIA achieving first place in the semiconductor market, with CUDA as its key innovative force. Amid the wave of globalization, operators' digital and intelligent enterprise services are also gaining momentum. Globally, China Mobile's digital strategy is closely tied to the future direction of iSolutions, the enterprise service brand under China Mobile International (hereinafter referred to as CMI).

For enterprises embarking on globalization, choosing a route is merely the beginning. Once they land, they may discover that the 'wealth password' often lies in unexpected environmental factors.

Currently, there is a consensus among Chinese enterprises going global that the overflow of production capacity and supply chain dividends in various industries are built on the foundation of a mature digital economy and technology. This is also one of the main reasons why the map of the 'new world' order differs from the traditional foreign trade era.

Whether adopting a cross-border e-commerce business model or localizing production and manufacturing, the core lifeline for enterprises going global revolves around two key points: first, the infrastructure cost of application technologies such as networks and computing power; second, intelligent efficiency enhancements in localized operations.

In the fast-paced competition of globalization, these two aspects are interdependent, requiring mutual integration and interaction. This is why enterprise service providers increasingly find the previous SaaS logic challenging in supporting Chinese enterprises going global. Extending from single-point capabilities to comprehensive intelligent scenarios has earlier become the mainstream solution for globalization.

From the experience of most overseas enterprises, it is evident that infrastructure cost is the foundation, and laying a solid foundation aims to provide a convenient environment and sufficient space for the second step of efficiency enhancement.

However, for Chinese enterprises, globalization is often described as a 'survival game' because a solid, flexible, and cost-effective foundation like that in China is rare in the globalized soil.

For instance, the African market has been favored and explored by more and more Chinese enterprises in the past year. The African consumer market itself is a blue ocean, with its endogenous foreign trade demand gradually shifting from purchasing goods to introducing Chinese manufacturing machines and technologies. Thus, there is huge potential for development across various industries.

However, Africa's digital infrastructure and local communication services have always been hidden concerns for Chinese enterprises going global. While European and American markets boast the most mature communication and digital systems, the high cost of communication services and labor, along with strict data compliance systems, also deter potential entrants.

Therefore, it is virtually impossible for digital enterprise service providers to independently address the pain points that integrate the demands of the physical and digital worlds. The 'smart engineering' of the information artery still needs to revert to telecommunication operators.

In recent years, China's three major operators have begun to continuously strengthen their enterprise services for globalization, including accelerating the infrastructure construction of computing power networks in emerging regions and building domain-specific solutions.

Among them, CMI's development direction is to extend its global network scale towards digital new infrastructure represented by intelligent computing centers, thereby providing enterprises with one-stop cloud-network integration solutions. Currently, CMI has established 39 business locations and 5 self-built data centers globally, with a data center scale reaching 121MW. It is expected that by 2030, China Mobile will have over 1000 overseas PoP points.

Since 2020, China Mobile has jointly launched the 2Africa submarine cable construction project with multiple international operators. This is currently one of the largest and most widely covered submarine cable projects on the African continent, aiming to create a high-quality entry environment for Chinese enterprises entering Africa.

The 2Africa submarine cable has a total length of about 45,000 kilometers and a system design capacity of up to 180Tbps, making it a veritable 'super information highway.' Upon completion, 33 countries along the route will enjoy efficient and convenient international connections, particularly benefiting the explosion of mobile internet applications and the digital transformation of enterprises in African countries. In fact, it is not difficult to observe from China Mobile's revenue that the proportion of digitalization continues to increase. According to financial report data, the proportion of China Mobile's digital transformation in communication service revenue has exceeded 30%.

This indicates that, after addressing the network speed issue, digital solutions such as cloud computing, AI, and data processing have become key demands for enterprises going global and are also the most significant competitive advantage for Chinese enterprises.

In the future, in the field of operators with strong leadership and first-mover effects, intelligent computing resources and digital enterprise service capabilities will also be regarded as the 'first dimension' of technological innovation capabilities.

The enthusiasm of overseas enterprises towards AI applications in the era of intelligence and cloud computing is closely related. This is because the value of data assets has peaked in the era of large models and AI.

From a technological perspective, several indispensable factors have emerged for telecommunication operators to refine efficient overseas solutions for various industries on top of the basic network and computing power 'arteries':

First, the data ecosystem requires long-term integration. In 2025, the most challenging problem for overseas enterprises in building local digital intelligence remains the last mile.

CMI's advantage lies in its extensive global network of data cooperation centers and its long-term selection and accumulation of high-quality technology service providers in China, covering various modules such as cloud services, edge computing, the Internet of Things, and data security. These service providers are also part of the globalization wave and need to be carried on the communication artery. Therefore, CMI naturally possesses integration value.

During the cross-border data service cooperation with a Chinese automotive institution, the one-stop innovation solution provided by CMI fully demonstrated that technological innovation can effectively support new business models and alleviate the risk pressure brought by regulations.

Due to the vast amount of data generated from globalization that needs to be transmitted back to China for analysis and processing, it involves 'fatal risks' such as data privacy compliance and data storage. This institution and CMI jointly created a one-stop solution of 'AI privacy desensitization + compliant storage + transmission,' achieving a high-speed data desensitization technology with an accuracy rate of up to 98%. After processing privacy information such as faces and license plates, the data was stored and transmitted back to China in a safe and compliant manner.

Second, the integration capability of the network ecosystem. After deploying and covering PoP points from point to area, whether it is possible to enable technology innovative enterprises to conduct localized AI applications at a relatively low cost by highly integrating resources such as data centers and computing power centers is a prerequisite for domestic large model and AI companies that have frequently participated in globalization competitions recently and are nearing the 'coming-of-age ceremony' of going global. Without the long-term optimization and promotion of operator services, it is difficult for technology enterprises to showcase their innovative advantages and achieve efficient overseas expansion.

Third, the popularity of digital life services for small and micro-enterprises and the C-end. C-end digital business, while enhancing the end-user experience, can also strengthen the digital skills and awareness of localized employees.

In this regard, enterprise service brands rooted in the field of communication services, such as CMI, have always been at the forefront. As information service providers who better understand fast-paced growth and competition, their overseas layout basically starts with the borderless experience of information services but is not limited to this.

Another trend for globalization in 2025 is that the fantasy of 'wildcat gold mining' may be completely shattered.

Facing earlier layouts, the contingency of technology explosions, and the uncertainty of competition, data-driven refined operations have almost become the only controllable growth point for enterprises.

Even in relatively 'backward' emerging markets, the demand for cost reduction and efficiency enhancement will not regress to China's situation a decade ago, as the efficiency revolution is irreversible. If overseas enterprises cannot standardize efficiency, it will be challenging for them to have the energy to truly participate in 'commercial wars.'

In some highly competitive and high-potential fields, the value of efficiency is particularly evident. Take the overseas expansion project of a Chinese automaker served by CMI as an example. This automaker's globalization strategy has multiple destinations, with the Internet of Vehicles and in-vehicle applications being one of the product highlights. However, the difficulty of cross-border data transmission and data exchange between the in-vehicle system and the cloud is significant. At the same time, there are certain differences in technical implementation methods and management approaches when cooperating with local operators separately.

Based on this demand, CMI provided it with an Internet of Vehicles solution, aggregating high-quality overseas operator resources while providing a unified connection platform, enabling enterprises to access and manage it in a one-stop manner. In addition, through the cloud-network data transmission solution, it efficiently and stably solved the data exchange between the in-vehicle system and the cloud platform.

Compared to enterprises finding local operators for project cooperation individually, CMI has opened up global communication and data services from both its own and cooperative aspects, helping enterprises achieve a global layout at a lower cost and faster speed.

In a 5G smart factory project for a Chinese new energy manufacturing enterprise expanding to Europe, the 'efficiency issue' was also well addressed.

Due to the generally high cost of 5G in Europe but the necessity of 5G private network coverage in new energy factories, CMI utilized the OneCyber 5G private network operation platform and international dedicated links to enable the enterprise's global access in Europe. The solution not only met the enterprise's demand for 5G applications with high bandwidth and low latency but also achieved visible and controllable management and operation, improving production efficiency by 17%.

The speed of data processing, the cost of private networks and computing power are efficiency scenarios that domestic enterprises have clearly felt in recent years. This is largely due to the fact that, in addition to business logic, operators, as fundamental communication supporters, also need to undertake responsibilities such as inclusive science and technology and creating value space for enterprises. The same logic applies to overseas markets.

Compared to going it alone, the theme of globalization has long since become co-construction and sharing, together seeking benchmark answers.

As a communication service provider, the in-depth enterprise management issues that CMI can solve are also reflected in many office implementation links. For example, cross-border business travel is an area with great potential for cost optimization in the actual operation of globalization.

iSolutions has consistently been 'saving money' for enterprises by optimizing business travel communication, introducing welfare activities tailored for enterprises, and offering cross-border voice and data traffic packages. This ensures cost reduction while maintaining data traffic security. To commemorate the 15th anniversary of CMI and express gratitude to our customers, this year, in addition to our cross-border voice and data traffic packages, we are also offering free trials of cloud-network products, smart applications, and DICT services.

Reflecting on the history of 'Made in China,' its mature and comprehensive industrial chain emerged from the innate drive of enterprises to grow and a cooperative spirit aimed at mutual prosperity.

Prior to the maturity of the industrial chain, it was China's world-leading network and communication capabilities, coupled with the emphasis of prominent operators on enterprise services, that connected these ecological potentials.

In the present day, the aspiration to go global entails retelling the story of 'Made in China' and technology through localized narratives. Although the technological era and market channel development strategies have evolved, the digital gene remains a pivotal and undeniable factor.

Amidst the process of globalization, there are significant uncertainties, yet there is also a sense of reassurance that allows enterprises to 'feel at home' even as newcomers. For instance, service providers like CMI are accompanying Chinese enterprises in their global expansion, jointly extending high-quality products and services from China to the rest of the world.