China will support the growth of data circulation service providers and encourage closer cooperation with artificial intelligence companies, as part of a broader push to accelerate the market-based use of data as a production factor, several top industry regulators said on Saturday.

The National Data Administration — together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission — unveiled guidelines on Saturday aimed at nurturing data service institutions and promoting the secure, compliant, and efficient trading of data.

The move also came as Liu Liehong, head of the National Data Administration, chaired four round-table meetings to gather views from industry experts and corporate representatives on advancing the Digital China initiative.

Leading tech firms — including Huawei Technologies, New H3C Group, Inspur Group, Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group, ByteDance, Baidu, JD.com, Meituan, and Didi Chuxing — participated in the meetings. Tech and software leaders like Beijing Galaxy Universal Robotics, Enflame Technology, FanRuan Software, and Tanji Technology also attended.

According to the newly-released guidelines, a key priority is expanding the circulation and trading of high-quality datasets suited for artificial intelligence development. Authorities said data service institutions will be encouraged to work with leading companies across industrial chains to build such datasets.

They will also be supported in deepening cooperation with AI firms, using data infrastructure to provide services, including data aggregation, governance, and model training.

Authorities said they will guide companies to develop diversified and compliant data exchange mechanisms, including arrangements where data can be traded for services, orders, models, or application scenarios. The guidelines also encourage exploration of new value-realization paths, such as using data as capital contributions.

Third-party platforms — such as data exchanges and data circulation service platforms — will be supported in matching supply and demand and handling delivery and settlement, in a bid to lower transaction costs and enable wider data flows.

The document urges service providers to develop a wider range of data products and services that support technological innovation, industrial development, social governance, and improvements to public services.

These include resource-style products, such as curated datasets, as well as decision-support offerings such as verification services, analytical reports, data indices, and visualization tools. The policy also highlights emerging formats including intelligent agent-based services tailored to industry use cases.