Peng Cheng Laboratory

What Peng Cheng Laboratory does

Peng Cheng Laboratory (鹏城实验室) is a government-funded national research laboratory established in 2018 in Shenzhen's Greater Bay Area, operating under Guangdong Province administration with central government support. It focuses on three vertical research areas — broadband communications, new-type networks, and network intelligence — cross-cut by three horizontal disciplines of mathematics and theory, circuits and systems, and media interaction. The lab is structured as a state-owned research institution, not a commercial enterprise: it has no public listing, no venture capital backing, no revenue from product sales, and no parent company or subsidiaries. Headcount is in the 1,001–5,000 range with nearly 30 academicians leading research teams across approximately seven basic-research laboratories.

Its core scientific infrastructure comprises five major national facilities: Pengcheng Cloud Brain II/III (E-class intelligent computing platform on domestically controllable AI chips, ≥1,000 Pops AI capability with 64PB high-speed storage), China Computing Network/C²NET (national compute interconnection spanning 20+ heterogeneous centers with aggregated >5E Flops under unified task scheduling), Pengcheng Target Range (cybersecurity range covering 28 provinces, first in China with all five role types), Pengcheng Optical Network (silicon-based heterogeneous integrated optoelectronic chip process platform), and Pengcheng Hongyan (space-air-ground broadband wireless facility for 6G original innovation). The lab also released the Pengcheng·Nǎohǎi-Xīngyǔ 2.0 large language model supporting 70+ languages, contributes to international standards including AVS3 audio and 3GPP 6G, and operates the OpenI启智 national AI open-source community.

The funding model blends central and provincial government appropriation, joint innovation funds with state-owned telecom operators (China Mobile at 300万 per project, Guangdong Unicom Greater Bay Area Innovation Special), and collaborative R&D with state-owned enterprises and tech firms such as Huawei. Approximately 70% of Cloud Brain II compute time is shared externally, serving nearly 1,000 AI model training tasks. The lab trains 600+ joint doctoral students across 7+ top universities (Peking, Tsinghua, USTC, HIT, SUSTech and others) and runs joint platforms with Hong Kong University (Pengcheng·Star Cloud). Customer segments are national strategic research (government), industry partners (three telecom operators + Huawei + SOE ecosystem), the academic research community, and industrial applications. The lab is led by CAE Academician Gao Wen as Director.

Name

Peng Cheng Laboratory

Legal name

鹏城实验室 (Peng Cheng Laboratory)

Website

https://pcl.ac.cn

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Peng Cheng Laboratory is a government-funded national research laboratory in Shenzhen, established 2018, conducting strategic research in broadband communications, network intelligence, and AI. It operates five major scientific facilities and trains 600+ doctoral students with top Chinese universities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Research Services

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (541990)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Research Universities with National Laboratories/Big Science Facilities (EDAHAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Technical Universities with Specialized Engineering Domains (EDAHAEAI)

Keywords

• National research laboratory
• Scientific computing infrastructure
• 6G communications research
• Cybersecurity research platform
• Artificial intelligence research

Headquarters

HQ city

Shenzhen

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Government Research Funding: As a national key laboratory, receives government funding for strategic research projects. Conducts major national tasks under the 'Three Verticals and Three Horizontals' framework targeting broadband communications, new-type networks, and network intelligence.
2. Joint Research Projects with Industry: Collaborates with telecom operators (China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom) and technology companies on joint innovation special projects, contributing to national initiatives like 'East Data West Computing' (东数西算) and 'China Computing Network'.
3. Science and Technology Innovation Fund: Operates innovation funds with partners like China Mobile (鹏城-中移科创基金, 300万 per project) and China Unicom (鹏城-联通大湾区科创专项) for industry technology research.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Peng Cheng Laboratory is a government-funded national research laboratory operating major scientific infrastructure facilities including the Pengcheng Cloud Brain (E-class AI computing platform), China Computing Network (national computing power interconnection), Pengcheng Target Range (cybersecurity research facility), Pengcheng Optical Network, and Pengcheng Hongyan (6G wireless communications). It conducts fundamental and applied research in broadband communications, new-type networks, and network intelligence, and provides open access to its computing platforms for universities, research institutes, and enterprises. The laboratory also offers joint doctoral training programs with top universities and contributes to national and international technology standards.

Product overview

Peng Cheng Laboratory operates as a comprehensive research institution with a multi-platform architecture centered around major national scientific facilities. The core infrastructure includes 中国算力网 (C²NET) for national computing power interconnection, 鹏城云脑 for AI computing power, 鹏城靶场 for cybersecurity research, 鹏城光网 for optical communication research, 鹏城鸿雁 for 6G wireless communication, and 鹏城星云 for AI-powered scientific research. Supporting platforms include OpenI启智 (open-source AI community), 鹏城生态 (domestic ARM+Linux solutions), and 大型仪器设备共享管理平台. The laboratory also developed 鹏城·脑海-星语2.0 large language model and actively contributes to international standards including AVS3 and 3GPP 6G.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• China Computing Network (C²NET) National-level computing power interconnection infrastructure using next-generation communication and network technologies to enable high-speed interconnection of large-scale computing facilities with unified task scheduling, supporting the 'East Data West Computing' national initiative.
• Pengcheng Cloud Brain (鹏城云脑) Major scientific facility providing E-class intelligent computing capability of not less than 1000Pops based on domestically controllable AI chips, with 64PB high-speed parallel scalable storage, supporting ultra-large-scale AI model parallel training. About 70% of computing time is shared externally serving nearly 1000 AI model training tasks.
• Pengcheng Target Range (鹏城靶场)

Quantifiable outcome

• 12 consecutive global IO500 championships achieved by Pengcheng Cloud Brain III
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability14 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• Guangdong Province and Hong Kong-Macao (广东省及港澳)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 June 2026Collaborating with Guangdong Province and Hong Kong-Macao on building Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area International Science and Technology Innovation Center, as designated by President Xi Jinping and the Central Committee.
• China Telecom Research Institute (中国电信研究院)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 June 2026Jointly completed the industry's first large-scale real-network cascading destruction risk simulation verification test covering 5 major network domains, 3 network planes, and 100,000-level user access. Based on Pengcheng Network Range and China Telecom Cloud Network Integration Technology Pilot Verification Platform.
• China Unicom (中国联通)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Jointly established Pengcheng-Guangdong Unicom Greater Bay Area Innovation Special Project focusing on key technology areas including trusted privacy computing for multi-source heterogeneous data, 5G/B5G cloud-based industrial control systems, and low-altitude intelligent communication-sensing integrated network.
• Hong Kong University (香港大学)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Jointly released 'Pengcheng Star Cloud' platform new results, helping China deeply participate in international large science programs.
• China Mobile (中国移动)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Jointly established Pengcheng-China Mobile Innovation Fund targeting national network communications industry chain innovation chain, focusing on network communications industry complementation and frontier scientific research projects. Projects include 300万 per project.
• Top Universities including Tsinghua, Peking, USTC, HIT, SUSTech (清华大学、北京大学、国科大、哈工大、南科大等)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint doctoral training programs with 7+ universities including joint admission, student cultivation, and shared resources. Over 600 doctoral students jointly trained. Pengcheng Academy established for talent cultivation.
• Huawei (华为)majorTechnology or IntegrationCollaborative research on future network system optimization, participated in national key R&D programs (strategic international cooperation key special project). Team members from Huawei eLab laboratory.
• State-owned Enterprises and Industry Leaders (国央企)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiated establishment of 'Pengcheng Laboratory State-owned Enterprise Industrial Innovation Center' to create innovation ecosystem of research攻关-results transformation-industry application
• Hong Kong Chinese University (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Big Data Research Institute, Huawei (香港中文大学(深圳)、深圳市大数据研究院、华为技术有限公司等)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAbout 60 people from multiple units collaborating on future network system optimization research led by Luo Zhiquan academician
• Multiple Universities (Beijing University of Aeronautics, Peking University, Northeastern University, HKUST, City University of HK, Dalian University of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, etc.)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVirtual Fusion Network Space Basic Research Laboratory has 50+ members from 13 universities including 6 national-level talents

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Los Alamos National Laboratory: US national laboratory focused on national security science, HPC, and advanced networks. Comparable as a government-funded national lab with major HPC facilities and external scientific user programs.
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory: US Department of Energy national laboratory with leading supercomputing (Frontier, exascale) and quantum computing programs. Comparable as a global benchmark for a national lab combining HPC infrastructure, networking research, and academic-industry partnerships.
• Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) - Institute of Computing Technology: CAS ICT is China's premier government-affiliated computer science and computing systems research organization with much broader scope than PCL, including processor design (Loongson), AI, and computing systems. Comparable as a leading state R&D organization driving national compute strategy.

Emerging players

• Mila (Quebec AI Institute): Canadian non-profit AI research institute led by Yoshua Bengio, with strong government and industry funding. Comparable to PCL as a non-profit research organization with deep industry collaboration and doctoral training pipelines.
• Allen Institute for AI (AI2): Non-profit AI research institute founded by Paul Allen with leading NLP and computer vision research. Comparable to PCL in being a non-profit research organization driving fundamental AI and producing influential open research and models.

Direct peers

• Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO): Chinese national laboratory under HUST focused on optoelectronics, photonics, and optical communications. Comparable in being a state-backed research lab with similar big-science facility infrastructure (photonic chips, optical networks) and joint university doctoral training.
• Zhongguancun Laboratory: Beijing-based Chinese national laboratory established around the same period, focusing on next-generation information technologies. Directly comparable as a peer national lab with overlapping computing, network, and AI research mandates supported by municipal/provincial government funding.
• National Supercomputing Center in Wuxi (NSCC-Wuxi): Operates China's top-ranked Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer. Comparable to PCL's Cloud Brain as a national high-performance computing facility supporting external research workloads and government scientific computing priorities.

Regional players

• RIKEN Center for Advanced Intelligence Project (AIP): Japanese government-backed AI research center with a focus on fundamental AI and societal applications. Comparable to PCL in being a national/regional government-funded research institute tackling strategic AI and network research priorities.
• National University of Singapore - NUS Computing / AI Singapore: Singapore's premier national university computing school with major government AI programs (AI Singapore). Comparable to PCL's academic-research hybrid model with national funding, doctoral training, and industry partnerships in AI/networking.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pengchenglaboratory

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments1 record

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Frequently asked questions about Peng Cheng Laboratory