Datong is witnessing a remarkable surge in its digital industry, with the once-idle buildings in the Dongfengli area of Pingcheng district having been transformed into a bustling center for data services.

This facility has become a pivotal hub for Datong's growing data annotation industry, symbolizing the city's swift transition from a coal hub to a center of computational power.

By repurposing 240,000 square meters of unused assets, Datong has established a national-level data annotation base, featuring 22 high-standard workplaces. The city has fostered 75 annotation and call center enterprises, boosting the industry's output to over 1.14 billion yuan ($169 million).

Datong has accumulated 15,730 TB of annotated data, creating 527 specialized data sets across sectors such as culture, energy, and transportation. These resources have facilitated the large-scale deployment of 18 coal AI models in Shanxi province's mines.

The booming data annotation sector has also delivered significant social benefits, creating over 35,000 jobs.

In addition, the city is positioning itself in emerging AI fields, focusing on AI, AIGC (artificial intelligence-generated content), and AI comic dramas, in collaboration with leading industry players like New H3C and iFlytek.

Plans are underway to develop a framework consisting of one platform, one base, and three centers, laying the foundation for continued growth in the digital industry.