Does the Construction of Computing Power Infrastructure Inhibit Corporate Financialization？Evidence from Data Center Construction in China Prefecture-level and Above Cities
SUN Boyue, YU Binbin, HU Yajing
School of Economics, Zhejiang University; School of Economics and Trade, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies; The Intellectual Property Research Institute, Xiamen University
Summary:
The real economy is the foundation of a country's economy, the fundamental source of wealth creation, and an important pillar of national strength. However, for a period of time, a large number of non-financial entities have been experiencing a trend of capital “shifting from real to virtual” under the short-term profit motive, leading to an accelerated manifestation of the economic and financial pattern. Previous studies have shown that financialization of physical enterprises not only suppresses the development of core businesses at the micro level, squeezes research and development innovation, reduces production efficiency, and further exacerbates overcapacity; It will also have a negative impact on the stability of financial markets and the control of risk spillovers between industries at the macro level. The governance of enterprises' transition from reality to virtuality is an important task to prevent and resolve major financial risks, improve the quality and efficiency of financial services to the real economy. Current academic research primarily focuses on strengthening internal and external corporate governance and blocking potential pathways to financialization. While enhanced financial regulation can effectively curb capital diverging from the real economy in the short term, the persistence of substantial profit disparities between real and financial sectors may fuel speculative arbitrage motives through various “financial innovations,” ultimately eroding regulatory effectiveness. Therefore, achieving sustainable governance of corporate financialization necessitates shifting focus toward improving the core operational performance of real-economy enterprises to proactively bridge the real-financial return gap, thereby curbing capital flight from the real sector. Especially under the wave of industrial digitalization and intelligent transformation, how to effectively inhibit the “transition from real to virtual” while actively promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of enterprises has become an important issue with theoretical value and practical significance. Computing power—integrating information processing, network transmission, and data storage capabilities—represents a new form of productive force. Since the advent of the digital-intelligent era, the computing power supply system has evolved into essential infrastructure driving production mode transformation. It plays a pivotal role in accelerating the deep integration of emerging digital technologies with enterprise production, organization, and management activities. This integration enhances product market competitiveness, improves core operational performance, and crucially, actively narrows the investment return gap between real and financial sectors. Data centers, serving as physical facilities housing computing chips, servers, networking equipment, and storage systems, constitute the core hubs and critical carriers within computing power infrastructure, occupying a dominant position in the entire supply system. Leveraging public ICP license data for various data centers from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology service platform, this study pioneers a regional-level quantification of computing power infrastructure development. Furthermore, it constructs a theoretical framework analyzing computing power infrastructure's impact on corporate financialization through two dimensions: digital technology foundation and fintech empowerment, empirically examining its effects, mechanisms, and heterogeneity on firms' financialization. Empirical findings demonstrate that regional computing power infrastructure significantly inhibits corporate financialization, a result robust to endogeneity concerns and sensitivity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals dual pathways: (1) Reducing DI transformation barriers and guiding digital asset investments to curb capital “disengagement from the real sector”. (2) Supporting fintech applications and alleviating financial misallocation to reduce motivations for “shifting toward the virtual economy”. Heterogeneity analysis indicates stronger inhibitory effects for non-SOEs, core digital industry firms, and enterprises in regions with superior data ecosystems, and regarding short-term financial assets. This research provides micro-level evidence on computing power infrastructure's role in governing corporate financialization, contributes to financialization literature, enhances understanding of digital infrastructure's microeconomic effects, and offers theoretical and policy insights for local governments to strengthen new infrastructure development, advance digital-real integration, and manage corporate financialization.
孙波约, 于斌斌, 胡雅静. 算力基础设施建设是否抑制了企业“脱实向虚”?——来自中国地级及以上城市数据中心建设的经验证据[J]. 金融研究, 2025, 541(7): 95-112.
SUN Boyue, YU Binbin, HU Yajing. Does the Construction of Computing Power Infrastructure Inhibit Corporate Financialization？Evidence from Data Center Construction in China Prefecture-level and Above Cities. Journal of Financial Research, 2025, 541(7): 95-112.
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