Abstract: Strengthening industry self-regulation and preventing involutionary competition are essential requirements for building a new development pattern. Using data on A-share listed firms in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2007 to 2023, this paper examines the governance effect of intelligent computing centers on corporate involutionary competition. The results show that intelligent computing centers can alleviate corporate involutionary competition. Mechanism analyses indicate that intelligent computing centers can improve resource allocation efficiency, promote firms’ adoption of artificial intelligence technologies, and enhance the corporate information environment, thereby alleviating involutionary competition. Further analysis shows that the alleviation can improve firms’ economic performance. Accordingly, it is necessary to improve the supply system for computing power infrastructure, reduce the institutional costs faced by firms in accessing computing resources, encourage firms to deeply integrate intelligent computing centers into R&D and production activities, and optimize the allocation of computing resources, so that firm-level computing power infrastructure can effectively serve as technological support for the governance of involutionary competition.

Key words: intelligent computing center, computing power, involutionary competition, price markup, high-quality development