China had 794 million active users of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) by May 2024, accounting for 72.7 percent of the total internet user base, according to a recently released white paper.

Featuring the development status of China's IPv6 technology, the white paper was released during the third conference on China's innovation and development of the IPv6 technology, held by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a Beijing-based think tank, which concluded in Beijing, on Monday.

IPv6 technology is the most important fundamental infrastructure of future cyberspace, and the framework is a key technology for the innovation and development of IPv6, said Wu Jianping, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The proportion of traffic using IPv6 in mobile networks is 64.56 percent, the figure in fixed networks is 21.21 percent, and the IPv6 support rate for home wireless routers exceeds 50 percent, support rate among 8,049 websites for key industries reached 96.01 percent, said Wang Song, vice-minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China.

IPv6 is known as the next-generation internet protocol. It not only provides a vast amount of IP address resources for internet users, but also serves as a backbone for supporting network capabilities, including the development of big data, cloud computing, enhancing digital economy, industrial upgrading, and providing better and more secure user experiences, Wang added.

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, the IPv6+ should continue to innovate, Wu Hequan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said during the conference.