2021 Cloud Computing Top Ten Keywords and Development Trends

On July 27, the 2021 Trusted Cloud Conference, co‑hosted by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) and the China Communications Standardization Association, took place in Beijing. CAICT’s Cloud Computing and Big Data Institute director He Baohong officially released the "2021 Cloud Computing Top Ten Keywords" and the corresponding important development trends.

The ten keywords identified are: Cloud Native, High Performance, Chaos Engineering, Hybrid Cloud, Edge Computing, Zero Trust, Optimized Governance, Digital Government, Low‑Carbon Cloud, and Enterprise Digital Transformation.

Cloud Native: Cloud architecture is being rapidly rebuilt around cloud‑native technologies, which align well with the new efficiency demands of massive digital transformation initiatives in China’s "new infrastructure" push.

High Performance: Accelerated cloud‑based high‑performance computing drives the digital economy, with expanding compute, network, and storage resources enabling large‑scale, transparent, and diverse workload scheduling.

Chaos Engineering: To ensure stability of complex distributed systems, chaos engineering provides resilience under uncontrolled conditions; standards and maturity models are being drafted, and a dedicated chaos‑engineering lab is planned.

Hybrid Cloud: Recognized as a primary model for enterprise cloud adoption, hybrid cloud solutions have gained broad market acceptance, with 82% of global users already deploying hybrid configurations.

Edge Computing: Edge computing is gaining momentum, with a maturing technology stack, expanding use cases, and an evolving ecosystem of chips, cloud services, operators, and solution providers.

Zero Trust: As traditional perimeter security reaches its limits, zero‑trust and native cloud security concepts are converging, offering elastic, micro‑segmented protection for cloud workloads.

Optimized Governance: With deeper cloud adoption, enterprises shift focus from migration to post‑migration optimization, establishing comprehensive governance frameworks that cover strategy, planning, implementation, and lifecycle improvement.

Digital Government: Digital technologies, especially cloud computing, are being leveraged to reinvent government processes, improve decision‑making, and enhance service efficiency as part of China’s 14th‑Five‑Year Plan.

Low‑Carbon Cloud: By improving resource utilization across compute, storage, and networking, low‑carbon cloud initiatives aim to reduce the energy footprint of data centers and support broader societal carbon‑reduction goals.

Enterprise Digital Transformation: Digital transformation, emphasized in successive government work reports and the 14th‑Five‑Year Plan, is moving from macro‑level strategies to micro‑level implementation across all enterprise value‑chain segments.

Additional reading links are provided for hybrid cloud architecture, NVMe over Fabrics, DPU industry overview, and Kubernetes basics.