AI to lift industrial upgrade, growth

China's emphasis on bolstering the application of fast-evolving artificial intelligence technology in a wide range of sectors will advance industrial upgrades and inject fresh momentum into high-quality economic growth, while creating immense business opportunities for multinational corporations to invest in the country, said industry experts and company executives.

Amid a backdrop of sweeping new tariffs by the United States, they said that it is vital for Chinese technology enterprises to bolster innovation and achieve tech breakthroughs in AI, so as to enhance China's core competitiveness in the strategic emerging field globally and navigate challenges from escalating trade protectionism.

Meanwhile, Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's cost-effective and open-source models serve as a catalyst to accelerate China's adoption of AI, while the country's super-large market, technological prowess and thriving innovation ecosystem underpin its capacity to drive technologies from research labs into the industrial arena, they added.

This year's Government Work Report stated that under the AI Plus initiative, the nation will work to effectively combine digital technologies with its manufacturing and market strengths. China will support the extensive application of large-scale AI models, and vigorously develop new-generation intelligent terminals and smart manufacturing equipment, the report said.

Global market research company International Data Corp said in a report that AI is forecast to contribute $19.9 trillion to the global economy through 2030, and drive 3.5 percent of global GDP in 2030.

By automating routine tasks and unlocking new efficiencies, AI will have profound economic consequences by reshaping industries, creating new markets and altering the competitive landscape, it noted.

Xu Sitao, chief economist of Deloitte China, said the scale of China's AI sector is expected to have reached 319.4 billion yuan ($43.7 billion) in 2024, and AI will be applied into various industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, finance, agriculture, retail, logistics and promote the digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading of these industries.

Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management at German industrial conglomerate Robert Bosch GmbH, said the company has leveraged AI technology in autonomous driving, home appliance products and factories in China.

"Our Chinese colleagues are very good at that, so they are taking the newest technologies, applying them and inventing new ones, which is a good thing," Hartung said in a recent interview with China Daily, adding that he is bullish on prospects for the application of cutting-edge AI technology in the Chinese market.

He said Bosch has collaborated with many Chinese AI companies, such as autonomous driving startup WeRide. "There are many other cooperation arrangements we have with AI companies in China, so it makes perfect sense to do this in cooperation."

He hailed China's recent achievements in the AI sector, such as the meteoric rise of DeepSeek, which has stunned the world with its latest reasoning models. "That's a good contribution to the world because an open-source model is always a contribution for many people who do research like we do on AI."

"China definitely has a lot of potential in using AI, and I think going forward, we will also see a lot of applications, maybe in robotics, but maybe in automotives, maybe also core manufacturing operations. So, I think there are a lot of opportunities," he said.

Cui Jingyi, vice-president and general manager of industrial software developer Aveva China, said China is becoming the market with the most extensive application of AI technologies globally, bringing new opportunities for many companies including Aveva.