AI powering China's industrial evolution
'Industry plus artificial intelligence' cresting across Chinese manufacturing landscape, driven by tech companies scrambling to develop AI agents to solve tasks
Sekido highlighted how Chinese companies are transitioning from isolated AI experiments to comprehensive, enterprise-wide reinvention. He pointed to electric vehicle giant BYD as a paradigm-shifting case.
"This isn't about simple AI use cases. BYD harnessed AI end-to-end — from battery R&D and design automation to manufacturing and autonomous driving systems — fundamentally reinventing operations to accelerate time-to-market and capture dominant market share," Sekido said.
This approach, he stressed, represents "corporate reinvention", where AI becomes a strategic engine rather than a productivity tool.
The statistics also confirm the surge.
Market research company International Data Corp revealed a seismic shift: the proportion of Chinese industrial enterprises deploying large models and intelligent agents has skyrocketed from 9.6 percent in 2024 to 47.5 percent in 2025.
Crucially, those implementing these technologies across multiple operational areas have exploded from 1.7 percent to 35 percent.
"We're moving rapidly beyond isolated pilots," said Cui Can, senior research manager of IDC China. "High-value intelligent agent applications are landing and scaling."
IDC forecasts China's industrial AI spending to reach 90 billion yuan ($12.53 billion) by 2028, fueled by this accelerating adoption.
This is far more than mere automation.
AI is enabling a fundamental evolution in how Chinese industry operates, moving from fragmented point solutions toward interconnected, increasingly autonomous systems. "Industrial AI agents represent a critical lever," Cui said. "They drive the innovation cycle for essential industrial assets — datasets and large language models — creating a self-reinforcing ecosystem for advancement."
The applications are diversifying rapidly across the industrial landscape.
In May, Lenovo unveiled its manufacturing-focused AI agents, designed to fuse AI capabilities with decades of industrial know-how. Its "Supply Chain Control Tower" agent delivers staggering efficiency: decision-making accelerated by 50-60 percent, order fulfillment rates boosted by 5 percent, and a 20 percent reduction in manufacturing and logistics costs, Lenovo said.
