BOE to ramp up investment in R&D

China's leading display panel maker BOE Technology Group Co Ltd will invest more than 50 billion yuan ($7.02 billion) in research and development over the next three years, and allocate 500 billion yuan for procurement, aiming to drive technological breakthroughs and industrial upgrading across the supply chain.

Chen Yanshun, chairman of BOE, said the company plans to devote 0.5 percent of its total revenue into the R&D of artificial intelligence each year to promote the application of AI in manufacturing, product development and operations. It has established a robotics team focusing on the development and production of robots designed for factory scenarios.

According to Chen, BOE is deeply integrating advanced AI technology with the display sector, in hopes of building an intelligent system covering the entire display industrial chain, given that AI has experienced explosive growth in technological advancements and industrial applications over the past year.

Chen made the remarks during the recently concluded BOE Global Innovation Partner Conference 2025, the company's annual gathering for global partners in the display industry, in Beijing, while highlighting the significant role of AI in empowering the development of manufacturing industry.

The company has launched its AI-powered factory, covering production planning, material supply, manufacturing, quality management, energy optimization and environmental safety, enhancing the overall operational efficiency and setting a new benchmark for smart manufacturing.

"The first batch of AI factories has been rolled out, providing strong support to display manufacturing through the adoption of AI," he said.

Looking ahead, BOE will continue to collaborate with global partners to expand the use of AI across a wide range of fields to bolster the intelligent, green and sustainable development of the display industry, he added.

"BOE plans to establish marketing and R&D centers in multiple countries and regions around the world, and work closely with local partners to tap into market opportunities," Chen said.

The company's AI-powered display large models, which boast multimodal capacity and high precision and strong reasoning functionalities, could provide intelligent and digital solutions for scenarios across three core business sectors, namely, industrial manufacturing, product services, and enterprise operations.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, recently issued a guideline on deeply implementing the "AI Plus" initiative. The country will promote the use of AI in science and technology, industrial development, consumption, people's well-being, governance capability and global cooperation, according to the guideline.

By 2027, China will achieve extensive and deep integration of AI in six key sectors, with the penetration rate of new-generation intelligent terminals and AI agents surpassing 70 percent, and this figure will exceed 90 percent by 2030, the guideline said.

Pan Helin, a member of the Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy, which is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said more efforts should be made to give full play to tech enterprises' advantages in AI and big data to expand the application scenarios of AI across various sectors.

AI is not only a cutting-edge technology, but also one that provides a valuable opportunity for achieving transformation and upgrading, and improving the core competitiveness of enterprises, he added.

China's AI sector will make big strides in the next 10 to 15 years, with its market size reaching 1.73 trillion yuan by 2035, accounting for 30.6 percent of the global total, according to market research company CCID Consulting.

Zhu Keli, founding director of the China Institute of New Economy, underscored the vital role of AI in cultivating new quality productive forces and reshaping new competitive advantages.

Zhu said the adoption of AI can reduce production costs, lower energy consumption, improve the quality of products and optimize resource allocation, thus bringing about huge economic benefits.

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn