China's 'AI Plus' becomes magnet for global capital

CHONGQING — Chongqing, an important industrial manufacturing base in Southwest China, has recently turned into a showroom for the deepened integration of AI technology and traditional industries.

As a leading Chinese new energy vehicle maker whose market cap has topped 270 billion yuan ($38 billion), Seres Group is now steering into embodied intelligence through a new partnership with tech giant ByteDance, the group said.

The collaboration, outlined in a framework agreement by its Chongqing-based subsidiary and Byte-Dance, will cover codesign and other end-to-end operations to build a new AI application ecosystem.

This is just one example of how China's "AI Plus" initiative is winning favor among businesses and investors around the world.

China is being increasingly recognized by global enterprises as a core base for AI research and development and AI application, multiple global investors said during the 19th Meeting of the Chongqing Mayor's International Economic Advisory Council, which was held in Chongqing late last month.

In August, China published a set of guidelines for the deep implementation of the AI Plus initiative, laying out a systematic approach to strengthening supportive AI infrastructure and accelerating the integration of AI technology across economic and social domains.

"The integration of AI with sustainable manufacturing will unlock continued demand growth and open new spaces for collaboration in China," said Michael Mertin, CEO of AT&S AG, an Austrian manufacturing company.

The meeting brought together representatives of 21 multinational corporations from 11 countries and regions to explore how AI-powered industrial development can drive new cooperative ventures. They agreed on one message: If you want to scale AI, do it in China.

China's vast market, rapid application iteration, comprehensive industrial ecosystem and maturing innovation environment are its key attractions, according to the multinational representatives.

"We pilot many global technologies in China precisely because the speed of technological application and iteration here is the fastest," said Jerome Dorlack, president and CEO of Adient, a global leader in automotive seating.

"One of our largest global tech centers is located here in Chongqing. The AI technology we developed to automate sewing processes on seat production lines, for instance, reduces manual intervention by 20 to 30 percent. Innovations from this center are deployed worldwide," Dorlack said.

Bertrand Stoltz, executive vice-president of STMicroelectronics, said that China's distinct cost advantages in AI innovation provide both the technical and economic foundation for large-scale smart application deployment in manufacturing.

In February, STMicroelectronics and San'an Optoelectronics began operations at their joint 23 billion yuan silicon carbide wafer plant in Chongqing, with mass production scheduled to begin within the year.

The facility will supply high-performance chips for China's NEV and photovoltaics industries, according to Stoltz.

"We are committed to leveraging our expertise in AI to collaborate with Chongqing in building a system of new quality productive forces centered on AI," said Xia Quan, global vice-president of Qualcomm.

Chinese AI firms are now providing intelligent infrastructure and business ecosystems globally through an "AI plus manufacturing "model.

The open-source release of Chinese AI models like DeepSeek is fostering a global shift toward more open and collaborative AI development. "No single company holds a so-called master key. Achieving this requires an entire ecosystem," Dorlack said.

"China is now a global innovation leader. It is crucial to strengthen cooperation and co-innovation with Chinese companies in technology, products and market integration," Mertin said in a speech delivered at the meeting.

As China remains a core market for AT&S AG, the company also plans to increase the localization of its AI-related product R&D in the country, optimize local supply chains and work collaboratively to build an industrial ecosystem.

Xinhua