BEIJING – The size of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry is expected to exceed 1.2 trillion yuan (about $170 billion) in 2025, according to a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) noted at an industry forum held recently in Beijing that AI technology has reached a crucial turning point, accelerating its shift from technical innovation to the generation of real productive forces.
The institute highlighted significant improvements in large AI models this year, with linguistic and multimodal understanding capabilities improved by 30% and 50%, respectively.
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The embodied intelligence sector – which integrates AI with robotics – has also seen rapid expansion, securing more than 40 billion yuan in funding and involving more than 350 companies across the industrial chain.
Beyond AI, CAICT presented a roadmap for next-generation connectivity at the event, forecasting that China will launch commercial 6G applications around 2030, with large-scale deployment expected by 2035.