China is developing a nationwide artificial intelligence (AI) industry by combining local strengths with coordinated national planning, aiming to speed up AI applications and create new drivers of economic growth.
Recent economic data from 31 provincial-level regions show rising demand for AI-powered applications and a development pattern shaped by each region’s resources, industries and technological advantages, reports Xinhua.
“The driving role of the AI wave is becoming increasingly visible in emerging industries such as integrated circuits and industrial robots across regions,” Xiao Hongwei, a researcher at the State Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission, said.
AI is now moving from a technological concept towards practical productivity gains in China, Xiao said.
AI hubs take the lead
China’s intelligent computing capacity reached 2,185 EFLOPS by the end of June, marking a 177 per cent year-on-year increase. The national utilisation rate of computing facilities stood at 71.4 per cent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
EFLOPS, or exaFLOPS, measures computing performance, with one unit representing 1 quintillion floating-point operations per second.
Xiao said different regions are developing AI industries based on their own conditions, creating a system of complementary advantages and coordinated growth.
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province are leading AI development by using their strengths in technology, talent and industrial supply chains to build domestic AI ecosystems and expand industries such as integrated circuits and industrial robots.
The three regions have set “global AI competitiveness” as a key target in their 2026-2030 five-year plans, focusing on AI technology, industrial ecosystems and application development.
Beijing aims to become a global AI innovation hub. By 23 July, the capital had completed filings for 259 large models and registrations for 195 AI products, including general-purpose models, industry-specific models and on-device mobile models.
Shanghai had received filing approval for 169 large AI models by the end of June. The city’s 394 AI enterprises above designated size generated more than 637 billion yuan ($93.85 billion) in industrial output in 2025.
In Guangdong, the core AI industry exceeded 300 billion yuan in scale last year.
Regions develop specialised AI paths
Other provinces are building AI industries around their own advantages.
East China’s Anhui Province is strengthening its AI chip sector. Nexchip, the province’s first 12-inch wafer foundry, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July, giving the company dual listings in Hong Kong and the A-share market.
Its fourth-phase project, with an investment of 35.5 billion yuan, is scheduled to begin production in the fourth quarter of this year.
ChangXin Memory Technologies, a Hefei-based memory chipmaker, also went public in late July and became the most valuable company on China’s A-share market.
Central China’s Hubei Province is using its strong optoelectronics sector to support AI growth. Wuhan, the provincial capital, is home to the Optics Valley of China, and the province has developed a full industrial chain covering optical communications, chips, displays, terminals and networks.
Henan Province is using AI to transform itself from a traditional transport hub into a computing power centre.
In April, China’s largest scientific intelligent computing cluster began operations at the national supercomputing network’s core node in Zhengzhou, supporting AI-driven scientific research and industrial applications.
Meanwhile, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Guizhou are using their clean energy resources to develop intelligent computing centres.
AI centre in the mountains
The Lichuan AI Computing Center in Hubei Province’s Wuling Mountains shows how natural advantages can support AI development.
Although Lichuan lacks major scientific and educational resources, its cool climate and hydropower capacity provide favourable conditions for a computing centre with lower electricity costs.
The facility houses rows of black server cabinets and provides around 150 PFLOPS of computing power, with utilisation exceeding 80 per cent.
PFLOPS, or petaflops, measures computing speed, with one PFLOP equal to 1 quadrillion calculations per second.
The centre now supports industries including culture and tourism, government services and aerospace information.
In Liangwu Township of Lichuan, GEOVIS Raywin Technology Co. Ltd. has established a satellite ground receiving station that uses computing resources from the AI centre to process satellite data in real time.
“The site is surrounded by mountains yet offers expansive views, with a pristine electromagnetic environment and a mild, stable climate. These natural conditions make it an ideal location,” Gao Kui, the company’s general manager of operations, said.
He said the centre’s proximity had improved efficiency and convenience while reducing costs.
The computing centre is also supporting local industries. More than 20 million tourists visit Lichuan each year, generating large volumes of data from accommodation, transport, food, sightseeing, shopping and entertainment services.
These data have helped develop a domestic large language model for culture and tourism services, offering visitors AI-powered smart guides and other services.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, along with other government departments, is promoting high-quality computing infrastructure by expanding hub, regional and edge computing facilities.
The government is also developing a national integrated monitoring system to track computing capacity and its use.
