YANG LIU/CHINA DAILY/MUKESH MOHANAN/CHINA DAILY
China is rapidly moving from technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence to real-world value creation, leveraging its full innovation chain, industrial ecosystem and massive market to become a global leader in AI application and industrial transformation, officials and industry experts said.
Li Lecheng, minister of industry and information technology, said that AI is a common asset of humanity, and developing countries’ rights to develop and use the technology must be firmly safeguarded.
“China is ready to work with all parties to promote fair and inclusive development, actively assist countries in developing AI technologies and services, and jointly build a governance framework with broad consensus,” Li said.
The numbers tell a compelling story. In 2025, China’s core AI industry surpassed 1.2 trillion yuan ($177 billion) in value, with over 6,200 AI enterprises operating across the country, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Meanwhile, the country captured 90 percent of global humanoid robot shipments in 2025 with over 330 product models, cementing its leadership in the emerging sector.
China also ranks first worldwide in downloads of open-source large language models, underscoring its edge in generative AI innovation. In addition, nearly 200 key standards have been developed across the AI industry chain, providing a unified technical framework for the sector.
Samantha Zhu, chairperson of Accenture Greater China, said AI is driving the accelerated global reconfiguration of enterprise value. In China, industries across the board are now moving from trials in AI technology to large-scale deployment.
“China is emerging as a critical testing ground for the global development of embodied intelligence, with robotics, intelligent vehicles and industrial scenarios converging at an accelerated pace. AI is no longer just a tool; it is rapidly evolving into a versatile, cross-scenario capability that is permeating business-critical processes and every facet of enterprise operations,” Zhu said.
Accenture’s 2026 index of Chinese enterprises’ digital transformation, for which 160 Chinese companies were surveyed, reached the largest single-year increase in recent years, and digital application scenarios such as AI assistants, intelligent research and development, and AI-powered customer experiences are rapidly becoming the mainstream in China, Zhu noted.
Shen Jun, vice-president of Unilever’s China R&D Center, said: “China’s rapid advancement in AI is creating unprecedented innovation opportunities for multinational companies such as Unilever. With its strong scientific research capabilities, deep talent pool, well-developed industrial ecosystem and vibrant community of AI startups, China provides an ideal environment for emerging technologies to be rapidly validated, scaled and applied to drive global innovation.”
Jeff Shi, president of SenseTime Asia Pacific, highlighted China’s increasingly central role in the global AI landscape. “You can’t talk about AI without talking about China — and you can’t talk about China without talking about AI,” he said, adding that in Southeast Asia, learning from China has become a key route to faster AI adoption. The term “Chinovation”, a shorthand for Chinese-style innovation, was coined in Singapore.
China’s AI-led expansion overseas is also changing, Shi said, noting that it is moving beyond the export of stand-alone software and applications toward a more sophisticated offering of industry-specific solutions and digital infrastructure.
That model draws on nearly the full breadth of China’s AI ecosystem — from data centers and token plans to governance frameworks and talent development, he added.
In June, London-based research company Omdia ranked SenseTime No 1 in the Asia-Pacific video analytics market, ahead of Japan’s NEC, the longtime champion.
“The market shift is driven by AI,” Shi said. “Five years ago, customers came to us to test Vision AI in pilot projects. Today, Vision AI is widely embedded in operations. The new demand is to integrate generative AI into workflows.”
China’s model is also drawing a new class of visitors. As it delivers tangible returns on investment, more are traveling to the country to study firsthand. International business visitors to SenseTime’s Executive Briefing Center in Shanghai rose tenfold this year, Shi added.
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