AI industry surpasses 1.2t yuan in '25

The size of China's artificial intelligence industry was estimated to exceed 1.2 trillion yuan ($177 billion) in 2025, up 40 percent year-on-year, according to a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology noted that China was home to more than 6,600 AI companies as of June 2026, representing 15 percent of the global total. The country has developed a complete industrial system spanning foundational infrastructure, models and frameworks, and sector-specific applications, CAICT said.

The application segment accounted for 55 percent of the entire AI industry chain in 2025, up 22 percent year-on-year. The foundational segment accounted for 38 percent and grew 59 percent, while the segment covering models and frameworks made up 7 percent and grew 189 percent.

The industry is highly concentrated in just a few regions, with Beijing, Shanghai, the provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shandong accounting for more than 80 percent of the national total, the academy said.

Large AI models, AI agents and AI chips are evolving rapidly, while AI products are diversifying and their use is expanding across traditional industries.

CAICT has led the drafting of two industry standards on defining the AI sector and identifying AI companies, aimed at providing unified standards for industry statistics, policymaking and business practice.

China will continue to advance its "AI Plus" initiative to promote the extensive and in-depth integration of AI into various sectors and fields of the economy and society.

China's vision to turn artificial intelligence from an expensive frontier technology into a resource for affordable, widely accessible applications will bring huge benefits to more countries, businesses and ordinary people worldwide, said industry experts.

Furthermore, the country is seeking to turn AI into real-world applications and a driver of economic growth. In the first half of this year, the industrial output of AI-related sectors, including integrated circuit manufacturing and in-vehicle intelligent equipment manufacturing, grew more than 30 percent.

XINHUA-CHINA DAILY