AI Photo:VCG

As of October 31 this year, the number of artificial intelligence (AI) organizations in China had reached nearly 1.9 million, with more than 60,000 enterprises nationwide in the manufacturing sector having realized an AI transformation, the China Organization Data Service under the State Administration for Market Regulation said on Tuesday.

Experts noted that boosted by supporting policies, China's AI sector has achieved strong growth momentum, and the tech strength will create favorable conditions for the transformation and upgrading of Chinese enterprises.

According to the service center, AI-related organizations are particularly concentrated in the southeast region, accounting for 57 percent of the total. South China's Guangdong Province led the country with nearly 280,000 organizations, accounting for 14.7 percent of the national total.

With an average annual growth rate of 55 percent, South China's Hainan Province's AI-related organizations have exceeded 90,000, among the forefront of the country's major AI provinces.

The number of AI organizations in the sci-tech and information technology sectors came in at about 550,000, together accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total number of AI organizations.

"Data showed that the country's AI sector has achieved robust growth momentum, thanks to policy support," said Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences.

Wang noted that the southeastern region has a solid economic and industrial foundation, which provides strong financial and technical support for the development of the AI industry. 

Moreover, the region boasts many high-tech enterprises and research institutions, forming a relatively complete AI industrial chain and generating an agglomeration effect.

"China's AI industry steadily ranks in the world's first tier, and it is a global leader in terms of AI algorithms for language models of all sizes," Pan Helin, a member of the Expert Committee for the Information and Communication Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

China's core AI industry reached a scale of more than 578 billion yuan ($80 billion) in 2023, up 13.9 percent year-on-year, official data showed.

The country has made important breakthroughs in the research and development of AI technology, such as in the areas of deep learning, natural language processing and computer vision. At the same time, a number of globally influential AI companies and research institutions have emerged in China, Wang told the Global Times on Tuesday.

In China, AI is becoming an important engine for the development of new quality productive forces. In this year's Government Work Report, China unveiled an AI Plus initiative, a strategic move designed to propel the digital economy's expansion and spearhead the transformation and modernization of manufacturing sectors.

The AI transformation in the manufacturing sector will improve precision in the use of manufacturing resources and reduce resource consumption, Pan said, noting that China's tech strength has created favorable industrial and technological conditions for the transformation and upgrading of Chinese enterprises.

Yang Yajun, an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in September that AI has been applied in manufacturing research and development, pilot programs, production, services and management, and China has built more than 2,500 digital workshops and intelligent factories.

In addition to wide application in the manufacturing industry, AI now is also used in areas including healthcare, financial services, transportation and education, Wang said, noting that the technology will bring changes to all trades and professions, and most importantly, meet people's aspirations for a better life.