At the China Development Forum 2026, held in Beijing from March 22 to 23 under the theme "China's 15th Five-Year Plan: High-Quality Development and Co-creating New Opportunities," Alibaba Group Chairman Joe Tsai shared his perspectives during a seminar on "Technological Innovation and Future Industrial Development." He stated that China is currently at an optimal moment to share its technological advancements and achievements with the world, from breakthroughs in new energy electric vehicles and high-end manufacturing to robotics and artificial intelligence.
In the field of artificial intelligence, China has achieved significant breakthroughs despite various challenges and difficulties. In his view, several factors contribute to the sustained development of AI in China.
First, the country has made strategic investments in its power infrastructure. Over the past decade, China has continuously increased investment in power transmission, with an average annual investment of approximately $90 billion, maintaining its position as the world's leader in this area. By the end of 2025, the country's cumulative installed power generation capacity reached 3.89 billion kilowatts, with clean energy sources like solar power accounting for an extremely high proportion of new net capacity. This large-scale investment provides the AI industry with ample power supply and a cost advantage, forming a solid foundation for AI development.
Second, the breakthrough of Chinese AI depends on a win-win, mutually beneficial belief in open source. By utilizing open-source models, China's AI sector is breaking down barriers, ensuring that AI is no longer a privilege reserved for a few giants. In 2025, the global download volume of Chinese open-source models led the world, allowing developers everywhere to freely access, fine-tune, and deploy these powerful models. This has significantly lowered the global barrier to using AI, making intelligent technology a true public good for all humanity.
Third, integrating AI with manufacturing is an imperative, not an option. China possesses the world's largest manufacturing system and a complete industrial chain, with its manufacturing value-added accounting for nearly 30% of the global total. China is leveraging its vast production network to rapidly achieve digital and intelligent transformation. The massive amounts of industrial data generated serve as core resources for training industrial AI. China is pioneering the development of competitive industrial AI to enhance manufacturing quality, efficiency, and capability, with plans to export its intelligent manufacturing capacity to create new value for global industry.
Discussing the vast application potential of AI in China, Tsai indicated that the country recognized early on that the ultimate goal of AI development is not only to create cutting-edge models but, more importantly, to popularize AI applications for the benefit of society.
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