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As a major traditional manufacturing province, Hebei is attempting to reshape its new competitive advantages in industry through a profound "digital-intelligent transformation." The Hebei Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, together with the Hebei Communications Administration, the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission and five other departments, recently issued the "Hebei Province 'Artificial Intelligence + Manufacturing' Special Action Implementation Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), explicitly establishing a "one core, three transformations" development system.
Hebei is taking the integrated advancement of computing power, algorithms and data as its core, while coordinately promoting industrial intelligence, the industrialization of intelligence and the optimization of the development ecosystem. It aims to break through pain points such as insufficient industrial data governance and low matching between large models and supply and demand, pushing artificial intelligence from "single-point pilot" demonstrations — mere "potted landscapes" — toward a "grand vista" of large-scale empowerment, blazing a trail for the transformation and upgrading of a major traditional manufacturing province.
Unblocking the Circulation of Computing Power Elements
The deep integration of artificial intelligence with the real economy cannot be achieved without the support of underlying factors. Targeting the pain points of small and medium-sized enterprises that find computing expensive and transformation difficult, Hebei is promoting new measures such as "computing power supermarkets" and "model-data resonance" on the computing supply side, unblocking the circulation of computing power elements through an innovative combination of measures.
The Plan proposes implementing a special action for inclusive computing power, exploring innovative business models such as "computing power supermarkets," aiming to lower the threshold for enterprises to use computing. At present, the Xiong'an New Area has launched an international integrated computing power scheduling platform, linking more than 20,000 P of domestic computing power, and is promoting deep adaptation between large models and domestically produced chips, forming a "four-core, nine-chip" independent innovation product system and consolidating an autonomous and controllable hardware foundation.
On the data and model side, Hebei has launched the 2026 "model-data resonance" action to promote the construction of high-quality industrial data sets. Data shows that Hebei Province has cultivated 65 industrial large models for key industries such as steel, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, of which 25 have passed evaluation by national third-party institutions. By unblocking the closed loop of "data collection — model training — scenario implementation," industrial data is accelerating its transformation into industrial value.
Creating "Real Gold and Silver" on the Factory Floor
In Hebei, a group of pioneering enterprises has already tasted the benefits of "artificial intelligence + manufacturing," and AI is becoming a new engine for cost reduction and efficiency improvement.
At CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd. in Qinhuangdao, artificial intelligence is applied to industrial X-ray non-destructive testing of automotive aluminum alloy wheels. Relying on a high-dimensional network learning model trained on tens of millions of X-ray image samples, it can automatically identify internal defects such as shrinkage porosity and cracks, improving recognition efficiency by 40% and greatly reducing manual missed inspections and misjudgments. This solution has been promoted across multiple global bases of the enterprise and was selected as a typical case of artificial intelligence application by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
In Cangzhou, the chemical industry large model jointly developed by Hebei Xinhai Holding Group and Baidu Intelligent Cloud has installed a "smart brain" for safety production, increasing the enterprise's equipment energy efficiency by 3.2% and raising inspection efficiency by more than 40%. Xinjin Steel used an AI large model to deeply optimize industrial circulating water, achieving annual water-saving benefits of more than 22 million yuan.
From single-point breakthroughs to industry-wide empowerment, Hebei is driving transformation through pilot projects. As the country's only pilot province for scenario-based digital transformation in the steel industry, Hebei Province has cumulatively implemented 10,377 digital transformation projects, built 43 national-level 5G factories and 864 advanced-level smart factories. At present, 84 large model application scenarios have been implemented in key industries in Hebei Province.
Exporting AI Solutions Across Multiple Fields
Hebei currently has 711 artificial intelligence-related enterprises, concentrated in Shijiazhuang, Zhangjiakou, Langfang, Baoding and the Xiong'an New Area. Among them, 57 are foundational-layer enterprises, covering AI chips, sensors, computing centers and data processing services; 34 are model-layer enterprises, deeply engaged in the research and development of industry-specific and general-purpose large models; and 620 are application-layer enterprises, exporting AI solutions for multiple fields.
In the foundational layer, Kelin Electric and Sensor Technology have launched sensor products such as radar and wireless temperature measurement; Runze Technology and Heying Data provide AI training and inference computing support; Shuyuntang and Shenyue Software undertake services such as data cleaning and mining. In the model layer, HBIS Digital and Xinhai Chemical have built large models for the steel and chemical industries; Wenzhun Intelligent and Jingu IoT have developed general-purpose large models covering scenarios such as energy conservation, security and business management. In the application layer, Hua'an Baitang and China Mobile System Integration provide complete AI services for smart manufacturing, smart energy and smart transportation.
As a source of industrial innovation, the Xiong'an New Area has gathered more than 100 key artificial intelligence enterprises and implemented more than 30 self-developed large models. The "Kuangling" mineral industry large model enables decision-making empowerment across the entire mineral supply chain. A group of local AI enterprises is growing rapidly, providing localized technology supply for manufacturing transformation.
From "Technology Supply" to "Full-Chain Escort"
To push artificial intelligence from a "potted landscape" to a "grand vista" requires a sound industrial ecosystem as support. Hebei has assembled a resource pool of digital transformation service providers consisting of 306 units, built 23 provincial-level digital transformation promotion centers, of which 3 were selected as national-level; cultivated 10 provincial-level digital parks, held 53 park matchmaking activities, served more than 20,000 enterprises, and provided enterprises with full-chain services covering diagnosis, transformation and operation and maintenance.
Hebei is making simultaneous efforts in talent cultivation and security assurance. On the one hand, relying on the Xiong'an New Area, it is building an "AI + IT" comprehensive training base and coordinating with relocated universities to jointly cultivate interdisciplinary talent; on the other hand, it has established a provincial and municipal two-level emergency management system for industrial data security incidents, with 5 plans selected as national cybersecurity insurance pilots, ranking third nationwide, safeguarding the security bottom line of industrial digital transformation.
In terms of industrial spatial layout, Hebei plans to build a "one zone, two belts" industrial pattern, with the Xiong'an New Area as the core, creating an integrated coordinated development industrial belt of "computing power — algorithms — data" and an embodied intelligence industrial belt, promoting the gathering of innovation factors, guiding leading enterprises to settle, and cultivating a梯队 of specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative AI enterprises.
At present, based on its own manufacturing foundation, Hebei is coordinating computing power supply, data governance, model cultivation and scenario implementation through "one core, three transformations," not only setting a clear roadmap for the digital-intelligent transformation of the province's manufacturing industry, but also providing a referable "Hebei sample" for traditional industrial provinces across the country to cultivate new quality productive forces relying on artificial intelligence.
Li Jian, Director of the Software Industry Division of the Hebei Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that next, Hebei will release a batch of "artificial intelligence + manufacturing" supply capability lists and demand scenario lists, carry out precise matchmaking between supply and demand, select 100 typical application scenarios, create a batch of replicable and promotable typical cases, and scale up their implementation across the province, helping new industrialization advance steadily and sustainably.
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