On April 21, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Expansion and Quality Improvement of the Service Industry," proposing to comprehensively strengthen the weak links in the producer services sector and reinforce the supportive role of technological services. On April 24, the Beijing Auto Show commenced, featuring simultaneous appearances from major global automotive brands, with leading Chinese independent brands making a concentrated push. Concurrently, dozens of industry summits and technology launch events were held, focusing on core areas such as solid-state batteries, comprehensive AI, and end-to-end intelligent driving, painting a new vision for the future of global mobility.
In recent years, when discussing Chinese manufacturing, the prefix "intelligent" is often used. New technologies, represented by artificial intelligence, are accelerating their integration with the real economy, profoundly altering the production models and economic structures of the manufacturing industry, and becoming a key driver of industrial upgrading.
How can technological services play a supportive role in enhancing the quality and upgrading of manufacturing? On April 8, at the Southwest Embodied Intelligence Training Center in the Ecological Technology Innovation Park of the High-Speed Rail South Area in Yibin, Sichuan, technicians were training robots in various scenarios.
First, consider the most visible changes on the production front. In the past, factories largely relied on human experience. Now, with the use of sensors to collect real-time data and applications such as intelligent quality inspection and process optimization, product quality and production efficiency have significantly improved. For instance, the technological transformations in China's first batch of 15 pilot factories have led to an average increase in production efficiency of 29% and a reduction in product defect rates by 47%.
Looking deeper, technological services are not limited to individual links but drive the collaborative advancement of the entire manufacturing system. For example, the first batch of pilot factories has transitioned from being "product manufacturers" to becoming comprehensive providers of "products + services + solutions," driving the collaborative upgrading of over 1,300 upstream and downstream enterprises. Sany Group, through digital transformation, has established three world-class lighthouse factories and dozens of smart factories globally, validating the scalable replication path of "AI + manufacturing."
China possesses significant advantages in accelerating the empowerment of manufacturing transformation through technology. From a micro perspective, many enterprises have achieved considerable success in exploring future manufacturing models. Recently, China's first batch of 15 pilot-level smart factories made a collective appearance at the 2025 World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference, representing the highest level of global intelligent manufacturing.
From a macro data perspective, China's intelligent manufacturing transformation is steadily advancing, with over 35,000 basic-level, 8,200 advanced-level, 500 excellence-level, and 15 pilot-level smart factories already established. The adoption rate of AI technologies among large-scale manufacturing enterprises exceeds 30%, with deep integration and application of AI in scenarios such as assisted design and intelligent quality inspection.
Looking at future trends, the core AI industry in China is rapidly expanding, and the ripple effects of AI are extending upstream. Additionally, China has established 42 10,000-card intelligent computing clusters, with its intelligent computing scale ranking among the top globally. The support from the AI industry and computing infrastructure provides a solid foundation for technology to empower manufacturing.
To further advance "AI + manufacturing" and highlight the critical role of technological services, it is essential to enable physical enterprises to better understand how to integrate AI technologies and help technology companies comprehend industrial scenarios. At the same time, the two foundational pillars—computing support and talent reserves—must be continuously strengthened. This includes bridging the "last mile" from the underlying computing infrastructure to industrial applications and accelerating the cultivation of interdisciplinary talent proficient in both industry and technology.
The role of technological services in supporting the high-quality development of manufacturing fundamentally represents a shift in developmental thinking and approaches. By leveraging innovative capabilities to reshape the "skeleton" of manufacturing, China's journey toward advancement and excellence in manufacturing will become steadier and more far-reaching.
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