On the afternoon of July 22, during the APEC Digital Week, Chengdu held a press conference to detail its "AI+" action plan. Officials from the city's Economic and Information Technology Bureau, Commerce Bureau, Health Commission, and Science and Technology Bureau provided a comprehensive explanation of the plan.
The plan reveals that Chengdu's AI core industry scale surpassed 150 billion yuan in 2025, with a target to exceed 260 billion yuan by 2027. By 2030, the city aims for a 90% penetration rate of next-generation intelligent terminals and agents, achieving widespread integration of AI across various sectors and establishing itself as a globally influential benchmark city for AI applications.
Reshaping the Industry Value Chain
The AI industry is now entering a phase centered on commercial deployment and industrial empowerment. To meet the ambitious goal of adding over 100 billion yuan to the industry scale within two years, Chengdu has defined a development path of "scenario-defining technology, scenario-driven innovation, and scenario-incubating industries." This logic is embodied in a "6+N+1" work system.
At the macro level, the plan focuses on six key areas: scientific research, industrial development, consumption enhancement, public welfare, governance capabilities, and collaborative cooperation. At the micro level, leveraging local industrial strengths, the city targets 24 specific fields, including embodied intelligence, biomedicine, and quantum technology, with 112 typical applications. A "benchmark application scenario demonstration project" is also being implemented to promote the first use, trial, and showcase of products in critical projects like new technological upgrades and the Sichuan-Tibet Railway.
Building robust infrastructure is a prerequisite for the industry chain's operation. Chengdu has initially established an innovation platform system covering computing power, data supply, model development, and scenario validation, integrating the entire AI industry chain from the foundational layer to the application layer. This system supports the full cycle of R&D, training, testing, and deployment. Over 300 key technology research projects have been launched, including the development of "Deep Computing Series" DCU chips and high-speed data communication optical modules. Additionally, 23 large models have completed national registration for generative AI services.
To accelerate technology transfer, the city has established 14 pilot-scale platforms and concept verification centers, formed an AI achievement transformation team, and facilitated nearly 100 industry-university-research collaborations. Future policies will include expanding the innovation scoring system and "first investment, later equity" pilot programs to allocate capital and innovation resources to enterprises at different life cycle stages.
Accelerating the Transformation of Frontier Technologies
In manufacturing, consumer markets, and public services, the application of frontier technologies is creating new economic growth. In the industrial sector, Chengdu is simultaneously advancing intelligent industrialization and industrial intelligence. The city's total computing power has reached 30,000 PFLOPS, and over 90,000 5G base stations have been built. The Chengdu-Chongqing national hub for the integrated computing power network ranks first in China for latency performance.
Policy tools like "computing vouchers" and "token vouchers" support enterprises. The coverage rate of smart transformation and digitalization among large-scale industrial enterprises exceeds 94%. By 2027, the city aims to develop over 30 industrial agents and cultivate more than 20 leading and excellent-level smart factories, promoting high-end, intelligent, and green manufacturing.
In the consumer market, policies are driving smart hardware sales. Aligned with the national "trade-in" policy, smart products are included in subsidy programs. From January to June this year, retail sales of smartphones, wearable smart devices, and computers and their accessories grew by 6.5%, 139.9%, and 390.0% year-on-year, respectively. Physical retail is also undergoing smart upgrades, such as the "Robot World" in Jinjiang District, which features nearly 100 embodied intelligence products in a new retail and display scenario.
In healthcare, technology is facilitating the flow of medical resources. By standardizing data collection, Chengdu's health information platform has connected 414 medical institutions and aggregated over 8.72 billion data points, enabling the sharing of 138 test and examination results. From pre-consultation smart triage to intra-consultation diagnostic imaging and post-consultation chronic disease management, over 80 medical institutions have established 168 application scenarios across 28 fields. The city plans to explore a dedicated AI computing base and trusted data space for the health sector, integrating medical models into all aspects of diagnosis and treatment.
Chengdu is building its industrial ecosystem by opening up application scenarios across the city. According to the plan, various policies and pilot projects will be implemented sequentially, driving the regular application of advanced technology in more industries.
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