China has officially elevated artificial intelligence to the national strategic level with the State Council’s recent release of guidelines for implementing comprehensive “AI+” action. The document sets an ambitious goal for China to fully enter a new era of intelligent economy and society by 2035.
Liu Dian, associate researcher at Fudan University’s China Institute and director of strategic research at Tsinghua University’s AI International Governance Research Institute, told Sputnik that this policy marks China’s determination to secure a dominant position in the global AI competition.
The guidelines outline specific targets across three phases. By 2027, China aims to achieve deep integration of AI with six key sectors, with smart terminals and AI agents reaching over 70% adoption rates. The intelligent economy’s core industries will experience rapid growth while AI’s role in public governance will significantly strengthen. By 2030, AI will comprehensively empower high-quality development, with smart terminal adoption exceeding 90%. The intelligent economy will become a major growth driver for China’s economic development. By 2035, China will fully transition into the intelligent economy and society development stage, providing strong support for achieving socialist modernization.
The policy emphasizes eight key areas for strengthening foundational support capabilities, including enhancing model capabilities, improving data supply innovation, and coordinating intelligent computing power. The government plans to support AI chip innovation breakthroughs and optimize national computing resource allocation.
Global AI investment has surged from $19.04 billion in 2014 to $252.33 billion in 2024. The United States leads with $109.08 billion in 2024 investment, nearly 12 times China’s $9.29 billion. However, experts note that Chinese AI models are rapidly catching up in quality, with performance gaps narrowing significantly across key benchmarks.
The policy represents China’s commitment to transforming from traditional enterprises built around human decision-making to “AI-native enterprises” constructed around AI computational capabilities, potentially reshaping entire industry landscapes through this fundamental organizational shift.
Source: Sputnik News, August 28, 2025
https://sputniknews.cn/20250828/1067099108.html