China core AI industry scale exceeds 1 trln yuan in 2025

China has achieved breakthroughs in industrial technological innovation in 2025, with the core artificial intelligence (AI) industry exceeding 1 trillion yuan (about 142 billion U.S. dollars) in scale, according to a national conference on industry and information technology held on Friday.

As part of its 2026 agenda, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology emphasized cultivating and expanding emerging and future industries, as well as supporting AI research and development, according to the conference.

Efforts will be made to develop new pillar industries, including integrated circuits, new display technologies, new materials, aerospace, low-altitude economy, and biomedicine.

The ministry expected the total added value of large industrial enterprises to grow 5.9 percent year on year in 2025.

From January to November this year, the value added of large high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing enterprises increased by 9.2 percent and 9.3 percent year on year, respectively, according to official data.

China has cultivated more than 600,000 technology and innovation-driven small and medium-sized enterprises, and the number of high-tech enterprises has reached 504,000.

Li Lecheng, minister of industry and information technology, said that efforts should be made to consolidate the steady, positive momentum of the industrial economy and to enhance the independent, controllable development of industrial chains. ■