China's State Council Information Office held a press conference on the morning of August 26, focusing on the "15th Five-Year Plan" period's initial steps. Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) outlined plans to implement an action plan aimed at revitalizing traditional industries, boosting their development quality and efficiency during this period.

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the adoption rate of artificial intelligence technologies among large-scale manufacturing enterprises has surpassed 30%, and 504 intelligent factories at an excellence level have been established. The output value share of national green factories in total large-scale manufacturing output has climbed from 9% to 22%. Comprehensive energy consumption per unit of products, such as steel and cement clinker, has generally reached globally advanced standards.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the ministry will prioritize technological upgrades by expanding pilot programs for new-type technological transformation in manufacturing cities. The push will also drive intelligent, green, and integrated development of traditional industries to advance high-quality sector growth. Additionally, efforts will focus on enhancing standards, implementing actions where standards upgrades lead the optimization of traditional industries, and using high-quality standards to steer sector development.

Quality enhancement is another key focus, with plans to deepen the manufacturing excellence quality improvement project, promote advanced quality management systems, and strengthen foundational capabilities in metrology, inspection, testing, and quality certification. These measures aim to guide companies toward improved quality management levels.

Officials also stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, actions will be taken to expand and strengthen emerging industries within the industrial sector, creating new momentum for growth. Multiple measures will accelerate the scaled development of these industries, boosting their global competitiveness.

Yao Jun, Director of MIIT's Planning Department, emphasized breakthroughs in critical technologies across strategic fields and weak links in industrial supply chains. Unconventional measures will be adopted to achieve decisive progress in core technologies for key areas, including integrated circuits, industrial machine tools, and high-end instruments, promoting the entire chain's advancement.

Efforts will also bolster the growth of emerging industry parks and enterprises. By 2035, the goal is to cultivate around 100 demonstration parks that radiate influence in industrial cluster development, collaborative innovation, ecosystem optimization, and governance improvement, alongside 1,000 leading demonstration enterprises excelling in product development, technological innovation, business model innovation, and management efficiency.

Scenario cultivation will accelerate the large-scale application of new technologies, products, and scenarios, facilitating testing, iteration, industrialization, and widespread adoption of innovations in real-world settings. Ecosystem optimization will channel factor resources toward emerging industries, fostering integrated development of large, medium, and small enterprises and collaborative innovation across upstream and downstream supply chains.

At the press conference, MIIT officials highlighted that nearly 200 key standards for artificial intelligence have been successfully developed, with many AI application scenarios now vividly demonstrated. As of the end of June 2026, China's intelligent computing power reached 2185 EFLOPS, and over 70 high-capacity computing channels have been built around computing hubs.

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the approach will be application-driven, ensuring that "AI + Manufacturing" delivers new speed, new heights, and new results. On the supply side, the focus is on solidifying the technological foundation, supporting cutting-edge research in high-end training chips, humanoid robots, and intelligent terminal iterations to better meet the needs of various industries and fields.

On the application side, the priority is uncovering real-world scenarios, identifying high-value use cases across sectors, and nurturing application service providers to ensure enterprises can genuinely access, afford, and effectively utilize these technologies. For the ecosystem, efforts will concentrate on optimizing the development environment, promoting standards development and application across categories such as foundational commonalities, enabling applications, and safety ethics.

Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin emphasized safety, focusing on effectively mitigating risks. This includes conducting AI safety risk monitoring, information sharing, and notification handling, as well as establishing and utilizing a vulnerability database for AI products. Continuous technological advancements will target deep synthesis detection, model algorithm security protection, and value alignment, ensuring AI truly serves and remains under human control.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the information and communication industry will undergo comprehensive upgrades, anchored in objectives such as full infrastructure advancement, agile and efficient industry regulation, comprehensive security safeguards, and broader, deeper integration and empowerment.

Systematic planning will drive the coordinated development of next-generation communication networks. Efforts will focus on evolving foundational networks, actively advancing "dual 10G" network construction, strengthening computing-network coordination, and accelerating the development of intelligent agent internet. Spatial network collaboration will be enhanced through deeper integration of satellite and terrestrial communication networks, expanding coverage toward integrated space-air-ground-sea networks. International network layouts will be optimized by increasing submarine and land cable routes and improving international communication network resilience.

Innovative development of converged networks will accelerate the construction of mobile IoT, new-type industrial networks, and vehicle networks, enriching application scenarios and empowering intelligent transformation across vertical industries.

Liu Yulin, Director of MIIT's Information and Communication Development Department, stressed innovation-driven growth to advance technology R&D and application adoption. 6G was highlighted as a top priority during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, with accelerated efforts in core technology research to prepare for commercial deployment. Innovative "AI + Information and Communication" development will foster new models of digital consumption, integrating information and communication technologies into workshops, mining operations, and daily life.

Reform will drive the creation of a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment. Industry governance will be optimized, and open cooperation deepened to establish widely recognized digital governance rules and standards. Liu Yulin noted that network operational resilience will be strengthened through a three-year action plan to enhance network security systems and capabilities. Emergency communication support will be improved by building a robust, efficient, and multidimensional emergency communication system, reinforcing equipment deployment and emergency response teams.

At the press conference, MIIT officials detailed efforts to implement the 15th Five-Year Plan and accelerate new industrialization. Vice Minister Xin Guobin stated that during this period, China will accelerate the development of advanced manufacturing, maintaining a reasonable proportion of manufacturing in the economy. A key focus will be deepening the "AI + Manufacturing" special action.

Xin Guobin explained that the approach involves identifying high-value scenarios across industries, exploring new cultivation models with tailored frameworks for each sector and detailed records for each scenario. A range of lightweight, low-cost, and easily deployable industry solutions will be introduced, along with high-quality open-source "AI + Manufacturing" projects.

As of the end of June 2026, China's intelligent computing power reached 2185 EFLOPS, with over 70 high-capacity computing channels built around computing hubs. Through real-scenario training, robots have begun operating in production, emergency rescue, and catering services. Future support will extend to R&D of key technologies such as high-end training chips and multimodal algorithms. Frontier research will tackle brain-inspired intelligence and world models, while intelligent terminals like humanoid robots and brain-computer interfaces advance in iterations.

In terms of industrial structure optimization, several sectors have been designated as development priorities for the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Xin Guobin highlighted the acceleration of emerging pillar industries, including integrated circuits, aerospace, biomedicine, low-altitude economy, new-type energy storage, and intelligent robotics. Future industries, such as quantum technology, biological manufacturing, hydrogen and nuclear fusion energy, brain-computer interfaces, embodied intelligence, and sixth-generation mobile communications (6G), are poised to become new economic growth points.