SASAC mandates central SOEs to accelerate AI adoption across all manufacturing processes

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council recently convened a special meeting, emphasizing that central state-owned enterprises (SOEs) must focus on key areas and critical links, striving to become "more advanced." The meeting outlined an integrated deployment across five dimensions: technology, industrial structure, production methods, manufacturing paradigms, and business models.

In particular, regarding the manufacturing paradigm, the meeting explicitly required "guiding and promoting central SOEs to accelerate the widespread application of artificial intelligence in all areas of manufacturing, and to strengthen the intelligent upgrade of the entire process, including R&D, production, and management."

As a vital pillar of the national economy, central SOEs operate across key manufacturing sectors such as high-end equipment, energy and chemicals, rail transit, aerospace, and new materials, serving as the "ballast stone" of China's manufacturing system.

"This meeting made an integrated deployment across five dimensions, pushing central SOEs' manufacturing from a focus on scale and volume to a systemic leap in technology, industrial structure, production methods, manufacturing paradigms, and business models," Zhou Lisha, a state-owned enterprise expert, told China Times.

A Blueprint for Upgrading Central SOE Manufacturing

The five "more advanced" development paths identified by SASAC precisely target the core bottlenecks in the current transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing sector:

• More advanced in technology: Systematically undertake a new batch of major national science and technology projects, implement a special set of landmark major scientific and technological tasks, promote the construction of a number of pilot-scale experimental platforms, and achieve a more high-end and independent technology roadmap.
• More advanced in industrial structure: Expand the increment of emerging industries, cultivate the variable of future industries, optimize the stock of traditional industries, and continuously move toward the mid-to-high end of the industrial and value chains.
• More advanced in production methods: Adhere to the mutual promotion of pollution and carbon reduction with quality and efficiency improvement, and accelerate the formation of an industrial structure and production method with high technological content, low resource consumption, and minimal environmental pollution.
• More advanced in manufacturing paradigms: Guide and promote central SOEs to accelerate the widespread application of AI in all areas of manufacturing, and strengthen the intelligent upgrade of the entire process, including R&D, production, and management.
• More advanced in business models: Vigorously promote the deep integration of advanced manufacturing and modern services, innovatively develop service-oriented manufacturing, tap into new growth points through business model integration, and enhance the overall level of the industrial and value chains.

Among these five directions, a more advanced manufacturing paradigm serves as the core driver and innovative highlight throughout the entire process. The meeting explicitly deployed a comprehensive acceleration of AI adoption across all areas of central SOE manufacturing, using AI to empower R&D innovation, smart manufacturing, intelligent control, and intelligent operations and maintenance. This aims to achieve intelligent upgrades across the entire manufacturing process, all elements, and all scenarios, fundamentally reshaping the production logic, management models, and development paradigms of traditional manufacturing.

Industry experts noted that unlike past piecemeal intelligent upgrades of single devices or links, the AI manufacturing paradigm upgrade deployed by SASAC represents a systematic, full-chain, and deep-seated transformation. It aims to leverage the vast industrial scenarios, complete industrial chains, and deep technological accumulation of central SOEs to create a benchmark for the intelligent transformation of the national manufacturing industry and lead the overall upgrade of the domestic manufacturing sector.

Unlocking New Momentum in AI-Driven Manufacturing

As the policy blueprint moves toward implementation, a number of noteworthy examples have already emerged on the front lines of central SOE manufacturing.

In July of this year, China Mobile, together with 10 other central SOEs including China Electronics Technology Group (CETC) and China Electronics Corporation (CEC), launched the first AI-native industrial internet platform for central SOEs, named "Mobile Tiangong." The platform possesses core capabilities such as engine tools, high-quality data, and AI training and inference. It enables the rapid construction of a full-process closed-loop system from data governance to AI-driven decision-making for industrial scenarios and has served over 300,000 enterprises nationwide. The platform's impact has already set benchmarks in multiple industries:

• Angang Steel's AI safety production platform has reduced safety-related administrative work by 90% and unplanned downtime by 60%.
• PetroChina's comprehensive intelligent system for oil and gas operations has improved production stability by 16.7%.

Profound changes are also taking place in the coal mining equipment manufacturing sector.

The "Embodied Intelligence Empowering Intelligent Manufacturing of Coal Mining Equipment" scenario, created by Beijing Tianma Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd. (Tianma Intelligent Control), a subsidiary of China Coal Technology & Engineering Group (CCTEG), was selected as one of the first ten landmark open scenarios for central SOEs. This scenario covers the entire intelligent manufacturing process for coal mining equipment, detailing 16 sub-application scenarios across four categories: logistics and handling, assembly and connection, processing and coating, and inspection and quality control. It achieves a deep, full-domain integration of embodied intelligence with coal mining equipment manufacturing processes.

Notably, Tianma Intelligent Control's intelligent factory for unmanned coal mining control equipment was previously recognized as one of the first national "Excellent-Level Intelligent Factories." It possesses a mature and complete intelligent manufacturing system for unmanned coal mining equipment, providing solid technical support for the implementation of the embodied intelligence scenario.

Wei Guanwei, Deputy General Manager of the Intelligent Manufacturing Division at Tianma Intelligent Control, previously told China Times that the factory's inclusion in the first batch of this project is a significant achievement resulting from the company's thorough implementation of CCTEG's "1245" overall development strategy and its deep push for digital transformation. In the future, Tianma Intelligent Control will deeply integrate cutting-edge technologies with intelligent manufacturing, accelerate its digital transformation and upgrade, continue to promote the construction of intelligent factories, and create new benchmarks in the field of intelligent manufacturing.

Policy Support and the Broader Context

Currently, global AI technology innovation has entered an unprecedented period of activity. The accelerated integration of the digital and real economies makes the transformation of intelligent manufacturing an unstoppable trend. This represents a historic opportunity for China's manufacturing sector to shift gears and upgrade.

Data shows that the application rate of AI technology in China's large-scale manufacturing enterprises has exceeded 30%. 5G applications are flourishing in mines, ports, and factories, and over 500 excellent-level intelligent factories have been built. By deepening the "AI + Manufacturing" initiative and promoting comprehensive digital and intelligent transformation across more industries and enterprises, the "Intelligent Manufacturing in China" brand will become even more prominent.

On the policy front, in January of this year, eight government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the Implementation Opinions on the "AI + Manufacturing" Special Action. The document sets targets for 2027, including promoting the deep application of 3 to 5 general-purpose large models in manufacturing, launching 1,000 high-level industrial intelligent agents, creating 100 high-quality industrial datasets, and promoting 500 typical application scenarios. This programmatic document provides a clear roadmap for central SOEs' AI + Manufacturing efforts.

The industrial foundation supporting these goals is being rapidly consolidated. According to the Manufacturing Digital and Intelligent Transformation Capability Level (2026) report released by the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center, as of the first half of the year, China's level of integration between informatization and industrialization reached 67.1. The application penetration rate of AI technology in key scenarios reached 34.2%, an increase of 5.5 percentage points year-on-year. Furthermore, 10.6% of large-scale manufacturing enterprises are leveraging AI large models to empower business innovation.

It is also noteworthy that the National Advanced Manufacturing Conference and the World Manufacturing Conference were held consecutively recently.

Manufacturing is the foundation of a nation and the bedrock of a strong country. Advanced manufacturing is the backbone of a modern industrial system.

Li Jin, Chief Researcher at the China Enterprise Research Institute, told China Times that China's advanced manufacturing sector is continuously growing and strengthening, with significant improvements in innovation, competitiveness, and overall strength. Solid steps have been taken toward building a manufacturing powerhouse. Adhering to the directions of intelligence, green development, and integration, it is essential to continue expanding and strengthening advanced manufacturing, enhance the autonomous and controllable level of industrial chains, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as its backbone, and consolidate the foundation of the real economy to provide strong support for advancing Chinese-style modernization.

"Intelligence, green development, and integration are the directions and means of development. Intelligence relies on digital technology to improve quality and efficiency; green development balances low-carbon sustainability and meets the requirements of high-quality development; integration promotes the cross-sector fusion of digital and real economies, and manufacturing and services. Together, these three elements—transforming traditional industries and cultivating new ones—are the three main lines for upgrading advanced manufacturing. Developing advanced manufacturing is not simply about expanding scale, but about simultaneously improving quality and efficiency, and cultivating advanced manufacturing as the backbone industry. Strengthening manufacturing cannot focus solely on output value; it must solve 'bottleneck' problems. Facing external competition and supply chain disruptions, we must hold key technologies and core industrial chains firmly in our own hands, balancing development and security," Li Jin added.

Going forward, SASAC will strengthen organizational promotion to foster a positive momentum for the development of advanced manufacturing. This includes cultivating leading enterprises, supporting qualified central SOEs in enhancing resource integration and market layout, and accelerating the creation of original technology sources and modern industrial chain leaders. It will also strengthen policy support by improving assessment incentives, financial support, and other measures focused on technological breakthroughs, intelligent transformation, and layout optimization. Furthermore, it will transform regulatory approaches by strengthening technological, industrial, and strategic thinking in supervision, and enhancing communication and coordination with relevant departments to create a favorable environment for central SOEs to expand and strengthen advanced manufacturing.