China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled a national implementation plan today to accelerate artificial intelligence integration across the software sector, capping a series of state-level policy pushes aimed at embedding AI into heavy industry, manufacturing, and consumer technology.
The new "AI Plus Software" action plan sets a target for 2028 to cultivate advanced intelligent programming tools, deploy AI development platforms across more than 20,000 large-scale software enterprises, and establish 100 flagship AI agent applications. The directive follows a State Council executive meeting held Monday that called for application-driven technical innovation to expand the nation's broader "AI Plus" initiative.
Sector-specific regulators accompanied the central mandate with targeted implementation frameworks. The State Administration for Market Regulation issued three national standardization guidelines establishing data set specifications and maturity benchmarks for large language models in the steel industry. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism published a roster of pilot projects across six operational areas to scale AI adoption in cultural and tourism management.
To support hardware and smart device rollouts, nine government departments led by the Ministry of Commerce urged deeper execution of "AI Plus Manufacturing" initiatives, aiming to expand the domestic supply of humanoid robotics and AI-enabled smartphones. In the private capital market, embodied robotics developer Agibot and an investment affiliate linked to Huawei Technologies Co. completed a joint investment in Yitai Embodied, a specialized provider of training data for embodied AI systems.
The concerted policy drive triggered immediate market gains, with the CS Artificial Intelligence Index rising 1.32 percent on Tuesday. Financial analysts at Orient Securities noted that Beijing's overarching directive for new quality productive forces establishes long-term policy support and funding access for domestic computing hardware and large-scale model development.
Under the official roadmap, regional execution begins this week with municipal talent cultivation programs launching in northeastern industrial hubs including Shenyang, followed by initial compliance audits and pilot reviews for participating software vendors through the fourth quarter.
