Politburo Deepens 'AI+' Action; Core Industry Scale Tops RMB 1.2 Trillion in 2025

At a meeting on July 30, 2026, the CPC Central Political Bureau set out plans for economic work in the second half of the year. The meeting placed emphasis on implementing the 'AI+' action, developing new forms of intelligent economy and improving the governance system for artificial intelligence. It also called for advancing breakthroughs in frontier technologies and future industries, building new pillar industries and continuing to upgrade traditional sectors.

Policy documents show that in August 2025, the State Council issued its opinions on the in-depth implementation of the 'AI+' action. The 2026 government work report introduced for the first time the concept of building new forms of intelligent economy. On April 28, 2026, a Political Bureau meeting required full implementation of the 'AI+' action. The latest meeting has upgraded the wording to 'in-depth implementation', reflecting a continued strengthening of policy intensity.

In terms of industry scale, China's core AI industry exceeded RMB 1.2 trillion in 2025, up 40% year on year. As of June 2026, the number of AI enterprises exceeded 6,600, accounting for 15% of the global total. The industry system covers foundational infrastructure, model frameworks and sectoral applications.

Embodied intelligence and humanoid robotics are accelerating. 2026 is regarded as the first year of mass production for humanoid robots, with more than 400 domestic whole-machine products, more than half of the global total. Humanoid and quadruped intelligent robots account for an 80% share of global sales, and related technologies are gradually being integrated into practical application scenarios.