On January 22, the humanoid robot data training center in the Intelligent Innovation Space Incubator Park in Pingyin County, Jinan City, Shandong Province showed a lively scene.
The clothes-folding robot repeatedly folds a short sleeve, the home robot simulates serving dishes in the kitchen, and the industrial robot carries boxes back and forth between shelves and tables.
Under the guidance of trainers, various robots continue to practice various actions such as grabbing objects, maintaining balance, and turning switches, and continue to “evolve” toward future applications.
Data show that the scale of China’s core artificial intelligence industry has exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, and the number of companies has exceeded 6,200.
With ultra-large-scale application scenarios and abundant data resources, China provides a rich testing ground for artificial intelligence technology iterations, attracting the attention of many multinational companies.
According to statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2025, Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) companies absorbed approximately US$13.9 billion in global venture capital, ranking third after the United States and the European Union.
Since the fourth quarter of 2025, foreign investment has accelerated its return to China’s primary market, and “AI+” has become the core track of the layout.
Many multinational companies have launched operations in China.
The “industrial intelligence” co-created by Siemens and China’s 15th Metallurgical Corporation has been deployed in a copper smelting company in South China, optimizing production parameters through AI algorithms, replacing extensive control that relies on experience; AstraZeneca announced a US$2.5 billion investment plan to establish its sixth strategic R&D center in the world in Beijing, focusing on AI-enabled early drug R&D and clinical development systems; Neura, a leader in cognitive robots
New Robotics, a Chinese subsidiary of Robotics, signed a strategic agreement with Chinese auto parts manufacturer Zhaofeng Co., Ltd. to form a joint venture to jointly promote the research and development and implementation of humanoid robots in the manufacturing field.
According to the “15th Five-Year Plan” outline, China will comprehensively implement the “Artificial Intelligence +” action, strengthen the integration of artificial intelligence with technological innovation, industrial development, cultural construction, people’s livelihood security, and social governance, seize the commanding heights of artificial intelligence industry application, and fully empower thousands of industries.
At the 7th Qingdao Summit of Multinational Company Leaders held from June 15 to 17, Dai Pu, co-president of the Roland Berger Global Management Committee, judged that with its world-class industrial foundation and leading digital innovation technology, China will become the best place for the integration of artificial intelligence and the physical world.
During the summit, the “Shandong ‘AI Consumption+’ Scenario Open Plan” was released, focusing on community health services, smart home care for the elderly, smart housekeeping, cross-border e-commerce, smart cultural tourism, smart retail and smart catering, and issued cooperation invitations to global AI companies.
Chen Xudong, chairman and general manager of IBM Greater China, said that in the past year, IBM, Huangbohai New District, Yantai City, Shandong Province, and Hanxin Technology established a global AI innovation center, and are actively exploring “AI+ industry” cooperation in multiple fields.
KPMG’s “Multinational Enterprises China Outlook 2025” report shows that more than 90% of the companies surveyed plan or have already made digital investments, and 58% of them have already applied artificial intelligence tools in business operations.
China not only has the world’s largest industrial robot market, but also shows strong innovation vitality in cutting-edge fields such as embodied intelligence.
Here, robotics technology is evolving towards a higher stage of “human-machine collaboration” and even “autonomous intelligence”.
A Morgan Stanley report predicts that the global humanoid robot market will reach US$5 trillion by 2050, with more than 1 billion robots in use, with China taking the lead.
China’s collaborative robot market capacity has increased from less than a thousand units to more than 40,000 units in 2025 in ten years, with a compound growth rate of as high as 50%.
This broad prospect is attracting global industrial giants to deeply integrate into China’s innovation and industrial chains.
After investing US$150 million to build its world’s largest and most advanced robot super factory in Shanghai, ABB Group announced in December 2025 that it would invest approximately RMB 1.5 billion in Nanjing to build a regional center integrating R&D, manufacturing and customer experience.
As the first member of a foreign car company, BMW China has in-depth cooperation with Chinese technology partners such as Alibaba, DeepSeek, and Huawei to promote innovation in areas such as intelligent driving assistance, artificial intelligence, and in-vehicle interaction.
During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, China will continue to actively expand independent opening up, support foreign investment in joint R&D and venture capital investment in fields such as “artificial intelligence +”, and share the dividends of the development of new productive forces.
