China Sets 2.5 Trillion Yuan Target for Industrial Internet by 2030

Eight Chinese government ministries have jointly issued a landmark policy blueprint to develop the country’s industrial internet into a 2.5 trillion yuan ($368 billion) core industry by 2030, marking a strategic shift toward AI-driven industrial transformation. The plan, released on June 30 at the 2026 Industrial Internet Conference, sets ambitious targets for 5G private networks, platform development, and full coverage of all industrial sub-categories.

The Policy at a Glance

The “Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Industrial Internet” was jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and six other ministries, according to Xinhua News. The unprecedented coordination across eight central government bodies signals the strategic importance Beijing places on industrial internet as a foundation for “new quality productive forces” — a key policy concept emphasizing innovation-driven, high-quality economic growth.

By 2030, the plan targets:

• Core industrial internet industry value-added exceeding 2.5 trillion yuan
• Deployment of 50,000 industrial 5G private networks
• Cultivation of 5 globally influential comprehensive platforms
• Full application coverage across all 207 industrial sub-categories
• 80% safety classification普及率 (popularization rate) among key industry large-scale enterprises

By 2035, China aims to build a globally leading industrial internet infrastructure system with deep coverage across all key sectors of the national economy.

Building on Strong Foundations

China’s industrial internet sector has already achieved significant scale. As of 2025, the core industry value-added reached 1.67 trillion yuan, up from approximately 1.5 trillion yuan in 2024, as reported by China Daily. Applications already cover all 41 major industrial categories, and 1,260 5G factories have been established nationwide.

Ao Li (敖立), Vice President of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), noted that the newly released Implementation Opinions anchor long-term goals on top of this existing progress. “Looking ahead to the next decade, driven by the AI wave, the innovative development of the industrial internet is evolving from a ‘connectivity foundation’ to full ‘intelligence-driven’ mode,” Ao Li told Xinhua.

AI as the Central Driver

A defining feature of the 2026 policy is its explicit positioning of artificial intelligence as the central technological driver. The plan calls for deepening AI-industrial internet convergence, including promoting “industrial intelligent agents” (工业智能体) to enhance intelligent perception, decision-making, and execution across design, pilot production, manufacturing, service, and operations.

The 18 specific tasks outlined in the plan span five areas: infrastructure, technological innovation, integrated applications, security assurance, and industrial ecosystem.

Yu Xiaohui (余晓晖), President of CAICT, emphasized the transformative potential: “The biggest technological variable of the next decade is artificial intelligence. The shallow intelligence of the past is moving toward ‘comprehensive deep intelligence.’” Yu added that China’s vast industrial internet scenarios and data accumulation may “feed back” to drive AI’s own technological breakthroughs, potentially leading the world in realizing “intelligence emergence” in the physical world.

Industry Transformation Underway

Real-world applications are already demonstrating the power of AI-industrial internet integration:

• HBIS Group (河钢集团): Improved steelmaking converter efficiency by 8.8% and reduced the R&D cycle for high-end automotive steel sheets from 6 months to 3 months through large and small model collaboration.
• COSMOPlat (卡奥斯): Haier’s industrial internet platform now covers 20 industries including chemicals and automotive, connecting over 900,000 enterprises.
• Sinopec (中石化): Developed a “Firefighter” intelligent agent capable of calling upon over 100 million experience rules to independently complete calculations.

Chen Lucheng (陈录城), Chairman of COSMOPlat, highlighted the strategic imperative for platforms: “As the industry enters a new phase of deep AI integration, whether platforms can leverage AI-centric intelligent technologies to upgrade capabilities and create value for manufacturing has become key to industrial internet platforms’ ability to navigate cycles and achieve sustainable development.”

Expert Perspectives on the Road Ahead

Wu Hequan (邬贺铨), Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, offered a cautionary perspective on the technological transition. He described the intelligent-agent industrial internet phase beginning in 2026 as “not a simple functional overlay of AI and industrial control systems, but a systemic architectural transformation deeply integrating OT (Operational Technology), IT (Information Technology), and AI.” Wu stressed the importance of maintaining industrial control reliability and real-time capability while balancing intelligent innovation with production safety, and called for breakthroughs in communications, operating systems, and computing scheduling.

Implications and Outlook

The policy carries significant implications for multiple stakeholders. For telecom equipment providers and network operators, the target of 50,000 industrial 5G private networks signals massive infrastructure investment ahead. For AI companies and traditional manufacturers, the explicit focus on industrial intelligent agents will accelerate development of industrial AI applications. The plan also aligns with China’s broader strategy to shift from labor-intensive to innovation-driven growth.

Key challenges remain, including implementation complexity across multiple levels of government, balancing security with innovation, overcoming technical bottlenecks in critical areas, and ensuring widespread adoption among small and medium enterprises.

As the 2026 Industrial Internet Conference concluded, the message from Beijing was clear: China is betting heavily that the convergence of industrial internet and artificial intelligence will define the next era of global manufacturing competitiveness. With ambitious targets, coordinated policy support, and a rapidly expanding industrial base, the country is positioning itself to lead that transformation.