China

Intelligence for Better Decision Making

Guangdong’s Rise as a Global Leader in AI-Driven Manufacturing and Innovation
Jan. 15, 2026 | Technology & Innovation

Guangdong province has evolved from producing traditional goods to becoming a global powerhouse in advanced technologies and AI-driven manufacturing.

**Guangdong’s product landscape has transformed dramatically since the 1980s, when the region was known for items like Pearl River water and Lingnan clothing.**
Today, it leads China’s cross-border e-commerce trade, accounting for more than one-third of national exports and imports. Guangdong-based companies command significant market shares—DJI produces 70 percent of the world’s consumer drones, and the province manufactures one out of every three smartphones sold worldwide.

**This manufacturing dominance traces back to Guangdong’s early reform and opening-up policies, especially the “three supplies and one compensation” model, which matched global trends with affordable, quality production.**
Enterprises such as the Taiping Handbag Factory exemplified labor-intensive beginnings, while Midea evolved from making plastic bottle caps into a Fortune 500 conglomerate spanning smart home appliances, new energy solutions, and robotics. Over time, industrial clusters expanded into high-value sectors—consumer electronics, biotech drugs, and 5G phones—shifting the region’s advantages from land and cheap labor to engineering expertise and innovation dividends.

**As the world enters the AI era, Guangdong companies have seized emerging markets with products like smart glasses and intelligent robots.**
The province accounts for about 40 percent of China’s smart glasses manufacturing capacity, centered in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and saw that market expand 25-fold during the 2025 Double Eleven sales. Firms such as Thunderbird Innovation are rapidly gaining global share in consumer AR glasses. In robotics, Unitree deploys humanoid robots autonomously in service roles, while Guangzhou Ligong Industrial produces hundreds of industrial robots each month for aerospace, automotive, and research applications. Guangdong also leads global production in AI-related technologies: it makes 70 percent of consumer drones, 40 percent of smartphones and industrial robots, 80 percent of service robots, and holds significant shares in integrated circuits.

**To build on these strengths, Guangdong will launch the “Guang Products Travel the World” Spring Campaign in January 2026.**
Around 30 events, supported by major commercial platforms and involving thousands of enterprises, will promote the province’s diverse product range and expand its global footprint.

**At the Central Economic Work Conference in December 2025, leaders emphasized the role of major provinces like Guangdong in driving China’s economic growth for 2026, prioritizing industries such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and the low-altitude economy.**
Guangdong’s strategy focuses on expanding its high-quality AI industry and broadening application across regions and sectors. Its ecosystem already includes over 1,600 AI core enterprises and platforms such as Huawei’s Ascend and Tencent’s Hunyuan, aligning with the State Council’s “AI+ Action” objectives and the action plan released on January 7, 2026, which targets globally competitive AI manufacturing capabilities by 2027.

**In early 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reaffirmed its commitment to advance strategic sectors—robotics, quantum technology, and brain-computer interfaces—by enhancing research, product development, and ecosystem support.**
Guangdong’s extensive manufacturing base and innovation capabilities underpin its emergence as a new center for AI-driven industrial innovation.
China Advances Industrial Internet Platforms with New Action Plan for 2026–2028
Jan. 15, 2026 | Technology & Innovation

China is accelerating its digital-intelligent transformation of manufacturing through a new Action Plan issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for 2026–2028.

The plan aims to raise the number of influential industrial internet platforms from over 340 to more than 450 by 2028, while connecting upwards of 120 million industrial devices and achieving over 55 percent nationwide platform penetration.

**It centers these platforms as hubs for aggregating data, developing models, expanding applications, ensuring ubiquitous connectivity, and allocating resources efficiently.**
The plan emphasizes integrating industrialization and informatization through differentiated development: specialized, industry-focused, and collaborative platforms. It also establishes a multi-tier cultivation framework that guides platforms through basic, advanced, and ecosystem maturity stages to boost professionalism and industry specificity.

**Artificial intelligence integration forms another key pillar.**
The plan encourages enterprises to intensify research and development of high-quality industrial datasets, large models, and intelligent agents, leveraging platforms’ existing strengths in data and model accumulation to drive “AI + manufacturing” innovations. A complementary AI action plan aims to upgrade at least 50,000 enterprises’ industrial networks by 2028, using AI to redefine manufacturing processes and generate new productive forces.

**The plan deepens scenario-based applications by identifying targeted entry points for technology integration, enhancing service capabilities, and scaling solutions.**
It promotes flexible service models—such as pay-after-use, subscription, and performance-based payments—to lower adoption barriers and spur widespread platform usage across manufacturing subsectors.

**To underpin these efforts, the plan outlines four cornerstone initiatives: cultivating a multi-level platform system; aggregating industrial data for smarter analytics; driving extensive, scenario-driven applications; and reinforcing the broader industrial internet ecosystem.**
It calls for improved data collection, dataset construction, and intellectual property protection; the development of open-source communities and international cooperation; and innovation through ecosystem partnerships.

**Finally, the plan tasks local and regional authorities with tailoring support via funding mechanisms, tax incentives, and talent development programs.**
Policies will ensure equal treatment for private firms and small and medium-sized enterprises, expand public service capabilities, and accelerate platform deployment in line with local industrial strengths.

Monitored Intelligence for China - Jan. 16, 2026


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【社论】“高效办成一件事”,让政务服务好办、易办

Editorial Efficiently Completing a Task to Make Government Services Convenient and Easy

China Daily | Local Language | News | Jan. 16, 2026 | UndeterminedInitiative

On January 12, the General Office of the State Council released the "List of Key Items for the First Batch of 2026 of 'Efficiently Completing a Task,'" aiming to enhance government service convenience by integrating online and offline channels and refining key service items based on local conditions. The effort targets a transition from government services being merely "can be handled" to "well-handled and easy-to-handle."

The list includes 13 items addressing both major development issues like innovation support for technology enterprises, intellectual property protection, and sports event hosting, as well as everyday concerns such as childcare allowance applications, flexible employment insurance enrollment, and new services for foreign nationals and shipping operations. These items are designed to serve market entities and the public directly.

Since July 2025, guidelines were issued to strengthen management, normalize implementation, and expand the application areas of the "Efficiently Completing a Task" mechanism. This reform involves complex systemic coordination across departments and requires revising processes, clarifying responsibilities, and enhancing data sharing to improve administrative efficiency.

Localities like Beijing and Shanghai have made significant progress by optimizing processes and fostering interdepartmental collaboration, achieving milestones such as "one-form application, one-time completion." These reforms address public and business demands by breaking down barriers, promoting data sharing, and reintegrating procedural steps to deliver perceptible improvements in service efficiency.

So far, five batches of the key-items list have been released nationally, totaling 55 items, progressively simplifying processes, reducing documentation, and cutting time costs. This continuous reform enhances administrative efficiency and public satisfaction, making government services more predictable for enterprises and more stable for individuals, while supporting economic and social development.

Looking forward, "Efficiently Completing a Task" is positioned not just to finalize specific items but to broadly improve government governance capacity and foster high-quality development. As new social needs and business models arise, ongoing reform must be dynamic and iterative, continuously addressing emerging issues to strengthen government responsiveness and service quality.

‘Resource nationalism’ could propel gold to $5,000 and silver to $100 this year, investors say

CNBC | English | News | Jan. 16, 2026 | UndeterminedInvestor Sentiment

Gold and silver experienced significant price rallies in 2025, with gold rising about 65% and silver increasing around 150%. These precious metals have continued to climb into early 2026, driven by factors such as supply constraints, geopolitical tensions, and concerns over central bank independence. Gold recently hit record highs above $4,600 an ounce, while silver surpassed the $90 mark, reflecting strong investor demand amid growing uncertainties.

A key driver behind the rising prices is "resource nationalism," where countries like the U.S. and China seek greater control over critical resources. China imposed export controls on silver in December 2025, limiting supply for manufacturing sectors heavily reliant on the metal. The U.S. has responded by attempting to restrict resources flowing to China, such as Venezuelan oil, increasing geopolitical risks that underpin precious metal demand. Industry experts expect this dynamic to continue, especially ahead of a potential April meeting between former U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping that may address export restrictions.

Analysts predict gold could reach $5,000 per ounce and silver could surpass $100 this year, supported by ongoing geopolitical instability and physical shortages, particularly in silver. Silver is essential for various industries including electronics, electric vehicles, and renewables, making it critical for industrial production in Western economies. The price discrepancy between silver trading in Shanghai and Western markets points to increased demand and tighter supplies, which may push prices even higher.

Additional factors supporting precious metals include concerns over the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve after an investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which has increased gold's appeal as a safe-haven asset and inflation hedge. Central bankers globally have shown solidarity with Powell, but uncertainty remains. Economic issues such as U.S. budget deficits, expectations of lower interest rates, and sustained geopolitical tensions further bolster the outlook for gold and silver prices in 2026.

China’s first AI companion app case enters second-stance trial, sparking debate on emotional AI service boundaries

Global Times | English | News | Jan. 16, 2026 | UndeterminedIP Protection

China’s first AI companion chat app, Alien Chat, developed to provide intimate companionship and emotional support, entered its second trial stage in Shanghai following the arrest of its main developer and operator in April 2024 over pornographic content generated by the app. The initial court sentenced the defendants to prison terms for producing obscene materials for profit, but the defendants appealed, prompting a re-examination of the legal boundaries of emotional AI services.

The controversy centers on whether explicit content generated in private AI-user conversations carries social harmfulness and constitutes a criminal offense. The app allowed graphic violence and explicit sex content through system prompts designed to bypass moral restrictions of the language model. It amassed over 116,000 users, including 24,000 paying members, collecting more than 3 million yuan. The prosecution argued intentional production of obscene content, while the defense claimed the explicit material was AI-generated dialogue, intended for debugging, not dissemination, and should not be criminalized.

Experts emphasize the need for improved AI regulation in China, stressing that AI companion services require technical standards filings, comprehensive content supervision, and proactive filtering to prevent the release of harmful material. Draft national measures released in late 2025 prohibit AI services from generating or spreading obscenity, violence, or other illicit content, advocating for graded user management and prompt verification to guide outputs. The case’s outcome is anticipated to refine the legal framework governing AI emotional companion applications.

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