China aiming to fully digitize its manufacturing enterprises by 2035
April 20, 2021 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
China is aiming to have its manufacturing enterprises fully digitized by 2035, with breakthroughs in various types of intelligent manufacturing equipment, key parts, devices and software, in a bid to upgrade its massive but declining manufacturing sectors and avoid technological blockades by the U.S. As part of a draft action plan, 70% of the intelligent manufacturing equipment and 50% of industrial software will be sourced domestically. China will also aim to formulate or revise 200 national and industry standards for intelligent manufacturing and establish more than 120 industry internet platforms, according to the draft plan by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). To achieve these goals, China is to research and develop 1,000 kinds of advanced intelligent manufacturing devices and products, including automobile engines and gearboxes, large-scale integrated circuit manufacturing equipment, and new display manufacturing equipment. The draft plan will also focus on technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, blockchain, virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), and computing, according to the MIIT.
The draft plan also calls for further international cooperation and exchanges in tackling key problems of intelligent manufacturing technology, formulation of standards, testing and certification, and personnel training in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the BRICs and the RCEP. Multinational companies and foreign research institutes are encouraged to build intelligent manufacturing research and development centers, demonstration factories and talent training centers in China, according to the draft plan. The plan will help to promote and accelerate self-sufficiency in key technologies, which face blockades by the U.S., said Hu Qimu, Chief Researcher at the Sinosteel Economic Research Institute.
“Only by developing new materials and advanced manufacturing can China break technological blockades imposed by Western countries,” Hu told the Global Times. The plan also aims to boost the added value of China’s secondary industry, which serves as the backbone of the economy, he added. According to the MIIT, the economic contribution of China’s manufacturing industry is shrinking. In 2016, the proportion of manufacturing in the nation’s economy peaked at 32.45% before declining to 27.17% in 2019, the Global Times reports.
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