Economic Daily: Leveraging the multiplier effect of "artificial intelligence+manufacturing"
The recently held National Conference on Industry and Information Technology deployed the top ten key tasks for 2026, proposing to promote the special action of "artificial intelligence+manufacturing" and cultivate a group of key industry intelligent agents and intelligent native enterprises. The recently held Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the deepening and expansion of "artificial intelligence+", with "artificial intelligence+manufacturing" being the main battlefield. The overall scale of China's manufacturing industry has remained the world's largest for 15 consecutive years, and its artificial intelligence technology is leading the world. If the two advantages of "artificial intelligence+manufacturing" can be combined and integrated, and the multiplier effect can be exerted, it will inject strong momentum into the construction of a manufacturing power and a network power.
Artificial intelligence is an important bridge to promote the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation. From the perspective of technological innovation, artificial intelligence is a strategic technology that leads a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation. As a universal technology, artificial intelligence runs through the entire innovation chain of basic research and application development, and can improve the speed and breadth of technological innovation through computing power enhancement, algorithm optimization, and data element circulation; From the perspective of industrial innovation, artificial intelligence has a strong spillover effect and can be widely applied and empowered in most industries, forcing technological innovation to focus on industry pain points and turning technological variables into industry increments.
Artificial intelligence+manufacturing will become a demonstration scenario for the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation. On the one hand, artificial intelligence has fully penetrated into the research and development design, production and manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, after-sales service and other aspects of the manufacturing industry, making R&D iteration faster, production smarter, and products more user-friendly, promoting the transformation of the manufacturing industry from traditional experience driven to data-driven; On the other hand, the manufacturing industry has rich application scenarios and diverse industrial characteristics, providing a vast and complex testing ground for artificial intelligence. This forces artificial intelligence to continuously innovate and break through in industrial reliability, scene adaptability, and other aspects, thereby generating a synergistic effect of technological innovation empowering industrial upgrading and industrial demand driving technological iteration.
China has unique comprehensive advantages in promoting "artificial intelligence+manufacturing". One is a complete industrial foundation. We not only have the most complete industrial system in the world, but also a complete artificial intelligence industry system from the foundation layer to the application layer. This dual complete system forms a natural synergy and complementarity, that is, the industrial system allows artificial intelligence technology to be applied, and the artificial intelligence industry system gives the industrial system the power to upgrade. The second is rich application scenarios. 41 industrial categories and super large scale markets provide a massive and diverse range of landing scenarios for artificial intelligence technology, accelerating technological iteration and maturity. Thirdly, strong policies and infrastructure support can clear obstacles for integrated development. Fourthly, a collaborative and efficient innovation ecosystem has formed a fast track from technology research and development to market application.
The combination of artificial intelligence and manufacturing is not a simple addition. In many manufacturing enterprises, some only apply artificial intelligence technology to a certain link or single scenario, some have difficulty in circulating internal data, some collect data but do not analyze and apply it, and some blindly copy other enterprises' artificial intelligence application solutions. These are all manifestations of simply adding artificial intelligence to manufacturing. Although technology is new, the production mode and value creation methods are still old. Behind this, there are reasons for corporate awareness and cost pressure, as well as issues related to technology and industry matching.
To leverage the multiplier effect of "artificial intelligence+manufacturing", we need to transform physical integration into chemical fusion. This means that artificial intelligence cannot be simply applied as a tool in a certain aspect, but rather through the chemical reactions between data, knowledge, processes, and workers in the manufacturing industry stimulated by artificial intelligence, reorganizing production factors and restructuring production models, achieving a revolutionary leap in productivity. This needs to be achieved by breaking down data silos, adapting technology to industry needs through technological sinking, and using ecological collaboration to break through the bottlenecks of technology transformation, promoting manufacturing enterprises to shift from technology application to model innovation, so as to enable artificial intelligence to move from simply replacing manual labor to creating more new quality productivity.
This deep integration determines the pace and quality of the transition from a manufacturing powerhouse to a manufacturing powerhouse. Strengthening technology supply, optimizing scenario empowerment, deeply embedding the intelligent brain of artificial intelligence into the "big guy" of Chinese manufacturing, will open a new door and lead Chinese manufacturing towards a smarter, more flexible, and more sustainable future.
Information source: Economic Daily
