The Wall Street Journal, published on the local time of November 24, noted that China's ambition in AI is no less than that of the United States. However, under various practical pressures such as rising domestic costs and foreign tariff threats, China is driving a transformation driven by AI, changing every aspect of product manufacturing and exports.

According to the U.S. media's analysis, from factories in inland regions to coastal ports, from clothing design companies to washing machine factories and port scheduling, all are undergoing deep restructuring: A clothing company uses AI to shorten the sampling time by more than 70%, AI "factory brain" makes decisions for washing machine factories in inland areas, and port scheduling is also taken over by AI, with driverless container transport vehicles speeding through...

In the eyes of many Chinese enterprises participating in this transformation, the future factory will not be a traditional "automated workshop", but a "thinking living organism", capable of autonomous judgment and coordinated action like an organic system. More and more "black light factories" are emerging, which can operate 24 hours a day almost without human intervention, and even without lighting.

The author of this report, Brian Spegele, is a senior reporter at The Wall Street Journal's Beijing bureau, who has long focused on the development of China's politics, economy, and business, frequently visiting various places for reporting. He commented that although there are still some doubts globally about the speed at which AI is changing the world, China has not chosen to wait, but instead has started using it, hoping to deploy existing technologies faster than the United States and gain a first-mover advantage.

"Only by proactively embracing change can one remain undefeated."

In an article released by the National Development and Reform Commission in September titled "Deeply Implementing the 'Artificial Intelligence+' Action to Provide Strong Momentum for High-quality Development," it was pointed out that current artificial intelligence technology is accelerating iteration and evolution, having a significant and far-reaching impact on economic development, social progress, and the international political and economic landscape. Deeply implementing the "Artificial Intelligence+" action is both a strategic choice to seize the opportunities of the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and an inherent requirement for cultivating new productive forces.

Under this policy guidance, robots have been widely deployed in China. According to data from the International Federation of Robotics, China installed 295,000 industrial robots last year, nearly nine times that of the United States, exceeding the total of all other countries combined. In 2024, China's stock of industrial robots exceeded 2 million, ranking first globally.

Hu Wangming, chairman of China Baowu Steel Group Co., Ltd., the largest steel enterprise in the world, told the China Metallurgical News in March this year, "Intelligence is the necessary measure for enterprises to adapt to the changes of the times, which determines the future of Baowu. Only by proactively embracing change can we stand firm in this revolution, and only then can we talk about building a world-class enterprise."

It is reported that in April last year, the flagship subsidiary of Baowu, Baosteel, formulated a new "AI+" digital transformation strategy, aiming to build more than 100 "AI+steel" scenario applications. By the end of 2024, Baosteel headquarters and four bases had launched 125 AI scenarios, exceeding the target. In its "black light factory" in Shanghai, operators need to intervene only once every 30 minutes, rather than every 3 minutes as before, and the factory operates almost entirely through algorithms.

"China's advantage lies in the scale of its AI ambitions"

"U.S. companies are also actively laying out automation, but China's advantage lies in the scale of its AI ambitions," said The Wall Street Journal. Although AI cannot solve all of China's economic problems, in areas such as chips and AI technology, China still lags behind, and there are also companies in the U.S. pushing for intelligent and automated operations. However, China's advantage lies in its scale, and this advantage is clearly demonstrated in the Midea Group's production base in Jingzhou, Hubei.

More than ten years ago, Midea first purchased shares in KUKA Group, one of the four major global industrial robot manufacturers, and gradually increased its holdings to become the second-largest shareholder of KUKA, to promote automation. Today, KUKA robots in Midea's factories operate under the unified scheduling of an AI "factory brain". This AI hub is equivalent to the factory's nervous system, with 14 virtual intelligent entities autonomously managing production and coordinating robots and equipment in real-time.

Robots in Midea's factory, provided by Midea to the U.S. media

Xi Wei, director of the Humanoid Robot Innovation Center in the U.S., who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and worked and lived in Silicon Valley, introduced, "You feed all the data into it, and AI can find the optimal solution by itself."

In Midea's production base, humanoid robots transport components to inspection stations, 3D cameras automatically detect quality, and if problems are found, AI decides how to fix them. When different models of dryers pass through the production line, AI can identify the model and direct the robot to perform corresponding operations. After workers wear AI glasses, tasks that previously took 15 minutes can now be completed in 30 seconds.

Midea's report states that the company has used technology to improve efficiency, achieving nearly a 40% increase in per capita income from 2015 to 2024.

Over 500 miles (approximately 804 kilometers) away from Jingzhou, the Chinese brand BOSIDENG is also collaborating with Zhejiang University to launch its own AI model, accelerating the development of down jackets. The company launched an AI-designed down jacket last year, reducing the sample production cycle from 100 days to 27 days, while cutting development costs by 60%.

The Wall Street Journal stated that BOSIDENG began its clothing business in the mid-1970s, with a sewing team consisting of only 11 villagers, while today, the company's revenue is nearly four times that of the Western brand Canada Goose.

"This is the future I imagine for China."

The U.S. media found that breakthroughs also occurred in areas where Chinese companies were sanctioned by the U.S. Since 2022, the U.S. government has attempted to restrict China's AI development through chip export controls, but the emergence of DeepSeek this year indicates the capabilities of Chinese engineers.

At the same time, the overall optimistic attitude of Chinese society towards AI has enabled its rapid application. A survey showed that 83% of Chinese respondents believe that AI-driven products and services are more beneficial than harmful, a proportion twice that of the U.S.

Chinese company Huawei, which has been sanctioned by the U.S., has also become a key force in the industrialization of AI. Huawei has released an AI large model called "Pangu" and directly dispatched engineers to large factories to assist in its application.

In Wuhu, Anhui, Huawei and Anhui Haibao Group have promoted AI involvement in clinker production, increasing the accuracy of strength detection results from 70% to over 85%, and adjusting ratios through AI to reduce energy consumption, decreasing coal consumption by 1%, saving approximately $300,000 per production line annually. The group aims to achieve a 2% reduction by the end of 2026. If this trend is expanded across the company's entire operations, it could save millions of dollars annually.

Smart container terminal at Tianjin Port, IC Photo

The Wall Street Journal pointed out that port upgrades are a crucial step in consolidating China's status as a manufacturing power. Tianjin Port collaborated with Huawei to launch driverless fleets and scheduling systems, optimizing millions of variables and constraints, compressing planning time from 24 hours to 10 minutes. Last year, Tianjin Port also launched PortGPT, which can analyze on-site video images, and has the potential to replace human safety officers.

The report said similar situations are unfolding across China, with half of the top 20 fastest-turning ship ports in the world being in mainland China.

Meanwhile, U.S. port automation faces obstacles due to union resistance, with unions even explicitly prohibiting the construction of fully automated terminals before 2030 in their latest agreement, and banning AI from replacing clerical positions.

As of mid-2023, among the 10 large U.S. ports, only one used driverless vehicles, and five used AI and machine learning. In contrast, the automation rate of large container equipment at Tianjin Port exceeds 88%.

This August, foreign journalists attending the SCO Summit in China, Vanuatu, were deeply impressed when visiting Tianjin Port, saying, "The automated terminal is almost unmanned, this is the future I imagine for China!"

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7576693008834298394/

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