China Focuses On AI Funding And 6G Technology

JAKARTA - The Chinese government said the country would seriously build future technology funding mechanisms for artificial intelligence or immitational intelligence (AI), as well as 6G-based industries.

"We will build mechanisms to increase funding for future industries and develop industries such as biomanufacturing, quantum technology, AI and 6G technology. We will advance trials for the integrated development of advanced manufacturing and modern services to accelerate service-oriented manufacturing," Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang said at the opening of the China National People's Congress (NPC) session at the People's Hall, Beijing, Wednesday, March 5.

The NPC session is part of a series of "Two Sessions" parliamentary sessions during March 4-11, 2025 which aims to review the work reports of the central government in 2024 and establish the Chinese government's work plans by 2025.

To encourage the development of a healthy technology and competition industry, the Chinese government is said to be allocating a central government budget of up to 398.119 billion yuan (around Rp903 trillion), an increase of 10 percent for science and technology spending.

The funds will be prioritized for pure research, purely applied research and strategic scientific technology.

"We will release guidelines to accelerate the development of future industries and support regions with strong industrial foundations and concentration of innovation resources in creating the industrial start-up zone," said PM Li.

China will also continue to increase the supply of supporting factors in the AI industry such as computing capacity and data as well as develop an "open source" model system.

China will continue its AI Plus initiative and build a national base for pilot-scale testing of AI industrial applications by certain regions and categories.

The government will also develop new generation of smart terminals such as new energy vehicles connected to AI phones and computers, as well as smart robots. The development policy system will combine data and ethical security into research and development of AI technology.

In particular, the central government will allocate 11.878 billion yuan (approximately IDR 26.9 trillion) specifically to support the development of high quality from the main manufacturing sector. There are still long-term special bonds with a total of 200 billion yuan (approximately IDR 454 trillion) to be issued for the improvement of technology infrastructure.

The Chinese government is also determined to accelerate manufacturing digitization, foster a number of service providers with industry expertise and digital knowledge, and strengthen support for the digital transformation of SMEs.

Under the AI Plus initiative initiated since 2017, the Chinese government seeks to effectively combine digital technology with domestic manufacturing and market power.

"The greater portion of spending on science and technology will be allocated for pure research, and the investment mechanism will be refined to include competition-based support and stable funding," said PM Li.