THE artificial intelligence (AI) industrial zone in Longhua District has been included as one of the AI industry clusters that Guangdong Province will emphasize, according to the province’s official plan for the AI industry released Tuesday.

For the next 12 years, Guangdong pledges to enhance the development of the AI industry in three major phases and is determined to support the industry’s development throughout the province, according to the plan.

The first goal for Guangdong, according to the plan, is to upgrade the industry to a leading position in China with major technological breakthroughs expected in certain key areas by 2020. Also, the province expects to have a batch of pioneering AI enterprises leading the industry and thereby making AI a new economic growth engine for Guangdong.

By 2025, the province expects breakthroughs to be made in terms of the basic theories of smart technologies, with part of Guangdong’s AI research and applications reaching an international level. More innovative platforms are expected to guide the industry’s development and help the province become a national innovation center. It is estimated that the AI industry will see an output of 150 billion yuan (US$21.75 billion) with the output of related industries reaching 1.8 trillion yuan seven years from now.

By 2030, Guangdong hopes to see the AI industry make all-around breakthroughs in basic research, technology and applications, with the sector’s innovation abilities meeting the advanced level of the world. The province will gather a group of high-end talents and innovation teams in the industry.

The AI industry is going to become a key engine of development in Guangdong, leading the construction of a national high-tech industry innovation center in the province as well as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, according to the plan.

To achieve the goals, Guangdong will build several platforms for the AI industry and support existing platforms set up by key enterprises like Tencent and iFLYTEK. A batch of deep-learning service platforms is also going to be built on the basis of two national supercomputing centers in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The plan has mapped out 15 detailed areas to which AI technologies should be applied. The areas include robotics, smart terminal products, smart wearable devices, self-driving vehicles, smart manufacturing, smart government and others.

Longhua District is a focus of the provincial strategy for AI industry development. The area will be turned into a core region with key labs for smart hardware and smart manufacturing.

Meanwhile, Shenzhen is considering the construction of a smart robot town where outstanding teams with innovation abilities can settle and develop smart robots.

In fact, Guangdong’s AI sector is already at the forefront of the country. According to the provincial government, the output value of Guangdong’s AI industry reached 26 billion yuan in 2017, one-third of China’s total output from the AI industry.

(Zhang Qian)