China Unveils 2028 Plan to Fuse Industrial Internet and AI Across Core Manufacturing Sectors

Highlights

• China's MIIT released a national Action Plan to integrate AI with industrial internet platforms, targeting 50,000 enterprise upgrades and 20 key sectors by 2028.
• The plan focuses on:
  • Upgrading industrial infrastructure
  • Enabling data interoperability
  • Deploying AI in production and logistics
  • Coordinating large enterprises with SMEs
• This shift institutionalizes AI as industrial infrastructure, strengthening China's competitive position in:
  • Raw materials
  • Manufacturing
  • Defense-relevant supply chains against fragmented Western systems

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China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (opens in a new tab) (MIIT) has released a national Action Plan for the Integration and Empowerment of the Industrial Internet and Artificial Intelligence, signaling a coordinated push to hardwire AI directly into the country’s industrial operating system.

According to the plan, China aims by 2028 to significantly deepen the integration of AI and industrial internet platforms across the economy. The government targets at least 50,000 enterprises for industrial network upgrades and plans to develop high-quality industrial datasets across 20 key sectors. Priority industries include raw materials, equipment manufacturing, consumer goods, and electronic information—sectors that sit at the heart of global supply chains.

The plan outlines four core initiatives:

1. Upgrading foundational infrastructure, including high-throughput, low-latency industrial networks capable of supporting AI-driven manufacturing.
2. Enabling interoperability between data and AI models, reducing fragmentation across platforms and factories.
3. Revitalizing application models, accelerating real-world deployment of AI in production, logistics, and quality control.
4. Integrating the industrial ecosystem, aligning large enterprises, SMEs, technology vendors, and public service platforms into coordinated industrial networks.

By 2028, China expects widespread deployment of industrial networks capable of meeting AI’s demanding communication requirements—high reliability,low jitter, and real-time responsiveness—while cultivating a newclass of specialized intelligent solution providers embedded within key industrial chains. The stated goal is collaborative upgrading across firms of all sizes and more efficient allocation of enterprise, technology, and public service resources.

Why This Matters to the West and the United States

This announcement is not about consumer AI. It is about industrial power.

For Western policymakers and investors, the significance lies in China’s continued shift from scale-based manufacturing to systems-level industrial intelligence. Embedding AI into raw materials processing, equipment manufacturing, and industrial data flows strengthens China’s cost control, quality consistency, and speed—advantages that directly affect sectors such as rare earth processing, battery materials, advanced manufacturing, and defense-relevant supply chains.

While no single technological breakthrough is announced, the outcome is strategic: China is institutionalizing AI as industrial infrastructure, not a discretionary tool. This reinforces long-term competitive pressure on Western supply chains that remain fragmented, under-digitized, and exposed to price and production volatility.

Disclaimer

This news item originates from reporting by the China Rare Earth Industry Association (opens in a new tab) and the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China, both state-affiliated entities. The information should be independently verified, and stated goals should be assessed against future implementation and measurable outcomes.