China to push for upgraded '5G Plus Industrial Internet'

China will push for an upgraded version of the "5G Plus Industrial Internet," which was highlighted in this year's government work report, to make it widely used in real economy, said an official of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in Beijing on Tuesday.

At a press conference on the country's industry and information technology development in the first quarter of 2026, Xie Cun, director of the MIIT's Information and Communications Development Department, said China has built 1,260 5G factories with distinctive features in different categories and grades, with 100 benchmark 5G factories claiming advanced technologies.

Xie said more than 25,000 "5G Plus Industrial Internet" projects in total have been built nationwide. On average, participating 5G factories have seen product quality improve by 20.5 percent, operating costs decline by 18.4 percent, and production capacity increase by 24.7 percent

"Our ministry will focus on building an upgraded version of the '5G Plus Industrial Internet' and push forward the comprehensive improvements of its capacity in network infrastructure, technological products, integrated applications, industrial ecosystems and public services. We will develop new industrial networks represented by 5G technology, accelerate the deep integration of '5G Plus Industrial Internet' into key sectors of real economy, and provide solid support for the intelligent, green and integrated development of manufacturing," he said.

Xie said the ministry will speed up the rollout of guidelines on promoting high-quality development of the industrial internet to formulate a series of standards covering fundamental technologies, key innovations and typical applications.

At the same time, he said, the ministry will carry out initiatives to promote the integration of the industrial internet and artificial intelligence (AI) in a bid to provide a critical foundation for AI applications in industrial settings.