China's AI market to hit $12 billion by 2030

An AI expo was held in Heilongjiang Provincce on May 14, 2019. (Photo/China News Service)

(ECNS) -- The artificial intelligence market in China reached $1.76 billion in 2018 and will rise to $11.9 billion by 2023, according to a report.

The potential influence of artificial intelligence on technology, industry and social change has been widely recognized worldwide since 2018, according to the newly released "China's New Generation AI Development Report 2019." 

China has attached great importance to promoting AI development, with 26 special supportive policies rolled out in 19 province-level regions. For example, the high-tech zone in southwest China’s Guiyang City introduced 10 measures to support AI development last year and plans to pour 50 million yuan in funds annually into it. 

AI is entering a new stage of development amid continuous integration of Big Data and is expected to be the core technology of the future, said Gao Wen, an academician at Chinese Academy of Engineering. 

Industrial applications of AI in China have picked up pace with great changes underway in the fields of smart manufacturing, financial technology, digital content and new media, new retail, and smart security. AI-driven transformation supported by governmental policies has benefited the country’s economic growth and helped drive it to a higher level of quality.

By 2030, China is expected to be the world leader in AI theory, technology and application, and be the most important center of AI innovation globally. 

But China’s AI development still faces many challenges, including reliance on imported key components, a lack of a high-level open source platforms, and the shortage of top-caliber talent.