Officials from Zibo's Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Development and Reform Commission, Science and Technology Bureau, and Big Data Administration gathered on September 10th at a routine policy briefing hosted by the Zibo Municipal People's Government Information Office. Their purpose was to clarify the details of the newly unveiled "AI + Manufacturing" Action Plan for 2026–2028 and take questions from the media.

Responding to a question from a reporter, Zhang Liangyun outlined the foundational achievements that set the stage for the new plan. The city has pursued a strategy to blend AI with its industrial base, focusing on advancing new quality productive forces and modernizing traditional manufacturing. This effort has yielded progress in three critical areas: consistent policy upgrades, a stronger digital infrastructure, and a rapidly evolving industrial ecosystem.

Specifically, Zibo was an early mover, introducing policies in 2020 to accelerate the integration of new-generation IT and manufacturing. In September 2025, the city secured its status as a national pilot city for SME digital transformation, unlocking 100 million yuan in central fiscal support. This funding focuses on three key sectors—advanced polymer materials, high-efficiency power transmission equipment, and new building materials and ceramics—with the goal of digitally upgrading 556 SMEs within two years. Most recently, in June 2026, Zibo leveraged its dominant chemical industry to become a provincial pioneer for "AI + Manufacturing" applications, securing strategic provincial support for AI industrialization and the deployment of practical applications.

Zibo has built a comprehensive support system covering computing power, data, models, and application scenarios to solidify its digital foundation. The city now boasts more than 11,000 5G base stations with deep coverage in key industrial parks and backbone enterprises. Intelligent computing power has expanded to 1,521 PFLOPS. Data aggregation is accelerating with 56 companies completing DCMM compliance, and the construction of eight industry-specific language databases is underway, including a notable ceramic industry AI database selected as a provincial "unveiling" project. Furthermore, two local large models have passed national security registration, and eight projects made the provincial list for priority AI application scenarios. Digital transformation coverage among regulated industrial enterprises stands at an impressive 95.1%.

The industrial ecosystem is thriving with the growth of professional service providers and the deployment of smart factory initiatives. Zibo has cultivated 37 first-edition high-end software products, created 247 new-generation IT application scenarios, and 361 provincial-level or higher intelligent factories. Chemical and pharmaceutical companies are implementing AI-driven smart inspection and R&D assistance. 东岳集团 has established an integrated intelligent control center, while 齐翔腾达 uses intelligent algorithms to optimize production and cut annual coal costs by over 1.6 million yuan. The city is also championing the robotics sector as a key track, evidenced by the recent inclusion of an embodied intelligent robot training ground as one of nine provincial "regional hub" bases. This provides a standardized platform for AI scenario validation and prototype testing. To support these efforts, various special funds and the "finding orders for enterprises" service brand are being deployed to directly benefit companies and expand market access for local AI software and hardware.

Shi Guangtao, addressing measures by the Development and Reform Commission, emphasized three focal points to implement the Action Plan. First, the commission is strengthening top-level design by integrating a chapter on "building an AI innovation application system" into the city's 15th Five-Year Plan, alongside a dedicated AI industry breakthrough project. They will also intensify the "AI+" initiative across key industrial, service, and governance sectors. Second, the focus is on cultivating strong industrial projects. Following the integration of several computing networks and "AI+" infrastructure projects into provincial management and securing policy funding for over ten projects like 遨博机器人 and 智洋创新, the next step involves actively seeking support from central and provincial budget funds, special bonds, and other financial tools to achieve the plan's goals. Projects that meet criteria will be prioritized for inclusion in major provincial and municipal project lists with guaranteed resource allocation. Third, the commission is dedicated to building high-level innovation platforms. With 28 AI innovation platforms already approved—including a national-level one and 13 at the provincial level—it encourages leading AI companies to collaborate with universities and research institutes to establish engineering centers and enterprise technology centers. This aims to drive breakthroughs in industrial core and common technologies to bolster R&D capabilities and move up the value chain.

Wu Xiaojuan from the Science and Technology Bureau detailed the measures to enhance AI's technological support for manufacturing. Currently, high-tech enterprises account for 80% of the city's key AI companies, with nearly 30 provincial-level or higher tech projects securing over 60 million yuan in support funds. Landmark achievements include humanoid robot joint modules and multimodal large-model-based UAV autonomous flight systems. To address the challenges of scenario implementation, the bureau co-hosted the first Smart Collaborative Robot Scenario Innovation Competition this year. The focus for the upcoming phase is fourfold: pursuing breakthroughs in core technologies like large models and industrial intelligent agents to solve key technical problems; optimizing platform layout by accelerating the construction of key laboratories and pushing forward the 香港理工大学淄博技术创新研究院 as an industrial transformation and AI service center; strengthening the tiered cultivation of innovation entities to grow a pool of tech-strong SMEs and high-tech enterprises; and deepening talent recruitment through brand events like the Lu-Gang Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Conference and national university partnerships to bring high-level talent teams to support enterprise innovation.

Li Zhukai addressed the current strengths and future plans regarding computing power and data, the core pillars for AI. In terms of intelligent computing supply, the city has improved efficiency and reduced costs. This year alone, Zibo secured 4.68 million yuan in provincial "computing vouchers" to lower enterprise costs, the highest single-enterprise amount in the province. Collaborations with universities on large models and scheduling, flexible "rent-to-buy" service models for small enterprises, and a data brand "齐数荟" which has served over 400 companies, are key measures in this area. On high-quality data, the focus is on scaling up the data labeling industry and building industry datasets. The city is guiding key enterprises to upgrade their business models, with data labeling revenue exceeding 44 million yuan in the first half of the year. Partnerships for talent training and the development of the Lubei Big Data Industrial Park are cultivating a collaborative industry layout. For industry datasets, the focus is on integrating data, technology, and application scenarios. Three projects have been selected for provincial "Data Elements×" innovation support, and the city is fostering a development pattern led by key players, with 28 companies and entities included in provincial data enterprise and data tech innovation entity registries. The Data Bureau's next steps include implementing the plan with high quality, improving computing efficiency, deepening industry-education integration, and encouraging broader participation in high-quality dataset construction to fully unlock the value of data.