AI boosts smarter industrial internet

SHENYANG — At the exhibition booth of China Mobile, visitors wearing 3D glasses watched cityscapes and museum collections leap off the screen with vivid depth.

"Relying on our high-speed computing network and artificial intelligence-rendering technology, users can enjoy immersive 3D viewing experiences at home," said Wang Haimo, a project manager with China Mobile Liaoning, at the recent 2026 Global Industrial Internet Conference in Shenyang, Liaoning province.

Under the theme of smart transformation, digital upgrade, and industries empowered by AI, the conference brought together exhibitors showcasing innovative achievements that integrate the industrial internet with AI and present new scenarios of smart living.

New models, such as intelligent production, platform-based design, and personalized customization, have been widely adopted, injecting strong momentum into the country's new industrialization, said Xie Yuansheng, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at the event.

At the exhibition, visitors tried on AI glasses that display Chinese subtitles of spoken English on the lenses and translate foreign text with a quick glance. The glasses combine voice translation, visual translation and simultaneous interpretation in 122 languages, said Zhang Xinyan, a manager at iFlytek, the developer.

Beyond everyday use, the device also has potential in industrial settings such as cross-border technical exchanges, equipment checks and supply chain coordination, representing an extension of industrial internet into wearable, human-centered tools.

MIIT data show that the scale of the country's core industrial internet industry exceeded 1.6 trillion yuan ($238 billion), with 26,000 industrial 5G private networks deployed in 2025.

In late June, eight government departments, including the MIIT, unveiled new guidelines setting targets for the industrial internet by 2030, including deploying 50,000 industrial 5G private networks and achieving core industry value-added output exceeding 2.5 trillion yuan.

The industrial internet is also empowering a "flexible transformation" in manufacturing, shifting production from a one-size-fits-all model to personalized customization.

At Dayang Group, a garment maker based in Dalian, Liaoning, customers upload body measurement data and select fabrics online. Orders then flow into the company's self-developed industrial internet platform, where AI systems match patterns, generate production instructions, and direct smart cutting machines.

Hu Dongmei, the group's general manager, said that before the digital transformation, even the most experienced pattern maker needed two hours to create a pattern from measurements.

"Now, the process takes just two seconds," Hu said.

XINHUA-CHINA DAILY