Computing Power Reshapes Chinese Manufacturing: The Industrial Leap from Scale Advantage to Smart Factories

In the TCL production workshop in Huizhou, Guangdong, televisions move along automated assembly lines as a robotic system uses 3D vision and artificial intelligence to precisely connect signal ports—a task once reliant on manual labor, now achieving a product qualification rate of 99.8%. This scene is not an isolated case, but a systemic transformation underway in China's manufacturing system: the world's largest manufacturing nation is shifting from a traditional model dependent on scale and labor to smart factories driven by computing power, data, and AI.

From Automation to Intelligence: The Evolution of Manufacturing Paradigms

China has ranked first in global manufacturing scale for 16 consecutive years, but the sheer size of its traditional manufacturing base means transformation pressures are equally immense. TCL senior industrial engineer Lei Dengsi noted that in the past, production management relied on worker experience and fragmented systems, leading to slow problem responses. The introduction of smart manufacturing has made factories interconnected, data-driven, and flexible. This shift is incremental: from mechanical automation to digitalization, and now to intelligent systems capable of self-learning.

At Dongjiang Mold Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. in Dongguan, robots move through digital workshops, automatically storing and retrieving electrodes of different shapes and sizes and precisely delivering them to mold production stations. Company Vice President Wang Sheng pointed out that the diversification and accelerated renewal of consumer goods require mold manufacturing to achieve higher precision, stability, and flexibility, while data and AI enable factories to respond to these challenges in real time.

Computing Power Foundation and AI Penetration

Behind smart factories is a rapidly growing computing infrastructure. Industrial internet systems collect massive real-time data, and computing resources transform this information into decisions—from optimizing production processes to improving AI quality inspections. China's computing power scale is already among the top globally, with AI computing power becoming the main growth driver. Declining computing costs allow small and medium-sized enterprises to deploy AI algorithms as well. Wang Sheng emphasized that when algorithms are deeply integrated with real industrial processes and continuously learn from large volumes of production data, their accuracy and adaptability will steadily improve.

Traditional industries are also embracing AI. In the soy sauce factory of Foshan Haitian Flavoring, an AI vision system can identify over 13,000 soybeans per second, intelligent filling systems achieve high-precision packaging, and another AI technology can distinguish more than 170 aroma profiles. This centuries-old brewing enterprise is preserving its traditional flavor while improving efficiency through digital upgrades.

Policy and Regional Layout

China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) lists intelligent transformation, digitalization, and networking as key priorities for manufacturing, encouraging the promotion of smart manufacturing and industrial internet. In Guangdong Province, a manufacturing hub, enterprises have already widely deployed related technologies. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as a major computing hub, is becoming an experimental zone for integrating computing resources with manufacturing.

In Jiangmen, the local Institute of Industrial Technology has collaborated with Sun Yat-sen University to establish a sub-center of the National Supercomputing Center, directly providing computing support to manufacturing enterprises. Dong Yinghu, Deputy Director of Jiangmen Science and Technology Bureau, stated that they encourage and support extending computing resources to small and medium-sized manufacturers, and that public cloud and intelligent computing platforms help reduce application costs.

Responses from Smart Equipment EnterprisesEquipment manufacturers are also adjusting their technological roadmaps to adapt to the computing power revolution. Foshan Yizumi Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. began its digital transformation in 2018. Its intelligent injection molding machines and large-tonnage die-casting machines are used for the production of electric vehicle components. Last year, the company launched its first AI-powered die-casting machine, which can automatically adjust process parameters based on detected defects. Chief Technology Officer Zhou Jun admitted that when building the smart factory, they had not anticipated such rapid development in computing power. Now, they will adjust their technology roadmap to better leverage the opportunities brought by computing power.

International financial technology analyst Daryl Guppy commented that Chinese factories are undergoing a "silent revolution on the workshop floor," with an astonishing pace of upgrades, and China is becoming the "smart factory of the future."

Outlook: A Data-Driven New Manufacturing Ecosystem

As computing power continues to empower the industry, smart manufacturing will give rise to new industrial opportunities. Chip manufacturers such as Guangzhou Yuexin Semiconductor not only provide chips for industrial intelligence but also use their own production data to optimize factory intelligence. Guangdong Fenghua Advanced Technology (Holding) Co., Ltd. has introduced AI-assisted R&D systems in the production of high multilayer ceramic capacitors and other components. The next step is to connect the entire value chain from demand and R&D to production and delivery.

Computing power reshaping China's manufacturing is not just a technological upgrade but a fundamental change in the way industries are organized. When data becomes the core factor of production, the boundaries of factories begin to blur, and industrial chain collaboration will become closer. China's manufacturing sector is writing a new industrial narrative from "world factory" to "smart factory."