BEIJING, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry is developing rapidly, with the amount of financing expected to exceed 45 billion yuan in 2018, increasing 70 percent over last year, according to data released by Zero2IPO Capital, a leading Chinese financial advisor.
Another set of data also confirms the thriving AI investment. In the first half of this year, the global investment in AI industry reached 43.5 billion U.S. dollars, of which more than 70 percent came from China (31.7 billion U.S. dollars), said an official of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) at a recent meeting.
It is worth noting that Chinese investment flew mostly into fields such as computer vision, artificial intelligence chips, and face recognition, with the amount reaching respectively 17 billion yuan, 7 billion yuan, and 5 billion yuan.
The rising investment figures result mainly from the Chinese government's high attention to the domestic AI industry.
In July 2017, the State Council officially issued a development plan to support the AI development. Subsequently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released a detailed work plan in November this year.
The work plan by MIIT proposed that by the year of 2020, China reach or approach the internationally advanced level in areas including computing, communication and intelligence vehicle platforms.
At present, many Chinese companies have been accelerating the deployment of artificial intelligence applications, and automated driving appears to be one of the most commercially promising areas.
Up to now, Chinese auto companies, including FAW, SAIC, BAIC, Changan Automobile and Dongfeng Motor, have all invested heavily in this area. (Edited by Li Wenxin, liwenxin@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
