Nanning City, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, on Friday launched a series of policies to support the development of a China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Cooperation Center.
The first batch of policies consists of 22 articles, applicable to AI companies that settle in the center from March 1, 2025, and will be valid until Dec 31, 2027.
The new policies will provide enterprises and teams that settle in the center with free office space for no less than two years, with a maximum of 15 square meters per person and a maximum cumulative space of 500 square meters, as well as a startup capital subsidy of up to 5 million yuan (over 680,000 U.S. dollars). Up to 50 million yuan (about 5.84 million U.S. dollars) will be issued each year to support model research and development, and up to 5 million yuan of support will be provided for projects seeking breakthroughs in key core technologies.
The new policy focuses on supporting the construction of intelligent computing centers with a scale of more than 100PFlops.
Newly recruited high-end sci-tech talents in the technology-based AI enterprises above the designated size will be given salary rewards at a rate of up to 10 percent of their after-tax salary.
"We will increase financial and taxation support, and push forward tax reductions and exemptions for the center. For enterprises that meet the current relevant tax preferential policies such as the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone, we will provide support for the local share part of corporate income tax under the policy of 'five-year exemptions and five-year reductions'. We will also establish an artificial intelligence industry fund with a total scale of 5 billion yuan (about 683.6 million U.S. dollars), focusing on supporting early-stage and growing AI companies and projects," Zhong Hong, executive vice mayor of Nanning City, said at a press conference on Friday.
The "five-year exemptions and five-year reductions" policy means that enterprises or projects under government support are exempt from corporate income tax from the first to the fifth year of its operation, and the tax is levied at half the statutory tax rate from the sixth to the tenth year.
Nanning issues policies to support China-ASEAN AI industry center
From cutting-edge technology exhibitions to retail stores thousands of kilometers away from Europe and Southeast Asia, China-made robot vacuum cleaners are increasingly becoming a popular choice among consumers worldwide.
At electronics retailers in Berlin, Germany, Chinese brands such as Roborock and Dreame occupy prominent positions in dedicated robot vacuum sections, offering a wide range of products priced between 200 and 2,000 euros.
Many local consumers said that when purchasing smart home appliances including robot vacuum cleaners, they tend to give priority to Chinese-made products.
"It's a good price and good quality. It's also the innovation. I have a feeling that the European brands are not innovating enough," said one customer.
"I think they're always on top of the other technologies. They are getting them out faster. A lot of us are switching to the Chinese technology," another consumer said.
Germany is one of the most important overseas markets for China's floor-cleaning robots.
According to data from market research firm GfK, from January to November 2025, more than six out of 10 robot vacuum cleaners sold in Western Europe were Chinese brands.
Industry data also point to a strong global momentum.
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), global shipments of smart robot vacuum cleaners reached 17.424 million units in the first three quarters of 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.7 percent.
Chinese brands including Roborock, Ecovacs, Dreame, Xiaomi and Narwal ranked among the world's top five in terms of shipment volume, with a combined share of nearly 70 percent of the global market.
At a robot vacuum cleaner manufacturing plant in Huizhou, south China's Guangdong Province, workers were seen stepping up production of newly launched models that recently debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in the United States, which concluded Friday in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The factory adjusted its production lines as early as December 2025 and stocked inventory in advance for overseas markets to ensure that new products could be delivered to global consumers at the earliest possible time.
"In 2025, Roborock's global shipments exceeded 7.2 million units. Since 2024, overseas revenue has accounted for more than 50 percent of our total revenue. Our products have now been sold to more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than 20 million households worldwide," said Quan Gang, president of Roborock.
At another robot vacuum cleaner manufacturing facility in Dongguan, Guangdong, rising overseas orders have prompted the company to upgrade its production lines with intelligent technologies to further boost capacity. The factory is currently operating at full load to meet a growing demand.
"For 2026, we have already obtained overseas orders worth at least 300 million to 400 million yuan (around 43 million to 57.3 million U.S. dollars). In addition, we've engaged in strategic cooperation with European home appliance group Cebos Group, and our total confirmed orders have exceeded 600 million yuan (around 86 million U.S. dollars)," said Zhang Junbin, founder and CEO of Narwal Robotics.
Chinese robot vacuum brands gain strong global traction
