China's air logistics sector has maintained robust growth this year, with cargo volume surging 11.7 percent year on year in the first quarter to 2.243 million metric tons, according to data released Friday by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).
The federation attributed the expansion to booming cross-border e-commerce, which accounted for 60 percent of air cargo sources, and an optimized export structure featuring more high-tech products.
"With industrial restructuring, exports of electronic products, biopharmaceuticals and some electronic components are surging. This has created explosive growth for air cargo, especially international air freight services," said Cui Zhongfu, chief economist of the CFLP.
A CFLP forecast report projects that over 80 percent of the respondents remain optimistic about 2025 prospects, expecting China's air cargo growth to outpace global rates.
China's air cargo demand sustains strong growth in Q1: industry data
China's air cargo demand sustains strong growth in Q1: industry data
China's air cargo demand sustains strong growth in Q1: industry data
China aims to achieve secure and reliable supply of key core artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by 2027, with its industrial scale and empowerment level remaining among the world's forefront, according to a recent government action plan.
The plan, jointly issued by eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines an ambitious push to deeply integrate AI with the manufacturing sector, foster new quality productive forces and comprehensively empower new industrialization. By 2027, the plan targets the deep application of three to five general-purpose large AI models in manufacturing, the development of specialized, full-coverage industry-specific large models, the creation of 100 high-quality industrial datasets, and the promotion of 500 typical application scenarios.
It also aims to cultivate two to three globally influential ecosystem-leading enterprises, a batch of specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises, and a group of enabling service providers proficient in both AI technology and industry know-how.
Furthermore, China plans to build a world-leading open-source ecosystem, enhance security governance capabilities, and contribute Chinese solutions to global AI development.
The document outlines measures including promoting the coordinated development of AI chips' hardware and software, supporting innovations in model training and inference methods, fostering key industry-specific large models, and deeply embedding large model technology into core production processes.
The plan also emphasizes making breakthroughs in key technologies such as security protection for industrial model algorithms and training data protection.
China aims for secure, reliable supply of AI core tech by 2027
