MWC Shanghai 2025 witnesses accelerated industrial transformation driven by AI big models

The just-concluded 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai witnessed groundbreaking transformation of traditional industries driven by artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

The event, held from Wednesday to Friday, showcased China's progress in applying large AI models to critical sectors including natural resource management and industrial safety systems.

An AI safety monitoring system for mines, combining large AI models with 5G technology, now protects operations 1,000 meters underground.

The system detects safety violations in real-time, such as workers crossing moving conveyor belts, triggering immediate alerts and automatic shutdown commands while providing emergency protocols.

"This system reduces inspection costs by 30 percent. By automatically generating emergency procedures and steps, we've improved response efficiency, cutting reaction time from 10 minutes to just 3 minutes, achieving 70 percent time savings," said Xu Xiaowei, solutions manager at China Mobile's Shanghai Industrial Research Institute.

Meanwhile, more than 230,000 communication towers across China have been upgraded into "digital towers" equipped with HD cameras and sensors. These structures now provide environmental monitoring, forest fire prevention and earthquake early warnings.

"Digital technology has enhanced our monitoring efficiency for natural resources and ecological environments. Our 18-billion-parameter visual AI model has improved target detection accuracy by at least 16 percent compared to single-algorithm small models," said Zhang Shuo, product manager at China Tower's Hebei branch. The system currently monitors 500,000 square kilometers of forests and 17,000 water management sites.

MWC Shanghai 2025 witnesses accelerated industrial transformation driven by AI big models

A 7.5-tonne unmanned cargo aircraft powered by AEP100, China's independently developed megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine, successfully completed its maiden flight on Saturday at an airport in Zhuzhou, central China's Hunan Province.

This marks the world's first test flight of a megawatt-class hydrogen-fueled turboprop engine.

Experts from the Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) noted that the successful maiden flight highlights that China has now established a complete technological chain in hydrogen-fueled aviation engines, covering everything from core components to full engine integration. They added that this achievement lays the foundation for the industrial application of hydrogen energy in aviation.

As green hydrogen production costs fall, hydrogen aviation engines will show growing economic and energy security advantages, experts said. Hydrogen-fueled aero engine technology is expected to debut in low-altitude economy fields such as unmanned air freight and island logistics before gradually expanding to regional and mainline aircraft.

This technology will drive coordinated upgrades across industrial clusters, including upstream green hydrogen production, midstream storage, transportation and refueling infrastructure, and downstream high-end equipment and new materials. Ultimately, it will propel the green, low-carbon, and high-quality development of China's aviation industry, experts added.

Megawatt hydrogen turboprop engine completes maiden flight in central China

Megawatt hydrogen turboprop engine completes maiden flight in central China