How China plans ‘new breakthroughs’ in IT manufacturing amid US tech curbs

China has unveiled a detailed plan to upgrade its information technology (IT) manufacturers as it doubles down on achieving self-sufficiency in technologies including semiconductors, batteries, satellite navigation and artificial intelligence (AI), and sidestepping US tech curbs.

The 18-point action plan calls for the deepening of AI integration and the fostering of a new class of industry service providers by 2027.

It aims to see more than 85 per cent of manufacturers using computer numerical control – in which computer programs automate machining – in key processes in the next two years, and to cultivate at least 100 specialised service providers for the sector.

By 2030, China aims to have completed a core industrial database that will allow its IT manufacturers to achieve “new breakthroughs” and scale the “high end of the global value chain”.

The blueprint was released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Data Administration, amid the closing phase of the “Made in China 2025” initiative.

IT manufacturing forms the backbone of China’s industrial system, spanning upstream materials like monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon, midstream component manufacturing, and downstream applications in electronics and automotive systems.