Currently, China's industrial economy is in a strategic opportunity period of transitioning from old to new driving forces. The data for the first quarter of 2025 shows that the year-on-year growth rate of added value of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 6.5%. The contribution rate of equipment manufacturing industry has significantly increased, and strategic emerging industries such as electronics, automobiles, and electrical machinery have become the main growth engines. In this context, the deep integration of artificial intelligence and 5G technology is accelerating the process of new industrialization and providing a core driving force for cultivating new quality productivity. This article will deeply analyze the internal logic and development path of China's industrial transformation and upgrading from three dimensions: technological empowerment, industrial synergy, and ecological construction. The "dual wheel drive" strategy proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which involves the collaborative efforts of the supply side and the application side, has built a complete closed-loop system for the development and commercialization of artificial intelligence technology. On the supply side, the parallel research and development strategy of general large-scale models and vertical industry large-scale models demonstrates the deepening development of technological foundations from universality to specialization. Taking the industrial field as an example, the systematic construction of high-quality datasets will effectively break through the training data bottleneck of AI models in complex industrial scenarios. At the same time, the introduction of the innovative mechanism of "unveiling and leading" accelerates the breakthrough of core technologies through market-oriented competition, effectively promoting the process of "intelligent industrialization". At the application level, the intelligent upgrade of the entire manufacturing process has been implemented on a large scale. According to the latest data, the penetration rate of autonomous artificial intelligence models in core industrial fields has significantly increased, and the market penetration rate of AI intelligent terminal devices, artificial intelligence, and intelligent terminal devices has shown a steady upward trend. By implementing the demonstration project of "Ten Key Industries, One Hundred Application Scenarios, and One Thousand Benchmark Cases", the practice of industrial innovation has been effectively promoted. Especially in the field of precision manufacturing, the intelligent upgrade of equipment such as X-ray fluorescence spectrometers has increased product quality control accuracy by over 30%. This innovative path of "technological innovation scenario verification scale application" significantly shortens the transformation cycle of technological achievements. As of March 2025, China has built 4.395 million 5G base stations and exceeded 218 million gigabit broadband users. The continuous optimization of network infrastructure provides strong support for industrial digital transformation. In the application field, the deep integration of 5G and industrial Internet has achieved remarkable results: more than 18500 "5G+industrial Internet" construction projects have been accumulated, and 700 benchmark 5G factories have achieved an average production cost reduction of 18% and a product yield increase of 12% through intelligent transformation. Especially in the vertical fields such as mining and ports, the remote control system built on the 5G private network has effectively reduced 70% of high-risk workers. The evolution of 5G technology has continued to accelerate, with remarkable innovation achievements. The latest 6G technology roadmap released by the IMT-2030 Promotion Group shows that through testing and verification of cutting-edge technologies such as integrated sensing and wireless AI, end-to-end latency has been optimized to the level of 0.1 milliseconds. This technological breakthrough not only solidifies the existing industrial application foundation, but also creates development space for emerging fields such as low altitude economy. Currently, the 5G-A network deployment in 330 cities across the country is building the world's largest low altitude communication network, providing centimeter level high-precision positioning services for applications such as drone logistics and intelligent inspection. As the core driving force of technological integration, the electronic information industry will achieve a year-on-year growth rate of 11.5% in added value in the first quarter of 2025, significantly leading the overall industrial growth. Driven by the continuous release of demand for AI terminals, the consumer electronics sector has shown a significant structural growth trend. Thanks to the purchase subsidy policy, the replacement cycle for smart devices has been shortened to 2.3 years. Of particular note is the breakthrough progress of the open source ecosystem: the OpenHarmony ecosystem has successfully penetrated into more than 10 vertical fields such as energy and finance, with a device capacity exceeding 1 billion units; The installed capacity of the open-source Euler system has exceeded 10 million, building a complete ecosystem from the underlying operating system to the upper level applications. This open innovation model significantly reduces the cost of technology access for small and medium-sized enterprises by 40%, effectively promoting the process of industrial collaborative innovation. The transformation and upgrading of the steel industry provides a demonstrative example for the transformation of traditional industries. The new version of the "Standard Conditions" promotes enterprises to achieve a leap from compliant survival to high-quality development by constructing a graded evaluation system (basic indicators+leading indicators). Among them, the mandatory requirement for ultra-low emission transformation throughout the entire process has prompted enterprises to increase their R&D investment intensity to 3.5%; At the same time, the application of intelligent systems such as "Kuang Hong" has achieved an 8% reduction in energy consumption per ton of steel. This collaborative mechanism of "policy guidance technology empowerment standard upgrading" provides replicable practical experience for the transformation and upgrading of heavy industry. The "three rising" strategy on the consumer side has effectively established a two-way optimization mechanism for supply and demand. On the supply side, the implementation of core measures has significantly improved industrial synergy. The implementation of the industrial digital transformation strategy has significantly enhanced flexible manufacturing capabilities, with a 50% increase in response efficiency for personalized customization in the clothing industry. At the consumer market level, the synergy between AI intelligent terminals and the trade in policy is expected to leverage a market growth space of 300 billion yuan. At the same time, the strengthening of the environmental regulatory system has led to a rise in consumer confidence index to 112, providing sustained market driving force for industrial transformation and upgrading. The series of strategic deployments by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology fully reflect the synergistic innovation system of "technology industry system". On the capital side, by establishing a patient capital guidance mechanism, the financing bottleneck of AI large-scale models and long cycle technology research and development has been effectively alleviated; On the standard side, the Artificial Intelligence Standardization Committee adheres to the principle of prioritizing urgent needs and has achieved synchronous promotion of ethical norms and technological development; At the international cooperation level, the multilateral technology cooperation mechanism in the 6G field has increased China's voice in the formulation of key standards to 35%. This series of institutional innovations is building a virtuous cycle system of "technological breakthroughs driving market applications - market feedback optimizing policy design - policy guarantees feeding back technological innovation". Looking ahead to the future, with the accelerated commercialization of 5G-A and the deep application of AI models in the industrial field, innovative scenarios such as human-machine collaborative manufacturing and holographic quality control will be implemented on a large scale. It is worth noting that the challenges arising from the process of technological integration, such as data security risks and employment structure adjustments, urgently require forward-looking layout through institutional innovation. The development path of China's new industrialization is steadily moving towards the high-end of the global value chain, driven by the dual wheels of technological innovation empowerment and industrial ecological optimization.(outlook new era)

Article | Zhu Dan, Researcher of National Development and Strategy Research Institute of Renmin University of China