China Promotes AI Integration in Manufacturing via Open-Source Base and Vertical Models
At the World Manufacturing Convention, China's Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Guobin, announced plans to accelerate 'AI + manufacturing.' The ministry will prioritize next-generation smart manufacturing by fostering open-source foundation models and specialized vertical models. The initiative signals China's strategic shift toward applying artificial intelligence to concrete industrial use cases rather than relying solely on general-purpose LLMs. Supporting open-source foundation models and domain-specific vertical models aims to enhance global manufacturing competitiveness and accelerate smart, green digital transformations. The vice minister outlined four core pillars: boosting primary technology innovation, building world-class advanced manufacturing clusters, reinforcing smart factory infrastructure with specialized AI models, and nurturing specialized small-to-medium enterprises (known as 'Little Giants').
## BACKGROUND
Foundation models are large AI models pre-trained on broad data that provide base representations for general tasks. In contrast, vertical models are specialized AI systems fine-tuned with high-quality domain data to solve specific problems within a particular industry, such as manufacturing or healthcare.