In this October 2019 file photo, a Terminus intelligent service robot is on display at an exhibition of scientific and technological achievements in Beijing.Terminus will deploy more than 150 robots at the Expo 2020 Dubai, which has been rescheduled to next year. (FENG YI / CHINA DAILY)

The market size of China’s artificial intelligence-related industries is expected to grow to three trillion yuan (US$466 billion) by 2025, according to the latest report by the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association.

Compared with developed countries, traditional industries such as manufacturing, transportation, medical services, finance and education in China have much more room for improvement in terms of the level of development and infrastructure, which provides extensive market space for the application of AI technology, according to The White Book on the Development of Artificial Intelligence in 2021, which was released Thursday.

The large high-quality user base and waiting-to-be-upgraded industrial base in China will also push for accelerated development of the AI industry in the country.

According to market research firm International Data Corp, 65 percent of the world’s gross domestic product is expected to be driven by digitalization by 2022, while a total of US$6.68 trillion is projected to be spent on information technology globally from 2020 to 2023

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Spotting underlying business opportunities, many Chinese tech giants like Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent are pouring great resources into the field in a bid to create new drivers of growth for their businesses.

Although those behemoths are in an advantageous position with technological and capital strengths, startups can find their own position and achieve long-term growth through differentiated development, as they can focus on those niche segments larger companies have not set foot on and develop comparative advantages, according to the report.

It added that Shenzhen is one of the leading cities in the country in AI development, with 1,318 AI-related enterprises as of the end of 2020, ranking second nationwide.

About 23 percent of these enterprises focus on the “base layer” of AI like internet of things, big data and cloud computing while 21 percent focus on the “technology layer”, such as computer vision, biometrics recognition. The remaining 56 percent are “application layer” players, with businesses focusing on such fields as public security, intelligent manufacturing, smart transportation and smart homes.

The total amount of investment and financing in Shenzhen’s AI industry hit 10.27 billion yuan last year, almost double the figure in 2019, according to the report.

Around the world, the process of digitalization is speeding up, especially after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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According to market research firm International Data Corp, 65 percent of the world’s gross domestic product is expected to be driven by digitalization by 2022, while a total of US$6.68 trillion is projected to be spent on information technology globally from 2020 to 2023.

“Back in 2008 when the global financial crisis broke out, growth of global IT spending was far below the world’s GDP growth. But in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, the former was much higher than the latter. This shows technology is helping enterprises solve more and more business problems,” said Huo Jinjie, president of IDC China.

Since the government has made it clear that the country will ramp up efforts on developing “new infrastructure”,  AI, as one of the eight areas of “new infrastructure” and a key digital technology, is expected to embrace significant development, the market consultancy said.