Visitors pose for photos at an AI holographic costume change station at the Cultural & Tourism Services exhibition area of the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) at Shougang Park in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 12, 2025. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Beijing aims to grow its core artificial intelligence (AI) industry beyond 1 trillion yuan (about 142.5 billion U.S. dollars) within two years via a new action plan unveiled on Monday, as China's capital city seeks to cement its role as a global AI innovation hub. 

Under the plan, authorities will roll out nine major initiatives targeting different sectors of the AI industry, with a strong emphasis on technological innovation. 

The plan prioritizes technological breakthroughs through coordinated research efforts, boosting high-quality data supply and expanding applications across sectors. It also includes measures to attract top talent, mobilize long-term capital and support open-source ecosystems. 

Yang Xiuling, director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, said other targets include building a domestically produced AI computing cluster with a capacity of over 100,000 chips, adding more than 10 newly listed AI-related companies and cultivating over 20 unicorn firms in this sector. 

These measures are designed to accelerate Beijing's transformation into a globally competitive center for AI innovation, Yang added. 

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China placed innovation at the heart of its modernization drive, building one of the world's most advanced AI ecosystems and empowering sectors ranging from manufacturing and healthcare to transportation and finance. 

The country's AI sector has seen robust growth, with the number of such enterprises exceeding 5,300 as of September 2025, accounting for 15 percent of the global total, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.