Hebei Province is launching a dedicated initiative to cultivate AI application service providers, aiming to enhance the deployment and delivery capabilities for complex manufacturing scenarios across the region. The move is designed to strengthen the service backbone essential for integrating artificial intelligence into the manufacturing sector.
The province will establish a resource pool for AI application service providers, focusing on sharpening their capabilities in technological innovation, integrated delivery, and security compliance. The goal is to build a skilled workforce of providers who understand industry pain points, master technical mechanisms, are aware of security risks, and excel in delivering and operating AI solutions.
An AI application service provider is defined as an enterprise or institution that offers services such as solution consulting, planning, delivery implementation, operations management, and security governance for users' intelligent transformation needs. According to the initiative's targets, the provincial resource pool aims to include at least 60 enterprises by the end of 2026, and no fewer than 100 service providers by the end of 2027.
The initiative emphasizes improving the capability to deliver AI solutions for complex scenarios in the manufacturing sector, creating a Hebei-specific ecosystem characterized by coordinated elements, interconnected value chains, and extensive scenario coverage. To build the service provider resource pool, cities will conduct comprehensive surveys of local providers and establish municipal-level pools. The Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology will consolidate the lists and establish the provincial pool based on relevant standards, implementing dynamic management with regular updates and recommending outstanding providers to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for inclusion in a national pool.
The province will enhance the comprehensive capabilities of service providers by organizing them into "AI application service teams" based on industry needs, collaborating with upstream and downstream partners to develop integrated solutions. Providers are encouraged to jointly build innovation platforms such as AI application pilot testing centers, engaging in technology development, testing and validation, and pilot-scale maturation. They are also encouraged to improve their capabilities in integrating foundational software and hardware products, including secure and reliable operating systems, databases, and AI training and inference chips, embedding network security, data security, ethical governance, and business compliance management throughout the entire R&D, deployment, and application process.
To promote the large-scale application of AI services, Hebei will guide providers to develop modular, standardized, and "small, fast, light, and precise" AI solutions targeting high-frequency, rigid-demand scenarios in industries such as steel, chemicals, and equipment manufacturing, as well as county-level distinctive industrial clusters. This approach aims to deliver low-cost, lightweight intelligent services to small and medium-sized enterprises. The province will also facilitate supply-demand matching between providers and industrial clusters or key enterprises, promoting the practical implementation of AI products and solutions and generating exemplary experiences for replication across the province.
The province will strengthen service support by connecting providers to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei hub of the national integrated computing power network, the national computing interconnection regional node (Hebei), and the China Computing Power Platform, leveraging preferential computing power policies to reduce usage costs. Providers will also be given access to open APIs or trial channels for scenarios, data, models, and intelligent agents developed through initiatives like "Model-Data Resonance" and "Industrial Data Foundation." Universities and vocational colleges are encouraged to co-build training bases with leading providers to cultivate composite talent skilled in business understanding, model application, security awareness, and delivery capability. Providers are also encouraged to build on-site deployment engineering teams to ensure successful scenario implementation at customer locations.
Local industry and information technology authorities will establish a routine tracking and coordination mechanism to provide ongoing guidance to resource pool providers and service teams, helping to resolve bottlenecks and challenges in enterprise development.