This photo shows a section of the urban skyline in Nan'an District, Chongqing. (Photo/Guo Xu)
Chongqing - Home to Chongqing’s riverside Nanbin Road and scenic Guangyang Island, Nan’an District is also looking to AI to upgrade its manufacturing base.
At an October 28 briefing, Zhou Hehua, secretary of the CPC Nan'an District Committee, said Nan’an would bring AI research into wider industrial use from 2026 to 2030, targeting 37.5 billion yuan (approx. 5.63 billion U.S. dollars) in core smart economy industries by 2030.
To advance AI research, Nan'an plans to attract talent, build research platforms and foster an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Zhou said the district will center its innovation efforts on the Chongqing College of Artificial Intelligence and the Chongqing General Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, with the Chongqing Artificial Intelligence Bay Area serving as a platform for industrial applications. Priority areas include next-generation smart terminals, AI software and intelligent robots.
By 2030, the district plans to establish more than 20 innovation and entrepreneurship communities for one-person companies and develop 27 integrated AI application scenarios. These communities are intended to help individual entrepreneurs and small teams use AI to launch and grow businesses.
For industrial applications, Nan'an plans to bring AI further into manufacturing and better align research with companies' practical needs.
Nan'an District Mayor Liu Sheng said the district accounts for about one-quarter of Chongqing's smartphone output and one-half of its smart air conditioner output. Industrial output from enterprises above the designated size threshold in Nan'an has already exceeded 100 billion yuan.
During 2026-2030, Nan'an will focus on three sectors: next-generation electronic information, intelligent equipment and smart manufacturing, and software and information services. By 2030, the district aims for the scale of these sectors to exceed 90 billion yuan, 20 billion yuan and 20 billion yuan, respectively.
Local manufacturers have already begun exploring digital technologies. Midea Chongqing was named to the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse Network in 2025. The network recognizes manufacturing sites that use advanced technologies at scale to transform production.
According to the World Economic Forum, the factory deployed 79 digital use cases powered by machine learning, augmented reality and simulation to optimize product configuration, intelligent design, agile production and quality assurance.
These applications cut product configuration lead times by 81%, design lead times by 45% and after-sales failure rates by 31%, while accommodating a 180% increase in customized orders. The case shows how digital technologies can improve efficiency and quality while helping manufacturers respond more flexibly to diverse customer needs.
To extend these applications across more stages of production, Liu said Nan'an will promote the use of the Mingjing artificial general intelligence platform, developed by the Chongqing General Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, on factory floors.
The district will also encourage leading companies to work with universities and research institutes through industrial innovation complexes, strengthening links between research and industrial needs.
Nan'an's plans reflect Chongqing's broader push to integrate AI with manufacturing. According to data released by the Chongqing municipal government in March 2026, the city's core AI industries grew 23.6% year on year in 2025, while AI-enabled industrial upgrading helped drive a 19.2% increase in investment in industrial technological upgrades.