Li Xunlei Interprets the "15th Five-Year Plan": AI Truly Becomes a Pillar Industry for National Economic Growth

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development was released on the evening of March 13th. The roadmap for China’s social and economic development over the next five years has now been officially outlined.

In the “15th Five-Year” plan, advancing digital intelligence development is given a dedicated chapter. The term “artificial intelligence” is mentioned 30 times throughout the document, marking that the “AI+” initiative has shifted from a macro call to a systematic plan. The plan clearly sketches a development path where “AI+” deeply integrates with science and technology, industrial development, consumption upgrading, people’s livelihoods, governance capabilities, and global cooperation. “AI+” has become the core engine of new productive forces.

Chapter 13 of the plan, “Comprehensively Promoting Digital Intelligence Technology Empowerment,” emphasizes, “Implement the ‘AI+’ action in all aspects, strengthen the integration of AI with technological innovation, industrial development, cultural construction, social welfare, and social governance, seize the commanding heights of AI industry applications, and empower all sectors.”

Li Xunlei, Chief Economist at Zhongtai International, told Caixin that if the past was about AI “+”, then the coming years will be about AI “×”. AI will evolve from a cutting-edge technology into a pillar industry driving national economic growth.

Li Xunlei summarized four key points regarding AI in the plan.

Key Point 1: Transformative development goals—building a new “intelligent economy” worth over 10 trillion yuan.

The biggest difference between the 15th and 14th Five-Year Plans is that AI is tasked with “restructuring the fundamental logic of economic operation.” Moving from “empowerment” to “reconstruction”: if the past was AI “+”, then in the coming years, AI “×” will give rise to a new intelligent economy centered on “data + computing power + algorithms” as core production factors. The National Development and Reform Commission explicitly states that by the end of the 15th Five-Year period, China’s AI-related industry scale will exceed 10 trillion yuan. This means AI will truly grow from a frontier technology into a main driver of economic growth.

Key Point 2: Shift in technological approach—from “large model training” to “application deployment.”

Policies clearly demand “seizing the commanding heights of AI industry applications,” indicating a shift in focus: as applications deepen, the demand for inference computing power will grow exponentially. Future development will shift from solely training computing power to “compute-electrical synergy” and “intelligent computing clusters,” encouraging the development of high-efficiency inference chips so users can access computing power as easily as electricity.

Key Point 3: Expansion of integration depth—covering five major fields to solve real problems.

The 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly requires AI to be integrated with technological innovation, industrial development, cultural construction, social welfare, and social governance. This means AI should not only showcase technical prowess but also address practical pain points. For example, in industry and people’s livelihoods, beyond achieving “uninterrupted” factory production (like UBTECH humanoid robots), AI is deeply embedded in healthcare (such as Guangxi’s “AI Digital Specialist Doctors” and Shenzhen’s diagnostic support systems), government services (like Shenzhen’s “Deep Xiao i” intelligent customer service), and more.

Key Point 4: Fundamental support—shifting from “technological competition” to “talent ecosystem competition.”

The competition in AI is essentially a contest over the effectiveness of a nation’s innovation system. In education reform, to adapt to the AI era, the 15th Five-Year Plan will deepen integrated reforms in education, science, and technology talent development. It proposes establishing interdisciplinary “AI+X” fields, and even developing specialized “vocational education large models” and “intelligent agents” to cultivate a new type of workforce capable of managing AI. In terms of inclusiveness, efforts such as open-source community building and reducing costs for small and medium-sized enterprises to use models aim to make AI accessible beyond top-tier labs—toward “tool-based, popularized” applications, stimulating innovation across society.

Li Xunlei stated that during the 15th Five-Year period, AI development will be a comprehensive leap from “technological breakthroughs” to “system integration.” It will both compete for technological high ground and root itself in factories, farms, and community clinics. The ultimate goal is to make AI a foundational infrastructure that drives social progress and improves people’s livelihoods. These five years will determine whether we can truly seize this wave of technological revolution and turn it into a new advantage in national competition.