China looks set to bolster its industrial internet with the government unveiling a roadmap supported by initiatives including 5G private networks buildout and deeper AI integrations.

South China Morning Post reports that the plan has drawn support from eight government agencies and is being led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Among the proposed efforts are for some 50,000 industrial 5G private networks to be deployed by 2030, along with strengthening of underlying foundational telecom capabilities. The agencies also want security protection mechanisms introduced related to the industrial internet and increased integration of AI technologies.

According to the SCMP, this roadmap differs from previous Chinese government industrial internet policies, with the latest version focusing on “integrated applications” and practical implementation within real-world settings, whereas prior legislation squared solely on general connectivity buildout.

The plan is part of China’s efforts to build a world-leading industrial internet infrastructure within the next decade, as it hopes for technologies like AI to support sectors vital for the national economy with “a new type of industrialisation” by 2035.

Alongside leading the industrial internet roadmap, the MIIT has been central to China’s steadily growing 6G plans, a key segment as the country continues efforts to build out its digital infrastructure sectors.

The agency approved the 6 GHz band for large-scale 6G field trials and technical standardization in May, as China vies to commercialize the next-gen standard by 2030.

The country is already underway with the ‘second phase’ of its 6G tests, which encompasses validating technical solutions and final system-level networking tests using pre-commercial 6G equipment. Phase two is expected to run through the end of next year.

Beyond connectivity, China is pressing on with building out its domestic semiconductor market to reduce reliance on the West, with chip production efforts gaining a saint to aspire to in the form of LineShine, the newly ordained most powerful supercomputer in the world.

Its AI efforts, meanwhile, may have been crowned with the rise of DeepSeek, but China is believed to already have its own alternative to Anthropic’s bug-busting AI model, Mythos.

Qihoo 360 – a Beijing-based firm that finds itself on the U.S. Entity List – is believed to have built Tulongfeng and Yitianzhen - with the latter described by company founder and CEO Hongyi Zhou as "China's version of Mythos."