China has become the world’s largest holder of artificial intelligence (AI) patents, accounting for 60 percent of the global total. Its 6G patent applications account for approximately 40.3 percent globally, ranking No.1 worldwide, according to a report released by the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies at the 2025 World Internet Conference (WIC) Wuzhen Summit on Saturday.
Over the past year, China’s information infrastructure has continued to optimize and upgrade, with digital economy developing toward higher quality, greater depth and stability, and the scale of network content and digital cultural industries has continued to expand, said the China Internet Development Report 2025.
As of June 2025, the total number of fixed broadband access users in China had reached 684 million households, with a cumulative construction of 4.55 million 5G base stations and 1.118 billion 5G mobile phone users. The number of active IPv6 internet users reached 834 million, accounting for 75 percent of the total internet users, according to the report.
In 2025, China’s quantum computing industry is expected to exceed 11.56 billion yuan in scale, with year-over-year growth surpassing 30 percent, accounting for 41.2 percent of the overall quantum technology industry, per the report.
As of December 2024, China had 974 million online shopping users, accounting for 87.9 percent of the total internet population. Online retail sales grew by 7.2 percent, with the country becoming the world’s largest e-commerce market for 12 consecutive years, the report noted.
The construction of China’s online content system continues to advance, with the digital culture industry scale entering the “trillion-yuan” level. The report showed that in 2024, enterprises in the national culture and related industries achieved revenue of 14.15 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6 percent, with digital cultural industries such as micro-short dramas, “guzi” economy (fan merchandise economy), cloud performing arts, digital games, and digital reading prospering and developing, said the report.
During the Wuzhen Summit, representatives from Hangzhou’s “Six Little Dragons” star companies also gathered to provide insights for the country’s tech development achievements and expectations.
Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics, which is a leader in humanoid robotics, believed that AI is fueling accelerated growth across the robotics sector. “Next year or the year after, I’ll bring more surprises to everyone,” Wang said.
Han Bicheng, founder and CEO of the brain-machine interface company BrainCo, said that brain-computer interfaces can bring significant changes to daily life, while empowering numerous fields such as healthcare, disability assistance, education and more. He said his company will roll out a next-generation sleep aid next year and a weight management product in the coming two years, all aimed at addressing diverse challenges in daily life.
Liu Qiangdong, founder and chairman of Chinse e-commerce giant JD.com, said that robotics is poised to revolutionize the logistics ecosystem.
Addressing the opening ceremony on Friday, he highlighted that JD’s recently established sorting center in Beijing has already replaced 90 percent of its former workforce with robots, and that by next April, the company will launch the world’s first fully unmanned delivery station.
The 2025 WIC Wuzhen Summit opened on Friday in East China’s Zhejiang Province. It has drawn over 1,600 participants from more than 130 countries and regions, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Global Times
