On October 19, nine departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Opinions on Accelerating Technology-Prospering Commerce," the first comprehensive, systematic document with "tech-prospering commerce" as its theme. At a State Council Information Office briefing, assistant minister Yuan Xiaoming said the opinions put forward 18 specific measures across four areas: using technology to upgrade goods consumption, expand service consumption, smooth commerce-circulation chains, and shape future business scenarios.
On the AI front, calculations show China's core AI-industry scale exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan in 2025, and first-half 2026 intelligent-terminal shipments surpassed 100 million units. The opinions call for deepening the "AI + manufacturing" special action, iterating smart terminals such as brain-computer interfaces and embodied intelligence, and developing intelligent industrial machines, agricultural machinery and medical devices.
For commerce specifically, the document promotes applying embodied-intelligence technology in trade sectors, expanding home services and commerce-logistics scenarios, and rolling out "AI + culture and tourism" pilots — 14 projects have already been approved, accelerating immersive experiences such as AR exhibitions and AI travel planning.
By linking R&D, scenarios and business models — and adding support in standards, infrastructure, safety, talent and finance — the policy aims to turn technological capability into tangible consumption and trade momentum.
Source: Ministry of Commerce / Workers' Daily
