On October 26, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published the 2026 pilot list of "Navigator"-grade smart factories, adding 34 and opening a public comment period through November 2, Xinhua reported. The list covers multiple industries including Xiaomi Auto's AI-driven agile manufacturing super factory, Seres' NEV smart factory, Lenovo's AI PC factory in Hefei, Hisense's high-end display factory, and CATL's lithium-battery factory.
By the end of September, China had built more than 13,000 advanced-grade smart factories, over 500 excellence-grade and 15 navigator-grade. The gradient cultivation has four tiers — basic, advanced, excellence and navigator — with the top tier requiring AI technology application scenarios to exceed 60% of operations.
The single release of 34 navigator candidates signals a shift from "selecting models" to "rolling out at scale," directing orders toward industrial software, system integration and production-line transformation. The list is a more reliable demand signal than concept themes.
The move accelerates AI's deep penetration into manufacturing as China pushes "AI + manufacturing" to empower new-type industrialization.
Source: Xinhua
