China's factories leapfrog into agentic AI and export it globally

China’s manufacturing sector is adopting agentic AI, bypassing traditional digitalization, and deploying AI agents across operations.

This shift marks a pivotal stage for China’s manufacturing sector, moving beyond low costs and reliable quality to compete on agility.

The trend aligns with Beijing’s national ‘AI plus’ initiative, aiming to integrate AI into 90% of China’s economy by 2030.