China's generative AI users top 600 mln

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) users in China hit 602 million in December 2025, up 141.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the 57th Statistical Report on China's Internet Development. The penetration rate climbed 25.2 percentage points year-on-year to 42.8 percent.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), generative AI has rapidly integrated into economic and social activities, becoming a key driver of China's digital and intelligent transformation.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has prioritized AI development, strengthening top-level design and policy coordination to advance systematic progress in the field.

In 2025, the number of AI enterprises in China exceeded 6,000, with the core AI industry estimated at more than 1.2 trillion yuan (about $173.87 billion) in value. The country's intelligent computing power capacity reached 1,590 EFLOPS.

In recent years, China has ramped up fundamental research in AI, with its output of AI papers now ranked among the world's best in both volume and impact.

According to 2025 data from the World Intellectual Property Organization, China has become the largest holder of AI-related patents globally, accounting for 60 percent of the total.