China's informatization development made significant achievements in 2024, speeding up Internet and IT innovation, and digital and smart life service popularization, boosting cybersecurity, and deepening international cooperation, according to a report released by the Cyberspace Administration of China on July 30.

The report noted that the country's innovative development capability was greatly strengthened in 2024. The ability to develop and manufacture integrated circuits has been enhanced, and frontier innovative achievements in quantum information, brain computer interface and digital twin tech are constantly emerging.

The technological capability of generative artificial intelligence (AI) continuously improved. By the end of 2024, there were 302 generative AI services filed, with the total number of registered users surpassing 600 million. Many of the large AI models like DeepSeek led the world in terms of product performance.

The 5G air-to-ground technology was successfully developed and completed the test verification. Technical tests for 6G were conducted for key technologies like wireless AI.

The competitiveness of the digital industry was steadily improved, with the added value of core industries of digital economy making up 10 percent of China's GDP. The scale of AI core industries reached nearly 600 billion RMB, covering upstream and downstream key processes like algorithms, data, platforms and application.

Digital technologies and real economy were also deeply integrated. Additionally, the integration of new technologies like AI and robots with agricultural production and operation was accelerated. Meanwhile, over 200,000 agricultural unmanned aerial vehicles across the country, operated on more than 400 million mu (about 266,666.67 square kilometers) land per year.

Cumulatively, 421 national demonstration factories, over 10,000 provincial digital workshops and smart factories, and 700 high-level 5G factories were nurtured.

Technologies like AI and digital twin were applied in over 90 percent of the demonstration factories.

Digital and intelligent technologies also greatly facilitated public services. There were over 3,700 Internet hospitals nationwide, and the remote medical service network covered all cities and counties, extending gradually to communities and villages.

More than 3,000 websites and smart phone applications were adapted to make themselves senior friendly and barrier free.

Relying on e-government service platforms, provinces like Zhejiang promoted one-stop services, cutting the processes, time and materials needed to a large extent. Large AI models were also adopted in scenarios like inquiries, business handling and customer service, greatly improving efficiency.

Furthermore, cyber and data security was strengthened last year, with the release of a framework for AI security governance, targeting AI's innate and application security risks. The National Technical Committee 260 on Cybersecurity of Standardization Administration of China was established and 36 national standards concerning cybersecurity, information security and data security were issued.

Campaigns were continuously conducted to govern the personal data collection by applications that contravenes laws and regulations. Cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing spared no effort to address the excessive collection of personal data such as facial recognition in key scenarios like supermarkets, hotels and vending machines.

Last year also saw a deepening of international cooperation concerning cyberspace. China held key international conferences like the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit and the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, and released the Global Cross-Border Data Flow Cooperation Initiative, actively building open platforms for cyberspace international cooperation.