A robot cooks noodles at the Twenty-four Solar Terms Fireworks Robot Restaurant in Hangzhou on Jan 26. [Photo/IC]

Zhejiang province has issued a new action plan to accelerate the development of its artificial intelligence terminal industry, aiming to strengthen the province's position as a global center for AI innovation.

The plan was jointly released by the Economy and Information Technology Department of Zhejiang and four other provincial departments on Jan 27.

Under the plan, Zhejiang targets a marked increase in industrial strength by 2027.

Operating revenue from above-designated-size enterprises — defined as those with annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($2.86 million) or more — in the AI terminal sector is expected to exceed 500 billion yuan.

The province aims to achieve breakthroughs in more than 50 key technologies, cultivate 10 enterprises with annual revenue above 10 billion yuan each, and foster 100 national-level specialized and innovative "little giant" companies — small and medium-sized enterprises recognized by government authorities for being specialized and innovative.

The province also plans to develop 300 digitally enabled premium products and raise the penetration rate of AI terminals among the above-designated-size industrial enterprises to over 70 percent.

The plan calls for the development of a Hangzhou Bay-centered AI terminal industrial cluster, with Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Jiaxing serving as core cities. Coordinated development will extend to Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, and Taizhou.

Key priorities include strengthening consumer AI terminals such as AI-embodied computers, smartphones, wearable devices, and home products, as well as expanding industry-oriented terminals, including intelligent vision systems, smart industrial equipment, robots, intelligent connected vehicles, unmanned aerial and marine systems, and AI-powered medical devices.

The plan also outlines the layout in forward-looking areas, including humanoid robots, nanorobots, brain-inspired intelligent terminals, quantum computing terminals, and flying vehicles.

Supporting measures include advancing core technologies such as GPUs, TPUs, and brain-inspired computing chips, and promoting collaboration among universities, research platforms, enterprises, and industrial chains.