In the city with the highest AI density, Shenzhen's ambitions go beyond this.
From a coastal fishing village in the south decades ago to the forefront of opening up, a high - ground for science and innovation, foreign trade, and finance, Shenzhen, leveraging its policy and geographical advantages, as well as its youthful, open, and adventurous urban spirit, was once popularly known as the "City of Makers".
When artificial intelligence has become an important driving force for the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, Shenzhen is once again at the forefront.
The "Hurun China's Top 50 Artificial Intelligence Enterprises in 2024" list points out that Shenzhen is the city with the highest "density" of the artificial intelligence industry. The "2025 Artificial Intelligence Development White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") shows that the number of artificial - intelligence - related enterprises in Shenzhen has reached more than 2,000, ranking third in the country. According to the research department of the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association, since 2024, the municipal and district levels in Shenzhen have jointly issued 23 special AI policies...
Even without looking at a series of impressive data and titles, when you step into Shenzhen, you can feel the strong atmosphere of AI: Robot "policemen" patrol the streets day and night; Nursing robots assist the elderly in nursing homes with washing their hair and using the toilet; Sanitation robots help sanitation workers clean up garbage...
A robot acts as a tea - making master. Photo provided by the interviewee
As a high - ground for science and innovation in China and the city with the highest AI density, where does the impetus for Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry come from?
With the surging wave of artificial intelligence becoming a keyword for industrial transformation across the country and even the world, where will Shenzhen go from here?
Read the "AI" City through Data
Let's first feel the heat of AI in Shenzhen through a series of data.
The "Hurun China's Top 50 Artificial Intelligence Enterprises in 2024" list points out that Shenzhen is the city with the highest "density" of the artificial intelligence industry - in terms of the number of artificial - intelligence - related enterprises and the distribution of enterprises in the basic layer, technology layer, and application layer, Shenzhen ranks first in the country.
Among them, representative AI enterprises include Intellifusion, Orbbec, and XtalPi.
This list of the top 50 mainly focuses on Chinese enterprises specializing in AI computing power or algorithms. It does not include embodied intelligence enterprises such as robots, smart cars, smart aircraft, and smart home appliances, nor does it cover enterprises that are outstanding in the AI field but whose core business is not AI.
Assuming that these enterprises were also included, Shenzhen's proportion would surely be even larger.
In addition, the "2025 Artificial Intelligence Development White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") jointly released by the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association and others shows that as of the end of 2024, the number of artificial - intelligence - related enterprises in China reached 13,069, among which the number of artificial - intelligence - related enterprises in Shenzhen reached more than 2,000.
Behind the large number of enterprises is a relatively complete artificial intelligence industrial chain.
It is found that Shenzhen has formed an artificial intelligence industrial chain covering the basic layer (computing power/data), technology layer (algorithms/platforms), application layer (scenarios), and terminal layer (products), and the integrity of the industrial chain ranks among the top in the country.
Especially in the field of robotics, Shenzhen has climbed to the top city in the country.
According to public data, in 2024, the number of enterprises in Shenzhen's robot industry cluster reached 74,032, with 34 listed robot enterprises and 9 unicorn enterprises, ranking first in the country. The total output value of Shenzhen's robot industrial chain reached 201.2 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 12.58%, ranking first in the country.
Let's take a look at the current and future economic benefits of Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry.
In 2024, the output value of Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry reached 368.5 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 22.6%. Among them, the total output value of the core layer was 76.5 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 45.7%.
In terms of future expectations, Shenzhen has proposed that by 2026, the number of artificial intelligence enterprises in the city will exceed 3,000, and the industrial scale will grow by more than 20% annually.
In the field of the artificial intelligence terminal industry, Shenzhen has proposed that by 2026, the scale of the city's artificial intelligence terminal industry will reach more than 800 billion yuan, striving for 1 trillion yuan.
Comprehensive Development with Prominent Hardware
Behind the impressive data, Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry firmly ranks among the first echelon in the country.
If we explore further, what supports Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry to achieve such results?
Behind a series of data, what development characteristics and advantages does Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry hide?
The industry often uses "large models" and "embodied intelligence" to describe different categories of artificial intelligence. The former is equivalent to the "brain", and the latter is similar to the "cerebellum" + "limbs".
Among them, the brain is responsible for overall decision - making, communication, and emotions, corresponding to large - model algorithms, multi - modal perception fusion, computing power infrastructure, and development frameworks in the artificial intelligence industry. The cerebellum is responsible for motion perception, coordination, and real - time feedback, including the lightweighting of large models at the edge. The limbs are the physical execution level, corresponding to robot bodies, intelligent terminals, and industrial equipment.
Dai Xin, a professor at Sun Yat - sen University and the executive dean of the Zhongshi Digital Economy Research Institute, told a reporter from Times Weekly that currently, Shenzhen has representative enterprises and products in the "brain", "cerebellum", and "limbs".
In terms of the brain, there are Huawei's Pangu large model, Tencent's Hunyuan large model, as well as Huawei's AI - related chips and numerous AI servers. In terms of embodied intelligence, there are Ubtech robots, Zhongqing robots, Standard robots, DJI drones (flying robots), and Simotics industrial inspection instruments. There are even more hardware enterprises and supply chains of various "limbs" types.
"However, in a comprehensive comparison, Shenzhen's 'cerebellum' and 'limbs' are relatively stronger, especially the 'limbs', which have formed a leading advantage in the country."
This advantage in robot hardware and intelligent terminals stems from the development of Shenzhen's consumer electronics industry over the past few decades.
Before the arrival of the artificial intelligence era, Shenzhen was already well - known as an international consumer electronics manufacturing center.
As is well - known, Shenzhen's rise is a process from processing trade to intelligent manufacturing, independent R & D and production, and brand building. Consumer electronics have always played a key role. From initially subcontracting for Foxconn to the rise of local brands such as Huawei, ZTE, Tencent, and Skyworth, Shenzhen was the first to achieve full - coverage of the consumer electronics industrial chain, completing the upgrade from the "world factory" to the "hardware Silicon Valley". The area around Huaqiangbei has the world's densest market for electronic components.
This complete advantage of the electronic industrial chain means shorter - time and lower - cost supply - chain services for artificial intelligence enterprises, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of enterprise products. For example, DJI, which occupies a leading position in the international drone market, grew up in this industrial environment. Wang Tao, the founder of DJI, once said that it only takes 3 days to iterate a drone in Shenzhen, while it takes 3 weeks in the United States.
Stardust Intelligence, founded in Shenzhen in 2022, is an enterprise focusing on humanoid robots. Its main product, Astribot S1, was launched in April 2024 after two years of incubation. It has both an intelligent brain and an all - around body. Astribot S1 uses innovative self - developed rope - drive technology, with dynamic performance comparable to human muscles, and its safety and flexibility have reached a new high in the industry.
"It was the right choice for the founding team to settle in Shenzhen," said Wang Jianan, the vice - president of Stardust Intelligence, in an interview with a reporter from Times Weekly. "Shenzhen is like a fertile land tailor - made for the robot industry. From chips to various components, the entire upstream, mid - stream, and downstream of the industry are closely clustered here. 'This kind of convenience is hard to experience in other places.'"
Hardware Advantage Leads to Industrialization Ability
The industry believes that "AI + intelligent terminals" is the ultimate commercial outlet for artificial intelligence.
The advantage of Shenzhen in the field of intelligent terminals means more abundant commercialization scenarios and stronger industrialization ability, which will also promote the development of the "brain" - large models.
Dai Xin said that intelligent terminals include drones, delivery robots, robotic arms in factories, smartphones, tablets, smart home appliances, smart medical devices, wearable devices, smart in - vehicle devices, etc. Most of these are industries where Shenzhen already has advantages or have been widely applied in Shenzhen. "For example, if we understand the current intelligent terminal products as lower - level animals, when empowered by more intelligent large models, they may be upgraded to higher - level animals, with a wider range of applications and the ability to handle more complex situations, thus bringing large - scale economic benefits."
He also pointed out that what large models currently lack the most is accurate data related to scenarios. Shenzhen's large - scale terminal intelligent industry and a large number of artificial intelligence application scenarios will continuously and automatically generate accurate data for relevant scenarios, which is exactly the resource that the large - model industry application is eager for and is expected to attract more large - model technology - based companies to Shenzhen.
Wang Jianan has a deep understanding of this.
According to her, making the company's humanoid robot "adapt to changes randomly like a human" is a key aspect of future evolution. Currently, on the one hand, the company is continuously refining the robot's "body" and iterating the body technology. On the other hand, significant progress has been made in the "brain + cerebellum" (AI) level. As a future household assistant, the family environment is ever - changing and full of unexpected details, which requires the robot to have a smarter, more flexible, and more human - like "on - the - spot reaction" ability.
"And Shenzhen, a city with a large - scale terminal intelligent industrial ecosystem and rich application scenarios, happens to provide a valuable fertile land and testing ground for this evolution of 'robot's adaptive wisdom'."
At the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Pioneer City Construction Promotion Conference held at the end of 2024, Yao Qizhi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tsinghua University, once mentioned that Shenzhen is an important engine for scientific and technological innovation in the country and the only city in the world that can integrate intelligent device manufacturing, software and hardware R & D, and supply - chain integration. The advantage of the full industrial chain has unparalleled potential in the field of artificial intelligence applications.
In addition to the industrial foundation and scientific and technological innovation ability, the local government has also issued policies intensively.
According to the statistics of the research department of the Shenzhen Artificial Intelligence Industry Association, from 2024 to May 2025, the municipal and district levels in Shenzhen issued 23 special AI policies, including 8 municipal - level policies and 15 district - level policies. They innovatively launched "training power vouchers", "corpus vouchers", and "model vouchers" to reduce the R & D costs of enterprises.
Meanwhile, Shenzhen has continuously promoted the expansion of AI application scenarios. As of March 2025, Shenzhen has formed several batches of a total of 527 application scenarios, cases, and products.
In the atmosphere of continuous expansion of AI application scenarios in Shenzhen, not only does AI empower all industries in the local area, but the open AI application scenarios also drive the research and development of AI technology and commercial application in reverse.
For example, Stardust Intelligence's robots have been deployed in nursing homes in Shenzhen. Wang Jianan introduced that a nursing home is actually an environment that requires more meticulous care and is more challenging than an ordinary family. Here, the robots not only have to face more intensive and complex care needs - from ensuring the safety of every step of the elderly, including environmental perception and safety - protection ability, to understanding and adapting to the acceptance levels and emotions of different elderly people, and then to meeting their longing for warm companionship and communication. Every detail is a test of the robot's "adaptive wisdom".
She described this complexity as a "precious training ground". It is in the process of dealing with these real and diverse challenges that the robot's scenario - understanding, decision - making, and real - time interaction abilities are efficiently tempered. "As the robots' abilities continue to learn and mature through iteration, they will be able to accurately share the heaviest burdens on the shoulders of caregivers in the future and complete those particularly energy - consuming tasks."
Stardust Intelligence's Astribot S1 performs on stage. Photo provided by the interviewee
Let's turn our attention back to the overall layout idea of Shenzhen's artificial intelligence industry.
Public information shows that from the R & D of core components to the design and manufacturing of complete machines, from a complete industrial - chain system to a diverse application - scenario ecosystem, Shenzhen has built a closed - loop system of "technology R & D - result transformation - scenario application" and created a globally leading application - demonstration matrix in various fields.
Looking to the future, Dai Xin suggested that as an emerging industry, artificial intelligence has many sub - tracks, and the specialization degree of different tracks is quite high. While vigorously promoting AI to disrupt and reshape all industries, there should be a new systematic mechanism different from the past, including forming an expert team with comprehensive capabilities such as economic - industry management and operation ability and vertical - type technical ability to sort out and analyze the industrial map.
On this basis, a planning blueprint should be formulated, and high - quality innovative projects selected should be accompanied and followed up throughout the process, thereby reducing the proportion of blind and low - level trial - and - error. At the same time, restrictions should be reduced during the innovation and development process of enterprises, innovation exploration should be encouraged, and the business environment and openness should be continuously optimized.
From a fishing village in the past to an international metropolis today, "openness", "innovation", and "hard work" have always been the spiritual core of Shenzhen's development. In the current and future era of rapid industrial iteration, these are still the keys to Shenzhen's success.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Reading the City Studio". Author: Zeng Siyi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.