Reject backwardness. The only coastal province in the western region has quietly switched its engine.

If we were to select the hottest sports events in 2025, the city football leagues held in multiple provinces would definitely make the list.

Among them, the most representative one is the "Jiangsu Super League."

However, there is another equally intense competition taking place in a different arena, namely the "A Super League" in Guangxi.

On the eve of New Year's Day, the closing ceremony of the AI Empowering All Industries Super League (abbreviated as "A Super League") - the "A Super Night" - was held in Nanning, Guangxi. Through activities such as super roadshows, strategic announcements, and digital and intelligent interactions, the event showcased the innovative vitality of Guangxi in the integration of AI technology and industries, and marked a successful end to the nearly six - month - long 2025 "A Super League."

It is reported that next year, based on the "A Super League," Guangxi will co - host the "Joint AI Transformation Competition for Thousands of Enterprises in All Industries," inviting more domestic and foreign enterprises, universities, and teams to participate actively and jointly accelerate the innovation and application of artificial intelligence.

So far, Guangxi, the only coastal province in the central and western regions that needs to enhance its presence, has found a clearer path to break through in an alternative way.

01

What you keep in mind will surely be responded to.

Recently, the "First Meeting of the New Year" in many places has attracted attention and sparked discussions.

In fact, the birth of the "A Super League" is closely related to the "First Spring Meeting" in Guangxi in 2025. At that time, when DeepSeek was making a strong debut, the "First Spring Meeting" in Guangxi sharply set an inspiring goal: In the era of artificial intelligence, Guangxi cannot be absent, and Guangxi cannot fall behind.

Since then, Guangxi has been deeply associated with the keyword "AI."

In July of that year, the AI Empowering All Industries Super League with the theme of "AI Guangxi, AI China, AI ASEAN" was officially launched.

This event welcomes participants from all walks of life in China and ASEAN, including leading enterprises, startup teams, research institutions, university students, and individual developers.

The results show that this event covered 31 provinces in China and 11 ASEAN countries. A total of 20 tracks closely related to economic and social development needs were set up, attracting 10,447 domestic and foreign teams, among which 604 were ASEAN teams.

After the competition, 93 excellent event scenarios and 202 new technology exhibits emerged, resulting in a total amount of over 74 million yuan for the projects under the "open - call - for - bids" mechanism. A total of 40 projects received initial favor from capital, 57 technologies entered the transformation and application channels, and a number of enterprises reached cooperation with ASEAN partners.

The impacts brought about are reflected in multiple aspects.

For example, the application of artificial intelligence in Guangxi has accelerated. Taking the manufacturing industry as an example, in the past year, Guangxi created 291 typical scenarios of "artificial intelligence + manufacturing," covering key links such as enterprise design, production, and operation. The production efficiency of key enterprises increased by more than 30%, and the cost decreased by more than 20%.

At the same time, 25 data sets were established, covering Guangxi's characteristic and advantageous industries such as non - ferrous metals and steel.

Taking the automobile industry as an example, at present, in the SAIC - GM - Wuling Baojun Base in Liudong New District, Liuzhou, the overall assembly automation rate of the intelligent island manufacturing system has reached 50%, leading the industry.

In the first three quarters of 2025, the base achieved an output value of 28.954 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 25.2%, and produced 378,400 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of 26.64%.

02

Of course, in the AI track, Guangxi's ambition goes beyond just making good use of AI tools; it aims to truly become an important part of production and R & D.

In the past year, Guangxi has achieved remarkable results in the innovation of artificial intelligence hardware products, software R & D, and breakthroughs in vertical - field models. For example, 258 new intelligent products were added throughout the year, and the revenue of the software and information technology service industry is expected to increase by 23%.

Another set of landmark data is that in 2025, the output of service robots in Guangxi is expected to exceed 800,000 units, and the output of industrial robots has increased by more than 120%.

More importantly, more factor resources related to AI development are gathering in Guangxi.

For example, by strengthening the attraction of artificial intelligence projects, actively promoting the model of "R & D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou + Integration in Guangxi," and jointly carrying out diversified investment promotion with various cities, Guangxi promoted the implementation of 65 artificial intelligence industrial projects in the industrial field last year, with a total investment of over 26 billion yuan, filling the gaps in industries such as AI chips, AI computers, and special robots.

In addition, the policy support for the development of the AI industry is also being improved rapidly. For example, the Guangxi Xinggui New - type Industrialization Venture Capital Fund with a total scale of 5 billion yuan was established, and products such as the "Financial Support for Enterprises AI Loan" were innovatively launched.

At the same time, service vouchers for cultivating and strengthening manufacturing enterprises were introduced, a number of service providers were cultivated and introduced, and more than 930 "Intelligent and Digital Transformation" products were launched to provide high - quality and low - cost digital and intelligent transformation services for enterprises.

Obviously, compared with some developed regions, Guangxi was not the first to act in the AI track. However, at the critical point of industrial development, through decisive actions, Guangxi quietly completed a "catch - up" and "position - taking" last year.

The specially held "A Super League" has multiple important functions, such as mobilizing the enthusiasm for transformation, gathering development factors, and building a transformation platform.

Of course, more importantly, the event popularized the awareness of AI and effectively promoted the whole region of Guangxi to embrace the intelligent era.

If the city football leagues represented by the "Jiangsu Super League" are mainly a "grand gathering" for city marketing and consumption, then the "A Super League" is aimed at the core of the industry and is an important exploration to reshape the regional development temperament from the deep level.

This is directly reflected in the optimization of Guangxi's development momentum. In the first three quarters of 2025, the output value of the artificial intelligence industry in Guangxi's industrial field exceeded 56 billion yuan, with a growth rate of more than 60%.

At the same time, the GDP increased by 5.3%, "effectively achieving stable growth and reversing the passive situation of falling short of expectations for many years."

03

It must be admitted that from the level of industrial development to the degree of gathering of various innovation factors, from software to hardware, Guangxi is not a "favored one" in the AI track.

However, by accurately exploring its comparative advantages, Guangxi has at least demonstrated the possibility of catching up through a "small - scale breakthrough." The development path of "R & D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou + Integration in Guangxi + Application in ASEAN" makes full use of Guangxi's geographical advantages.

As we all know, the development level of AI in the ASEAN region is uneven. Relying on the R & D resources in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and leveraging its gateway advantage facing ASEAN, Guangxi can accurately meet the market demand in ASEAN, actually forming an industrial closed - loop from "R & D - Integration - Application."

In this regard, in addition to Guangxi's proactive efforts, there is also "an important mission" from the top - level design.

In September last year, the "Three - Year Work Plan for the Improvement of Science and Technology Capabilities in AI - Empowered Development for ASEAN (2025 - 2027)" issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology clearly proposed to promote the joint R & D of artificial intelligence technology between China and ASEAN, give full play to the respective advantages of ASEAN countries, and jointly develop large - scale models based on local languages.

In this context, as "the only Chinese province that has both land borders and sea routes with ASEAN," Guangxi has platform advantages, digital channel advantages, power and energy advantages, computing power advantages facing ASEAN, and advantages in ASEAN language talents, so it naturally has an inescapable responsibility.

Of course, this is also an opportunity.

It is worth noting that in the process of building a bridgehead facing ASEAN, Guangxi has long faced competition from Yunnan. Entering the AI track and clearly aiming to build an international cooperation high - ground for artificial intelligence facing ASEAN is a differentiated and upgraded competition path.

At the same time, in the new international environment, the trade prospects between China and ASEAN have also added confidence to Guangxi's breakthrough path.

For example, in the first 11 months of 2025, the trade volume between China and ASEAN reached 952.84 billion US dollars, a year - on - year increase of 7.7%. At the same time, the "China - ASEAN Free Trade Area" has entered the "3.0" era.

The ASEAN Expo held in Nanning last year also highlighted the theme of "AI takes the lead, enterprises as the main body," and focused on promoting the signing of a number of landmark cooperation project results.

It is reported that among the 155 projects signed on - site, 44 were "AI +" projects empowering all industries.

At present, Guangxi has clearly stated in the suggestions for the 14th Five - Year Plan that it will build the China - ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Application Cooperation Center at a high standard.

With the combined efforts of upper - level policies, the external environment, and internal efforts, Guangxi's position as an "AI high - ground" in the ASEAN region is expected to be further highlighted.

04

The wave of new technologies has always been an important driving force for regional reshuffling and the reconstruction of the development pattern. As a new - round general - purpose technology, artificial intelligence is playing such a role to a certain extent.

As a late - developing region, Guangxi has keenly seized this opportunity and selected its own breakthrough point according to local conditions, thus having the possibility of "overtaking on a curve."

Of course, more importantly, this spirit of not wanting to fall behind and daring to take the lead in the face of new technologies and new opportunities is particularly precious for Guangxi. Because the sense of catching up and the enterprising spirit it inspires may change the spiritual outlook of a place more than the technology itself.

And this is really crucial for Guangxi, which needs to create new atmospheres in all aspects.

Coincidentally, on the day before New Year's Day in 2026, the mobilization and deployment meeting for promoting reform and governance through case studies in Guangxi clearly proposed: with the determination to cut deeply into the root and the courage to scrape the bone to remove the poison, take the lead in cracking down on "cliques," "arrogant officials," "dictatorial decision - makers," "goody - goodies," "nepotism," "indifferent officials," and "superficial formalities."

The Guangxi Daily has also published a series of articles on the front page in recent days, directly stating that one should not be an "arrogant official" or a "goody - goody."

When this new atmosphere and new technology form a positive cycle, it can be said that it is installing a new development power system for Guangxi.

Therefore, a more open, pragmatic, and innovative "New Guangxi" is surely more worthy of expectation.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Western City Affairs," written by Western Jun, and is published by 36Kr with authorization.