The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) convened its monthly press conference on August 28, where Li Chao, Deputy Director of the Policy Research Office, outlined the agency's strategy for advancing the embodied intelligence and robotics sector. The plan centers on leveraging training grounds and application pilot bases to facilitate technology iteration in real-world scenarios, ultimately forming a complete application loop driven by practical demand.
The NDRC intends to establish a comprehensive layout for embodied intelligence training facilities, with a focus on strengthening data, model, and standards infrastructure. To address the "data hunger" issue, the agency will build a high-quality data collection system for real-world machine operations, enhancing both the quality and scale of data available for training. In terms of model development, support will be provided for companies to explore multiple technical pathways, encouraging innovation in vision-language-action models and world models to accelerate technological convergence and application.
A national artificial intelligence pilot base dedicated to embodied intelligence will be developed and utilized to expedite commercial adoption and industry scaling. This includes expanding training scenario libraries, encouraging relevant enterprises to open real-world environments, and supporting reliability and safety testing. The goal is to accelerate deployment across manufacturing, healthcare, consumer services, public safety, and other sectors. The pilot base will also serve as a hub for integrating manufacturers, component suppliers, and application companies, helping small and medium-sized enterprises cross the crucial validation threshold from prototype to mass production.
Li Chao emphasized that the robotics industry, which draws on cutting-edge technologies including AI, advanced manufacturing, and new materials, requires a measured and region-specific approach to development. He stressed the importance of aligning with local resource endowments and industrial strengths, urging entities to identify their unique positioning rather than pursuing superficial trends. This strategy aims to prevent irrational investment and ensure the industry's long-term, sustainable growth.
The press conference also provided updates on several other policy fronts. The NDRC has been intensifying efforts to promote effective investment through various mechanisms, including accelerating the deployment of new policy-based financial tools to bolster private investment support. Progress is also being made on the "six networks" infrastructure initiative, which covers railways, highways, waterways, aviation, energy, and logistics, with a specific focus on developing a "2+3+N" coordination mechanism for the integration of computing, power, and next-generation communications networks.
Additionally, the NDRC jointly issued the "Logistics Network Construction Implementation Plan" with the Ministry of Transport. This plan details 17 key tasks across seven areas, such as hub development, corridor capacity enhancement, urban-rural logistics facility improvements, and international network expansion. The target is to reduce the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP to 13.1 percent by 2030, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points from the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Regarding the integrated circuit industry, Li Chao noted that exports reached 1.49 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year, reflecting a 91.6 percent year-on-year surge. The industry's robust health is evident in breakthroughs in high-end chip design and manufacturing, improved competitiveness of key enterprises, high capacity utilization rates exceeding 90 percent at major foundries, and enhanced security of the supply chain. Looking ahead, the NDRC will continue leveraging the new national system to support core technology research and promote high-quality development in the sector.
On the topic of energy supply, Li Chao stated that this summer's peak demand period has essentially concluded, marked by record-high electricity loads of 1.557 billion kilowatts. The situation was characterized by frequent extreme heat, surging demand from emerging sectors like new energy vehicles and data centers, and the impact of multiple typhoons. The NDRC highlighted its success in maintaining stable power supply and will now shift focus to winter preparations, analyzing supply-demand dynamics and ensuring resilient energy delivery for the heating season.
Addressing the evolving role of coal power, Li Chao acknowledged that its share of total power generation fell below 50 percent for the first time in the first half of the year, hitting 49.7 percent. He clarified that coal remains a crucial support for power system stability and renewable energy integration during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The strategy involves controlling capacity and output while promoting a transition toward a supporting and regulating role, enhancing efficiency and emissions reduction, and fostering greater integration with renewable sources. Notably, a coal-fired unit in China achieved a world-first thermal efficiency exceeding 50 percent.
In response to questions about extreme weather and water infrastructure, the NDRC emphasized its focus on building three key defense lines. These include strengthening river embankments, enhancing reservoir regulation capabilities, and upgrading flood storage and detention areas. The agency also underscored the link between water conservancy and food security, promising continued investment in modernizing irrigation districts to protect grain production against natural disasters.
Finally, Li Chao strongly refuted the "China squeeze" narrative proposed by foreign think tanks, dismissing it as an attack based on zero-sum logic aimed at undermining other countries' legitimate development rights. He affirmed China's commitment to its own modernization path, people-centered development, and win-win cooperation. He cited examples of China's positive global contributions, including providing affordable industrial products, driving down costs of renewable energy technologies, opening its massive market to developing countries, and sharing technical expertise through initiatives like the Belt and Road's Luban Workshops, which have trained over 160,000 students.