BEIJING -- China's core artificial intelligence (AI) industry was valued at more than 1.2 trillion yuan (about $173.9 billion) in 2025, as the technology is emerging as a powerful driver for high-quality economic development, a senior Chinese official said Thursday.

The number of AI companies in the country surpassed 6,200 last year, Li Lecheng, minister of industry and information technology, said on the sidelines of the annual session of China's national legislature.

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AI is increasingly being deployed across factories and daily life in China. By the end of 2025, more than 30 percent of manufacturing enterprises with annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan had adopted AI technologies, while Chinese companies had released over 300 humanoid robot products, according to Li.

Li added that Chinese-developed AI models are gaining global traction as China ranked first worldwide in downloads of open-source AI models over the past year.

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AI was highlighted in this year's government work report, which was submitted on Thursday to the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress for deliberation.

According to the report, China will work to create new forms of smart economy this year. Specific measures include encouraging large-scale commercial application of AI in key sectors and fields, launching new infrastructure projects on hyper-scale intelligent computing clusters, and accelerating the development of satellite internet.