China proposes 253 more model smart factories and industrial sites
The ministry's roster of national benchmark plants is shorter than the 274 it proposed a year earlier.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT, 工业和信息化部) has proposed 253 more projects for its "excellence-level" (卓越级) smart-factory tier, the third of four rungs in its ratings of Chinese plants. MIIT's equipment-industry department posted the proposed list on Oct. 19 and is taking objections through Oct. 26. A year earlier, MIIT proposed 274, according to the Yangtse Evening Post (扬子晚报网).
The ladder, launched in 2024 by MIIT and five other departments, runs from basic to advanced, excellence and leading-level plants, China Economic Weekly reported (中国经济周刊). Excellence-level plants are meant to be "nationally leading benchmarks" focused on smart upgrades, and applicants must already hold advanced-level status and have tried out AI and other new technology, the six departments said in a July notice, as reposted on a government website.
Each entry is a named project at a named company, and the rules include oil, petrochemical and nonferrous-metal companies. At least 17 appear to be steel plants. The list also takes in oilfields, power plants and an underground salt-cavern gas store. The July notice names no funding or other reward for listed plants. Twenty-six names mention AI, large models or AI agents.
By our count of the list's location column, entries sit in 28 provincial-level regions. Jiangsu leads with 39. Last year's proposed list gave it 44, the Yangtse Evening Post reported. Shanghai follows with 18, then Zhejiang, Shandong and Guangdong with 16 each, so those five regions hold about two-fifths of the list.
MIIT hasn't said when the final list will follow. In late November 2025, the six departments named the first 15 leading-level plants, the top rung, at the World Intelligent Manufacturing Conference in Nanjing, Science and Technology Daily reported (科技日报).
Sources: 工业和信息化部 MIIT (Department of Equipment Industry I notice), 工业和信息化部 MIIT (2026 excellence-level smart factory proposed list, PDF), MIIT and five departments, 2026 smart-factory notice (via ncsti.gov.cn), MIIT and five departments, 2025 smart-factory notice (via ncsti.gov.cn), 扬子晚报网 Yangtse Evening Post, 中国经济周刊 China Economic Weekly, 科技日报 Science and Technology Daily
Editor: Ian Lamont
