China is to carry out a series of pilot projects to accelerate the development of smart manufacturing during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), according to a joint statement (link in Chinese) by four government departments on Thursday.

By 2025, the country hopes to build a batch of "excellent" scenarios, demonstration factories and pilot areas for smart manufacturing and make breakthroughs in key technologies, said the statement from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

China carried out 305 pilot projects for smart manufacturing during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), the statement said, and the government will promote the smart and comprehensive transformation of the manufacturing industry in the next five years.

Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xiao Yaqing pledged Monday to strengthen the construction of new information infrastructure, implement smart manufacturing projects, and promote the deep integration of 5G, the internet, big data and artificial intelligence with manufacturing.

HuaAn Securities pointed out that the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry are imminent, as the labor force dividend is disappearing.

Manufacturing enterprises must be efficient and innovative and use hard-core information technology to improve quality, reduce costs and increase efficiency, the company said.

Cinda Securities said it expects that smart manufacturing in China will usher in a golden decade for development, as the country has a sound industrial foundation, favorable policies and broad prospects.

In early trading on Friday, concept stocks of smart manufacturing continued to rise. Before the lunch break, the leading shares of Henan Qingshuiyuan Technology Co., Ltd. went up by more than 19 percent.