China has launched the second phase of 6G technical trials after completing the first phase, which resulted in a reserve of over 300 key 6G technologies, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Wednesday.

The overall volume of telecom services grew by 9.1 percent year on year, while the industrial and information sectors contributed more than 40 percent to economic growth, said Zhang Yunming, vice minister of the MIIT.

As of June 2025, China holds a leading position in global 6G patent applications, accounting for approximately 40.3 percent of the total, according to the China Internet Development Report 2025 released by a national research institute affiliated with the Cyberspace Administration of China.

Compared to 5G, 6G deeply integrates technologies such as sensing, computing and artificial intelligence. It will extend wireless network coverage from the ground to a full coverage across air, space, land and sea.

Currently, China has established the world's largest information infrastructure, with the number of 5G base stations surpassing 4.8 million and 5G users exceeding 1.2 billion, said ministry spokesperson Xie Cun.

The application of 5G across various industries is rapidly accelerating. More than 23,000 "5G + Industrial Internet" projects have been launched, including "unmanned mines," "smart ports" and "lights-out factories," which are highly automated facilities capable of operating without human intervention, even in the dark.

The integration of 5G and artificial intelligence has significantly boosted production efficiency. A home appliance company, utilizing its self-developed "5G + AI" industrial vision inspection system, saw a 275 percent increase in per capita production efficiency, said Zhang.

(With input from Xinhua)