XI'AN, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Molten glass, glowing with intense heat, cascades down the pipeline. Guided by a fully automated production line, it is continuously processed into ultra-thin, smooth substrate glass panels measuring just 0.4 millimeters thick.
This is how the premium substrate glass panels roll off the cutting-edge G8.5+ substrate glass production line of Caihong Display Devices Company Limited in Xianyang, in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, demonstrating how digital technology is transforming the production of display materials.
Substrate glass is a critical material indispensable to the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry chain. Caihong's G8.5+ substrate glass production line has broken the long-standing monopoly of overseas companies in the large-size substrate glass market, enabling China to achieve self-reliance and secure supply of high-end display materials, according to an executive of the company who preferred to be anonymous.
"By integrating cutting-edge technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence into the entire production process, our technical team has begun building an integrated intelligent system covering the full chain, from R&D and design to smart manufacturing and energy management," the executive said.
For years, the development of substrate glass relied heavily on repeated trial-and-error runs, resulting in lengthy R&D cycles, significant material waste, and high overall costs. Now, Caihong has introduced an industrial AI large model. By running simulations based on massive amounts of production data, the company can rapidly iterate and optimize glass formulas, drastically cutting R&D costs associated with trial and error.
Meanwhile, an AI-powered visual inspection system has been deployed across the production line. Using high-speed image capture and multimodal recognition algorithms, the system can automatically detect micron-level defects on substrate glass, including bubbles and scratches, ensuring product quality.
The innovation is particularly important for a company looking to reinvent itself. Caihong was a major force in China's color television industry back in the 1980s and 1990s. At its peak, one out of every seven television sets in China used a Caihong cathode-ray tube (CRT). Around 2004, however, the rapid shift toward flat-panel display technologies dealt a major blow to the traditional CRT industry, plunging Caihong's core business into an unprecedented crisis.
Relying on digital, intelligent, and autonomous technological innovations, the company successfully pivoted to the high-end display material sector, reclaiming its competitive edge in the industry.
Caihong's smart G8.5+ substrate glass production line represents a broader trend in which China's manufacturing sector is leveraging digital intelligence to upgrade and break through technological bottlenecks.
A similar transformation is taking place at CNPC Baoji Petroleum Pipe Industry Co., Ltd., situated at an old industrial base in Baoji, Shaanxi Province. Founded in 1958, this state-owned enterprise has been a leading manufacturer of pipes for over six decades.
Inside its workshops, industrial robots handle tasks ranging from pipe cutting to welding and polishing, offering visitors a glimpse of the company's highly automated production. In front of a large screen featuring centralized control data, employees can access real-time data from the entire production process and monitor manufacturing operations.
According to Yu Han, deputy chief engineer of the company, the firm has made digital transformation its strategic focus in recent years, with industrial internet and smart factory as key drivers to boost production and operation efficiency.
The individual practices align with the overall agenda. China is making digital-intelligent transformation a central driver of high-quality development of its manufacturing sector. The country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) outline, released in March, calls for the full implementation of the "AI Plus" initiative, accelerating the digital transformation, intelligent upgrading and network integration of the manufacturing sector.
It also emphasizes advancing smart manufacturing and industrial internet innovation while promoting deeper integration between digital technologies and the real economy to foster new quality productive forces in manufacturing.
Across China, a manufacturing transformation driven by digital intelligence is taking hold. Driven by strong industrial foundations and dense manufacturing clusters, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions have taken the lead in demonstrating successful models of industrial transformation.
East China's Jiangsu Province has continued to promote digital and intelligent upgrades among small and medium-sized enterprises, with more than 20,000 industrial companies having integrated cloud platforms and digital technologies into regular operations.
Guangdong Province in south China has helped more than 50,000 major industrial enterprises complete digital upgrades, with digital R&D tools adopted by 93 percent of key enterprises.
As a case in point, GAC Group, an automaker headquartered in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, has developed a digital simulation platform that supports customized mixed-line production for seven vehicle models, saving more than 10 million yuan (about 1.47 million U.S. dollars) in annual labor costs.
Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology show that China had built more than 35,000 basic-level, over 8,200 advanced-level and more than 500 extraordinary smart factories by the end of 2025, while also cultivating 15 pace-setting smart factories. ■
