When China’s State Council issued its “AI Plus” guideline on August 26, 2025, it set a target no other major economy has dared to publish: a 90 percent penetration rate for new-generation intelligent terminals and AI agents by 2030, with 70 percent already by 2027. The document framed AI as the next general-purpose technology, comparable to electricity, and identified six sectors where it must dominate: science and technology, industry, consumption, public well-being, governance, and global cooperation.
By 2030, China expects AI to be a primary growth engine; by 2035, an “intelligent economy and society” sufficient to underpin what Xi Jinping calls socialist modernization. Trivium China’s analysis noted that no Chinese policy, including the 2025 guideline, defined a unit of measurement for AI’s contribution to GDP, but the political signal is clear: AI is now in the same tier as the 2015 “Internet Plus” initiative that produced Meituan, DiDi, and the cashless economy. Beijing is willing to legislate AI adoption, not just subsidize it.
The implication for Europe, which is still debating compliance, is unflattering. And China is not the only Asian country powering up to embrace AI.
South Korea has gone furthest in formalizing its approach. The Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence, known as the AI Basic Act, took effect on January 22, 2026, making South Korea the first country to have a comprehensive AI statute that combines governance, industrial policy, and risk management into a single law.
