Transfar chairman: AI key to pvt firms seeking global edge

Private enterprises in China must make more efforts to embrace artificial intelligence in order to gain a lead globally, a national lawmaker said on the sidelines of the two sessions that end on Tuesday.

Xu Guanju, a deputy to the 14th National People's Congress and chairman of leading chemicals manufacturer Transfar Group, said private companies are currently navigating challenges, striving to become world-class entities.

"However, the future global competition is no longer about scale or volume, but about high-quality development driven by advanced technologies," Xu said, adding that AI will be a key for a lead in the future.

He said: "China has a massive market, a comprehensive industrial system, and abundant talent. With AI integration, the country is able to achieve new milestones in global competition."

Such confidence has been further boosted by the meteoric rise of Chinese AI large model DeepSeek, which is poised to challenge Silicon Valley's dominance, as well as the performance of a traditional Chinese dance by 16 humanoid robots during the country's most-watched TV event, Xu said.

"Their successes have made us proud of China's new generation of private entrepreneurs and also more inspired to boost technology and innovation, especially AI, for greater development," he added.

According to Xu, the company has collaborated with upstream and downstream partners to overcome multiple foreign technological monopolies that had lasted for over a decade.

Over the past three years, Transfar's research and development investment has shown a compound annual growth rate of 50 percent, with innovation-related spending maintaining a high growth rate of 30 percent, he said.

To actively embrace the AI era, Xu proposed that private enterprises should fully integrate AI into their operations to drive their transformation into modern enterprises.

"On the other hand, innovative business models should amplify technological advancements, where companies can utilize manufacturing expertise and platform capabilities to foster deep AI-industry integration," he said.

Such efforts involve further opening companies' business scenarios to enhance intelligent capabilities, advancing AI applications across the country's 12 key industrial areas and 58 specific AI scenarios.

"At the same time, the country can leverage its industrial foundation and platform strengths to provide real-world environments for embodied AI robots, including establishing training grounds, and exploring AI solutions in manufacturing, logistics and agriculture," he added.

Xu emphasized: "Only the deep integration of AI and industry can create meaningful use cases and greater value."

At the two sessions, Xu also called for more efforts to invest in forward-looking industries and breakthrough technologies to extend the corporate life cycle. At the same time, enterprises must push forward transformation efforts to evolve cutting-edge technologies into modern businesses.

In addition, major platforms must be advanced to contribute to economic growth, Xu said, adding that more technological, industrial and policy resources should be joined to create innovation-driven platforms that support industrial upgrades and regional high-quality development.