South China's Hainan province rolls out 'AI Plus' action plan to prop up local aerospace industry

Global Times

Updated: 2026-03-02

People watch the launch of the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan. [Photo/VCG]

The provincial government of South China's Hainan on Feb 24 issued an action plan to promote an "AI Plus" initiative from 2026 to 2028, proposing to apply artificial intelligence in the island province's aerospace sector and build a "super brain" for the emerging rocket industrial cluster there.

This marks a substantive step following the province's 2026 Government Work Report, which called for launching the "AI Plus" campaign to empower various industrial sectors through AI innovation.

The action plan calls for promoting AI applications in satellite launch safety control, intelligent satellite data processing and aerospace-related manufacturing inspection, while optimizing launch procedures and improving satellite data interpretation efficiency.

Key tasks include building an intelligent launch-site digital twin system to enable AI-assisted decision-making across the entire rocket launch process, establishing intelligent fault recognition and risk early-warning models, and strengthening pre-launch risk prevention.

AI will also be applied to the development of multi-source remote sensing data fusion and intelligent processing, as well as an international satellite data trading service platform, and the creation of a "super brain" for the rocket industrial cluster to enable digitalized management of the full manufacturing process and smart supply chain integration.

At China's first commercial space launch site, the Hainan spacecraft launch site, construction continued through the 2026 Spring Festival holidays as the workers pressed ahead toward an ambitious target of achieving 60 launches each year.

A range of measures were meted out to prop up Hainan's existing commercial space advantages.

In addition to strengthening commercial aerospace, the "AI Plus" initiative will also be applied across three other specialty industries in Hainan, including deep-sea exploration, seeds breeding and the low-altitude economy, as well as seven other sectors such as disaster prevention and mitigation, and tourism.

By the end of 2026, Hainan aims to establish four or five AI application demonstration projects, develop several high-quality industry datasets, and commercialize two or three advanced large-scale AI models, significantly improving the competitiveness of its AI sector. By the end of 2028, the province plans to ensure computing power can meet industry demand, fully unleash data potential, build high-level AI innovation platforms, and cultivate a group of highly competitive enterprises, according to the action plan.