China-U.S. tech wars are on, with the artificial intelligence (AI) market dominating across the globe. Especially now that American AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic are planning to go public this year, and with the historic opening of SpaceX's IPO.
In the latest development, China’s government, on a broadcast on CCTV, announced earlier today [Thursday, June 18, 2026] that the country’s commercial ministry will introduce 17 measures to integrate AI applications in the consumption sector.
These 17 measures to be undertaken by the Chinese government plan to cover both the products and services sectors.
During the state broadcast, the ministry further announced that the 17 measures will aim to enhance the integration of AI into households and businesses nationwide.
CCTV also noted that the ministry is looking into turning consumer electronics from functional to intelligent for the goods consumption side. It also plans to grow a new market for humanoid robots.
On the services side, the ministry designed measures to tackle AI's swift expansion beyond consumer retail and into areas like public services and everyday lifestyle services.
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AI to Break Service Consumption Bottleneck
Lin Jian, the deputy director of the International Trade Cooperation Institute under the Chinese ministry, stated:
"The introduction of AI is expected to break through the bottleneck in service consumption constrained by high labour costs and low standardisation."
The Chinese government intends to propel the use of AI in the daily lives of its subjects.
The official document titled (translated from Chinese) "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of 'AI+Consumption'" stated that it aims to promote the deep integration of AI and consumption. It also aims to cultivate new growth points for consumption and to form new drivers of consumption.
The Commercial Ministry proposed boosting AI in goods and services consumption and commercial innovation, along with promoting adoption by building dedicated AI consumption clusters and experience centres.
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Below are the details reported on NBD proposed by the Ministry of Commerce in China:
Boosting AI goods consumption
Under AI goods consumption, the ministry aims to increase the supply of new AI products, including next-gen AI phones, PCs, TVs, smart home appliances, AI glasses, smart connected vehicles, and technology combined with brain-computer interfaces, AR, VR, and MR.
They will also promote AI robot consumption, focusing on humanoid, quadruped, and companion robots, especially those designed for eldercare, childcare, and AI life assistance.
Additionally, the plan includes building platforms for AI product launches, such as the World AI Conference, China International Import Expo, and similar trade fairs for product debuts and flagship stores.
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Expanding AI Services Consumption:
The measures include using AI for home services, including robot vacuums, smart kitchens, and "smart whole-house" customisation.
The other AI consumption is meant for elderly care, aiming to create a nationwide eldercare service network, smart nursing and rehab robots, and safety-monitoring devices.
AI will also be integrated into culture and tourism by providing itinerary planning, ticketing, and AI-guided tours through smart glasses or earphones.
Hospitality and catering use case in AI implements hotel service robots, self-check-in, and smart canteens in government offices, schools, and hospitals.
The AI use case in education involves AI teaching assistants, large-model-powered smart classrooms, and teacher training.
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AI Commercial Innovation
Other commercial innovation plans consist of upgrading smart retail for malls, pedestrian streets, and wet markets.
Additionally, the ministry will push to enhance AI-powered e-commerce with virtual livestreaming hosts, smart customer service, and AI content generation tools.
They will also improve AI logistics with smart warehouses and ports, rural delivery networks, and trials for delivery robots and drones.
Promoting Adoption
China’s Commerce Ministry will create dedicated AI consumption clusters and experience centres in key cities. Also, they’re strategising to develop new application scenarios, including pilot zones, an open list of use cases, and support for AI agent applications.
Improving the Environment
They aim to provide stronger fiscal support, such as trade-in subsidies for smart devices, consumer loan interest subsidies, and backing from the National AI Industry Investment Fund.
Infrastructure improvements will be executed using the AI integration directive regarding roadside sensors and edge computing for autonomous vehicles and delivery robots.
Ultimately, they will establish a standards system to define classification standards for AI terminals and interoperability rules.
Security safeguards ensuring cybersecurity and data protection throughout the AI model lifecycle will be implemented, along with consumer protection rules against algorithmic abuse and fraud.
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