The Bank of China has announced plans to invest at least 1 trillion Yuan in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector over the next five years. This initiative, revealed on January 23, is part of the 'Action Plan to Support the Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain.'
The bank aims to provide comprehensive financial support, including at least 300 billion Yuan through stocks and bonds. It will also establish special institutional guarantees to meet the financial needs of AI innovation.
In collaboration with relevant ministries, the bank will offer customized financial services to AI companies for research, transformation, and industrial applications. Services will include equity, loans, bonds, insurance, and leasing.
Additionally, the bank supports the construction of intelligent computing centers and infrastructure around eight national computing hubs. It will provide financial guarantees such as property and technical equipment insurance to enhance risk management.
This announcement coincides with a recent U.S. initiative led by President Donald Trump to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure, intensifying the competition between the U.S. and China in AI development.
In a related development, Chinese AI developer DeepSeek launched its open-source model, DeepSeek R1, on January 20, claiming performance comparable to OpenAI's advanced models.