The deep integration of artificial intelligence with China's manufacturing sector is set to unleash significant new potential in the hardware industry, creating vast opportunities across the industrial value chain, said Liu Xiangming, co-founder and co-CEO of TMTPost Group, on Tuesday.

Speaking at a closed-door forum on embodied intelligence and industrial chain innovation during the 2025 T-EDGE, Liu said Chinese companies are currently facing two major strategic opportunities.

First, Liu noted that the global manufacturing sector is shifting from a closed system to a more open one, flattening the traditional "smile curve" of value distribution. As a result, core component suppliers within the industrial chain now have greater room to capture value, he said, pointing to battery giant CATL as a representative example.

Second, Liu emphasized China's growing strengths in software and artificial intelligence, arguing that their deeper and more organic integration with manufacturing will significantly amplify the value of hardware.

"China's advantages in AI and software, once fully combined with manufacturing, will release much greater potential from hardware and open up enormous room for imagination across the industry," Liu said.