China AI industry shifts from models to agent deployment, report says

China's artificial intelligence industry is shifting from competition in large models and computing power toward the deployment and commercialization of AI agents, according to a report by the China Telecom Research Institute cited by China Central Television on Saturday. The report describes a pivot in industry focus rather than a single product launch or regulatory action. It points to agent deployment and commercialization as the emerging competitive ground for Chinese AI firms, moving attention away from the model-training and compute-capacity race that has dominated recent investment and public discussion.