Yantai hosted an international cooperation forum on the "AI Plus" initiative during the 7th Qingdao Multinationals Summit on June 15, highlighting the city's efforts to attract global innovation resources and develop its AI industry.

Representatives from multinational companies, including IBM and Siemens, as well as emerging robotics companies attended the event. Agreements on four key projects were signed at the forum, spanning artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, scientific research, and technical services — all of which will be built in Yantai's economic development zones and coastal districts.

Shandong has been accelerating its "AI Plus" initiative to bring AI-powered transformation into manufacturing, services, and agriculture. The province's core AI industry output surpassed 128 billion yuan ($18.79 billion) in 2025, up 40 percent year-on-year, with a target of 200 billion yuan by 2027. Following this strategy, Yantai released a three-year action plan earlier this year to advance AI-driven industrial upgrading, focusing on real-world applications and industrial use.

Speakers at the forum discussed how AI is moving from early technical exploration to broader industrial use and how it can better serve the real economy. Executives from Roland Berger, IBM, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dongfang Electronics shared insights on AI applications in advanced manufacturing, power systems, robotics, and industrial parks.

Companies cited Yantai's industrial base — with 37 of China's 41 industrial categories and six billion-yuan-level industrial clusters — as a key advantage for AI-related projects. Yantai is also building a green computing hub powered by nuclear energy, with plans to develop a 100,000 PFlops computing center, positioning itself as a sustainable data hub serving China and Northeast Asia.

For Yantai, "AI Plus" initiative is more than an industrial strategy. It is a city-wide evolution toward a smarter, more sustainable future.