AI sector thriving in southwest China's Chengdu (Voice_over) Chengdu City in southwest China's Sichuan Province is emerging as a hub in the country for the development of innovative applications, artificial intelligence, and robotic technology. Here, companies like this one are providing scientific support and development to other companies to help realize their products. On this day, production lines are running with 20 new pilot products, like these AI-powered traffic cameras with visual recognition technology, that are nearly ready for market launch. (Sound_bite) Zhou Jiang, Engineering and technology manager, pilot platform, BIRVICE Technology: "Our order schedule has already been booked up through the third quarter of this year. There's a noticeable increase in AI products. We had only one or two AI projects during the same period of last year. But now, over half are related to large AI model." (Voice_over) Just a few kilometers away, some 1,000 registered tech companies at the Chengdu Science and Technology Ecological Island are conducting research on these pilot products. Operational for just over a year, the zone provides companies with a wide range of application and test scenarios for robotic arms and hands, or bipedal robots. (Sound_bite) Chen Yang, Deputy general manager, Chengdu Robot Innovation Center: "We plan to launch robots for tourism in April, agriculture in May, and an updated 'Konka-1' robot for home healthcare in June. Our schedule is packed through the second half of the year. We will be very busy." (Voice_over) According to officials from Chengdu's Municipal Bureau of Economic and Information Technology, the city has planned more than 40 AI related initiatives this year aiming to boost the value of the industry from last year's 13 billion U.S. dollars, to about 18 billion. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]