Liu Qingfeng, chairman of Chinese artificial intelligence company iFlytek, said on Sunday that China’s “autonomous and controllable” AI infrastructure has begun to take shape, even as the country faces ongoing restrictions on access to advanced semiconductor technology.
Speaking at the 9th Global Shenzhen Business Leaders Forum and the 20th anniversary event of the China Entrepreneur Club, Liu said that on fully domestic computing platforms, Chinese large language models are now able to match leading international models despite using only about half the number of parameters.
“Under the constraints on chips, we have still been able to build a self-reliant AI infrastructure,” Liu said. “This gives us confidence that the foundation for China’s AI industry is becoming increasingly solid.”
Liu’s comments come as China accelerates efforts to reduce reliance on foreign technology in key areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, following tightening export controls from the United States and its allies.
Liu also disclosed that iFlytek’s developer community surpassed 10 million developers by the end of 2025, with around 2 million new developers added last year.
He said roughly 50% of newly added developers are directly involved in industrial applications, reflecting growing demand for AI in manufacturing, logistics, energy and other traditional sectors. The number of overseas developers has exceeded 500,000, indicating that iFlytek’s ecosystem is also expanding beyond China.
“The next stage of AI growth will not only be in consumer applications, but in deep integration with industry,” Liu said.
Investors have increasingly focused on companies positioned to benefit from China’s push for technological self-sufficiency, particularly in AI infrastructure, domestic chips, and large language models.
iFlytek is one of China’s leading AI firms, best known for its speech recognition, natural language processing and education technology products. In recent years, the company has expanded into large language models, enterprise AI solutions and AI-powered hardware.
Explore more exclusive insights at nextfin.ai.
