A group of China’s largest tech companies have formed an association with the aim of accelerating initiatives to foster the industrial internet in the country, Chinese paper China South Morning Post reported.
These firms, including Huawei Technologies and internet giant Tencent, have established the Shenzhen Industrial Internet Union, which aims to help drive the development of new technologies and business models for the industrial internet era in Shenzhen, a city located in southern China and known as China’s Silicon Valley.
This Chinese city is the home of hi-tech firms including Huawei, ZTE, Tencent, DJI and BYD Co., among others.
“Industrial internet development is a national strategy that requires the cooperation of different parties,” Wang Lixin, Shenzhen’s vice-mayor, reportedly said at an industry conference held in Shenzhen where the new alliance was announced.
Telecom operator China Unicom and Taiwanese firm Hon Hai Precision Industry, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, are also part of the group of companies that have initially joined the government-backed industrial internet association.
Hon Hai, the main assembler of Apple’s iPhones, has confirmed that it has joined the Shenzhen-based industrial internet union.
“We have joined a number of other industry leaders to form this organization that will foster innovation, cooperation and technology exchange,” a Hon Hai spokesman said.
Tencent, which runs China’s biggest social media platform WeChat, said in November last year that it had plans to increase investments in areas related to the industrial internet.
Earlier this year, Huawei had announced that it has adopted a three-stage process in its own industrial internet development effort, including automation and digitalisation of operations, according to the report.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), also known as the industrial internet, brings together machines, advanced analytics, and people at work environments. IIoT systems can monitor, collect, exchange, analyze, and deliver valuable new insights that can help drive smarter, faster business decisions for industrial companies.
