China Roundup: 5G, $10 billion at CIIE, humanoid robot
1 billion 5G connections by 2025
John Hoffman, CEO of Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA), a global mobile operator organisation said at the opening ceremony of the World Internet Conference Summit on Wednesday that China’s 5G mobile connections are expected to reach 1 billion by 2025. He is quoted by local media People’s Daily Online saying, "China, in particular, has been very proactive in scaling the use of 5G vertically, establishing new business models to drive wider usage across sectors and speeding up digital transformation in everything from mining to ports and manufacturing, showing that as 5G grows it can bring endless potential to all business sectors." According to reports from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 3.189 million 5G base stations covered all of the urban regions of counties and prefectures in China as of the end of September.
$10 billion secured at CIIE
At least two Chinese energy businesses have signed purchase agreements totalling over $10 billion at the ongoing 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. At the ceremony, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) signed $17.1 billion worth of procurement contracts with 22 partners. CHN Energy Investment Group (CHN Energy) signed contracts totalling $2.64 billion with 44 companies from 20 countries on Sunday, local media Global Times reports. At the CIIE on Monday, Hou Qijun, general manager of CNPC, told reporters that the company's natural gas imports are projected to exceed 90 billion cubic metres in 2023, making up almost 55% of all gas imported into the nation.
Humanoid robot centre
Beijing has established a humanoid robot centre to hasten the technology supply and industrialisation of humanoid robots. The centre will develop parent platforms for both hardware and software, with a particular emphasis on solving critical industrial problems like open-source operating systems and operation control systems, local media Guangming Daily reported."Beijing has a national robot inspection and testing platform and a national robot standardisation technical committee, and will soon set up the Beijing robot industry development fund. It is also building a shared processing centre serving robot processing and manufacturing," Su Guobin, deputy head of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology is quoted by Guangming Daily.
Solar supply to mountain areas in Hunan province
The State Grid Changde Power Supply Company recently installed a solar power grid to supply residents of the Shinan mountain area, in central China’s Hunan province with electricity. “With this new power supply model, the power generated from solar energy can directly supply users, and the excess will be stored in the solar cells, making full use of resources,” head of the project Xiang Zhongqing is quoted by local media People’s Daily Online. Across the province, the State Grid Hunan branch intends to implement the approach in 25 locations. It is anticipated that the transition will save 11 million yuan ($1.51 million) in expenses and address the power supply problem that more than 100 houses in high-altitude mountainous areas were experiencing, People’s Daily Online reports.
Earthquakes hit northwest China
The China Earthquake Networks Centre reported that in the early hours of Wednesday, a series of 6 earthquakes struck Xinjiang, the northwest region of China with the largest reaching a 5.4 magnitude. The origin of the largest earthquake was in an unpopulated area. There have been no reports of injuries or collapsed buildings, local media Global Times reported.
