Blast furnace a testimony to Baosteel's smart AI use

The company's entry into smart manufacturing can be divided into two key phases.

During the first smart manufacturing stage from 2015 to 2023, Baosteel was listed as a World Economic Forum lighthouse factory, the first enterprise in the Chinese steel industry to receive the classification. During the same period, the steelmaker began smart manufacturing demonstration projects, laying the foundation for its intelligent manufacturing framework.

Since 2024, the company has entered the second smart manufacturing stage, with AI being the core driver. It has launched industry-first large models for the steel sector, including blast furnace models, setting benchmark applications, and leading the industry toward a new AI-driven paradigm of digital intelligence, Wu said.

Chen Fangruo, dean of Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said, "We are now in the fourth industrial revolution, where big data, artificial intelligence and computing applications are key features."

"Being selected as a lighthouse factory represents a global leading level of advanced manufacturing," Chen said.

As of March, there are 224 lighthouse factories worldwide, including 101 in China, which accounted for nearly half of the global total.

"Baosteel was also listed as one of the 15 in the first batch of leading-level smart factories by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology last year, a further recognition of its advancement in AI applications," Chen said.

"In my view, these two honors reflect the highly advanced level of Baosteel's manufacturing sector, and also represent one of the most advanced levels globally," he added.