Huangpu District and Guangzhou Development Zone hosted the 2025 Artificial Intelligence Innovation Ecosystem Conference on September 11. The conference marked the official launch of the Bay Area Smart City AI platform, an open and trusted empowerment platform for empowering firms to access cost-effective, secure, and reliable artificial intelligence powers.

The new platform promises to revolutionize how Huangpu District and other enterprises engage with AI through lower computing costs, secure data exchange, liberty to innovate, and exchange smart agents and data products. Officials emphasized the project will accelerate the twin goals of "industrial digitalization" and "digital industrialization," in effect establishing a "virtual development zone" for the age of AI.

A Trusted AI Empowerment Hub

The defining feature of the Bay Area Smart City AI platform is trust. Blending trusted computing power services, intelligent agent services, and secure data spaces, the platform enables firms to exchange, circulate, and share information in a secure and controllable ecosystem.

All this integration unleashes new digital transformation opportunities across industrial chains, balancing data, computing power, and real-world applications. Officials refer to the platform as a launchpad for pilot testing the artificial intelligence industry and ultimately building a development model under "data foundation, scenario empowerment, and model implementation."

Driving Industrial Growth

The Bay Area Smart City AI platform's business model is designed to be a "half public welfare and half market" state-owned platform. Its mechanism will create an industrial data aggregation virtuous circle, large model training, cross-industry empowerment, feedback loop, and AI product trading.

To further consolidate its ecosystem, the platform will build five key centers:

·         A reliable AI computing power service center

·         An industrial incubation center

·         An existing AI pilot base

·         A trustworthy AI innovation base

·         A talent incubation base

These bases will not only help companies save on their R&D costs but also cultivate quality talent in line with the growing needs of the AI industry.

Computing Power at the Core

Recognizing the need for computing power for AI applications, the district has already implemented the first stage of the "Huangpu No. 1" intelligent computing inference cluster. The cluster is capable of both training and inference on enormous AI models.

Moreover, Guangzhou Development Zone and Huangpu District are leading the integration into the national network of computing power with the province's first "East Data West Computing" cooperation initiative. In order to enable entry for small businesses and startups, the district released 10-million-yuan worth "computing power vouchers," allowing resources in AI to be made available at low cost.

Data Resources and Development Tools

Through its utilization of the Guangzhou Data Exchange (Huangpu) service space, the platform provides a full stack of services like data mining, consulting, analysis, trading, and asset reporting. In addition, the platform provides enterprises with access to graphical development tools, industry information, knowledge graphs, and testing sandboxes.

This infrastructure allows companies to design big data products as well as continuous tuning of AI models. By making it possible to list and sell AI industry models and intelligent agents, the Bay Area Smart City AI platform brings innovation into tangible revenue streams.

Industry Collaboration and Innovation

During the Ecosystem Conference, Alibaba Cloud released the “Bay Area Smart City” alliance product in conjunction with a joint launch of AI products. Technology industry leaders like Tencent, Alibaba Cloud, New H3C, Hikvision, and Turing showcased cutting-edge AI solutions and applications.

Xie Tian, General Manager of Strategic Development of South China at Alibaba Cloud, emphasized the district’s industrial strengths:

“We place high value on the stable foundation of Huangpu District and will keep providing technical support at the intelligent computing level. On the basis of collaboration on data set construction and intelligent agent innovation, we believe this platform has room to create new space for enterprises.”

Unlocking the Future of AI

The Bay Area Smart City AI platform is a significant step towards bringing artificial intelligence within reach, within budget, and usable by businesses of every type. Through the combination of government-driven trust frameworks and market-led innovations, Guangzhou is making Huangpu District a pioneer for AI-powered growth.

With its strong focus on computing power, safe data transfer, and collaborative industry clusters, the AI platform will transform laboratory ideas into productive forces, propelling the future of the region digitally.