China Cabinet Urges Eastern Regions to Build AI Core Industry

The geographic division of labor here is the signal: eastern regions get the core AI industry while central and western regions are steered toward data labeling and device manufacturing, which shapes where AI value capture and lower-margin support work land. The targeted loan language for smart-native and specialized SMEs ties AI policy directly to employment stabilization, suggesting credit access is being used as the delivery mechanism rather than direct subsidy. Whether that framing translates into actual lending to smaller AI firms is the open question.