Centrally administered State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have achieved significant breakthroughs in frontier technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing, said Zhang Yuzhuo, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, on Thursday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, Zhang highlighted the "Tianyan 504" quantum computer, developed in collaboration with national laboratories, which has reached an internationally advanced level and is now open for public use through a quantum cloud platform.

Zhang also pointed to progress in the low-altitude economy, introducing the "Jiutian" drone, which he described as an "airborne carrier". The drone can release hundreds of smaller drones, fly continuously for up to 12 hours, and has a range of 7,000 kilometers. Additionally, the computing scale for AI built by central SOEs has expanded 17 times over the past two years.

Over the past three years, central SOEs have invested 7.4 trillion yuan ($1.03 trillion) in strategic emerging industries, accounting for 42 percent of their total investment, Zhang noted. In the new energy vehicle sector, the market share of SOE self-owned brands has risen from 10 percent to 16.5 percent.

Moving forward, SASAC aims to concentrate state capital in three key areas: national security and the lifeline of the economy, public services and emergency capabilities, and forward-looking strategic emerging industries. The goal is for over 88 percent of central SOEs' sales revenue to be derived from 20 key industry categories.

To foster innovation, central SOEs invested 102.4 billion yuan in basic research last year, accounting for 9.4 percent of their total R&D spending. Zhang added that a "one enterprise, one policy" assessment mechanism has been implemented, with 76 percent of annual performance indicators personalized to individual enterprises to stimulate vitality and avoid a "one-size-fits-all" approach.