AIGC Industry Market Research: AIGC Ushers in a New Era of Service Trade
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Chatting and painting with AI virtual beings, creating your own AI digital avatar, summoning an AI assistant to draft your mid-year report... The globally trending generative AI technology is reshaping industries, and the service trade sector is no exception. At the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) ICT Exhibition, held from September 2-6 at Shougang Park, new products, scenarios, and applications driven by AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) will take center stage, marking the dawn of a more digital and intelligent era.
In the telecom operator exhibition area, large models tailored for various industries will compete. China Mobile's "Jiutian Haisuan" boasts strong capabilities in understanding government affairs, multi-dimensional information correlation, and handling complex processes. China Unicom's "Honghu" is the first large model designed for telecom value-added services, available in two versions with 800 million and 2 billion training parameters, enabling text-to-image, video editing, and image-to-image functions. China Telecom's education-focused large model, TeleChat-E, ranks seventh on the global C-Eval benchmark for comprehensive large model assessments.
AIGC, short for AI-Generated Content, refers to technology that leverages large pre-trained models, generative adversarial networks (GANs), and other AI techniques to identify patterns in existing data and generate relevant content. In 2022, ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion showcased the immense potential of AIGC, heralding its arrival. The rapid emergence and adoption of GPT-4 and Midjourney V5 in 2023 further confirm AIGC as a defining technological trend.
With an increasing number of players entering the field, AIGC is accelerating toward diverse applications, playing a pivotal role in the deep integration of digital technology and the real economy.
China Tower will showcase its digital transformation initiatives. As a key player in 5G infrastructure, China Tower is transforming "communication towers" into "digital towers" and "equipment rooms" into "data centers," empowering industries with "Tower + 5G + AI" solutions.
Chinese tech giants like Huawei, Baidu, and Tencent, along with rising unicorns such as Xiaoice, dominate the AIGC landscape, leveraging their resources to develop proprietary large models and secure industry pricing power. While internet giants have the broadest business reach, startups also excel in niche segments.
The Chinese AIGC market remains fragmented, with intense competition. As of May 2023, the top four patent holders account for only 20% of total filings, and the top eight for 25%. This low concentration stems from rapid AI advancements, preventing any single player from establishing a comprehensive lead, and the vast, untapped potential across AIGC sub-sectors.
China's AIGC industry is still nascent but promises immense growth. The upstream segment, comprising data, computing power, platforms, and model training infrastructure, is highly concentrated with strong supplier bargaining power. Downstream applications span diverse industries, with deepening penetration and expanding demand.
Huawei and Baidu lead in patent filings, while unicorns like Xiaoice excel in specialized areas. Investors should evaluate opportunities across multiple dimensions. With regulatory policies in place, AIGC is poised for explosive growth, with its market size projected to exceed RMB 1 trillion by 2030.
Chinese innovators are also making waves. BOE exemplifies its "Screen-as-a-Service" strategy with cutting-edge displays like a 65-inch naked-eye 3D terminal and the world's first 17-inch OLED foldable screen. From smart devices to mobility, campuses, and industrial IoT, BOE's solutions are proliferating.
Mobvoi's AIGC lineup includes "Magic Sound Studio" for AI voiceovers, digital avatar creator "Wonder Mirror," AI writing tool "Wonder Text," and AI painting tool "Words to Art." Xiaoben Intelligence (Beijing Huiwen Technology) will also impress with its "AI Robots + Custom Scenario Solutions," powered by AI, big data, and 5G.
Currently, China's AIGC industry has attracted a diverse range of participants, including major internet companies, AI firms, ecosystem scenario chain companies, and research institutions. Due to the relatively limited development of the industry, the distinctions between these players are not yet pronounced. Within China's AIGC sector, the application layer is the most suitable entry point for startups, making competition in this segment particularly intense.
Overall, consumers have relatively weak bargaining power. The AIGC industry has high entry barriers, with existing companies controlling key resources to a significant extent. However, the industry is growing rapidly and remains highly attractive, resulting in a moderate threat from new entrants. The primary threats from substitutes in the AIGC industry come from internal product and service competition, as well as the evolution of different technologies and the transition between old and new technologies. Generally, the threat from substitutes in China's AIGC industry is relatively low. Given the fast pace of technological iteration, substantial market demand, and numerous niche segments, the industry hosts a large number of participants. Leading internet companies dominate key resources, leading to fierce competition among existing players.
With the implementation of the first Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services, China's AIGC applications have entered a new phase of orderly development. Recently, Xuanwu Cloud (2392.HK), the largest smart CRM service provider in China, announced the launch of its first AIGC application product—Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Smart Assistant. This application is designed to enhance the Sales Force Automation (SFA) module, aiming to streamline the entire workflow for sales personnel, help FMCG companies reduce costs and improve efficiency, and refine marketing growth strategies.
From a regional perspective, AIGC industry enterprises in China are primarily concentrated in economically developed coastal cities and emerging first-tier cities in the eastern region. This is because the AIGC industry is knowledge-intensive and requires substantial upfront R&D investments, necessitating strong economic foundations and access to high-end talent. These concentrated regions offer favorable policies, economic conditions, and technological environments, making them attractive to startups and fostering industrial clustering effects.
This report also uncovers latent market demand and opportunities, providing strategic investors with accurate market intelligence and scientific decision-making support for selecting optimal investment timings and corporate leadership planning. Additionally, it holds significant reference value for government departments.