Gasgoo Munich- On October 23, the 14th Automobile & Environment Innovation Forum—themed "Innovating Together"—and the 8th Gasgoo Awards ceremony "China Solutions, Global Value" were held in Shanghai.
Zhao Fuquan—honorary president of FISITA, a professor at Tsinghua University, and head of the Institute of Automotive Industry and Technology Strategy (TASRI)—delivered a keynote titled "Analysis of Key Issues in the Application and Implementation of AI in Manufacturing Enterprises." In his view, AI serves as technology, tool, and infrastructure, but above all, it is a paradigm shift. The way companies supply capabilities, execute business, and run their underlying systems will all change. The fundamental logic of value creation is shifting from delivering functions to completing tasks. He illustrated this with an example: car buyers aren't looking for functional satisfaction; they want the task of getting from point A to point B completed.
Zhao stated that for an enterprise to transform through AI, it must AI-enable its products, business operations, and management. In execution, the strategy starts by embedding AI into specific tasks. From there, these AI elements must be connected into a cohesive whole, evolving into true AI agents, until the enterprise is ultimately reconstructed by AI. He also proposed a "1+N+X" framework: "1" represents the foundational large model, "N" stands for industry-specific vertical models, and "X" denotes enterprise-exclusive models. Manufacturing enterprises, he argued, do not need to develop large models from scratch; the critical task is leveraging existing ones effectively, co-building industry models, and developing proprietary models tailored to their specific needs.
He stressed the importance of establishing data standards to guarantee quality and compliance. Investment in computing power, he added, should be rational and lean on external support. Crucially, Zhao noted that AI transformation is a project that must be led from the very top.
