China's artificial intelligence (AI) industry could pour more than 10 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) into developing the technology in the next six years, according to Chen Liang, chairman of the state-backed investment vehicle China International Capital Corporation (CICC).

Chen made the comments on Sunday during a talk at the International China Investment Forum, organised by the municipal government of Xiamen, in northeastern Fujian province, and co-sponsored by CICC. China's AI market still has significant room for growth and investment, he added.

The CICC estimates China's AI market demand will be worth 5.6 trillion yuan by 2030.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

As in the US, China is experiencing an AI boom as domestic technology companies invest heavily in developing generative AI models, in particular large language models - the technology underpinning chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. In an effort to find new productivity gains, the tech is being integrated into traditional industries, including healthcare, legal services, entertainment, and transport and logistics.

More than 237,000 companies related to AI launched in China in the first half of this year, according to a search on corporate data platform Qichacha. The country has around 1.7 million companies registered with AI in their name, patent portfolio or scope of business.

Beijing has made AI a national priority amid intensified competition and a protracted tech war with the US. The government has shored up its support for the industry with favourable policies and mandates as it looks to leverage AI for industrial transformation.

"Artificial intelligence is a transformative technology poised to spearhead the next wave of scientific breakthroughs and industrial innovation," Jin Zhuanglong, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily in January. "Its applications already span research, product development, and manufacturing processes, positioning AI as a key catalyst for modern industrial advancement."

At the investment forum, Chen said China has become the world's largest robotics market, with industrial robots from the country accounting for half of global sales annually.

The International Federation of Robotics said in a report in September of last year that robot installation in China peaked in 2022, making up 52 per cent of installations worldwide.