The number of internet users in our country has reached 1.125 billion, and the internet penetration rate has exceeded 80%.

The 57th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" was released today. The report shows that as of December 2025, the number of Internet users in China reached 1.125 billion, with an Internet penetration rate exceeding 80%, and the benefits of digital development are reaching a broader range of people. The vigorous development of China's Internet industry has not only delivered impressive results for the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan", but also laid a solid foundation for the layout of the "15th Five-Year Plan". During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's Internet development has shifted from "new" to "good". The report shows that the scale of China's digital economy is steadily growing, with the value added of core industries accounting for 10.5% of GDP, and the pace of industrial digitization transformation accelerating comprehensively. The user scale of generative artificial intelligence has reached 602 million, and the application scenarios have penetrated deeply into daily life and production fields. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's Internet industry has adhered to innovation-driven development, with new infrastructure as the foundation, new technologies as the engine, and new entities as the support, building a systematically coordinated new development pattern. New infrastructure has been deployed ahead of schedule, laying a solid foundation for digitization. In terms of mobile networks, 4.838 million 5G base stations have been built, and 5G has been deployed in all towns and 95% of administrative villages nationwide, with over 330 cities covered by 5G evolutionary networks. In terms of fixed networks, two-thirds of cities nationwide have reached the gigabit city standard. In terms of computing power facilities, 42 Wankai Zhisuan clusters have been built, ranking among the top in the world, providing strong support for the rapid development of China's artificial intelligence industry. The report shows that as of December 2025, the user scale of generative artificial intelligence has reached 602 million, an increase of 141.7% compared to the end of 2024; the penetration rate has reached 42.8%, a significant increase of 25.2 percentage points year-on-year. Generative artificial intelligence is accelerating its integration into daily life and production fields, becoming an important engine driving the digital and intelligent transformation of society. China's Internet penetration rate has exceeded 80%, with rural and elderly populations accelerating their integration into the digital society, and digital inclusiveness significantly enhanced. The deep integration of digital technology with the real economy and public services is driving digital transformation in areas such as government affairs, healthcare, and education. The user of the national integrated government service platform has reached 940 million, "efficiently completing a task" has become the norm, highlighting the value orientation of Internet development serving the people and warming their hearts. "Artificial Intelligence +" empowers small and medium-sized enterprises in the cultural industry to go global. The "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet" shows that there are currently over 60 million small and medium-sized enterprises in China, and over 17,600 "small giants" specializing in unique areas have been cultivated. From the perspective of industry distribution, over 60% of "small giants" focus on deepening industrial basic areas, and nearly 6,000 "small giants" in future industries such as quantum technology, artificial intelligence, and low-altitude economy play an important supporting role in strengthening chains and stabilizing chains. In the "Artificial Intelligence +" action, artificial intelligence is the key weapon for the transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, accurately solving their pain points of "difficult research and development, high costs, and low efficiency". For example, a new energy enterprise has reduced the defect rate of new energy battery production lines from 0.3% to 0.05% using industrial vision quality inspection large models. For small and medium-sized enterprises specializing in unique areas, artificial intelligence helps them break through technological barriers and seize market opportunities in segmented fields, realizing the transformation from "small but fine" to "small but strong". As the "main force," small and medium-sized enterprises are the practitioners of the last mile of artificial intelligence landing. The report shows that in the first quarter of 2025 alone, there were 254,000 new establishments of small and medium-sized enterprises in artificial intelligence software development. Small and medium-sized enterprises focus on vertical industry large models, industrial intelligent bodies, and other segmented fields, becoming the "main force" of technological innovation and establishing a good ecological environment for the integration of large, medium, and small enterprises, allowing artificial intelligence to truly penetrate the capillaries of the real economy. In addition, under the deep empowerment of artificial intelligence and other new technologies, China's industrial "going global" is at a turning point from scale growth to value leap, not only exporting "Made in China," but also contributing "Chinese solutions" to the world. At the level of cultural influence, artificial intelligence technology breaks through language and cultural barriers, allowing Chinese culture to be synchronized globally in real time: On the one hand, technologies such as automatic translation powered by artificial intelligence help cultural products achieve "minutes to go global", with online literature and short dramas quickly synchronizing globally, seizing the first-mover advantage in overseas markets. On the other hand, artificial intelligence empowers the entire industry chain development, quickly transforming high-quality IP into various forms such as animation, short dramas, games, etc., making Chinese culture more vibrant and influential, forming a global dissemination ecosystem of "OneIP multiple forms, One culture multiple carriers". This article is reproduced from CCTV News. Editor: Chen Wenfang.