Against the backdrop of the global economic green recovery and the in-depth adjustment of the industrial chain, how can the Chinese steel industry achieve high-quality development through innovation-driven approaches? From August 5th to 10th, the 14th China International Steel Conference and the First China International Steel Week were held in Shanghai. The event focused on the theme "Technology Empowerment - A New Quality Future" and explored the innovative practices and development paths of the steel industry in its transformation towards high-end, intelligent, and greenization.
High-endization: Trillion-dollar R&D investment reshapes competitiveness
In the exhibition area of Shougang Group, an Olympic Winter Games postcard made of steel captured the attention of the audience. On the postcard, Bing Dwen Dwen was depicted as lively and energetic, and the thinnest part of the entire postcard was only about 0.06 millimeters thick, which was called "cricket-wing steel". "This thickness is approximately the diameter of a hair, demonstrating the technological breakthroughs and cutting-edge development in China's steel manufacturing," said Wang Yu, the host of the media and communication center of Shougang Jingtang Company.
At the conference, the reporter learned that in the past decade, the Chinese steel industry invested 1.2 trillion yuan in "capacity replacement" - using new capacity to replace old capacity. It completed the reconfiguration of nearly 300 million tons of capacity and spent over 1 trillion yuan on research and development, driving the products to make a breakthrough towards higher-end levels.
"We have built the world's first third-generation thin slab continuous casting and continuous rolling production line with flexible production mode. Now, from 'molten steel' to 'steel coil', it only takes 25 minutes. The rolling time is only one-eighth of that of the traditional hot continuous rolling process, and the thinnest product can reach 0.7 millimeters. Our level is globally leading." said Kong Zhigang, the director of intelligent manufacturing software products of Shougang Group.
In the first half of this year, Ansteel Group successfully rolled out hot-formed wheel steel. The wheels made from this material have a strength that is six times that of aluminum alloy wheels, their weight and dimensional accuracy are comparable to those of aluminum alloy wheels, and their comprehensive cost is 70% of that of aluminum alloy wheels. This demonstrates a strong competitive advantage.
This year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Steel Industry Normative Conditions (2025 Edition)", proposing to strengthen the cultivation of scientific and technological innovation capabilities, establish research institutions, increase research and development investment, continuously enhance the process technology and product innovation capabilities of enterprises, pay attention to the formulation and revision of standards and the protection of intellectual property rights, strengthen the quality and brand building of enterprises, and actively cultivate manufacturing single-champion enterprises.
Technological innovation is becoming the core driving force for the transformation and upgrading of the steel industry. It not only gives rise to a number of high-end products with international competitiveness, but also promotes the entire industry to make a leap to new quality productive forces.
Intelligence: Digital-Physical Integration Reforms the New Ecosystem of the Steel Industry
Currently, the intelligent transformation of the steel industry is accelerating. New-generation information technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, and industrial internet are deeply integrating with steel manufacturing, driving the entire value chain to move forward in the direction of "digitalization and intelligence".
The WesCarber carbon neutrality digital platform independently developed by HeSteel Digital, focusing on the "dual carbon" goal, uses "energy-carbon + AI" as its new core driving force. It deeply integrates digital technology with the entire process of green and low-carbon manufacturing. It is currently the most comprehensive digital platform in the industry in terms of "carbon functions". The on-site personnel of HeSteel Digital introduced that a certain steel enterprise achieved the collection of a total of 5.1 million carbon data from over 40 processes through the intelligent data collection technology of the platform, with an automatic collection coverage rate of over 75%; through the standard carbon calculation model, it produced more than 60 reports such as product carbon footprint reports, enterprise carbon inventory reports, and CBAM reports, with an efficiency increase of 83%.
In February this year, China Baowu launched the "2526" project, promoting the localization of DeepSeek, building a model operation platform for the steel industry, and redefining the steel industry with AI.
In 1996, Baosteel developed an overall production and sales management system, seizing the opportunity of automation and informatization, and significantly enhancing its competitiveness. The "2526" project of Baowu, just like in the past, will become a landmark project for Baowu's digital and intelligent transformation. "The intelligence-driven approach is an inevitable choice in line with the times," said Hu Wangming, the chairman of China Baowu. "China Baowu is accelerating the deep application of new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence."
In January 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other nine departments issued the "Implementation Guidelines for Digital Transformation in the Steel Industry", stating that by 2026, the overall digitalization level of the steel industry would be significantly enhanced, new-generation information technologies would be deeply integrated with the steel industry, the industry's digital ecosystem would continue to improve, and a transformation towards systematic and global digitalization would be basically achieved.
With the continuous expansion of the "AI + steel" application scenarios, intelligence is becoming a key force driving the quality, efficiency and power transformation of the steel industry, leading this historic leap in the sector.
Greenification: Leading the Steel Standards from Ultra-Low Emission to Low Carbon Emission
Currently, the Chinese steel industry is driven by technological innovation and is accelerating the green revolution across the entire value chain. Under the guidance of the "carbon neutrality" goal, the industry has established a green manufacturing system covering the entire production process through ultra-low emission renovations, low-carbon technology research and development, and digital empowerment.
"As of June 2025, the entire process of ultra-low emission transformation for 598 million tons of steel production capacity across the country has been publicly announced. It is expected that by the end of the year, 80% of the production capacity will be covered, and the industry will increase investment by over 300 billion yuan," said He Wenbo, the executive president of the China Iron and Steel Association. This standard is currently the most stringent pollutant emission standard in the world.
Meanwhile, the evaluation standards for low-carbon emission steel developed by our country and released have been recognized by several international professional organizations.
With the accelerated progress of global climate governance and the in-depth implementation of the Paris Agreement, the global decarbonization agenda has continued to deepen, and green and low-carbon development has become an essential task for the global industry.
China Metallurgical Group Corporation takes hydrogen metallurgy as the leading technology and has launched integrated industrial chain solutions centered around hydrogen energy, such as "production - storage - load - use", to assist in the green and low-carbon transformation. China Steel Research Institute has promoted the rapid development of electric furnace steelmaking technology in China by developing and researching core key technologies such as efficient and low-cost smelting in electric furnaces and green intelligent production.
Chinese steel enterprises have demonstrated to the world the path of transformation and upgrading from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", answering the era's question of high-quality development with technological breakthroughs.
As the experts present at the meeting pointed out, this transformation driven by innovation not only concerns the future of the industry, but also will provide a Chinese solution for the global industrial low-carbon development. On the new track of technological empowerment, China's steel industry is taking an open attitude to work with the world to build a "new quality future".
August 11, 2025 (Iron Alloy Online)