(Yicai Global) Dec. 15 -- China's e-commerce titan JD.Com Inc. [NASDAQ:JD] yesterday partnered up with China Overseas Property Group, major state-owned real estate developer, to build hundreds of cashier-free supermarkets in major Chinese cities, the Paper reported.

The pair signed a strategic partnership agreement on joint development of "borderless retail" based on complementary growth and resource sharing. "Borderless retail," a concept proposed by JD.Com's chief executive, Liu Qiangdong, earlier this year, is aimed at creating an unbounded shopping network that enables seamless communication between buyers and sellers.

The companies will work together to develop a number of "black technology" initiatives, whose internal  are unknown to users, such as "JD-X" cashier-free supermarkets, unmanned drug stores and automated delivery systems, per the agreement.

JD-X stores is an automated retail facility replete with the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as facial recognition, behavior recording and smart site selection.

The deal will help JD.Com roll out AI-enabled facilities on a nationwide scale leveraging China Overseas Property's extensive business network, an analyst suggested. On the other hand, the real estate developer will benefit from JD.Com's retail automation technology in terms of improving property development marketing operations.

All of China Overseas Property's tenants and property owners in China are prospective customers for JD's unmanned stores, the analyst suggested.

As one of the earliest state-owned developers in China, Overseas Property entered the commercial property market in late 2011. It currently has more than 7.5 million square meters of commercial properties for investment, including the completed and ongoing developments.