(Yicai Global) Oct. 9 -- Artificial intelligence investments at Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group, the venture capital arm of Chinese tech firm Lenovo Group Ltd. [HKG:0992], now focus on the application and renovation of vertical industries, mainly Big Data-based sectors that can produce remarkable economic benefits through AI transformation, Wang Guangxi, executive director of the investment unit, told Yicai Global.

"Technologies will function through long-term accumulation," Wang said. Until 2020, Chinese enterprises will have the opportunity to make leading AI apps in vertical industries and gradually leverage their advantages in primary sectors.

The gap between China's artificial intelligence industry and other countries' lies in primary technology. China is weak in core technologies, such as chips, and is faced with severe challenges in technical fields, like manufacturing processes at a lower level and software at a higher level, he added. China has quickly upgraded its software to match the growth of the mobile internet, but in terms of core technology, there is still a long way to go.

Wang believes the integrated layout of China's AI industry has been developed early, with the current gap between companies lying in modernization and informatization. As firms narrow this gap, there will be transformation and upgrades in artificial intelligence which will lead to rapid growth.

"The development of technologies between China and US differ in the fact that America adopts a positive scientific research model from technology to application, while China puts economic value at the forefront," Wang said.

In terms of the development direction of augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR), Wang feels that because Chinese companies used to carry out just one link on the industrial chain, technologies with high value are grasped by others. As AR/VR is expected to become the next computing platform, China should development from hardware to software and then up to services, considering the whole industry chain, he added.

As AR/VR technology has not matured worldwide, China is on par with the US, Wang said. Therefore, by capitalizing on its own strengths, China has a greater chance to catch up with and surpass America. China's advantages lie in high-volume consumer-end and business-end applications, he said.