BEIJING, March 6 (Reuters) - Officials and executives in Guangdong, China's southern manufacturing and tech hub, on Friday vowed to expand artificial intelligence across its $2 trillion economy, a day after Beijing launched an "AI plus" strategy to embed the technology throughout the economy.

They made the comments at an event discussing a new government work report and five-year policy blueprint that, for the first time, puts AI-driven industrial upgrading at the centre of economic growth.

As a critical link in global supply chains, producing smartphones, appliances and electric vehicles, Guangdong's ability to deploy AI will also shape how far the European Union and United States can de-risk their supply chains from China amid rising geopolitical tension.

o Guangdong is China's largest provincial economy, ranking first nationwide for more than three decades

o The province recorded GDP of about 14.6 trillion yuan ($2.1 trillion) in 2025, making it a larger economy than countries like Australia

o Guangdong governor Meng Fanli said the province would deepen "AI plus" applications across sectors and push the large-scale commercialisation of AI

o Guangdong's Communist Party secretary Huang Kunming said the province would speed up construction of new infrastructure, including large-scale computing clusters

o Qin Weizhong, mayor of China's premier tech hub Shenzhen, said value added in sectors like AI, robotics, and semiconductors posted double-digit growth last year

o Strategic emerging industries accounted for 43% of Shenzhen's GDP, Qin said. Shenzhen is home to tech giants such as Huawei, Tencent, and DJI

o The mayor said Shenzhen was accelerating domestic substitution in chipmaking equipment, computing clusters and EDA software - areas where China lags the United States and faces restrictive U.S. controls

o He also urged stronger central support to build a self-sufficient AI hardware and software ecosystem and to expand China-led standards in areas such as AI and smart vehicles

o A provincial state-asset official said Guangdong would guide state capital toward advanced manufacturing, including sectors such as AI and drones

o Feng Xingya, chairman of automaker GAC Group, said the company would deepen the use of AI models in autonomous driving systems

(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista, Editing by Louise Heavens)