Seizing New Opportunities Amid Crisis: Industrial Structure Upgrading and Resilience of Artificial Intelligence Industry Chain

As a key strategic sector underpinning China’s future development, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is essential to enhancing national competitiveness and advancing sustainable economic and social development. Based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2012 to 2022, we explore how industrial structure upgrading (ISU) affects the resilience of China’s AI industry chain (RAIIC) and empirically test the underlying transmission mechanism using a mediation effect model. The results indicate that (1) ISU significantly enhances the RAIIC, thereby providing a solid structural foundation for its long-term stability and sustainable evolution; (2) the impact of ISU on the RAIIC can be realized by enhancing regional financial agglomeration and human capital levels; (3) the positive impact of ISU on the RAIIC is significantly stronger in regions with larger population sizes, higher levels of economic development, higher technological sophistication, and more advanced digital inclusive finance. These findings imply that policy design should emphasize regional coordination and dynamic adaptability so as to support the balanced and sustainable nationwide development of the AI industry. According to these findings, we propose corresponding policy recommendations aimed at providing theoretical support and practical guidance for the sustainable and high-quality development of China’s AI industry.