A Report in the South China Morning Post of 26 October reveals a plan to establish a nationwide "internet-of-things" smart power grid employing 5G and artificial intelligence, with the first phase to be completed by 2021 and the second phase by 2024. 

Driving the plan is State Grid Corporation, China’s state-owned monopoly operating some 90% of the country’s electricity grids. It is one of the largest utility companies in the world, making $9.5 billion in profits last year. China is home to roughly half of the world’s 1,000 pilot smart cities, which use 5G and AI technology to improve urban management.

This plan is consistent with the nation's ambition to attain its Two Centenary Goals – (a) to become a moderately well-off country by 2021, the centenary of the Communist Party of China and (b) to become a "strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and modern socialist country" by 2049, the centenary of the People's Republic of China.