The Third Batch of the "Chain Casting Plan" Launches—Industrial 5G Products Enter an Elimination Round from "Available" to "Excellent"

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) recently launched the third batch of product solicitations for the "5G + Industrial Internet" Chain Casting Plan. Compared with the first two batches, the signal from this batch is clear: industrial 5G products are moving from "whether they exist" into an elimination phase of "whether they're good."

The 2026 Government Work Report proposed building an upgraded version of "5G + Industrial Internet." Over the past few years, China's industrial 5G product system has completed its build-out from nothing, but problems of "uneven quality and poor supply-demand matching" still exist. The purpose of the Chain Casting Plan is to provide factories with a verified reference list for selection through "joint standard research and sharing, joint testing and verification, and industrial supply-demand matching."

01 Four Major Product Categories—Which One Do You Belong To?

This solicitation divides products into four categories: "Connect," "Optimize," "Integrate," and "Intelligence." Each has different positioning and thresholds.

"Connect" category—basic interoperability. These products need basic functions and performance, meeting industry standards and testing specifications. Typical capabilities include: support for 5G LAN, multiple industrial protocols, and highly reliable connections, suitable for scenarios with high reliability requirements such as AGV dispatching and remote control. Simply put, this is the "entry ticket" level—complete functions, protocol compatibility, and stable operation.

"Optimize" category—performance Preferred. Products with superior functions or performance, adaptable to vertical industry or special scenario needs. A typical selected case: achieving zero packet loss even when B5 band network signal strength is extremely weak, providing selection reference for mining, ports, and other weak-signal coverage areas. This tier looks at performance under extreme conditions, not lab parameters.

"Integrate" category—integrated innovation. Achieving integration of communication, computing, and other capabilities, with innovative integrated application scenarios. For example, ZTE's computing-network integrated machine, which integrates 5G core network, wireless, and network management with a built-in computing platform, has been deployed in automotive manufacturing, chemicals, steel, and other industries. This tier's threshold is system-level integration capability.

"Intelligence" category—intelligent upgrade. Combining AI technology to achieve autonomy and intelligence in specific scenarios. Selected cases include industrial embodied robots with autonomous navigation, AI-based anomaly recognition, and intelligent inspection capabilities.

02 The Gap Between "Connect" and "Optimize" Is in the Details You Check During Selection

For factory clients, the Chain Casting Plan's classification standards are essentially a selection checklist.

If your project involves routine production line data acquisition or PLC remote control, a "Connect" category product will suffice—sufficient interfaces, protocol compatibility, and stable operation. But if you're facing weak-network environments like mines, ports, or field engineering vehicles, or have explicit requirements for packet loss and latency, the performance gap between "Connect" and "Optimize" categories will directly show up in on-site performance.

Taking MovingComm's product line as an example, you can understand these two tiers' requirements by comparison: the ComIn I2250 provides five Fast Ethernet ports, RS232/RS485 serial ports, and GPIO, supports 5G full-network compatibility and dual watchdog design, possessing the basic interoperability capabilities required by "Connect" category products—multi-protocol compatibility, multi-device access, and long-term stable operation. The ComIn I2205, as a 5G RedCap industrial router, further optimizes power consumption and cost structure while maintaining industrial-grade reliability, suitable for scenarios with requirements for deployment efficiency and long-term O&M costs.

The gap from "Connect" to "Optimize" often isn't in paper specifications, but in stability under extreme conditions: whether packets are dropped under weak signals, whether the device freezes under high temperatures, whether it withstands voltage fluctuations. These are the issues factories truly care about on site.

03 Why This List Is Worth Watching

The value of Chain Casting Plan selected products isn't just a certificate.

Selected products will conduct supply-demand matching through "1 online service platform + 4 channels": publishing product information on the "5G + Industrial Internet" public service platform, while promoting through the Industrial Internet Industry Alliance working groups, CCSA sub-working groups, local government supply-demand matching activities, and key enterprise seminars.

For factory clients, this means selection now has an officially endorsed reference pool. Instead of screening suppliers from scratch, they can filter solutions meeting project needs from the selected list. For supply-side enterprises, selection means product information is pushed to factories with real procurement needs, shortening the supply-demand matching chain.

04 Selection Approach

If you're selecting industrial 5G products for a factory, you can judge based on the Chain Casting Plan's classification standards:

First, clarify scenario requirements. Is it routine production line networking or data backhaul in weak-network environments? Single-point device access or multi-site networking? The more specific the requirements, the easier it is to judge whether a product falls under "Connect" or "Optimize."

Then, look at performance under extreme conditions. Don't just look at nominal specifications—focus on the product's actual capabilities under boundary conditions like weak signals, high and low temperatures, and voltage fluctuations. The selected cases in the "Optimize" category are precisely products with verifiable data under extreme conditions.

Finally, look at deployment capability. Can the product be deployed quickly, managed remotely, and does it have supporting support when problems arise—these "soft capabilities" often affect project progress more than the numbers on a spec sheet.

The third batch of the Chain Casting Plan has been launched. For engineering professionals working on industrial 5G selection, following the subsequent release of this list is far more efficient than repeatedly comparing supplier brochures.