Huitongda Network (09878)'s AI strategy has been repeatedly recognized by the industry, and “AI+SaaS” empowers urban and rural business upgrading

In December 2025, Huitongda Network (09878)'s AI strategic layout was recognized by the industry one after another — after being selected in Yibang Dynamics's annual “Top 30 Industrial AI” list, it also won the “Most Valuable Artificial Intelligence Company” award at the “10th Zhitong Finance Listed Companies Award Ceremony”. At the same time, Sun Chao, vice president of the company, systematically explained Huitongda's strategic thinking and practical path for AI applications in the sinking market at the 2025 Jiangsu Internet Conference, and proposed an AI enabling framework centered on “three upgrades” and “one equal right”, further revealing the underlying logic of the company's technology-driven upgrading of the urban and rural circulation system. This series of developments shows that with its unique “AI+SaaS” model, Huitongda is establishing a differentiated advantage in the wave of industrial intelligence, and continues to receive attention and recognition from capital markets and industry authorities.

The four value pillars of Huitongda's “AI+SaaS” strategy

At a time when many AI companies are competing to lay out popular tracks such as big models, autonomous driving, and smart hardware, Huitongda has chosen a path that few people follow but is extremely strategic — deeply applying artificial intelligence to China's vast sinking market. Compared to other peers, Huitongda's uniqueness is that it is currently the only technology platform on the market that systematically embeds AI capabilities into the bottom layer of urban and rural circulation and has achieved large-scale commercial monetization. This differentiated position has not only built a competitive barrier that is difficult to replicate, but has also made it a key driver for the inclusive implementation of AI.

Huitongda's leadership is not only reflected in technical indicators, but also in its deep understanding and precise entry into the industrial scene. The “AI+SaaS” value system it has built can be clearly disassembled from four dimensions:

The layout is early and the cycle is complete, showing strategic strength: As an industrial Internet platform serving more than 250,000 retail stores in townships, Huitongda launched an AI self-research strategy as early as 2023, and deeply integrated AI technology with its own accumulated industrial big data and mature SaaS tools. In 2025, driven by both mature technology and market demand, the company resolutely integrated mainstream models such as DeepSeek and KIMI to raise the upper limit of capabilities and push AI applications into the large-scale commercial stage. With the implementation of the company's “data-algorithm-decision” closed loop, Huitongda also successfully completed the upgrade from providing informatization tools to providing intelligent decision-making.

The application has been monetized, and the business model has been verified: the value of technology must ultimately be verified through commercial returns. According to the Zhitong Finance App, in recent years, the company has systematically promoted the deep integration of AI technology into retail and supply chains, and has independently developed and deployed more than a dozen AI agents, which fully cover member store operations, upstream brand customer collaboration, and internal management processes. According to sample data, the average operating efficiency of township member stores connected to AI tools increased by more than 30%, and the inventory turnover cycle was shortened by more than 15%. More importantly, these agents have also directly generated considerable revenue, indicating that their AI solutions have successfully passed through the closed loop of profit from product to market, providing core momentum for sustainable development.

Open and inclusive ecosystem to strengthen industrial penetration: The Zhitong Finance App also noticed that Huitongda's AI strategy is not a closed “island.” At the technical level, Huitongda and top cloud and computing power service providers such as Alibaba Cloud have reached comprehensive full-stack AI cooperation to ensure advanced and stable infrastructure; at the application layer, it works with AI service providers with excellent cognitive boundaries to work together to polish solutions that are more suitable for the scenario; at the industrial level, it actively attracts upstream partners such as brands including Apple to connect to its intelligent systems. This open attitude allows its AI capabilities to quickly penetrate upstream and downstream in the distribution field, and has built a strong collaborative ecosystem.

Overlay sinking market data to build a “unique advantage” moat: as the cornerstone of all AI applications, data is said to be a core barrier that is difficult to replicate. After years of intensive cultivation, Huitongda has accumulated big data on consumption and circulation in rural China covering the whole country and with extremely fine granularity. These unique, dynamic, and scenario-based data are the “fuel” for training AI models that truly “understand” the supply and demand relationships in a sinking market. At a time when data from Tier 1 and 2 cities is becoming saturated, the declining market consumption data accumulated by Huitongda has become a scarce resource. It not only supports AI model training, but also provides a basis for decision-making on the government's rural revitalization policies and brand channel sinking strategies. This data barrier is fundamental for its AI applications to be accurately implemented and effective, and it is also a moat that is difficult for competitors to overcome in the short term.

AI restructures urban and rural circulation to unlock new value of capital

Based on the current solid foundation, Huitongda's “AI+” future evolution path is clear, and it is expected to upgrade from a leading application company to a defining smart business ecosystem in a sinking market.

With cost reduction and function optimization, Huitongda's AI products and smart devices will enter township stores on a large scale, and are expected to penetrate hundreds of thousands of retail terminals in the sinking market, not only replacing manual completion of basic services, but also helping store owners optimize operations through real-time data analysis. It will achieve deep intelligent transformation of “people, goods, and markets” of traditional urban and rural circulation, upgrade AI from “tools” to “infrastructure,” and further promote the intelligent upgrading of urban and rural commercial infrastructure.

At the same time, Huitongda also plans to open up desensitized industry data sets to Alibaba Cloud, Cognitive Frontier, and more ecological partners to jointly build an “AI training ground for the sinking market.” This move will attract external developers to develop vertical applications based on their data, form a positive cycle of “data sharing - model optimization - service value addition”, and ultimately double the efficiency of the entire urban and rural circulation system.

From a capital perspective, Huitongda is showing a unique value endowment. On the one hand, it enjoys a scarcity premium from the “leading AI application leader in the sinking market”, with unique racetracks and accurate card slots; on the other hand, its AI commercialization has generated cash flow, proving the viability of the model. Future growth expectations are clear as penetration rate and customer order value increase. Furthermore, the open AI+SaaS ecosystem it has built has the potential to incubate platform-based businesses and reap ecological dividends, and is worth reevaluating the ecological value.

Summarize

From being selected as one of the “Top 30 Industrial AI Companies” to winning the “Most Valuable Artificial Intelligence Company” to the firm explanation of AI strategy by the company's management, Huitongda's AI layout has moved from the stage of technological exploration to a new cycle of large-scale application and value realization. Its development path, with “AI+SaaS” as the core, data as a barrier, and an open ecosystem as an extension, has not only built a solid competitive moat for itself, but also provided an implementable and sustainable practical sample for the intelligent transformation of China's urban and rural circulation system.

With the further integration of AI technology and industrial scenarios, Huitongda is expected to continue to deepen its penetration advantage in the sinking market and unleash greater corporate value and capital potential while boosting commercial efficiency. In the future, whether it can continue to lead the intelligent transformation of urban and rural circulation deserves the long-term attention of the market.