6G is booming, so why are companies still saying "it hurts"? Core components are "bottlenecked," and application ecosystems are "hollowed out"—challenges to overcome | Live coverage of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum

Financial Associated Press, March 28 (Reporter Guo Songqiao) “When will 6G actually arrive?” “Will phones be more expensive after it comes?” “Are our technologies ready?” These questions have attracted significant attention at the 6G Technology and Industry Innovation Forum, a parallel session of the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum currently underway.

For the second consecutive year, the government work report has listed 6G as a key future industry to be cultivated, continuously releasing signals from the top. The enthusiasm in the industry has been instantly ignited: capital is rushing in, companies are scrambling to lay out plans, and local governments are introducing supportive policies. The Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area is providing up to 30 million yuan in funding support for companies undertaking major national 6G scientific research tasks, while Shanghai has proposed creating a national comprehensive 6G experimental local base.

However, beneath the clamor, a deeper issue emerges: from technological research and development to commercial implementation, how far has the 6G industry truly progressed? What bottlenecks remain?

With these questions in mind, Financial Associated Press reporters interviewed Chen Shanzhi, Deputy General Manager and Chief Engineer of China Information and Communication Technology Group Co., Ltd., Zhang Ping, Counselor of the State Council and Professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Huang Yuhong, Dean of the Zhongguancun Pan-Linked Institute and Director of China Mobile Research Institute, who are core experts deeply involved in the development of China’s 6G industry, in an attempt to restore the current true picture of the 6G industry.

Industry Bottlenecks: Core Components “Choking” and Application Ecosystem “Hollowing Out”

6G has again made it into this year’s government work report, and industry enthusiasm is high.

However, reporters found during interviews that the 6G industry still faces multiple bottlenecks from technological research and development to commercial implementation.

In the core component segment, the issues are most pronounced. At the forum, a technical leader from a telecommunications company revealed to reporters that the core hardware required for 6G, such as terahertz RF chips and high-precision sensors, is still highly reliant on imports.

“Our company wants to create a 6G prototype, but the high-end RF front-end module still mainly relies on imports, with procurement cycles lasting 3 to 6 months, and prices are tightly controlled by foreign suppliers. As a result, our R&D progress has been delayed by at least half a year,” the leader admitted.

Senior analyst Guo Tao pointed out in an interview with Financial Associated Press that China still has shortcomings in core components such as RF chips and baseband chips, as well as basic software, which to some extent restricts the autonomy and controllability of the industrial chain. 6G is a deep integration of communications, artificial intelligence, aerospace, and materials science. The significant transmission loss at terahertz frequencies imposes stringent requirements on chips and raw materials and affects the collaborative efficiency of integrated aerial and ground networks.

More troubling is the risk of “hollowing out” in the application ecosystem. Financial Associated Press reporters learned through surveys that currently, China’s 6G patent applications account for 40.3% of the global total, maintaining the world’s leading position. Although the technical reserves seem ample, the truly implementable commercial scenarios remain unclear.

A founder of a company currently applying for 6G R&D projects candidly told reporters, “What we fear most right now is the deadlock of ‘which came first, the chicken or the egg’—huge investments in technology R&D, but users are hesitant to use it, so networks cannot be built; if networks cannot be built, prices cannot drop; if prices do not drop, users are even more hesitant to use it. Policies need to provide support in the early stages.”

Breaking the Bottleneck: Coordinated Policy Support and Technological Innovation

In response to the industry bottlenecks, a set of “comprehensive measures” is being formed from the national to local levels, and from research institutions to enterprises.

At the policy level, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has launched the second phase of 6G technology testing, having previously completed over 300 key technology reserves in the first phase. The Shanghai Stock Exchange also held a future industry salon titled “6G: The Digital Foundation Connecting Air and Ground” in March this year, gathering nearly 30 listed companies and relevant enterprises in the industry chain to jointly promote high-quality development of the 6G industry.

Regarding technological breakthroughs, Huang Yuhong introduced to reporters China Mobile’s strategy for breaking the bottleneck. She revealed that the Zhongguancun Pan-Linked Institute, jointly initiated by China Mobile and Beijing, is creating an open co-creation platform for the deep integration of 6G’s sensing, computing, and intelligence.

“We are building the foundational capabilities for 6G and opening them up for many research institutions and enterprises to conduct technological experiments and validations,” Huang Yuhong told reporters. This platform has already achieved end-to-end testing with VIVO prototype terminals and Datang RF connections.

This directly addresses the industry’s concerns about “insufficient cross-industry collaboration.” Guo Tao pointed out that the current construction of the 6G ecosystem is still primarily based on the telecommunications technology layer, with low substantive participation from vertical industries (such as robotics, automotive, and drones), making it difficult to form full industry collaboration. The open platform of the Zhongguancun Pan-Linked Institute aims to break this barrier.

Huang Yuhong also emphasized the importance of a closed-loop for 6G commercialization. “Real successful development must have commercial significance,” she stated, adding that China Mobile is proactively incubating commercial scenarios for 6G, including collaborations with robotics companies to test how 6G can help robots transmit data promptly and coordinate with different model sizes.

Industry Outlook: Commercialization Expected by 2030, Diverse Terminal Forms to Emerge

Regarding the question most concerning to ordinary consumers, “When will 6G actually arrive?” Huang Yuhong provided a clear timeline.

“We are currently targeting the first international standard to be established by 2029, followed by pre-commercial products and testing, with true commercial development expected to commence in 2030.” She also revealed that China Mobile has just led the completion of the first 6G standard research project by 3GPP, laying a clear direction for 6G technology research and development.

Financial Associated Press reporters also noted that from the global standard promotion plan, 3GPP is expected to form the first version of the 6G standard in 2029. At MWC 2026, Qualcomm also clearly proposed a roadmap for the gradual delivery of 6G commercial systems starting in 2029.

Chen Shanzhi stated that 6G will focus on solving the challenges in industry applications that 5G has not yet addressed, achieving a leap from serving people and things to comprehensive three-dimensional coverage and ubiquitous intelligence. Its core indicators are the integration of space and ground as well as intelligent communication, marking a complete departure from the mobile communication evolution from 1G to 5G.

“6G will go beyond connectivity to construct a deeply integrated platform for sensing, computing, and intelligence that is user-centric, promoting industrial intelligence and the development of new businesses,” Chen Shanzhi said.

What changes will 6G bring? Huang Yuhong painted a picture of a future with diverse terminals for reporters: “In the 6G era, terminals might not just be smartphones; they could be diverse, including robots, glasses, cars, etc. A robotic dog might also be a terminal, and toys can also be terminals, accompanying our daily lives and entertainment.”

She further explained that smartphones could evolve into smart terminals that can help you do many things just by saying a word or making a request; glasses could continuously transmit the surrounding objects to the cloud, displaying the information you need at any time. With powerful networks and AI capabilities, they would collect a lot of data to predict your physical condition in advance.

This aligns with Zhang Ping’s assessment. In an interview, Zhang Ping indicated that the next phase of 6G may show visible progress in terminals, such as glasses with interactive and environmental sensing functions that provide immersive experiences.

Regarding the combination of 6G and embodied intelligence, Zhang Ping believes the key is to enable robots to perceive the real physical world, allowing them to make instantaneous or timely decisions.

“Current robots seem ‘not smooth enough’ because they are still solving problems in a purely digital world, making cognitive and decision-making based on trained models,” he said. “Artificial intelligence should develop to engage with the real economy and the physical world; this engagement will quickly produce effects.”

Regarding consumers’ concerns about whether “6G will be more expensive,” Zhang Ping offered a dialectical perspective, stating, “Price is not an absolute factor but a relative one.” He believes that 6G will provide new services that 5G cannot offer (such as robotics for elderly care), and users will pay for new value. Meanwhile, 4G, 5G, and 6G will coexist for a long time, giving users the right to choose. In terms of business models, in addition to traffic fees, new models such as charging based on tokens may also emerge.