The era of AI Agents is accelerating, with listed companies actively making strategic moves

“Future AI agents may surpass humans, and humans will live in a world with hundreds of millions or even billions of AI agents,” predicted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in an interview this July. A report from Bank of America also pointed out that AI evolution is on the eve of the third wave—Agentic AI is imminent.

In the second half of this year, AI Agents have become a hot topic, attracting major tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and OpenAI to invest heavily in this field. In the domestic market, large model vendors, internet companies, and listed corporations are actively deploying AI Agents.

As more companies develop AI Agent products and ecosystems, industry insiders expect 2025 to be the year of explosive growth for AI Agents. Galaxy Securities forecasted in its research report that by 2028, China’s AI Agent market size will surge to 852 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 72.7%.

Companies Enter the AI Agent Competition

AI Agent, also known as “Artificial Intelligence Agent” or “AI Intelligent Agent,” is a system driven by large language models, capable of autonomous understanding, perception, planning, memory, and tool usage, enabling automation of complex tasks. Unlike traditional AI, AI Agents can think independently and call upon tools to gradually achieve given goals.

For example, if a user wants to go out for dinner, a large language model can suggest restaurant locations and related information. An AI Agent not only provides restaurant recommendations but can also search based on the user’s budget, execute reservations, add the trip to a calendar, and send reminders.

Since the second half of this year, AI Agents have gained significant attention, with tech giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic announcing related developments.

In June, Apple showcased its latest AI achievement, Apple Intelligence, at the developer conference. In November, Microsoft announced over ten commercial AI Agents at “Microsoft Ignite 2024.” Google followed suit, promoting commercial AI Agents through a series of incentives and products, and even launched one of the few global markets for commercial AI Agents. OpenAI plans to release a new AI Agent product codenamed “Operator” in January 2025.

In the domestic market, companies like Zhipu have also focused on AI Agents, and a competition around “AI Agents” is quietly underway.

On October 25, Zhipu released AutoGLM Intelligent Agent, which can understand user intent through voice commands, simulate human behavior, and automatically complete tasks such as ordering takeout, booking flights, and hotels. On November 29, Zhipu launched an upgraded version supporting autonomous execution of tasks with over 50 steps and flexible app switching during task execution.

Zhipu believes that AI large models are shifting from Chat to Act, and in the future, a unified AI intelligent agent will operate various hardware devices to improve human-computer interaction efficiency. As computing power increases, models and terminal-cloud collaboration architectures tailored for native AI devices will gradually emerge, with smart devices like smartphones, PCs, cars, glasses, and home appliances rapidly proliferating.

Besides Zhipu, companies like ByteDance, Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba are also deploying AI Agents, including ByteDance’s Coze Agent platform, Baidu’s Qianfan AgentBuilder development tool, and Kunlun Wanyuan’s SkyAgents.

Multiple Listed Companies Deploy AI Agents

As domestic companies compete in AI Agents, several A-share listed companies are also actively involved.

For example, iFlytek has launched AI assistants targeting education, healthcare, judiciary, and government services. Jincai Hulian’s “XinZhiYue Financial and Taxation Large Model” adopts an open architecture, combining the company’s financial and tax products with an open platform to build a financial and tax AI Agent.

Zhongke Jincai’s AI Agent development and operation platform offers functions like agent creation, multi-base model invocation, and workflow definition, capable of automatically routing to the most suitable large model based on industry scenarios to create agents. The company states that Zhongke Jincai’s AI Agent can understand multiple intents, automatically perform multi-task execution based on user commands or context, learn user preferences, and provide personalized services, enabling highly human-like natural language interactions across the entire process.

Xinguodu’s subsidiary, Shanghai Shierqu, is dedicated to developing general-purpose AI Agent technology and conducting research on multimodal AI products.

Xinkai Pu launched a campus life AI product called “XiaoMei Tongxue” in October, based on Pangu and Tongyi Qianwen large models.

On December 9, when asked whether they have deployed AI Agents, Techsoft (科创达) responded that the company has been advancing product and technology development in this area. For example, their Rubik Avatar integrates multiple AI technologies, including machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision, based on edge AI and naked-eye 3D technology, utilizing Qualcomm’s high-performance chips and real-time 3D rendering engines.

Naxing Shares recently replied to investor inquiries, stating that their subsidiary, Yixian Network, leverages cutting-edge large model technology and collaborates deeply with leading AI companies like Microsoft to provide efficient, intelligent AIGC applications and solutions. Their “Xiaolu” is an AI assistant supporting intelligent chat and knowledge base Q&A.

Cootes Intelligence responded to investor questions on December 17, stating that their Cootes AI Agents 2.0 aims to become a universal digital intelligence tool and assistant to help traditional enterprises upgrade digitally. The 2.0 version is currently under development.

2025 Could See a Commercial Explosion of AI Agents

Industry experts generally believe that 2025 will be the year of AI Agent explosion.

Shanxi Securities’ report indicates that Agents are expected to be widely deployed in 2025, driving increased demand for computing power and further expanding investments in AI infrastructure.

Debon Securities also predicts that by 2025, AI Agents may experience a breakout, leading to a qualitative leap in the terminal market. As Agent networks take shape and market penetration increases, a solid business model ecosystem will form within the AI industry.

“Currently, tech giants like Apple, Google, and OpenAI see Agents as a key focus for 2025. That year could mark the explosion of Agents, further driving AI application deployment,” said Zhong Jian Shu, an analyst at Changjiang Securities.

According to Tang Fangxin, head of government and enterprise business at Wanshing Technology, the development of AI Agents is transitioning from “experiments” to “applications,” though not yet mature. With continuous improvements in computing power, machine learning, and natural language processing, AI Agents are increasingly capable of understanding user intent, providing personalized services, and executing complex tasks. Currently, AI Agents are already applied in customer service, smart homes, and personal assistants, and are expanding into more industries and scenarios.

Tang believes that AI Agents will continue to evolve, gradually moving from “usable” to “easy to use.” Some commercial scenarios have already seen deployment, such as Wanshing’s interactive digital human business, which can significantly improve scenarios like exhibition explanations, smart demonstrations, speeches, and corporate receptions. AI digital humans can introduce services to audiences and consumers, revolutionize traditional interactions, and enhance user experience.

However, Tang emphasizes that the deployment of AI Agents involves large-scale user data collection and processing, making security and privacy critical issues. Potential concerns include data misuse and privacy leaks. AI Agents rely on local computing power and large models, requiring high levels of technical maturity, integration, implementation, and operational capabilities from vendors. Currently, the focus should be on expanding from single scenarios to interconnected ones, accumulating mature pathways and solutions, while strengthening security and privacy regulation, and exploring openly.

“From ‘training’ to ‘inference,’ AI intelligent agents will be an essential step toward the era of artificial general intelligence,” said Galaxy Securities. As large models rapidly iterate and upgrade, AI intelligent agents based on these models are entering a phase of rapid development. Their rise is reshaping the AI industry chain and creating new investment opportunities. By 2028, China’s AI agent market size is expected to surge to 852 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 72.7%. The AI intelligent agent industry chain is a diverse and highly collaborative ecosystem with vast future market potential.