China's local government-backed expansion of OpenClaw sparks new AI agent ecosystem

OpenClaw, an open-source framework for AI agent development, is rapidly expanding from the tech community into industry and government sectors, triggering a lobster farming craze. As developers and startups flock to the platform, Chinese local governments are increasingly seeing it as a strategic tool for advancing the next phase of artificial intelligence (AI) industry planning.

Recently, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuxi have rolled out -- or are preparing -- supportive policies aimed at fostering new industrial clusters around the AI agent ecosystem. Shenzhen's Longgang district was the first to introduce a relatively comprehensive policy framework. On March 7, the district released a draft for public consultation