12th September 2025, Kathmandu
Cement 2.0 has shaped civilizations for millennia. Yet for nearly 200 years, the modern cement recipe has barely changed.
As the essential ingredient in concrete—the world’s second-most consumed material after water—cement remains the backbone of global infrastructure. But that’s about to shift.
Today, companies are introducing a new ingredient into the mix: artificial intelligence.
In 2025, Conch Cement, China’s leading producer, partnered with Huawei to launch the industry’s first AI-powered solution. Built on Huawei Cloud’s Pangu AI model platform, this innovation isn’t just a tech upgrade; it’s a blueprint for smarter, greener manufacturing.
From Conveyor Belts to Cloud: Conch’s Legendary Factory Evolves
The Wuhu Yangtze River Third Bridge is more than an engineering marvel. It’s a symbol of what modern infrastructure demands: strength, precision, and innovation. Spanning 588 meters with dual levels for road and rail, this record-setting bridge required 460,000 tons of cement clinker from Conch Cement. The company’s portfolio includes icons like Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. But even industry leaders can’t stand still.
To make production smarter and more sustainable, Conch partnered with Huawei Cloud to bring AI-backed innovations into the heart of its Wuhu plant. Conveyor belts that once required manual checks are now monitored by intelligent sensors, detecting faults instantly. Inside kilns blazing at over 1,400°C, AI fine-tunes heat and timing with algorithmic precision, turning guesswork into science and cutting both cost and carbon emissions.
AI: The Secret Ingredient in Smarter Cement
The Wuhu Yangtze River Third Bridge is more than an engineering marvel. It’s a symbol of what modern infrastructure demands: strength, precision, and innovation. Spanning 588 meters with dual levels for road and rail, this record-setting bridge required 460,000 tons of cement clinker from Conch Cement.
The company’s portfolio includes icons like Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower and the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. But even industry leaders can’t stand still.
To make production smarter and more sustainable, Conch partnered with Huawei Cloud to bring AI-backed innovations into the heart of its Wuhu plant.
Conveyor belts that once required manual checks are now monitored by intelligent sensors, detecting faults instantly. Inside kilns blazing at over 1,400°C, AI fine-tunes heat and timing with algorithmic precision, turning guesswork into science and cutting both cost and carbon emissions.
AI: The Secret Ingredient in Smarter Cement
China produces and consumes nearly half the world’s cement, but the industry faces mounting challenges: overcapacity, rising costs, and environmental pressure. Conch and Huawei Cloud saw an opportunity to change the game. Their joint AI model—built on foundation models and trained on 288,000 data records—brings intelligence to every stage of cement production.
What once relied on gut instinct and weeks of testing is now based on new AI-driven scientific processes and data. At the Wuhu plant, prediction accuracy jumped from less than 70% to nearly 90%. And those 28-day waits for cement clinker strength results? They’re now nearly instantaneous.
The benefits go beyond quality control and efficiency improvements. A global calcination optimization model is cutting energy use by 1% per line, saving 2,000 tons of coal and cutting CO₂ emissions by 4,500 tons annually. Read the full story here.
Cutting Carbon, Reducing Risks, and Shaping Smarter Cement
The early results of Huawei Cloud and Conch’s collaboration are impressive. A 1% energy reduction on a single 5,000-ton clinker line translates to at least CNY 2 million (USD 280,800) in annual savings. Scale that across Conch’s 140 production lines, China’s 1,000-plus facilities, and eventually the global industry, and the impact becomes transformative: tens of millions saved annually and a measurable step toward decarbonization.
The next target? Doubling that efficiency to 2%. It sounds small, but in an industry this vast, it’s a significant leap forward.
Beyond cost and carbon, AI is improving safety and working conditions. Automated inspections and real-time monitoring reduce human exposure to blistering kilns and hazardous conveyor belts. Tasks once reliant on physical endurance and instinct are now handled by intelligent systems, freeing operators for higher-value work.
Huawei Cloud and Conch Cement have shown that AI can do more than optimize processes—it can redefine an entire sector. From real-time quality prediction to energy-saving calcination models, these innovations set a new benchmark for smart, sustainable manufacturing.
As Huawei Cloud’s team observed in this journey with Conch Cement: Every seemingly small step forward is the result of hard work and dedication. On an untraveled road, they made every step count, blazing a trail for others to follow.
Ancient forms of cement may have helped build the foundations of empires, but Cement 2.0, powered by AI, is laying the groundwork for a new era of architecture.
For more: Cement 2.0