The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six other departments recently announced the first batch of 15 pilot level intelligent factories, covering key industries such as equipment manufacturing, raw materials, electronic information, and consumer goods. This has pointed out a clear path for manufacturing enterprises to transform towards intelligence, with a gradient design from the basic level to the leading level. Enterprises at different stages of development have their own clear goals. The navigation level intelligent factory is the pinnacle of the pyramid of intelligent factories. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the leading level intelligent factory represents the highest level of development in China's manufacturing industry, exploring future manufacturing models for the industry and creating a globally leading development benchmark. The threshold for being selected as a leading intelligent factory is very high. Enterprises need to be in a leading position in their industry and field, with core products having global competitiveness and intelligent manufacturing reaching a global leading level. At present, the intelligent penetration rate in the construction scenarios of 15 leading intelligent factories has exceeded 80%, and it is accelerating its penetration into high-value chain links upstream and downstream. The idea of cultivating smart factories is gradient order. According to the "Conditions for Gradient Cultivation of Intelligent Factories (2025 Edition)", China's intelligent factories are divided into basic level, advanced level, excellent level, and leading level. Basic level intelligent factories are higher than the average level of the same industry in the province (region, city), advanced level intelligent factories are at the leading level of the same industry in the province (region, city), excellent level intelligent factories are at the leading level of the same industry in China, and leading level intelligent factories need to achieve global leadership. This stepped design not only allows enterprises at each stage to find goals that are within their reach, but also creates industry synergy through differentiated goal setting. Cultivating smart factories is not a competition that only selects top students. As a benchmark in the industry, the leading intelligent factory undertakes the mission of exploring cutting-edge technology applications and breaking through key bottlenecks. But having only the spire is not enough, there may be risks of faults and ecological imbalances. Widely cultivating basic level intelligent factories is precisely laying a solid foundation for the intelligentization of the manufacturing industry, promoting a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and traditional factories to keep up with the trend of the new round of technological revolution through digital transformation. Advanced and excellent intelligent factories, as the backbone force, can undertake leading experience and spread to segmented fields, forming a "point to surface" transmission effect. Ultimately, a pyramid of smart factories with a solid foundation, clear hierarchy, and abundant vitality will be created. To make the top students of smart factories more globally competitive, we need to make good use of artificial intelligence technology. Excellent level intelligent factories require a minimum of 20% application of artificial intelligence technology scenarios, while leading level intelligent factories require a minimum of 60%. As the pinnacle of intelligent manufacturing, it is necessary to break through the bottleneck of traditional manufacturing and explore future models. Artificial intelligence is an effective means to achieve this goal, from accelerating simulation in research and development to flexible manufacturing in production, and then to collaborative optimization throughout the entire chain, artificial intelligence technology can achieve deep empowerment. To make the foundation of smart factories more stable, we need to solve the transformation dilemma of small and medium-sized enterprises. Due to high investment, high risks, lack of technology and talent, small and medium-sized enterprises face the dilemma of being afraid to transform, unable to transform, and unable to transform. We need to launch lightweight and low-cost transformation plans to lower the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises to transform; Build a shared service platform, led by the government and led by leading enterprises, to share technical experts, testing equipment, and data resources, and solve the dilemma of going it alone. Only when small and medium-sized enterprises transform from bystanders to participants can the intelligent factory system form a virtuous ecology of "leading from the top and having a solid foundation". Smart factories are important carriers of intelligent manufacturing. Through joint efforts, China's intelligent manufacturing has achieved a historic leap from "breakthrough at the point" to "blooming on the surface", and from "single machine intelligence" to "system collaboration". In the future, by continuously improving the height of the tower's leading position, consolidating the solid thickness of the tower body, and expanding the breadth of the base, Chinese manufacturing will usher in a comprehensive system upgrade and further move towards becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. (New Society)