JD set to make its businesses intelligent in next 12 years

An undated photo shows an advertisement for e-commerce retailer JD.com Inc in Shanghai. [Photo/China Daily]

JD.com Inc, China's second-biggest e-commerce player, is set to build up a world leading intelligent technology-driven enterprise in the next 12 years, which includes intelligent e-commerce, finance and insurance, aiming to become the largest B2C platform by 2021.

JD Finance, its finance unit, is striving to become one of the top three financial technology companies globally by 2020, to serve thousands of financial institutions and millions of enterprises, said JD.

"JD Finance will not only possess financial products and service, we will also tap into security, credit and bank fields quickly. We will apply for our own bank, or take shareholdings in a bank, to offer all-round financial services one day," said Liu Qiangdong, chairman and CEO of JD, on Friday at the annual meeting of the company.

The total gross merchandise volume of JD surpassed 900 billion yuan ($130.8 billion) last year, and maintained a more than 150 percent compound annual growth rate in the past 12 years, and its logistics network covers a majority of the population, said Liu.

He said the rapid development of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, robotics and intelligent goods and genetic technology are changing the arena, and JD will adapt itself to this new technology.

"Cloud computing and big data will have a key effect on each enterprise," said Liu, adding that artificial intelligence will replace human beings in 80 to 90 percent of all fields, given enough time and data.

Liu estimates that robotics will not only replace human beings to do repetitive and simple work, but eventually robots will think like human beings, and therefore do work they have never done before.

"We will continue to maintain about 100,000 employees in the next 12 years," said Liu.