On the 17th, in front of the Shanghai World Expo Convention Center where the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) was held, a humanoid police officer closely resembling a human directed traffic, while a 3-meter-tall Unitree transforming robot greeted visitors at the exhibition entrance. This year's WAIC drew about 1,100 companies from various fields including semiconductors, generative AI and robotics, which displayed some 3,000 products.
The event, now in its ninth year, was attended for the first time by Chinese President Xi Jinping in person, rather than Premier Li Qiang. Analysts said this reflected confidence stemming from exhibits that have reached the level of actual mass production. Held under the theme "AI Partner, Creating the Future Together," this year's exhibition surpassed 100,000 square meters in floor space for the first time, with 15,000 attendees and about 1,400 speakers. Here are four key points examining the "China Intelligence" strategy that China newly unveiled at this WAIC.
① The Gum Strategy Works... Building the Cutting-Edge Chip It Couldn't Import by Bundling 8,000 Domestic Chips
Major big tech firms including Huawei, Alibaba and Baidu placed AI computing systems using their own chips at the front of the event entrance. The largest crowds gathered at the "Atlas 950 SuperPoD," whose physical form Huawei unveiled for the first time. It uses a "SuperNode" method that connects 8,192 of its own "Ascend 950" chips via an ultra-high-speed communication network, designed to train and run inference on trillion-parameter large language models (LLMs). The company claims it leads the world in key metrics, including 6.7 times the total computing power compared to Nvidia's next-generation product "NVL144," with shipments targeted for the fourth quarter.
The new product carries significance in that Huawei's "chip bundling" strategy, pursued to break through US semiconductor export controls, has actually worked. Unable to secure cutting-edge chips, the company effectively substituted by efficiently connecting a large number of chips. Despite persistent criticism that it was technically inadequate, Huawei is building results, having successfully commercialized its first SuperNode product in March last year. DeepSeek's "V4," announced in the first half of this year, is also known to have been trained based on this system.
② 'Profitable AI' Begins in Earnest Through AI + Smart Device Applications
In the generative AI exhibition hall, smart devices applying AI drew more attention than the AI models themselves. Many large technology companies, including Alibaba and iFlytek, devoted considerable space to displaying AI glasses equipped with their own AI models. StepFun, counted among the "Shanghai AI Six Little Dragons," presented its self-developed AI phone, while MiniMax showcased a wide range of products including earphones and companion robots equipped with its own AI models.
Unlike the US, which is focused on developing cutting-edge models, China appears to be accelerating the rapid commercialization of AI based on its well-established manufacturing supply chain. Starting this year, China has included wearable devices such as smartwatches, bands and glasses in its national subsidy program, putting effort into spreading next-generation smart devices. As a result, according to market research firm IDC, Chinese companies are projected to account for 45% of global AI glasses shipments this year. Silicon Valley big tech firms such as Google and Meta are also rushing to enter the combination of AI and wearable devices.
③ From Brains to Bionics... Securing Cutting-Edge Technology at Least in Robots
Among the three exhibition halls, the robot hall was where the greatest change was detected. Unlike last year, performances centered on dancing or acrobatics were hard to find; instead, actual on-site adaptability was emphasized, such as tightening bolts and transporting materials. Tencent introduced three types of physical AI models developed by its own robotics lab "Robotics X" and placed a massage robot equipped with them at the exhibition entrance. SenseTime also staged scenes of robots applying its "Kairos World Model" preparing meals and folding laundry.
China clearly signaled its will to overtake even in the robot "brain" field, where the US is still assessed to be ahead of China. Peng Zhihui, founder of AgiBot, stressed to local media Jiemian News, "The robot industry, which for the past two years remained at the level of showy demonstrations, is now transitioning to the stage of actual application and productivity improvement." In addition, bionic robots resembling humans down to their skin texture also drew attention throughout the venue.
④ 'AI Belt and Road' Cracks US-Led Pax Silica
One day before the opening of WAIC, China officially launched an international AI cooperation organization involving a total of 29 countries, including Russia and Brazil. While CEOs of companies such as Anthropic proposed building a US-led AI cooperation body last month, China effectively got ahead of them as the effort stalled amid controversy over government control. Through academic events at WAIC, China gathered world-renowned scholars in one place, including Yoshua Bengio, an authority in deep learning, and Professor Omar Yaghi, last year's Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry who recently joined Tsinghua University.
In his speech that day, President Xi also presented a plan to "provide 5,000 AI-related training opportunities to developing countries over the next five years." China appears to be accelerating "AI diplomacy" to win over the "Global South" (developing countries mainly located in the Southern Hemisphere), in opposition to the US-led AI supply chain community "Pax Silica."
