WAIC 2026 to Showcase China’s AI Surge in Shanghai July 17-20
The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance will take place in Shanghai from July 17 to 20, organizers announced at a press conference on Tuesday, as China’s AI industry continues its rapid expansion with the core sector surpassing 1.2 trillion yuan (approximately $147 billion) in 2025.
Now in its ninth edition, WAIC has grown into one of the world’s most influential AI summits. This year’s conference, themed “Smart Partners, Co-creating the Future,” will span three venues across Shanghai — the Expo Center, Expo Exhibition Hall, Zhangjiang Science Hall, and the West Bund in Xuhui District — with total exhibition space exceeding 100,000 square meters for the first time, according to CCTV News.
Record-Breaking Scale and Global Participation
More than 1,100 enterprises will participate in WAIC 2026, showcasing over 3,000 AI products, with more than 300 making their global debut. The conference will host over 140 forums featuring 1,400-plus Chinese and international experts, with 12 national ministries and eight national key laboratories involved.
Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Jie described the conference as “an important window for showcasing cutting-edge AI technologies from China and the world, deepening international open cooperation,” noting that it has become “one of the most influential top-tier events in the global AI field,” as reported by the Shanghai Municipal Government.
For the first time, the conference will feature a dedicated academic track called WAIC Academic, led by Turing Award winners and international academicians, serving as a platform for high-level scholarly exchange.
China’s AI Industry at a Tipping Point
The conference arrives as China’s AI industry hits remarkable milestones. According to data released at the July 7 press conference, China’s core AI industry exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan in 2025 and is projected to grow over 30% in 2026. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has established more than 30 national AI pilot bases and encouraged state-owned enterprises to open over 1,000 application scenarios, with general AI penetration in key industries surpassing 80%.
NDRC official Wang Ruomeng said the agency will release two outcomes at the conference: a success case collection covering over 20 countries in agriculture, industry, energy and research, and an action plan for AI cooperation and development covering eight areas including intelligent computing, open ecosystem, AI empowerment and security governance, as CGTN reported.
China shipped over 100 million AI-powered smart devices in 2025, and sales of AI devices are expected to surpass non-AI models for the first time in 2026. Native AI office agents now log over 20 million monthly visits, with daily token consumption reaching hundreds of trillions.
Humanoid Robots and Embodied Intelligence Take Center Stage
A major focus of WAIC 2026 will be embodied intelligence. Gan Xiaobin, an official from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), confirmed at the press conference that China’s humanoid robot output is expected to exceed 100,000 units this year, with humanoid robots increasingly deployed in factories and workshops. The adoption rate of AI among China’s large-scale industrial enterprises has surpassed 30%, according to CGTN.
The intelligent computing and embodied intelligence tracks will each gather more than 200 enterprises. Multiple innovative AI products are expected to debut at the conference, including the Huawei Atlas 950 physical unit, the MiniMax M3 multimodal large model, near-memory computing 3D chips, and the world’s first AI Agent smartphone, as detailed by the Shanghai Municipal Government press conference.
Shanghai’s Rise as a Global AI Hub
Shanghai has positioned itself as China’s premier AI innovation hub. The city’s AI industry reached 637 billion yuan in 2025, growing 39.5% year-on-year, with 394 above-scale AI enterprises. Shanghai now boasts over 160,000 P of computing power and an AI talent pool of nearly 300,000 people — approximately one-third of China’s total.
The city has established “one east, one west” AI industry clusters in Zhangjiang and Beiyang AI innovation towns, and 169 large models have passed official registration. Shanghai’s open-source community has attracted over 10 million global developers and hosts more than 150,000 models.
AI Governance Takes Center Stage
This year’s conference includes a “High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance” as a formal component, reflecting China’s growing emphasis on international AI cooperation. The conference builds on the Shanghai Declaration on Global AI Governance and the Global AI Governance Action Plan previously issued. China is also pushing for the establishment of a World AI Cooperation Organization.
Sun Xiaobo, AI affairs coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, disclosed that dozens of countries and international organizations are expected to send high-level representatives to the conference, where participants will engage in discussions on cutting-edge AI development and governance frameworks.
What to Watch For
WAIC 2026 represents a pivotal moment for China’s AI ambitions. The record-breaking scale signals China’s determination to position itself as a global AI leader amid ongoing US-China technology tensions. Key themes to watch include the deepening integration of AI into manufacturing, the open-source AI ecosystem’s global impact, and the outcomes of the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance.
As China enters its 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), the NDRC has stated that the country will accelerate independent innovation in models, computing power, and data, while also studying AI’s impact on employment and promoting its use in dangerous and labor-intensive tasks. The conference has already facilitated 57 major application scenarios with 16.2 billion yuan in intended cooperation agreements.
With over 300 global product debuts and thousands of AI innovations on display, WAIC 2026 is set to offer a comprehensive view of where artificial intelligence is headed — and China’s central role in shaping that future.