Shanghai Hosts World AI Conference with Five Major Highlights

Shanghai is set to host the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance from July 17 to 20, marking the ninth edition of China’s premier AI event. With a record-breaking exhibition area exceeding 100,000 square meters, over 1,100 exhibitors, and more than 300 global product premieres, this year’s conference underscores China’s ambition to shape both the technological and governance dimensions of artificial intelligence on the world stage.

Organized by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Shanghai Municipal Government, the conference is themed “Intelligent Partners, Creating the Future Together.” It will span three districts — World Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund — across four venues, hosting over 140 forums and attracting more than 1,400 domestic and international guests, according to The Paper.

Record Scale and Five Defining Themes

This year’s WAIC has expanded significantly from previous editions. The exhibition area has surpassed 100,000 square meters for the first time, with 1,100 enterprises showcasing over 3,000 products. Two core tracks — Intelligent Computing and Embodied Intelligence — each feature more than 200 companies. The conference has outlined five major highlights that define its agenda.

Global Intellectual Convergence: The conference has confirmed the participation of nine Turing Award and Nobel Prize winners. Reinforcement learning pioneer Richard Sutton will deliver a keynote address, while Yoshua Bengio — one of the “Deep Learning Three Giants” — is scheduled to present the UN’s AI governance framework. The inaugural WAIC Academic international conference, chaired by Turing Award winner Andrew Yao, will serve as a high-level academic platform. Kevin Kelly, the co-founder of Wired magazine often called the “Godfather of Silicon Valley Spirit,” will also attend as a special guest.

Cutting-Edge Hardware Premieres: Among the most anticipated unveilings is the Huawei Ascend 950 SuperNode (Atlas 950 SuperPoD), making its physical world debut as the industry’s largest-scale supernode. Shanghai Eastern Computing Technology will showcase the DF1000, the world’s first software-defined near-memory computing 3D chip. Other premieres include the MiniMax M3 multimodal large model, the Step-2 Agent operating system, the world’s first AI agent smartphone, and multiple humanoid robots with AI dexterous hands.

Immersive Public Experience: Unlike previous editions that focused heavily on technical exhibitions, this year’s WAIC emphasizes public engagement. Visitors can witness humanoid robots working in factory settings — assembling car batteries, motors, and electronic controls. The WAIC City Walk 2026, running from July 15 to 20, connects 24 AI-themed locations across six districts through six themed routes, including an AI Innovation Model Ecology Line and an AI Entertainment Line, as People’s Daily reported.

Youth Engagement: The conference has placed a strong emphasis on young scientists and entrepreneurs. Over 100 top young researchers and startup pioneers will participate. A dedicated “WAIC Future Tech” venture capital ecosystem brings together more than 80 investment institutions, including Sequoia, Hillhouse, and ZhenFund. Shanghai has introduced a “use now, pay later” computing power policy for young makers, along with a “Three 1 Million” support package covering computing power, tokens, and training data. The AI4S program offers a 500 million yuan special fund for 100 research teams.

Global AI Governance: The conference doubles as a High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, signaling China’s intent to position WAIC as a peer to the UK and South Korea AI Safety Summits and the OECD’s AI Policy Observatory. Foreign Ministry AI Coordinator Sun Xiaobo expressed three expectations at a July 7 press conference: promoting unity and multilateralism in AI, advancing practical cooperation, and implementing the AI Global Governance Action Plan proposed at WAIC 2025, as reported by CGTN.

Geopolitical Context and Shanghai’s AI Ambitions

The conference unfolds against a backdrop of heightened US-China tensions over AI technology. US export controls restrict Chinese access to advanced chips like NVIDIA’s H100 and B200, creating what Chinese officials describe as a “two-tier world” in AI development. China has positioned itself as a champion of open international collaboration, with state media framing WAIC as “a key platform for international AI co-op amid growing protectionism,” as EastFrontier noted in its analysis.

Shanghai has emerged as China’s undisputed AI capital. In 2025, the city’s 394 regulated AI enterprises generated a total industry scale exceeding 637 billion yuan (approximately $87.5 billion), representing a year-on-year growth of 39.5%. The Zhangjiang tech hub, one of the conference’s main venues, houses dozens of AI companies, research institutions, and corporate R&D centers.

What to Watch

Several key questions will shape the conference’s outcomes. First, whether any concrete governance agreements or joint statements emerge from the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance. Second, how the Huawei Ascend 950 SuperNode debut signals progress in China’s semiconductor independence efforts. Third, the effectiveness of the youth entrepreneurship track in attracting global AI talent to China. The governance debate itself will center on three axes: AI safety standards (binding versus voluntary), access and equity (the impact of US export controls), and governance architecture (UN-centered versus coalition-based approaches).

As the global AI community converges on Shanghai this week, WAIC 2026 represents both a showcase of China’s technological ambitions and a critical test of whether meaningful international cooperation on AI governance is possible amid deepening geopolitical divisions.