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Editor | NUPIAO
Shanghai in July – the heat is on, both from the summer sun and the sizzling AI scene. The city is gearing up to host another globally anticipated tech extravaganza.
From July 17 to 20, the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance will kick off simultaneously across three venues and four halls: Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund. Co-hosted by ten ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Development and Reform Commission, along with the Shanghai Municipal Government, this international event is putting Shanghai in the AI spotlight.
NUPIAO has learned that this year’s total exhibition area has broken through 100,000 square meters for the first time, with over 1,100 enterprises participating, more than 3,000 exhibits on display, and over 300 products making their global debut. From guests to exhibits, the lineup is nothing short of impressive.
Since the first WAIC kicked off at the West Bund in Xuhui in 2018, the conference has been held in Shanghai for eight consecutive years. Over these eight years, more than 8,000 top AI experts and industry leaders have spoken, and over 3,000 leading domestic and international companies have exhibited.
Back when the first conference started, the roads and communication networks around the West Bund were still under construction. Today, the AI Tower is home to Microsoft Research Asia, Alibaba, the Shanghai Kunpeng Innovation Center, and other leading institutions. In 2018, the Zhangjiang AI Island was just an empty lot; after its launch, it quickly attracted IBM, Microsoft, and other pioneers, becoming one of Shanghai’s core AI landmarks.
Alongside WAIC’s eight-year journey, Shanghai’s AI industry has grown rapidly. Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Jie revealed that in 2025, the industry scale of Shanghai’s 394 above-scale AI enterprises exceeded 637 billion yuan, a 39.5% year-on-year increase. The AI penetration rate in key industries across the city surpassed 80%, and annual shipments of AI phones and AI PCs exceeded 100 million units. This year, AI products are expected to outnumber non-AI products for the first time. AI has become a new growth engine for Shanghai and China.
Highlight 1: Starting from Shanghai, Engaging in Global Dialogue
This year’s conference theme is “Intelligent Partners, Co-Creating the Future.” Sun Xiaobo, AI Affairs Coordinator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized that “partners” has two meanings: on one hand, AI is empowering industries and entering homes, becoming a key helper in work and life; on the other, global AI governance requires joint efforts from all countries to build global partnerships.
This event isn’t just a tech carnival; it’s a collision of the world’s top minds.
The conference has preliminarily confirmed that nine Turing Award and Nobel Prize winners will gather in Shanghai. Richard Sutton, the father of reinforcement learning, will deliver a keynote speech. Yoshua Bengio, one of the “three giants of deep learning,” will introduce the UN’s AI governance work framework. 2025 Turing Award winner Gilles Brassard and 2025 Nobel Prize winner Omar M. Yaghi will discuss new paradigms in AI for Science. Kevin Kelly, known as the “godfather of Silicon Valley,” will also attend as a special guest.
These global leaders will join over 1,400 Chinese and international guests in more than 100 in-depth forums on cutting-edge topics like world models, token economies, and AI governance.
The conference will also launch the first high-level international academic conference, “WAIC Academic,” chaired by Turing Award winner Yao Qizhi, with an academic committee led by academicians. It has collected 284 papers from multiple countries. The conference plans over 140 forums, involving 12 national ministries, 8 national key labs, and more than 10 international organizations, bringing together over 1,400 Chinese and international guests.
In terms of cutting-edge topics, the forums will focus on the latest directions like model frontier architecture, corpus data, AI infrastructure, AI for Science, embodied intelligence, and AI governance, engaging in deep exchanges on innovative theories, technical routes, practical applications, and regulatory construction.
As the host city, Shanghai is using its actions to provide practical notes for promoting AI development and forming a widely-consensus global AI governance framework.
Highlight 2: Hardcore Exhibits Take the Stage, Human-Machine Interaction Up Close
This year, WAIC breaks the single-venue model, simultaneously unfolding across “three venues and four halls” in Shanghai’s Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund. The total exhibition area exceeds 100,000 square meters for the first time, with over 1,100 enterprises participating and over 300 hardcore products making their global debut, emphasizing cutting-edge practice and experience.
If you’re a tech geek, the Zhangjiang venue is a must-visit. Positioned as the “Core of Technology,” it specializes in computing chips and underlying infrastructure. The public will see the industry’s largest super node – the real-world debut of Huawei’s Atlas 950, and Dongfang Suanxin’s global first software-defined near-memory computing 3D chip DF1000, among other hardcore “treasures of the venue.”
Citizens can experience the “Future Living Experience Center” at the Xuhui West Bund venue. This area focuses on the “Shore of Life,” bringing smart terminals into everyday life. Highlights include Honor’s global first embodied smartphone with a built-in mechanical gimbal, the Robot Phone; Rokid’s Leqi AI glasses; and XinYan’s Bubbo 1 robot with active emotional companionship. When robots start understanding your emotions, technology gains warmth.
The main venue at Expo is all-encompassing, with four halls (H1 to H4) in the Expo Exhibition Center weaving together a complete picture of the AI industry. H1 focuses on AI applications and ecosystems, H2 showcases computing infrastructure, H3 is a dedicated hall for embodied intelligence, and H4 gathers startups and venture capital ecosystems. This helps visitors deeply understand the latest AI implementations across manufacturing, healthcare, education, senior care, and more.
For example, in “AI + Manufacturing,” visitors can see how humanoid robots enter factories to assist in manufacturing car batteries, motors, and electronic controls. In the embodied intelligence field alone, over 300 real robots will be on-site simultaneously, forming the largest concentrated display in recent years. Unitree’s global first manned transforming mecha, the GD01, can freely switch between humanoid and quadruped forms. Zhiyuan Robotics showcases the Expedition A3 Ultra humanoid robot, equipped with autonomous charging and unmanned maintenance systems for 24/7 stable operation. Fourier Intelligence presents its full GR series robots, from humanoid to heavy-duty wheeled dual-arm models, covering scenarios like senior care, rehabilitation, warehousing, and light industry.
In addition, industry-leading models like MiniMax’s M3 multimodal model, Step’s Agent operating system, near-memory computing 3D chips, the world’s first AI agent smartphone, and various humanoid robots and AI dexterous hands will all be exhibited at the conference.
Zhou Jin, Vice President of Donghao Lansheng Group, said, “We’ve brought AI into exhibition halls, streets, and night venues, so everyone can try it, see it, and play with it firsthand.”
Highlight 3: The “New Wave” Rises, Youth Power Takes Shape
Meanwhile, the spotlight is also on young people. This WAIC features a significant increase in young faces. The “WAIC Future Tech” entrepreneurial ecosystem has screened nearly 180 high-quality startup projects from over 1,200 global projects. Over 70% of the teams are less than three years old, and more than 50% of founders are post-90s. The projects cover four tracks: industry applications, embodied and terminal devices, infrastructure, and cutting-edge technology.
To build an enabling platform, the conference has gathered over 80 investment institutions, including Sequoia, Hillhouse, ZhenFund, SoftBank China, and CICC, and has invited over 200 professional AI investors, setting up a dedicated capital matching zone. In 2025, similar matchmaking facilitated 268 million yuan in intended orders.
The conference also launches five ecosystem matrices: “Venture Capital, Connectivity, Knowledge, Youth Innovation, and Global Expansion,” and simultaneously launches the AI-native platform “Hi WAIC,” forming a closed-loop service covering “pre-conference, during-conference, and post-conference.” In addition to capital matching, in terms of industry empowerment, it has promoted the implementation of 57 core scenarios, cumulatively reaching 16.2 billion yuan in intended collaborations.
Shanghai is also paving the way for young entrepreneurs with policies. In terms of computing power, young makers and OPC teams can enjoy a “use first, pay later” policy, plus support of “three million” in computing power, tokens, and corpus. For office space, “Mo Space” and “Mo Community” offer plug-and-play access with up to 100% rent reduction. For young scientists, Shanghai has implemented the “100 Groups, 100 Projects” AI4S initiative, with a special fund of 500 million yuan.
“Shanghai is a city of struggle that supports young people in achieving their dreams. We warmly welcome outstanding AI entrepreneurs from around the world to choose Shanghai and put down roots here,” said Tang Wenkan, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization.
The conference’s first “OPC Independent Pioneer Challenge” has the core keywords “Original, Open, One.” Eight teams emerged from over 600 projects across eight national competition zones to stand on the final stage. These projects span gaming, sleep, education, finance, office, and healthcare. Chang Nan’s Lumoverse, built by just two or three people in three months, creates a game world with digital life, compressing what would usually require thousands of people for a 3A game pipeline into tools manageable by ordinary individuals.
When the spotlight turns to “one-person army” geek teams, in an era of affordable computing power, one person’s innovation can still change the world. These young faces will engage in dialogue with industry titans, blending experience with sharpness at the venue.
Highlight 4: City-Wide AI Roaming, from Venues to Streets
WAIC’s reach extends from exhibition halls to city streets. From July 15 to 20, the “WAIC City Walk 2026 Companion Tour” officially opens to the public, connecting 24 AI-themed locations across 6 districts in Shanghai, offering 6 themed walking routes.
Each of the 6 routes has its own focus. The “AI Innovation Mo Ecosystem Route” visits Mo Community and Mo Space – the latter being intensive office spaces for AI entrepreneurs in Shanghai, offering up to 100% rent reduction. The “Play with AI Entertainment Route” connects Shanghai Film’s Haopu virtual studio, the century-old Shikumen buildings of Zhangyuan, and the Xuhui AGI Bar, showcasing AI’s penetration into film, tourism, and social interaction.
The “Digital Industry Consumption Route” passes through the Siemens Intelligent Manufacturing Innovation Center, demonstrating AI’s practical applications in manufacturing and consumer sectors. The “Yangtze River Delta Sci-Tech Innovation Route” covers Huawei’s Qingpu Lianqiu Lake Sci-Tech Innovation Center, outlining the collaborative landscape of AI in the Yangtze River Delta. Additionally, 8 free check-in points for citizens are distributed across districts like Jing’an, Pudong, and Xuhui, with rewards of limited-edition WAIC merchandise for collecting all stamps.
This means that for ordinary citizens, there’s a new dimension added to their weekend outings: they might encounter a robot delivering coffee at Zhangyuan, stumble upon a robot retail pod while strolling along the Xuhui Riverside, or enjoy exclusive discounts at over 70 restaurants at Expo Source by presenting their WAIC ticket. AI is spreading along Shanghai’s urban road network, entering the capillaries of everyday life.
At the same time, the conference has fully upgraded its night scene ecosystem, with special activities every evening. The most anticipated is the conference’s first youth AI music variety show, “Sonic Universe,” which brings youth-created AI original works from competition to stage. Celebrity guests perform with contestants, blind school students sing “Hear the Light,” and digital host “WAVE” uses AI to connect the entire show. The blend of daytime professional discussions with nighttime social interactions gives this WAIC a new rhythm.
The “Hi WAIC” app is now fully online, integrating features like forum booking, event registration, and smart recommendations. One exhibition ticket provides access to venues across the Expo, Zhangjiang, and West Bund areas. This summer, encounter AI in Shanghai.
