World Artificial Intelligence Conference

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) is China's premier global AI showcase, held annually in Shanghai. Per 云启资本, the 2024 edition was co-hosted by multiple national ministries, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Shanghai municipal government, with exhibition space exceeding 52,000 square meters . The conference has grown into what 高榕创投 called "the largest-scale AI event in history" by 2026, with that year's edition spanning three locations across the city—Xuhui, Zhangjiang, and Expo—and drawing 1,100 companies and over 300 physical robots .

WAIC's evolution tracks the maturation of China's AI industry itself. Where earlier editions emphasized capability demonstrations, by 2025-2026 the focus had shifted to "real-world deployment" and "result delivery"—from Moonshot AI's Kimi K2 base model launch in 2025 to embodied intelligence demonstrations of precision assembly and long-horizon dexterous manipulation the following year . The 2025 conference also saw 32 projects signed with total investment of 45 billion RMB, per 源码资本 .

The event functions as both a policy platform and a commercial stage, with venture capital firms treating it as a key venue for portfolio companies to debut products and signal technical progress to the market .