WAIC 2026 Concludes in Shanghai with 351 Product Debuts and New Academic Track
The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2026) concluded in Shanghai, featuring 351 global product debuts and generating over 20 billion RMB in intended purchases. The event also introduced a new academic track, "WAIC Academic," led by Turing Award winners and academicians. The conference highlights China's rapid commercialization and scaling of AI technologies, particularly in domestic hardware infrastructure, embodied AI, and agentic devices. It bridges the gap between academic research, industrial application, and investment within the global AI ecosystem. Among the top exhibits were Sugon 8000, China's first fully domestic 100,000-card AI supercluster, and STEPX Neo, a smartphone powered by a native agentic operating system. Other notable innovations included Ant Group's LingBot-VLA embodied AI model applied in a robotic pharmacy and various domain-specific AI agents.
## BACKGROUND
The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) is a major annual event in China showcasing AI advancements. Recently, the industry has shifted from software-only models toward hardware-software integration, as seen in the development of massive domestic GPU clusters to counter hardware restrictions and the rise of AI agents embedded directly into consumer hardware like smartphones and robotics.