Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2026) set new records for scale and scope, marking a clear inflection point: artificial intelligence is moving en masse out of laboratories and into production and real-world service. The exhibition topped 100,000 m², with more than 1,100 companies presenting over 3,000 demonstrations, including more than 300 products unveiled for the first time globally.
WAIC 2026: an unprecedented showcase
The conference drew over 1,400 domestic and international VIPs and a steady flow of professionals, researchers and members of the public, turning the exhibition halls into a genuine testbed. Beyond sheer size, the striking element was the diversity of use cases on display: humanoid robots, intelligent agents and large-scale models are increasingly showcased as operational tools for industry, healthcare, logistics and services.
From demo to mass production
The event underscored a clear shift toward mass production and large-scale deployment. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), China reached mass production of humanoid robots, capturing 90% of global shipments in 2025, with production expected to exceed 100,000 units in 2026. Wei Liang, vice president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), credits this leap to improvements in large-model capabilities, falling costs for key components, and the accumulation of real-world scenario data.
Hardware, compute centers and new formats
Compute infrastructure, the foundation of these advances…
