ChinaJoy to Highlight Nation's Gaming-AI Integration and Rapid Global Growth

The China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference, or ChinaJoy 2026, opens in Shanghai tomorrow (Friday). China has seen surging overseas market growth and deep technological integration across the gaming, artificial intelligence (AI) and hardware sectors, industry officials told ChinaJoy forums on Thursday.

The four-day event, Asia's largest digital entertainment expo, runs through August 3 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre and spans over 140,000 square meters. This year's exhibition features 902 participating companies, including 267 foreign-funded enterprises from 39 countries and regions–such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and South Korea–underscoring the event's growing international footprint.

More than 1,000 games from 500 publishers and developers will be on display, with industry giants like Tencent, NetEase, Blizzard Entertainment, Century Huatong, Giant Network, Qualcomm and PlayStation taking center stage.

Surging H1 market revenues

The digital expo follows strong first-half financial figures for China's gaming market, announced by government officials at Thursday's ChinaJoy forum.

In the first six months of 2026, domestic gaming sales revenue rose 12.17 percent year over year to 188.45 billion yuan (US$26 billion). Growth was primarily propelled by a resilient mobile user base and the rapid expansion of cross-platform play. China's domestic player base expanded to 684 million, up 0.82 percent on year.

Self-developed Chinese titles achieved unprecedented international success, generating US$12.37 billion in overseas sales–a 30.22 percent annual surge. The US, Japan and South Korea remained the top destination markets for Chinese mobile game exports.

At the municipal level, Shanghai recorded 95.3 billion yuan in online gaming sales revenue in H1, a 14.4 percent year-on-year gain, reinforcing the city's goal to become a leading global eSports capital.

AI and hardware supply chain take center stage

Beyond traditional software entertainment, the expo will emphasize how gaming drives broader technological supply chains, from semiconductors to consumer devices and cultural tourism.

Speaking at the opening forum, Hou Mingjuan, Global Vice President of Qualcomm, noted that AI adoption in game development has reached 86.4 percent, re-engineering content creation, real-time in-game interactions and graphics rendering. At the expo, Qualcomm is partnering with major Chinese smartphone makers, including Xiaomi and OnePlus, to demonstrate next-generation eSports experiences powered by advanced AI chips.

Highlighting the hardware supply chain, memory chip maker Yangtze Memory (YMTC) will showcase its latest semiconductor technologies. Following the major initial public offering (IPO) of rival memory producer CXMT, YMTC is preparing to go public later this year, illustrating how the gaming boom fuels underlying high-tech manufacturing.

Interactive tech and cross-sector expansion

A key feature of the 2026 showcase is the "Vision Future" frontier technology zone, featuring intelligent robotics, large AI models, and next-generation wearable hardware. Meanwhile, online short dramas will also be a spotlight of the event.

Industry leaders expect gaming to spur broader offline economic activity. Speaking at a separate ChinaJoy forum, Huang Weibing, founder of ISTV, predicted that China could host up to 10,000 gaming and animation events annually nationwide, driving growth in hardware sales and local cultural tourism. ISTV is partnering with brands such as Sony and SanDisk to demonstrate cutting-edge capture and storage equipment throughout the event.