WAIC closes with record attendance, major AI announcements

The World AI Conference & High-level Meeting on Global AI Governance (WAIC) 2025 concluded in Shanghai on July 28, marking a new chapter in its history since 2018 with record visitor traffic and an unprecedented number of new product debuts.

The event delivered impressive statistics and promising announcements, encompassing significant investment plans, cooperative projects and city-level organizational and development strategies for artificial intelligence.

Despite hot and rainy weather, the conference and exhibition had an estimated over 350,000 visits. The exhibition, which remains open until July 29, features over 800 exhibitors showcasing 3,000 products across more than 70,000 square meters of space. Over 100 of these products were making their global debut at WAIC 2025.

The event also facilitated substantial business, with 156 procurement groups visiting and reaching an intended purchase amount of 16.2 billion yuan.

The closing ceremony witnessed the signing of several dozen city-level AI projects covering AI models, robots and data corpus. Significant initiatives announced included the debut of China Mobile's AI+ New Industrialization Innovation Institute, China Telecom's smart cloud Shanghai project, and the launch of the Shanghai AI CVC Fund.

Shanghai also unveiled a comprehensive blueprint with various measures to further expand the application of AI throughout the city. Confirming its commitment to the global AI landscape, the city announced it would continue hosting WAIC in 2026.