The 8th World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC 2025) opened in grand fashion on July 26 at the Shanghai World Expo Center. Under the theme “Intelligence in Action, Progress for the Planet,” this year’s conference brought together 1,200 top experts from over 30 countries, more than 80 academicians from China and abroad, and over 800 companies. In a record-breaking exhibition space of 70,000 square meters, the event showcased over 3,000 cutting-edge technologies and more than 100 globally debuting products.
This gathering was not only a showcase of technological prowess but also a global platform for reviewing AI commercialization.
1. Embodied Intelligence: Robots Charging Out of the Lab and Into Production Lines
- Explosive growth of humanoid robots:
More than 150 humanoid robots were presented in clusters, setting a national record for largest-scale demonstration. In contrast to the mere 18 static units shown last year, this year’s robots are capable of 24/7 staffing in convenience stores, sorting auto parts, and even cleaning trash. Galbot by Galaxy General, operating in a 1:1 supermarket simulation, accurately grabs items using its end-to-end embodied large model, GroceryVLA—marking the first viable closed loop in commercial scenarios. - Breakthrough in technology:
MATRIX-1, a humanoid robot from Matrix Intelligence, made its debut with the world’s first “brain-body co-operation” operating system. Powered by the Matrix Brain system, the robot can understand fuzzy commands like “clear the dining table,” autonomously plan multi-step task sequences, and perform spatial reasoning with 98.7% accuracy—three times higher than the industry benchmark. - Acceleration of commercialization:
A report by Morgan Stanley indicates that the industry has shifted from “technological fervor” to the commercialization stage. China Mobile’s RMB 124 million (approx. USD 17.1 million / KRW 23.8 billion) procurement order and letters of intent from several automakers signify that the era of order-driven growth has officially begun.
2. True Autonomous Driving: Shanghai Hits the Fast-Forward Button on Commercialization
- Policy breakthrough:
During WAIC, Shanghai issued China’s first paid-operation licenses for intelligent connected vehicles, allowing companies to charge passengers on designated routes—formally opening the gates to commercialization. Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony.ai became the first licensed operators, enabling passengers to summon fully driverless “empty cabin” vehicles via apps. - Full-scenario road testing:
Complex environments such as the Jinqiao–Expo inter-district route, airport express line, and Disney shuttle route in Pudong were opened for L4-level system testing. Real-world tests showed timely responses to pedestrians and non-motorized vehicle disruptions. Although still conservative in merging scenarios, the safety redundancy designs are already sufficient for basic transport needs. - Dual-path commercialization:
Baidu is building scale advantages based on 1.7 billion kilometers of test data. Pony.ai, on the other hand, is partnering with BAIC New Energy to roll out mass-produced L4 vehicles, improving hardware-side cost efficiency. Both paths converge toward a trillion-yuan mobility market.
3. Domestic Computing Power: Breaking Through with Independent Infrastructure
- Super-node computing breakthrough:
Huawei showcased its Ascend 384 super-node system offline for the first time, connecting 384 NPUs via high-speed bus to achieve total computing power of 300 petaflops (300 quadrillion operations per second), breaking the limits of traditional servers. - Full-stack domestic solution:
SuanFeng Information, in partnership with companies like Muxi, launched the “Shanghai Cube” high-density computing cabinet, realizing full-chain domestic control from GPU chips and liquid-cooling systems to scheduling platforms. Its heterogeneous architecture allows collaborative CPU–TPU computing, delivering performance greater than the sum of its parts. - Optical interconnect revolution:
ZTE won the SAIL award with its OCS optical interconnect chip. By replacing traditional wires with optical fiber for data transmission, the technology boosts data center transfer speed by 40% while reducing energy consumption by 40%, saving global data centers hundreds of billions of RMB in electricity annually.
4. Large Models and AI Agents: From Demos to Real-World Value
- Deep penetration into vertical scenarios:
SenseTime unveiled its Daily New V6.5 model with 3x improvement in multimodal reasoning, enabling Fourier robots to handle high-precision tasks such as medical care and industrial inspection. Tencent’s Hunyuan launched a 3D world model that generates 360-degree scenes and exports them directly into game engines, reshaping content production workflows. - AI agents reshaping productivity:
Baidu’s Nova digital human technology under Huiboxing completes a realistic human replica in 10 minutes and achieved RMB 55 million (approx. USD 7.6 million / KRW 10.5 billion) in GMV during Luo Yonghao’s livestream. JD Cloud’s JoyAgent compressed procurement cycles from several days to just minutes during the 618 shopping festival, completing a closed-loop in supply chain decision-making. - Explosion in industrial-grade applications:
NetEase Fuxi deployed the world’s first commercial case of an engineering machinery large model, improving mining task efficiency by 200%. MogoMind by Mogo Auto created real-time, city-scale traffic modeling and has already served 200,000 autonomous bus passengers.
Conclusion:
When Galbot precisely hands you jelly in a convenience store, when a driverless taxi picks up paying passengers on the Bund, when a domestic 300 petaflops supercomputer roars into operation—WAIC 2025 sends a clear message: Artificial Intelligence has moved from a technological race to a commercialization sprint.
Shanghai is becoming the hub of this transformation. From opening 758 kilometers of autonomous driving test roads, to building the “WAIC City Walk” smart experience loop, technology, industry, and urban life are resonating deeply here.
In the next decade, embodied intelligence will replicate the growth curve of new energy vehicles. AI will reshape thousands of industries. And every beam of technological light that shines in the Expo Hall today is laying the foundation for a truly inclusive, intelligent future.
[Disclaimer]: The above content reflects analysis of publicly available information, expert insights, and BCC research. It does not constitute investment advice. BCC is not responsible for any losses resulting from reliance on the views expressed herein. Investors should exercise caution.