Investors Walked 20,000 Steps in Shanghai
Investors logged over 20,000 steps at the Shanghai event as the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) witnessed unprecedented crowds, a record exhibition space exceeding 100,000 square meters, and over 300 global product debuts. The intense FOMO (fear of missing out) among AI investors was palpable, with tickets being scalped at high prices.
The conference highlighted a decisive shift from comparing technical parameters to demonstrating real-world applications and commercial deployment. The vast exhibition, spanning four venues, featured specialized zones for industry applications (H1), foundational computing power (H2), robotics (H3), and startups (H4). The robotics hall (H3) was the most popular, packed with over 200 companies showcasing embodied AI and prototypes, including humanoid robots capable of performing industrial tasks.
Investors were omnipresent and exceptionally busy, shuttling between meetings, panels, and networking events organized by leading VC firms. The startup zone hosted over 160 young companies, with many investors hoping to spot the next unicorn.
This frenzy mirrors the explosive investment in China's AI sector. In H1 2026 alone, the embodied intelligence segment raised over 90 billion yuan, a fivefold year-on-year increase. The broader AI sector attracted over 300 billion yuan in funding, accounting for half of the total venture capital invested in the period. A wave of companies have reached "unicorn" status with valuations exceeding $10 billion, and at least 20 embodied AI firms are now planning IPOs. Market leaders like Zhipu AI and DeepSeek have reached valuations in the hundreds of billions, with industry insiders predicting the imminent emergence of trillion-yuan AI giants in China. Investors are actively scouting the conference to map out and fund the next decade of technological evolution.
marsbit07/19 07:27
