President Xi Jinping attends and speaks at the opening of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China’s largest annual gathering for the AI industry. The conference comes as technology competition with the United States intensifies, with Washington continuing export controls and related restrictions that limit China’s access to advanced computing chips and constrain overseas use of top AI models. In response, Chinese authorities and companies are accelerating efforts to develop AI capabilities using domestically available resources. Media coverage highlights that WAIC is used not only to discuss progress in foundation models, but also to demonstrate broader ambitions in areas such as autonomous agents, scientific research applications, humanoid robotics, and consumer AI products. Taken together, the reporting frames the event as a platform for showcasing China’s push to move beyond simply matching US AI systems. By bringing Xi directly into the opening program, organizers signal that AI development is treated as both a key technology priority and part of a wider strategic agenda shaped by the ongoing semiconductor and model-access constraints.