China's Xi to set out AI diplomacy vision at key Shanghai forum

Beijing is using Shanghai’s artificial intelligence (AI) forum to promote its governance agenda and showcase domestic alternatives to U.S. technology.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to set out a broader vision for China’s role in global artificial intelligence governance at a major forum in Shanghai, where Huawei is also preparing to showcase its most advanced AI computing cluster.

Xi’s first appearance at the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference underscores Beijing’s view of AI as both a driver of economic growth and a strategic technology in its competition with the United States.

Huawei’s Atlas 950 SuperPoD large-scale AI computing system is due to make its public debut during the 17-20 July event. The system connects thousands of Huawei Ascend AI processors through high-speed links so they can operate as a single computing cluster for large-scale training and inference.

The launch is being watched as a sign of China’s effort to build alternatives to the most advanced chips made by U.S. supplier Nvidia. Reuters reported that DeepSeek’s latest V4 model has been adapted to run entirely on clusters built with Huawei Ascend chips, while Chinese media said Biren and MetaX would also release new “supernode” computing clusters.

The gathering comes as Washington and Beijing prepare for their first government-level AI talks under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, turning the Shanghai event into a test of how China will compete for influence over the rules governing the technology.

Beijing is also expected to promote Chinese open-source AI models as a lower-cost alternative to Western systems and as a tool for narrowing technology gaps with developing countries.

International participants at the forum are expected to include United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, along with several Turing Award and Nobel laureates.