World AI Conference In Shanghai On July 17-20 To Witness The High Tech Battle Between U.S. And China

China is hosting the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai on July 17 to 20 the deliberations of which are expected to decide the course of AI development globally as also the scope of AI governance as also collaboration for assisting AI growth in the developing countries. The four day session will be having big participation from most of the countries including India which is a major player in the development and application of AI among the developing countries.

Interestingly, this global meet is taking place in Shanghai, the same city which held the International Conference on Computers in 2000 just after the dotcom bust. This writer attended that conference 26 six years ago and saw in his own eyes how the gathered IT experts from major countries including the USA, China and India were panicky at the dotcom bubble and looked desperately for a new model that could sustain the IT industry and improve its business.

Hard work by the techies led to new discoveries and right now, the IT industry has undergone four transitions in the last 26 years after the Shanghai conference to reach the present level in 2026 when AI is at the top of the new transition agenda and there is a mad rush for investing in AI related infra and development programmes in billions without any guarantee that commensurate returns will be available to the high tech companies investors.

The USA, as usual is the leader followed now by China. India is also in the race, though in terms of investments and output, India lag far behind. The experts both in USA and the international bodies have taken note of two contrasting strategies of AI development in USA and China. While the US companies as also many government aided bodies have invested enormous amount in AI development, the future projections do not give a rosy picture about the likely returns. The US experts themselves express the opinion that is the present stage of AI going to face the fate of dotcom bust that took place during 2,000?

The apprehensions are based on the analysis that many of the US high tech companies which have invested enormous amounts in AI, are now overvalued in the market and any major decline in projections, will hit the Nasdaq just like what happened in 2000. The optimists argue that the present high tech companies have the resilience to deal with such developments and the situation will not be allowed to reach the 2000 collapse level. But still, the doubts persist as some of the US majors have put all stakes in AI application for their future.

As against this, the Chinese model of AI development in the recent past tells of a different story. China has developed the AI open source models with much less investment and indigenous technology. Chinese open source AI models are popular in the developing countries. Chinese open source models represented by DeepSeek and Qwen have greatly reduced the barrier to and cost of using AI, effectively helping all parties, especially developing countries to benefit equally from the wave of intelligence.

A Chinese spokesman of WAIC said “We are willing to use this conference as an opportunity to work with all parties to jointly discuss technological innovation, jointly promote achievements, enable development, build an inclusive ecosystem, and advance AI for the benefit of all, injecting new momentum into global AI development,”

Under the theme “AI Partnership for a Brighter Future,” the 2026 WAIC aims to highlight AI’s transformative potential as a collaborative force while addressing shared challenges and opportunities through international cooperation, cutting-edge research and public engagement, according to a Chinese expert.

This year’s WAIC is set to achieve new milestones in scale and influence, bringing together over 1,400 prominent guests, including leading industry figures, top executives and venture capitalists. This edition marks a record-breaking gathering of professional expertise and industry influence in the event’s history, the Conference sources say.

This exhibition will boast participation by more than 1,100 companies from across the globe, collectively presenting over 3,000 advanced exhibits. Among these, more than 300 new AI solutions are set to make their global debut.

It is expected that international exchanges during the event will focus on critical topics such as global AI governance and security, underlying standards for world models and AI agents, bridging the global digital intelligence gap, fair trade within the AI industrial chain, and the development of norms for the humanoid robotics and digital asset sectors,

In fact, the U.S.-China high tech battle for supremacy reached a new peak last month after the China manufactured Supercomputer LineShine was adjudged the best among the Top 500 supercomputers made by various nations including the USA, at the International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany held on June 23.China got this top slot recognition after 2017- a gap of nine years.

The announcement by the international body has sent tremors to the U.S. high tech companies and the Pentagon. They have been mobilizing huge financial resources for manufacturing more and more technologically developed Supercomputer. US is still ahead of China in high tech war, but this latest feat of China has bridged the gap between the two super powers making Trump’s bargaining power on high tech vis a vis China more problematic. The top computer experts of USA have been assessing the arrival of Chinese LineShine and its impact on the high-tech industries.

The LineShine supercomputer has two technical features. First, LineShine was researched and developed entirely domestically and independently. Faced with years of export controls on high-end GPUs and advanced chip equipment targeting China, Chinese research teams have established a complete closed-loop process – from chip design to system integration – truly achieving self-reliance and control. That means LineShine took first place despite facing layer upon layer of restrictions.

From 2023 onwards, rich nations have been announcing massive investments in AI related projects: Europe announced over $23 billion investment in AI infrastructure, Saudi Arabia over $114 billion, and the United States between $1.14-2.28 trillion. These enormous numbers exceed the typical technology spending. Historically, such a fund allocation was used for power competition, suggesting that the major powers now see AI as not merely as a technology sector, but a fundamental part of national power, economic influence.

USA is much ahead of others including China in terms of AI investments. In 2024 alone, US companies received nearly $109.1 billion in private investment, while Chinese firms received only about $9.3 billion, a figure that includes government-backed funding alongside private capital. Another difference in the approach is that AI companies in the US receive revenue from selling the access to their AI models to businesses and individuals.

Anyone can buy ChatGPT Plus for $20 per month, while Chinese firms, such as DeepSeek, Baidu, and ByteDance’sDoubao provide access for free and this is because its consumer AI operates on a different model. For companies like Baidu and ByteDance, AI is primarily a tool to attract and retain massive user bases, with profits generated indirectly through ads, enterprise services, such as API calls from businesses, and platform integration like cloud service bundling, rather than through direct user subscriptions.

Besides the huge capital gap, there is also a massive spending gap. The US firms spent about $368.52 billion on software in 2024, while China only $61.8 billion. This is because historically, Chinese firms spend far less on software as AI cannot be easily sold as a standalone product. Instead, it has to be represented as a full-service solution for concrete business outcomes and aims to be sold to big organisations rather than individual users.

Official data show that the deployment of AI in the industrial sector in both countries varies significantly. In manufacturing, 67% of Chinese industrial firms have deployed AI in production, compared with 34% of analogous US firms. This speed of deployment by Chinese firms is linked to their revenue depending on delivering outcomes rather than access, and this is something China is very good at.

Overall, the expert opinion is that the US might lead in terms of model performance, while China might be ahead in terms of widespread adoption. It all depends on how the progress is defined – when it comes to model performance, the US might be ahead; however, if progress means broader economic adoption, China may have the edge, as its restriction-based strategies are gaining traction more quickly in certain areas.

In the Shanghai conference, the U.S. will face China during the discussions with a less stronger position as the technological gap has bee3n reduced in the recent months and China is looking more confident due to its low investment and proper returns. But broader issues like AI governance and the use of AI by the developing nations and the poorer4 countries will draw big attention as there is a big need in the developing and poor nations to use AI effectively for improving the living standards of the people. Apart from US-China big tech war, this issue of sharing AI benefits will be of immense significance to the global economy in general. (IPA Service)