"Physical artificial intelligence (AI) and humanoids (human-shaped robots) are Baidu Smart Cloud"
"Huoshan Engine, your AI cloud"
"AI innovation for corporations is Huawei Cloud"
On the 3rd in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province in southern China. No sooner had I arrived at Bao'an International Airport than a massive wall-filling advertisement caught my eye. Slogans for AI cloud services from China's leading big tech (large information technology corporations) such as Baidu, ByteDance Ltd., and Huawei filled the digital billboards.
Shenzhen is called "China's Silicon Valley," where heavyweight tech corporations cluster. Because of that, there are more business travelers than regular tourists at the airport, and competition for business-to-business (B2B) services targeting them dominated the key arrival-area spaces. Instead of major attractions or consumer goods, AI had become the "face" of the airport.
Leaving the airport and heading downtown, a black drone carrying a box stood out against the blue sky. It appeared to be for parcel delivery or food delivery. It was a contrast to Beijing, where drone flights are strictly banned across the city.
Shenzhen is home to the headquarters of DJI, the world's largest drone maker, and Meituan, China's largest delivery platform, currently operates drone delivery services in major parks in Shenzhen. When a user orders food through the Meituan app, a drone lands on a dedicated machine similar to an unmanned parcel locker installed in the park and drops off the food. Scanning a QR code opens the locker door.
In the city center, cleaning robots were also seen scrubbing sidewalks. Encountering cleaning robots in indoor malls or airports is no longer unfamiliar, but even outdoor sanitation was automated. Sensors that appeared to recognize the surrounding environment were mounted on top of the robots, and the cleaning robots swept the pavement as they drove alone with Autonomous Driving. AI technology has left the exhibition halls and taken root as real urban infrastructure.
Shenzhen is regarded as a symbol of China's reform and opening up. Since being designated China's first special economic zone in 1980, Shenzhen has transformed from a small fishing village into a high-tech industrial city of 18 million people. Technology corporations representing China, including Huawei, Tencent, DJI, and BYD, grew here and made Shenzhen today the center of China's high technology.
In November, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit will be held in Shenzhen. This is the first time in 12 years that China is hosting APEC since Beijing in 2014. China set this year's APEC theme as "building an Asia-Pacific community and promoting shared prosperity."
On the 4th, about five months before APEC, the area around the Futian International Exchange Center was bustling with construction, with a pungent diesel smell in the air. The main gate entrance was blocked, and signs on the sidewalk said pedestrians should turn back. Security guards at the main gate also tried to stop photography.
The road in front of the main gate was restricted to leave only one lane open in each direction. Across the street, work was underway to remove and refurbish the existing road, and new landscaping trees were being planted along the sidewalks. More than a dozen excavators removed earth and concrete as trucks and heavy equipment vehicles moved nonstop.
In the vicinity of the venue and major downtown areas, large electronic billboards and banners reading "APEC China 2026" were easy to spot. The billboards and banners read, "A promise heading to Shenzhen makes a beautiful Asia-Pacific."
Meanwhile, this year's APEC summit is expected to be held in early to mid-November. Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with leaders and government delegations from the United States, Korea, Japan, and the other 21 member economies, as well as global corporations, are expected to attend. China plans to focus discussions on agendas including the digital economy, AI, supply chain stabilization, and the green transition.
Ma Zhaoxu, vice minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, presented openness, innovation, and cooperation as three priorities at the APEC Informal Senior Officials' Meeting (ISOM) held in Shenzhen in December last year, saying, "Shenzhen is a globally recognized innovation hub," and "China is ready to share its experience in technological innovation and development with partners and contribute to the region's innovation-driven growth."