At 1 p.m. on the 22nd, the opening day of the 4th China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), humanoids—human-shaped robots—were the first to catch the eye upon entering the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing's Shunyi District. While it is nothing new for humanoids to take center stage at China's major industry expos, this time the displays went beyond "dancing robots" and "boxing robots" to show how deeply advanced technologies such as AI have penetrated real industries and daily life.
In the exhibition halls, the term "embodied intelligence (Embodied AI·具身智能)" appeared frequently, rather than simply "robots (机器人)." Embodied intelligence is an AI application field in which robots interact with the physical environment to learn and evolve, and it is being cultivated by the Chinese government as a core area of the next-generation AI industry. By putting the emphasis on "intelligence" rather than "robots," it suggests the center of gravity is shifting from hardware competition to competition across AI ecosystems.
The robots on display did not stop at showing off agility and balance as before; they stressed real-life applicability. Use cases were presented across various fields, from service robots that face customers in places like cafés to industrial robots, medical robots, and companion robots. It was a scene showing AI expanding from on-screen software into physical spaces.
This shift also showed up in the exhibition hall names. Last year's expo labeled the advanced technology hall as the "digital (数字) technology chain," but this year it was called the "digital-intelligent (数智) technology chain." "Shuzhi (数智)," a portmanteau of "digital (数字)" and "intelligent (智能)," was presented as a key keyword in the recently released 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030), covering not only "digitalization," which collects and links data, but also the stage in which AI analyzes it.
◇ 1,200 participants from 85 countries and regions… the star is "AI"
As with last year, AI and robots were the biggest themes. For the first time this year, an "artificial intelligence (AI) zone" clustered with booths from global semiconductor companies such as Nvidia and Intel was set up in the halls, and major AI ecosystem companies including Apple, Qualcomm, Micron, and Alibaba greeted visitors. SK hynix also opened its own booth and displayed semiconductor-related products from partners.
According to the organizers, a total of 676 corporations and institutions from 85 countries and regions and international organizations participated in the expo. Including partners, more than 1,200 corporations and institutions took part. The organizers said, "More than 65% of participating corporations are Fortune 500 companies or industry leaders, and overseas participation stands at 36.5%."
◇ Despite mutual U.S.-China sanctions… industry puts AI cooperation cases front and center
What stood out on site was collaboration between U.S. and Chinese big tech. At Intel's booth, an electric vehicle model jointly developed by Changan Automobile and U.S. semiconductor company Intel was on display. The technology applied to the vehicle is an "AI box," which upgrades vehicle performance by connecting an AI computing box to the vehicle much like attaching an external hard drive to a PC.
In conventional cars, computing chips are installed inside the vehicle, so boosting AI performance required replacing them entirely. Changan Automobile and Intel mounted a separate AI computing box onto the body so AI performance can be upgraded continuously without disassembling the vehicle.
U.S. telecommunications and semiconductor company Qualcomm also unveiled a sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication system it demonstrated with ZTE, a Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone maker. Qualcomm's 6G device and ZTE's base station equipment achieved real communication, recording a download speed of 13.7 Gbps. Compared with typical 5G download speeds of under 1 Gbps, that is considerable. However, this was a measured speed in a test environment.
At Nvidia's booth, cooperation with Chinese AI corporations was also highlighted. Not only humanoid makers such as Yinhe Tongyong (银河通用), but also Tencent Cloud (腾讯), Baidu (百度), and Xiaohongshu (小红书) are developing Generative AI, Autonomous Driving, and robot-related services on Nvidia's ecosystem.
This showed that even after the U.S.-China summit, as the two countries continue their competition for technological supremacy and supply chain sanctions, the AI supply chain is operating in an environment where U.S. core technologies interlock with China's application ecosystems. In particular, Chinese corporations prominently showcased cases of commercializing diverse AI services based on U.S. semiconductor and software platforms, underscoring China's presence and influence within the AI supply chain.
Ding Xuexiang, China State Council vice premier, said at the opening ceremony that "the competitiveness of Chinese industry is the result of the combined effects of an industrial system built through reform and opening-up, an ultra-large market, and the continued innovation of a vast talent pool," adding, "As a responsible major country, China firmly supports the stability of global industrial and supply chains through concrete actions."