Technology companies will showcase AI innovations in China amid US sanctions.
Chinese companies will dominate the two-day World AI Conference, but Western names like Tesla, Alphabet, and Amazon will also participate.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Large and small technology companies will gather in Shanghai this weekend to showcase their artificial intelligence innovations and support China's burgeoning AI sector, which faces sanctions from the United States.
Chinese companies, from giants like Huawei and Alibaba to ambitious startups, will dominate the two-day World AI Conference, but Western names like Tesla, Alphabet, and Amazon will also participate.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will deliver a speech at the opening of the conference, highlighting the importance of the sector for leaders of the world's second-largest economy. Beijing has made AI and self-sufficiency in other cutting-edge technologies a pillar of its national development plan, stating its aim to make China the global leader in AI by 2030.
These ambitions have put China on a collision course with the US, as the superpowers compete for technological dominance.
The Trump administration imposed restrictions on the export of advanced technology to China, including AI chips and chip manufacturing equipment, citing concerns that this could enhance Beijing's military capabilities.
Nevertheless, China continues to make advances in AI that have attracted close scrutiny from US authorities.
The Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has shaken up the global AI industry this year with a low-cost model that rivals the performance of leading US systems from companies like OpenAI -- but was developed for a fraction of the cost.
Jensen Huang, CEO of AI chip giant Nvidia, described the AI models of Chinese companies DeepSeek, Alibaba, and Tencent as "world-class" during a visit to Beijing this month.
According to the organizers, more than 800 companies will participate in this year's AI forum, showcasing over 3.000 high-tech products, 40 large-scale programming language models, 50 AI-powered devices, and 60 intelligent robots.
In addition to industry giants, the exhibition will feature humanoid robot manufacturer Unitree.
