WAIC 2026: AI Moves from Labs to Real Business, New Agents and Robots
Alibaba/Qwen
Qualcomm
At WAIC 2026, held in Shanghai from July 17 to 20, the focus shifted from technology demonstrations to real business value of AI. Companies presented vertical AI agents (for example, Domi for recruiting), industrial robots, and solutions for finance, logistics, and drones. It was noted that AI is transforming from a tool into an 'intelligent partner' embedded in business processes.
At the WAIC 2026 conference in Shanghai, 36Kr conducted live streams and interviews, capturing key trends. HeWa launched Domi, a recruitment agent based on its own HWE LLM, which automates 80% of routine work, along with an agent collaboration platform, A2A. In robotics, Qiongche Intelligence stood out with its "robot as a service" approach (pharmacies, hotels), and Huayan Robot with a modular nervous system and a seven-axis arm. In finance, Yixin Group introduced an AI agent for auto lending, reducing the process from 90 minutes to ten. Om AI showcased VLX (multimodal stream) for autonomous drones. PPIO announced an intelligent model gateway, and Qingwei Intelligence a 4K supernode REX81 with 5000+ PFLOPS. Alibaba Cloud demonstrated a full stack from chips to applications. Other companies include Soul (AI companion), Qualcomm (chips), Kaiwang Data (data for robots), Fananshuzhi (GPU scheduler), Xingyi (wearables), Tashan Technology, Lingdi Technologies, Jieka, Xihu, Gongji, Dipu, Wukeqi, and Flycloud (AI marketing). Overall conclusion: AI is moving from demonstrating capabilities to proving value in real business processes, while computing power and data are becoming more specialized.
Source: 36Kr —
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