From November 5 to 10, the ninth China International Import Expo (hereinafter referred to as "CIIE") was held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), known as the "Four-Leaf Clover." The event saw participation from 162 countries, regions, and international organizations, with 4,142 overseas exhibitors. The exhibition area for corporate exhibits exceeded 370,000 square meters for the first time, showcasing over 480 representative new products, technologies, and services.
This year, the word heard most frequently during our exploration of the expo was "implementation": from frontier technologies incubated in labs achieving productization; to artificial intelligence closely integrating with vertical sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and power; to the CIIE acting as a resource platform linking technology, scenarios, capital, and market elements—finding investment for new tech products, expanding channels for mature products, and building ecosystems for industrial development. At the CIIE, "implementation" means that new technologies can be productized, new products can reach the market, and resource elements can flow effectively.
Frontier Technologies Find Their Landing Points
As a frontier technology, quantum technology remains in the early stages of industrialization. Quantum communication, which has progressed faster in industrialization among quantum technologies, has taken the lead in pilot applications in high-security demand fields such as finance, government affairs, and electricity. At this year's CIIE, reporters noted that quantum communication is entering the mass consumer market.
In the Technology Equipment Zone of Hall No. 3 at the CIIE, a headphone integrated with quantum technology was displayed on an exhibition stand of about one square meter. This is a secure Bluetooth headphone brought by Shanghai Weijiu Quantum Technology Co., Ltd. Song Chao, a systems engineer at the company, told reporters: "Security and encryption are the biggest highlights of this product." Currently, many users face privacy leakage concerns when using mobile communication devices such as smartphones. This headphone adopts hybrid encryption technology combining QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) and PQC (Post-Quantum Cryptography): text and files are encrypted between the headphone and the phone using PQC anti-quantum algorithms, while the server side performs QKD quantum encryption before transmitting to the other party's phone. Through this encrypted pathway, third-party cracking of user information can be effectively prevented. The product has currently been launched for sale.
Can fall detection rely solely on Wi-Fi signals?
At this year's CIIE, Sony (China) Co., Ltd. globally unveiled a privacy-friendly wireless fall detection system for home elderly care. By utilizing Channel State Information (CSI) from Wi-Fi signals disturbed by human activity, combined with deep learning algorithms, it can determine the activity status of family members. Currently, there are three main solutions in the field of home elderly care monitoring: camera vision, wearable devices, and millimeter-wave radar.
Li Haojin, Deputy Director of R&D Engineers at Sony China Research Institute, stated in an interview with China Electronics News that compared to these three existing solutions, this new solution does not collect human images or videos, eliminating privacy risks; it requires no wearable devices, avoiding monitoring gaps caused by forgetting to wear or charge devices; and it is lower cost compared to millimeter-wave radar solutions. Currently, this solution is undergoing pilots in Shanghai, engaging with elderly care institutions and community service providers for application.
The first 6G standard version, Release 21, is expected to be completed by 2029. This is the most critical milestone in telecommunications R&D work.
As a representative enterprise in the terminal chip sector of the communications industry, Qualcomm exhibited a 6G terminal prototype, marking its first public appearance. Li Yonggang, Technical Marketing Director at Qualcomm, stated in an interview with China Electronics News that chip design and tape-out require high costs. Before the 6G standard is finalized, this prototype undertakes the task of technical verification with various partners. "Currently, the entire test component set is housed in a cabinet weighing nearly 500 kilograms; however, after all tests and verifications are completed, future commercial chip products may be smaller than a fingernail," Li explained.
Significant Results in "AI+" Industries
What effects can be achieved by combining AI with application scenarios? At this year's CIIE, numerous enterprises provided the most direct responses through concrete actions.
Manufacturing is the field where "AI+" implementation results are most significant.
Siemens showcased digitalization and low-carbon transformation cases from over 40 enterprises, including 11 industrial AI application implementations, and plans to sign cooperation agreements with more than 20 Chinese companies. Its Data Center Solution 5.0+ addresses the synergy needs of computing power and energy in the AI era, pushing "computing-power coordination" from top-level design to implementation.
Hexagon's HEX.AI directly addresses real demands in industrial AI implementation: First, manufacturing clients are no longer satisfied with isolated single-point quality data and urgently need to connect quality data chains throughout the process from design and processing to inspection; Second, emerging industries such as embodied AI, semiconductors, and NEVs iterate extremely fast, making traditional manual modes difficult to match industrial iteration efficiency; Third, factory clients wish to move away from fragmented tools and require a complete, unified system to support cross-departmental data collaborative flow within factories.
Based on this, Hexagon's HEX.AI industrial-grade intelligent platform has upgraded from single-point precision measurement hardware and single-point AI detection solutions to a complete industrial quality intelligence foundation. The platform does not only perform image recognition but also deeply integrates with hardware such as CMMs, industrial CTs, laser trackers, and 3D scanners, fusing AI defect detection, AI automatic edge finding, AI CT defect identification, and AI automatic programming scenarios, transforming measurement perception into reliable decision-making. It is reported that the product has achieved 100% detection accuracy, a 300% increase in efficiency, and a 75% reduction in cost, driving the transition of manufacturing from digitalization to intelligence.
Healthcare is the second major landing point for "AI+."
Meituan Healthcare focused on "Protecting Family Health," centrally displaying three AI products: "Miaoshou Healthcare Edition" for healthcare partners, "Liangyi Assistant" for doctors, and "Xiaotuan Health Manager" for users. These three products respectively address the actual needs of partners, doctors, and users in health services. On the operational side, AI-assisted identification of needs and problem analysis can help improve operational decision-making efficiency. With partner authorization, commodity and operational data can connect directly to store ERPs, changing operational diagnostics from "compiling daily reports" to minute-level reviews. Daily, weekly, and monthly reports can be delivered to managers on schedule, with immediate alerts for operational anomalies. These capabilities have been applied in cooperative practices: a national chain adjusted stock preparation based on demand signals during the hot season, resulting in approximately a 150% increase in instant retail monthly sales for related items; in inventory coordination pilots, replenishment speed for key commodities increased by 70.9%, and the number of out-of-stock stores decreased by 37%.
Samsung exhibited several AI-enabled ultrasound devices, providing clearer image presentation. For example, the flagship whole-body ultrasound model R20 features rich functions such as contrast imaging, shear wave elastography, and liver fat quantification, equipped with a built-in AI intelligent automation engine. It maximally simplifies operation processes, optimizes clinical workflows, improves diagnostic efficiency, and helps sonographers release energy from complex operations to focus more on patients and clinical diagnosis.
Power and Energy is the third landing point.
ABB exhibited a microgrid intelligent agent solution, which uses multi-agent AI collaboration as its core technology to achieve coordinated control of generation, grid, load, and storage, as well as power system failure prediction, providing a standardized and replicable path for low-carbon transformation of parks. Kang Liang, General Manager of ABB (China) Co., Ltd., introduced that this solution has been implemented at the ABB Xiamen Industrial Center, achieving a local green electricity consumption rate of nearly 90%, annual carbon reduction of 13,400 tons, and a 23% optimization in energy costs. Addressing dilemmas such as fragmented software deployment, siloed data resources, and superficial AI applications, Schneider Electric launched an integrated software solution centered on the EcoStruxure Energy Operation (EEO) comprehensive operation system, following a "Platform + Data + AI" model, upgrading energy management from "passive response" to "active optimization."
Multi-Dimensional "Chain Linking" for Implementation
At the CIIE, exhibiting enterprises from 148 countries and regions are doing the same thing: connecting their technologies and products to Chinese scenarios and signing cooperation deals with local customers, partners, and supply chains. The CIIE gathers enterprises along the industrial chain, providing opportunities for industrial implementation.
The innovation chain and capital chain are the foundations of "chain linking." The Innovation Incubation Zone gathered 633 sci-tech innovation projects from nearly 40 countries and regions and over 20 international organizing agencies. Here, it is no longer just simple exhibit display, but focuses on precisely matching capital with sci-tech projects, upgrading the zone from a "results display stage" to a "hub linking technology, capital, and market elements." Over 100 overseas startup projects explicitly released financing and industrial cooperation demands, covering angel rounds, seed rounds, Pre-A rounds, A rounds, up to D rounds. Booths with financing intentions have unified markers, allowing investors to find them easily.
For example: VITAL IC's biological signal processing SoC seeks $3.5 million USD in Series A funding; Cerebro One's Parkinson's closed-loop DBS project seeks £900,000 GBP in Seed funding; NeuroTact electronic skin seeks CNY 20 million in Angel round funding; and Jifeng Tianlin drones seek CNY 5 million to CNY 10 million in Seed funding.
"Chain linking" also materializes in signed transactions completed on-site.
During the CIIE, GE Aerospace signed multiple sales and service cooperation agreements with China Eastern Airlines and Zhuhai MTU, with total order value exceeding $12.9 billion USD, setting a new record for signing amounts in previous exhibitions; China Electronics signed an integrated circuit and module procurement agreement with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) worth $1.128 billion USD... According to disclosures by the SASAC of the State Council, central enterprises organized over 20,000 people to attend negotiations, with intended transaction amounts for technology and equipment goods reaching $15.52 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 17.6%. The proportion of these transactions rose from8.6% in the previous session to 10.7%.
A deeper level of "chain linking" involves exhibiting enterprises forming long-term cooperative relationships with China.
WFL Millturn Technologies from Austria has cumulatively landed nearly 300 pieces of equipment in high-end manufacturing factories across China, integrating into key industrial fields such as aviation, shipbuilding, and energy; Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory has raised its local parts sourcing rate to 98%, shifting cooperation with Chinese suppliers from simple procurement to mutual growth; Zeiss Greater China Headquarters Comprehensive Park broke ground in Shanghai in February this year...
These cooperations do not stop at the six-day exhibition period. The "6 days + 365 days" year-round sales and exhibition mechanism is continuously improving. Hongqiao Pinhui has aggregated 85,000 CIIE-style products from over 120 countries and regions; 18 customs facilitation measures have compressed the clearance time for first-time imported consumer goods from a minimum of 7 days to same-day release... Samples on the booths link to a "expressway" that operates year-round.
Author | Ji Xiaoting
Editor | Zhang Xinyi
Layout Editor | Ma Liya Supervisor | Zhao Chen