World Smart Industry Expo in China offers glimpse into intelligent society

The future of artificial intelligence (AI) including intelligent connected new energy vehicles (NEVs), essentially AI-powered computers on wheels, is on display at the World Smart Industry Expo 2025, offering a glimpse into life in the next decade.

Under the theme of "Pooling together wisdom and strength," the four-day event, which opened on Friday in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, features a wide range of industry showcases, innovation releases and high-level competitions.

With over 600 leading domestic and international enterprises participating, the Expo spans 130,000 square meters of indoor space and 40,000 square meters of outdoor experience zones.

It covers five major sectors – intelligent connected NEVs, digital cities, intelligent robotics, low-altitude economy and smart homes. More than 100 new industry standards, products and technologies are set to be released, with over 3,000 innovations on display.

Alongside the main event, the expo features six professional competitions, including the 2025 RoboCup Asia-Pacific Chongqing Invitational Tournament, which will provide a competition and exchange platform for global smart industry practitioners.

During the event, a total of 298 major projects are expected to be signed, with a projected contract value exceeding 200 billion yuan (roughly $28 billion).

Last month, China issued a guideline on deepening the implementation of its "AI Plus" initiative, which aims to push the penetration rate of smart terminals and systems above 70 percent by 2027 thus entering a new stage of AI-powered intelligent economy and society by 2035.

The country currently leads the world in AI patent ownership, with over 5,000 enterprises in the sector. Its AI market is projected to surpass 700 billion yuan (roughly $98 billion) in 2025.