WAIC 2026: China’s LLM companies shift from hype to real-world deployment

The 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC) marked a clear inflection point for China’s LLM sector: the battle for buzz has given way to a battle for deployment. LLM companies, once the undisputed centerpieces of WAIC, have ceded the spotlight to agents, computing infrastructure, and robotics firms.

The shifting exhibition lineup reveals distinct strategic signals. Zhipu skipped this year’s WAIC entirely, citing its A-share listing quiet period — making it the most notable absence among the “six LLM unicorns.” MiniMax, Moonshot AI, StepFun, Baichuan, and Lingyi all attended, but each struck a markedly different tone.

StepFun was the most eye-catching among the six. The company launched its StepX Neo smartphone just before WAIC and ran a dedicated exhibition zone on-site. Though visitors could only watch staff-operated demos, the StepX Neo area remained crowded throughout the three-day event. StepFun also released its Step Edge series of on-device models targeting smartphones and automotive scenarios.

Moonshot AI kept a deliberately low profile — a single table with a few posters and no pre-event marketing push. Staff said the company came primarily to show it was “still in the game,” letting its recently released Kimi K3 model speak for itself. The 2.8-trillion-parameter open-source model, touted as the world’s first open-source model of its scale, even drew commentary from Elon Musk.

Baichuan returned to WAIC for the first time after pivoting entirely to medical AI, showcasing Baichuan-M4’s deployment in oncology and pediatrics. Lingyi offered a novel concept — “Boss AI” — with three enterprise-facing products that proactively synthesize operational insights from group chats, emails, and other records.

On the big-tech front, Tencent positioned its Workbuddy productivity agent at the center of its booth, while Baidu demonstrated its DuMate agent capable of completing file processing, data analysis, and report writing through natural language commands. Alibaba brought hardware products including quark AI glasses, and ByteDance’s Doubao phone — built in partnership with ZTE — drew steady crowds despite ByteDance’s official absence.

The on-device AI trend has moved from demos to real products. MiniCPM’s models will ship on Samsung flagship phones and have already been deployed in production vehicles including the Changan Mazda EZ-60 and Geely Galaxy M9. As one industry insider at WAIC put it: “It’s not that complicated — products speak for themselves.”