“The company currently on everyone’s lips—and moving the stock prices of the world’s largest corporations—is remaining silent. "We have a policy prohibiting us from answering questions from the media," says a Moonshot AI employee. She is standing at the Beijing-based startup’s booth at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, China’s premier trade fair and conference for artificial intelligence.
After months of relative quiet in China’s AI scene—during which attention shifted to developments in the US—the Middle Kingdom is signaling its intent to shape the global future of AI with a flurry of announcements.
Surrounding the Shanghai AI conference—which President Xi Jinping opened in person for the first time on Friday—first Moonshot AI and then the Hangzhou-based giant Alibaba caused a stir with their respective models.
In comparisons on AI testing platforms like Artificial Analysis and Arena-AI, Moonshot’s "Kimi K3" model performs almost on par with the top models from Anthropic and OpenAI.
In certain areas, such as web development, Arena-AI even ranks the Chinese model ahead of its US competitors.
Demand was so high that Moonshot temporarily stopped accepting new subscribers due to capacity constraints.
Alibaba’s "Qwen 3.8 Max" model also met with a positive initial reception, though it has not yet undergone the same level of rigorous testing.
Alibaba’s stock price rose by more than five percent at one point on Monday, closing nearly four percent higher.
Moonshot AI is not yet publicly traded, but according to consistent reports from news agencies Bloomberg and Reuters, it plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming months. The company is currently valued at around $30 billion.
The new models underscore the dynamic nature of the Chinese AI sector. In the first half of the year, the Beijing-based company Zhipu AI was a market darling, with its share price at one point having risen more than twentyfold since its initial public offering in early January. However, faced with displays of strength from domestic rivals, it has since lost two-thirds of its value—dropping nearly half since the start of the AI conference alone. Some analysts also consider a significant drop in valuations likely for OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which are also aiming for an IPO. Shares of AI chip developer Nvidia fell by around five percent at one point on Friday.
The situation in the AI industry thus mirrors that of other sectors, such as the automotive and solar industries. Active Chinese industrial policy has spawned a large number of companies that are engaged in fierce competition and are putting Western rivals under pressure.
In his opening address at the trade fair, President Xi underscored China’s ambition to shape the future of artificial intelligence. Beijing brought together 29 countries from the Global South—including most BRICS nations, though notably excluding India—under the umbrella of a new Shanghai-based body called the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. According to observers, Beijing aims to secure a market for its AI technology through this initiative. These countries also play a key role as buyers of Chinese products in the automotive sector.
For instance, a company called RJGF, which operates data centers in southern China, showcased its services at the trade fair held alongside the conference. Company representatives explained that businesses in Southeast Asia could utilize these facilities at a low cost; data would be transmitted—for example, from Malaysia to Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Autonomous Region—for processing. The most important region for thE representative at the digital giant’s booth stated that Southeast Asia is Alibaba Cloud’s primary market outside China, noting that they mainly serve Chinese corporations expanding into the region.
At the trade fair itself, however, the race to develop ever-better models was not the dominant theme.
Instead, the focus at most booths was on productive applications and AI agents—AI programs capable of acting autonomously.
In addition to health apps designed to detect tumors and assist in managing chronic diseases, Alibaba showcased glasses that display live translations and recording devices that generate improved meeting notes. Huawei highlighted its chip technology as well as solutions for the financial, energy, and mining sectors and for call centers. Tencent presented AI agents intended for integration into WeChat, its app that is ubiquitous in China.
The humanoid robots frequently seen in China—a key sector under the new five-year plan were located this year in a less central hall on the upper floor, where around 100 companies showcased humanoid robots. The verdict of some visitors interviewed by the F.A.Z. was rather sobering: there was hardly any progress compared to the previous year.” [1]
1. Chinas KI-Modelle schließen auf: Neue KI-Modelle aus der Volksrepublik halten mit Open AI und Anthropic mit. Das schüttelt die Börsen durch. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 21 July 2026: 21. Von Gustav Theile, Shanghai
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