Xi offers AI training to developing countries at Shanghai summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping used the World AI Conference in Shanghai on Friday to cast Beijing as an artificial intelligence partner for developing economies, pledging 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities over the next five years. His remarks came as U.S. technology controls continue to reshape the sector, with Nvidia saying in its latest annual report that it was effectively shut out of China’s data center compute market by the end of fiscal 2026.

Xi said China would widen cooperation on AI with regional and multilateral groups including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union and BRICS, according to a Google translation of his Mandarin-language speech published by Xinhua. He framed the initiative as part of a broader effort to give developing countries greater access to AI capabilities and governance discussions.

The pledge positions AI capacity-building as a diplomatic instrument. Training programs and seminars can help governments and companies build technical skills, evaluate model deployment and design oversight regimes, while also tying participants more closely to the standards, platforms and suppliers promoted by the country providing that support.

Xi told the conference that AI development should be advanced through international cooperation rather than led by a single country, according to the translated speech. He said China was willing to work with others with a more open approach, practical action and a longer-term view.

Governance and security

Xi also called for stronger awareness of AI risks and said the technology should remain secure, controllable and under human oversight, according to Xinhua’s account of the speech. He urged a people-centered approach to governance and warned against expanding national security concepts in AI in ways that place one country’s security above that of others.

He did not identify any country in that criticism. The United States has used export controls to limit China’s access to advanced technologies, including high-end computing chips and semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, citing national security concerns.

The U.S. placed Huawei on the Commerce Department’s Entity List in 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term. The Biden administration followed in 2022 with additional controls designed to restrict China’s ability to buy advanced computing chips and make advanced semiconductors, according to U.S. government announcements.

Export controls work by requiring licenses for specified products, software, technology or transactions. In practice, they can limit what chipmakers and equipment suppliers may sell into a market, and can force companies to redesign products to meet regulatory thresholds or withdraw from certain sales altogether.

Shanghai organization and chip competition

Xi’s speech followed an agreement signed by 29 countries in Shanghai to create the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, according to Xinhua. The group, known as WAICO, will be based in Shanghai, the state media outlet reported.

The event also highlighted China’s effort to develop domestic computing infrastructure. Huawei presented its Atlas 950 SuperPoD supernode at the conference, according to the company, saying the system is designed to connect multiple chips to increase computing power for large-scale data center construction and training of large AI models.

Nvidia said in its annual report that it could not create and ship a competitive product for China’s data center market that satisfied both Beijing and Washington. The company said its exclusion from that market helped rivals build larger developer and customer ecosystems that could challenge it globally.

The Shanghai conference therefore brought together two strands of the AI contest: China’s diplomatic campaign to broaden participation in AI development, and the commercial effects of technology restrictions on the hardware needed to train and run advanced models.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC Markets.