Huawei Hosts the Fifth Digital Economy Development Forum

From Vision to Action: Unlocking a New Paradigm for the Intelligent Economy

• Huawei hosted the Fifth Digital Economy Development Forum, bringing together global digital strategy makers, industry experts, and representatives from academia, industry, and research domains to discuss the development of the digital economy in the AI era. 
• At the forum, Huawei shared detailed insights into AI technologies and trends related to the "Intelligent World 2035", in the hope of guiding more countries to proactively invest into digital and intelligent infrastructure and grow the ICT infrastructure market.

SHANGHAI - Huawei held the Fifth Digital Economy Development Forum in Shanghai during HUAWEI CONNECT 2026, bringing together global digital strategy makers, industry experts, and representatives from academia, industry, and research domains to discuss new AI technology trends, think tank reports, and digitalization success stories from a number of countries, according to the official website of Huawei. 

The world is witnessing a profound transformation happening in AI technologies, with models rapidly approaching 10 trillion parameters. For the first time, AI agents are generating more web traffic than humans, and physical AI is already being harnessed in industrial use cases. Global investment into digital and intelligent infrastructure is expected to grow by 19% annually over the next five years, and AI is projected to contribute more than US$27 trillion to the global economy.

Many governments and industry players are concerned about the challenges and opportunities these changes are bringing, and are making plans to help their local digital economies thrive. Yang Chaobin, Huawei's Executive Director of the Board and CEO of the ICT Business Group, opened today's forum saying, "We need to use AI breakthroughs and focus on tailored industry policies, forward-looking infrastructure, and an AI talent ecosystem to drive social and economic growth."

Other speakers at the event included Wang Yuntao, Deputy Chief Engineer of the AI Institute at China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), and Otthein Herzog, member of the National German Academy of Science and Engineering. Both of these notable industry voices shared their own insights into the AI strategies and development plans of China and Germany, respectively.

Wang emphasized that China's AI development is focusing on more than just developing better models. China is also attempting to leverage its own vast domestic market and industrial advantages to apply AI across numerous industries, and using successful intelligent transformation pilots to fuel technological innovation. China is also using top-level design, policies, and regulations to drive sustainability within its intelligence industry.

Professor Otthein Herzog said, "Germany launched its AI strategy in 2019 as it identified AI's massive benefits to society, aiming to drive AI growth and make it trustworthy."

He noted that Germany will take a range of pragmatic steps to this end, which include strengthening interdisciplinary dialogue and research to pool collective insights; expanding computing infrastructure through four AI service centers to support innovation; and participating in international AI governance and standardization efforts to translate AI into tangible benefits and economic opportunities, and ensure that technological innovations will benefit all.

Liu Mingju, the director of Huawei's ICT Marketing Operations Department, also pointed out that the scaled commercial adoption of agentic AI requires stronger digital and intelligent infrastructure, and this is creating a powerful flywheel between connectivity and computing, which will drive hundredfold growth per decade. In terms of digital and intelligent infrastructure planning, she emphasized that more compute resources and higher compute efficiency, as well as an AI-centric communications target network, will be needed in order to make intelligence ubiquitous.

Since its inception in 2023, Huawei's Digital Economy Development Forum has served as an international platform for government and industry leaders looking to explore new development opportunities that can drive digital and intelligent economic growth. This year's event focused on using AI to drive that growth. Other guests present discussed how the digital economy is transitioning from single-point technological breakthroughs to diversification and collaboration. This highlights the need for systematic and holistic planning in AI infrastructure and talent development, as well as local policies tailored for human well-being and a thriving and sustainable digital economy.

Themed Advancing the Agentic World, HUAWEI CONNECT 2026 will delve into AI across three dimensions: strategy, technology, and ecosystems. You can expect an in-depth look at our latest strategic initiatives, and we'll also be unveiling our all-new digital and intelligent infrastructure products, scenario-specific solutions for industries, and development tools. The event will run from September 17 to 19 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center and Shanghai Expo Center.