From 17 to 20 July, the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) was held across four venues at the Shanghai Expo site, Zhangjiang and the West Bund. More than 1,100 companies showed over 3,000 exhibits and launched more than 300 new AI products, with over 1,400 Chinese and international experts and more than 300,000 visitors, even the RMB 110 public tickets sold out early. The packed event made it clear that AI has moved from hype into industrial deployment.
AI and new energy: mutual dependence
Under the theme "Intelligent Partners, Creating the Future Together", the conference focused on large models, intelligent computing centres and industrial AI and showcased commercial paths such as AI + manufacturing, AI + energy storage and AI + new energy. The newly founded World AI Cooperation Organization includes 29 founding members such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Malaysia, Oman, South Africa, Brazil, Serbia, Belarus, Cuba and Venezuela, resource-rich and emerging manufacturing economies across Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America that are building computing clusters alongside local new energy and storage supply chains, creating clear growth opportunities for Chinese equipment exports.
Many people see only the AI boom and overlook its physical limits: algorithms depend on computing power, and computing power consumes electricity. A large computing centre runs around the clock and uses as much power as a small city. Conventional thermal power is costly and constrained by carbon limits, so green power from solar and wind is the inevitable choice, but its intermittency requires energy storage for peak shaving and uninterrupted supply. The chain is clear: AI boom → computing surge → soaring power demand → more green power → storage as standard. How far AI can go is ultimately capped by power infrastructure and storage.
New energy is the energy foundation of AI: without green power and storage, large-scale computing is a castle in the air. AI in turn reshapes the whole new energy chain, from plant dispatch and storage control to battery material production and equipment maintenance, cutting costs and raising efficiency. The two strategic industries have become inseparable.
AI-enabled grinding for the global storage market
For battery material grinding equipment, the changes brought by intelligence are concrete:
1. AI-optimized grinding: replacing the experience of veteran operators, AI adjusts rotor speed, flow and grinding time adaptively and compensates for zirconia bead wear, greatly improving the consistency and stability of LFP and anode slurries, with measured energy savings of more than 30%, and intelligent equipment commands a premium in overseas bids.
2. Predictive maintenance for overseas service: for projects in Indonesia, Hungary, Oman and elsewhere where after-sales response is slow, AI can predict failures of key parts such as bearings and seals in advance, avoiding unplanned stoppages and cutting the cost of sending staff abroad, further strengthening the international competitiveness of our large vertical bead mills.
3. Storage expansion drives equipment demand: global storage orders are surging, materials makers worldwide are building new lines, and storage plants in Central Asia, the Middle East and Southeast Asia are a new blue ocean for grinding equipment.
4. AI and big data for smarter overseas expansion: AI analysis of power costs, environmental policy and resource controls in different countries helps identify the best markets, avoid traps such as Indonesia's resource restrictions and Europe's strict environmental rules, and optimize global supply chains.
5. Intelligence becomes standard for winning orders: whether leading Chinese battery makers or customers in Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan or Kazakhstan, new storage or power battery lines now specify intelligent lines only, and conventional mechanical bead mills are gradually losing eligibility to bid.
AI-enabled: seizing the storage and new energy opportunity
The sold-out WAIC is not a short-term gimmick but a signal of industrial intelligence. Over the next three to five years, AI + storage + new energy will be the main storyline, and the equipment industry has left behind competition on capacity and low prices; core competitiveness now lies in systems that combine hardware with AI process packages. For us, building intelligent control and digital twins into equipment R&D is essential, in China's existing market and in overseas LFP and storage projects in the UAE, Korea, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, intelligent upgrades are the key to securing orders and staying ahead of competitors.
