At HUAWEI CONNECT 2025, Huawei successfully hosted the AI City Summit in collaboration with the Smart City Development Research Center of the National Information Center. The event, themed “Building a Smart World Cloud Foundation, Accelerating Government and Industry Intelligent Upgrades,” brought together industry experts, government representatives, and ecosystem partners to discuss three key areas: intelligent city governance, smart government affairs, and industrial digital-intelligent transformation. The discussions focused on how artificial intelligence technology is driving the evolution of government and city intelligence as well as industrial modernization. During the summit, the “AI CITY 2025 Government and Industry Pioneer Cases” were released, showcasing the implementation results of Huawei’s AI CITY concept and providing replicable models and pathways for smart government affairs, intelligent city construction, and industrial digital-intelligent transformation.

AI CITY Innovative Development Model Drives Urban Construction to a New Stage

In the intelligent era, AI technologies represented by large models are driving comprehensive improvements in urban production methods, lifestyles, and governance approaches. This transformation is not limited to iterative innovations in the technological field but also represents a breakthrough upgrade in the concept of smart city construction.

Regarding the strategic deployment of artificial intelligence and smart city development, a keynote speech titled “From Data Fusion to Knowledge-Driven: Innovative Development Models for Smart Cities in the Era of Large Models” was delivered. The presentation highlighted three distinct characteristics of the transition from traditional smart cities to AI CITY: First, unified large model centers for knowledge fusion and model-driven approaches; Second, the formation of unified knowledge bases that will reconstruct the interaction methods supporting various urban information systems; Third, comprehensive aggregation of knowledge from various fields, directly addressing complex applications to achieve multi-scenario, universal intelligent decision-making. AI CITY represents a new development model for the future – not just a Chinese solution but one that should be adopted by cities worldwide. The goal is to empower global cities with the AI CITY concept, enabling all urban residents to gain more benefits, all industries to prosper, and making Earth’s development more sustainable.

AI technology is profoundly influencing urban governance and industrial evolution. The advantages that artificial intelligence brings to comprehensive urban digital-intelligent transformation include new intelligent terminals, new computing infrastructure, new data infrastructure, new AI large models, and new ecosystems. There is a consistent commitment to systematic technological innovation around artificial intelligence, developing comprehensive capabilities across cloud, network, edge, devices, chips, and security technology platforms to empower AI CITY scenario innovation and model ecosystem development. AI development is accelerating the transition to comprehensive application scenarios, with urban AI scenario innovation unfolding across different levels of the digital economy, digital government, and digital society. In the future, AI CITY will accelerate the release of new AI productive forces, empowering comprehensive upgrades in urban governance, government services, and industries, achieving holistic and systematic improvements in urban artificial intelligence capabilities.

While promoting AI CITY system innovation, cooperation is also being continuously deepened to drive the transformation and upgrading of smart city construction. At the conference, a signing ceremony was held for the “Longgang AI CITY Full-Scenario Innovation Base,” where both parties will focus on the core path of “AI industrialization and industrial AIization” as a two-way driver, continuously promoting the deep integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains, and talent chains, accelerating the creation of a comprehensive, all-time artificial intelligence application demonstration zone, and building a global AI CITY innovation hub.

During the event, the “AI CITY 2025 Government and Industry Pioneer Cases” were officially released. Wuhan, Changsha, Xi’an, Karamay, Yixing, Beijing Changping, Shenzhen Futian, Guangzhou Baiyun, and Guiyang Gui’an were selected as typical cases for government services and urban governance, while Wuxi, Dongguan, and Guangzhou Huadu became exemplary models for industrial intelligent upgrading. These practical achievements collectively demonstrate the latest breakthroughs in how the AI CITY concept empowers urban governance and industrial transformation.

AI CITY Construction Bears Fruit, Smart Governance Paints New Urban Landscape

Amid the wave of intelligentization, efforts are advancing to promote smart city construction nationwide and worldwide, with the AI CITY concept continuously taking root and achieving significant results.

Guangzhou Huadu District possesses a strong industrial foundation and maintains a commitment to empowering industrial transformation and upgrading with AI technology. Huadu District has collaborated to build a new industrialization digital service platform, adhering to “three focuses” to promote the implementation of industrial transformation practical results. First, focusing on model innovation by pioneering a new digital “community canteen” model to address the practical challenges of small and medium enterprises being unwilling, afraid, or unable to transform; Second, focusing on

HUAWEI CONNECT 2025

HUAWEI CONNECT is an annual global technology conference hosted by Huawei, focusing on the latest digital infrastructure and intelligent solutions. While the 2025 edition has not yet occurred, these events typically showcase Huawei’s new products, partnerships, and vision for the future of ICT. Historically, these conferences have served as platforms to announce major corporate strategies, such as Huawei’s advancements in 5G, AI, and cloud computing.

National Information Center

The National Information Center is a government agency responsible for collecting, processing, and disseminating official data and statistics for a country. It typically serves as a central hub for census information, economic indicators, and other vital national records. Its history is often tied to the modernization of a nation’s administrative systems, evolving from paper-based archives to sophisticated digital databases to support governance and public access to information.

Wuhan

Wuhan is a major city in central China, formed in 1927 through the merger of three historic towns: Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang. It holds significant historical importance as the site of the 1911 Wuchang Uprising, which led to the fall of the Qing Dynasty. Today, it is known as a key economic and transportation hub, as well as a center for education and research.

Changsha

Changsha is the capital of Hunan Province in south-central China, with a history spanning over 3,000 years. It is a major cultural center, historically known as a hub for scholars and revolutionaries, and was the hometown of Mao Zedong. Key historical sites include the Mawangdui Han Tombs, which contained incredibly well-preserved artifacts from the Western Han Dynasty.

Xi’an

Xi’an is one of China’s oldest cities and served as the capital for several major dynasties, most notably the Han and Tang dynasties. It is internationally renowned as the home of the Terracotta Army, which was constructed to accompany the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, into the afterlife. Today, the city’s well-preserved ancient walls and its role as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road highlight its profound historical significance.

Karamay

Karamay is a modern industrial city in China’s Xinjiang region, renowned for being a major center of China’s petroleum industry. Its history is defined by the discovery of the Karamay Oil Field in 1955, which transformed it from a sparsely populated area into a significant oil-producing hub. The city’s development and economy remain heavily tied to oil extraction and refining.

Yixing

Yixing is a Chinese city in Jiangsu province renowned for its unique Zisha clay, used for centuries to produce the world-famous Yixing clay teapots. These unglazed teaports originated during the Song Dynasty and became especially prized during the Ming Dynasty for enhancing the flavor of tea. The tradition continues today, with Yixing remaining the global center for this revered artisan craft.

Beijing Changping

Beijing Changping is a district in northwest Beijing renowned for its rich historical heritage, particularly from the Ming Dynasty. It is most famous for the Ming Tombs, the imperial burial grounds for 13 Ming emperors, which showcase ancient Chinese architecture and royal traditions. The area also features sections of the Great Wall and serves as a key cultural and ecological zone in the capital.