Huawei Launches 2026 AI City Report and Global Innovation Alliance
Huawei has released its 2026 AI City Development Research Report in partnership with China's National Information Center, during the Global Government AI City Innovation Summit held in Shanghai as part of Huawei Connect 2026. More than 500 experts, government representatives, businesses and ecosystem partners from around the world attended to discuss how artificial intelligence and data can improve public services and urban management.
Huawei also joined 14 global partners to launch the Global AI City Ecosystem Innovation and Development Alliance. The initiative aims to establish an open, collaborative framework for digital and smart city innovation, strengthening cooperation in computing, data circulation and application development.
The summit featured urban AI experiences from Angola, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, as well as the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai. Tao Jingwen, Huawei's Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, delivered the welcome address. Yang Ruikai, CEO of Huawei's Public Services Digitalization Business Unit, also attended.
Simon Xu, vice president of the business unit and head of marketing and solution sales, said AI agents were becoming integral to city operations, spanning government administration, public services and support for economic sectors. He presented examples from Longgang in Shenzhen and the Chinese city of Shantou, highlighting AI's role in improving safety, efficiency and urban management.
Xu said an urban management agent provides a clearer view of city safety conditions and reduces labor costs through computing capabilities. A government services agent, meanwhile, enables conversational transactions and shifts public services away from a model in which citizens visit service centers and inquire about policies toward a proactive, user-centered approach that delivers benefits directly to eligible recipients.
International cooperation and technical architecture
Xu also highlighted a cross-border token factory model based on using energy locally, keeping data within national borders and exporting AI services to global markets. He said the approach supports domestic AI development while strengthening international cooperation.
Drawing on its information and communications technology expertise, Huawei worked with innovative cities and partners to propose a reference architecture for AI cities. It uses the OpenHarmony operating system as a common foundation for urban endpoint devices and Huawei's Ascend AI computing platform to enable intelligent collaboration among devices, edge computing and cloud infrastructure, supporting wider deployment of AI city solutions.
Mohammed Ashqar, CEO of the City Operations Monitoring Center at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Municipalities and Housing, said the Kingdom was accelerating its digital and intelligent urban transformation under Saudi Vision 2030. He explained that the National Center for Municipal Operations Command and Control integrates data from multiple sources, including citizen applications, satellite remote sensing, surveys conducted using vehicle-mounted devices and hotline calls.
Ashqar said AI-powered workflows and data-driven decision-making could help cities move beyond responding to incidents after they occur toward early warning and coordinated, real-time action. He added that the launched intelligent urban management work-order system can automatically classify incidents within seconds and con