Web Summit is bringing a major group of Chinese AI and robotics companies to Lisbon this November, announcing the first 30 speakers in what organisers say will be the opening wave of a much larger Chinese technology presence at Web Summit 2026.
The initial lineup reaches across artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous systems, quantum computing and technology policy. Companies and projects including GLM, MiMo, Manus, AgiBot and Galbot are part of the announcement, putting some of China’s increasingly influential technology builders directly in front of a European audience.
The timing makes this particularly interesting. Chinese AI models have moved quickly into international developer workflows, while the country’s robotics companies are becoming increasingly visible in humanoid machines, embodied AI and autonomous systems. Many of the people behind those technologies rarely appear at major Western technology conferences. Web Summit wants to change that.
Chinese AI Companies Get a Bigger Stage in Lisbon
Web Summit’s first 30 Chinese speakers are not being presented as a standalone delegation. Organisers say this is the first of several waves of speakers and exhibitors from China’s AI, robotics and quantum computing sectors expected to participate in the Lisbon conference. The strategy gives Chinese technology companies direct access to European developers, investors, founders, policymakers and potential customers at a point when interest in China’s AI ecosystem has expanded well beyond DeepSeek. The lineup also reflects how much broader that ecosystem has become, stretching from foundation models and AI agents to autonomous machines and advanced robotics.
GLM, MiMo and Manus Put Chinese AI Models in the Spotlight
Several names in the lineup come directly from China’s increasingly competitive AI model ecosystem, including people connected with Zhipu AI’s GLM, Xiaomi’s MiMo and Manus. Their presence gives Web Summit attendees an opportunity to hear directly from companies developing models and AI systems that are beginning to compete internationally. The companies are taking different routes into the market, from foundation models and consumer technology ecosystems to autonomous AI agents, but they share a growing interest in users outside China. That makes Lisbon more than another speaking engagement. It is also an opportunity to explain their technology to a European market that is becoming increasingly willing to consider alternatives to the dominant American AI platforms.
Chinese Robotics Moves Into the Same Conversation
Robotics will form another major part of the Chinese presence at Web Summit 2026, with companies including AgiBot and Galbot bringing physical AI into a conference conversation that might otherwise be dominated by language models. China’s robotics sector has developed rapidly around humanoid machines, embodied intelligence, industrial automation and autonomous systems, helped by the country’s deep manufacturing and electronics supply chains. Combining increasingly capable AI models with machines that can perceive and act in physical environments is becoming one of the industry’s biggest engineering races, and Web Summit’s lineup suggests that Chinese robotics companies want a much larger role in the international discussion around it.
Chinese AI Models Are Finding More Users Outside China
Web Summit is linking the announcement to what it describes as a dramatic increase in the use of Chinese AI models among international users. Citing OpenRouter data, organisers said Chinese models represented as little as 6% of token usage in February before climbing as high as 67% by September 14. The figures point toward a significant shift within OpenRouter’s ecosystem, although they should not be interpreted as Chinese models controlling 67% of the entire Western AI market. OpenRouter measures activity routed through its own platform. Even with that distinction, the growth is striking and helps explain why Chinese AI developers are becoming much harder for Western businesses and developers to overlook.
Price and Performance Are Changing the AI Model Race
The growing international appeal of Chinese AI models is not simply about geography. Developers tend to follow performance, capability and cost, particularly when models are accessed through APIs and can be swapped relatively easily inside applications. Chinese laboratories have increasingly competed on those terms, releasing models that challenge established alternatives across coding, reasoning and general-purpose tasks while sometimes adopting aggressive pricing or more open distribution strategies. That has made the AI market considerably less predictable. A developer building an application in Europe may now compare models from American and Chinese companies side by side rather than automatically choosing from a handful of US providers.
Europe Gives Chinese AI Companies a Complicated Opportunity
Europe represents a substantial opportunity for Chinese AI companies, but it is hardly a frictionless market. Businesses will want to know how models perform, how much they cost and whether they can integrate with existing systems, while customers handling sensitive information will have questions about privacy and data governance. European policymakers are also approaching artificial intelligence through an increasingly developed regulatory framework. Web Summit therefore gives Chinese executives an opportunity to meet prospective customers while facing questions that go considerably deeper than benchmark scores. If these companies want lasting European adoption, trust and compliance will matter alongside technical performance.
Antitrust and AI Regulation Join the Discussion
Web Summit says the Chinese delegation will include more than startup founders and technology executives, bringing leading thinkers on antitrust, AI regulation and related policy questions into the programme as well. That matters because China’s role in global AI can no longer be separated neatly from competition policy, semiconductor restrictions, data governance, trade and national technology strategies. European policymakers face their own difficult balance: encouraging competition in an AI market dominated by a small number of enormous companies while also examining the security and regulatory implications of foreign technology. Having Chinese voices participate directly in that discussion could make the Lisbon conversations considerably more useful than another debate conducted entirely from outside China’s technology sector.
Quantum Computing Adds Another Layer
Quantum computing will also feature in the broader wave of Chinese technology participants announced by Web Summit, expanding the programme beyond today’s generative AI and robotics race. China has invested heavily in quantum research as governments and technology companies compete over computing technologies that could eventually tackle problems beyond the practical reach of conventional systems. Commercial quantum computing remains far less mature than generative AI, but its strategic importance means the field increasingly sits alongside semiconductors and artificial intelligence in discussions about technological leadership. Bringing quantum researchers into the same programme reinforces Web Summit’s attempt to show a wider picture of China’s emerging technology ecosystem rather than focusing on whichever AI model happens to dominate the headlines.
Web Summit 2026 Is Becoming an AI Meeting Point
The Chinese delegation will arrive at a Web Summit already heavily shaped by artificial intelligence. Web Summit 2026 takes place in Lisbon from November 9–12, bringing together technology companies, startups, investors, policymakers and researchers from around the world. AI will run through much of the conference, but the arrival of a sizeable Chinese delegation adds another dimension. Global AI development is becoming less concentrated, and conferences that once revolved primarily around Silicon Valley companies now have to make room for increasingly competitive laboratories and startups emerging elsewhere. Lisbon could provide one of the clearest examples of that shift this year.
Lisbon Offers a Rare Look Inside China’s AI Ecosystem
For many people in Europe, China’s AI boom is still experienced indirectly through benchmark tables, model releases, funding announcements and viral videos of humanoid robots. The engineers, founders and researchers building those systems are considerably less familiar, particularly outside Asia. Bringing 30 Chinese AI and robotics speakers to Lisbon — with further waves still expected — gives Web Summit an opportunity to close some of that distance. Attendees will be able to hear directly from the people behind these technologies, challenge their claims and ask where they think AI, robotics and quantum computing are heading. With Chinese technology companies increasingly competing for international users, those conversations may prove more revealing than another leaderboard.
Source:
Web Summit — Chinese Speakers at Web Summit 2026
https://websummit.com/speakers/filters/eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiQ2hpbmEifQ==/
