Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departed for Shanghai today to sign a landmark technology agreement. Consequently, Pakistan will officially join the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) as a founding member. China originally proposed WAICO last year to spearhead global AI governance. Furthermore, Dar will participate in the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026 during his two-day visit.
During his trip, Dar will hold bilateral meetings with his Chinese counterpart. Specifically, he plans to highlight the technological priorities of the Global South. Islamabad wants to bridge the widening global AI divide. Therefore, Pakistan advocates for equitable access to AI technologies and enhanced capacity-building for developing nations. Previously, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pledged full support for this Chinese initiative during his May visit. Ultimately, Islamabad aims to ensure AI benefits contribute to shared global prosperity.
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 has departed Islamabad for Shanghai, China, on a two-day visit.
As Pakistan joins the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) as a Founding Member, the DPM/FM will sign the… pic.twitter.com/bUs8pTNW5j
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) July 16, 2026
Huawei’s Atlas 950 & Hardware Push
Beyond politics, WAIC 2026 serves as a massive technology showcase. Most importantly, Huawei will publicly debut its Atlas 950 SuperPoD. This large-scale AI computing system links thousands of Ascend processors to operate as a single cluster. Consequently, it demonstrates China’s success in building advanced systems without relying on US hardware giants like Nvidia.
Additionally, developers successfully adapted DeepSeek’s latest V4 model to run entirely on these Huawei clusters. This highlights the rapid growth of an independent Chinese AI ecosystem. Meanwhile, domestic chipmakers Biren and MetaX will release their own “supernode” computing clusters. On the consumer front, tech companies Nubia and StepFun plan to launch brand-new AI agent smartphones at the event.
WAICO: A Geopolitical Stage for AI Dominance
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the forum on Friday to outline an ambitious vision for global AI governance. Concurrently, a High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance is taking place in Shanghai to implement Beijing’s initiatives. Meanwhile, Washington and Beijing prepare for crucial government-level AI talks under US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Currently, the two rivals hold competing visions. Washington argues that sweeping regulations will stifle technological breakthroughs. Conversely, Beijing frames its low-cost, open-source AI models as a public good designed to serve humanity. Therefore, WAIC acts as a geopolitical battleground over the future rules of artificial intelligence.
Furthermore, major international figures will attend the conference, including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Deep learning pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Richard Sutton will also appear. However, major US tech firms remain noticeably absent from the roster.
