Airlangga Confident Indonesia Can Catch Up with China in Artificial Intelligence
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto believes Indonesia can catch up with China in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.
“China is extraordinary in the application of AI and robotics, so Indonesia must catch up with what they are doing,” said Airlangga in Shanghai on Saturday, 18 July 2026, as quoted by Antara.
He made the remarks while visiting several booths at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) 2026, held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre from 17 to 20 July 2026.
WAIC has been held since 2018 and is one of the largest gatherings in the fields of artificial intelligence, intelligent computing and embodied intelligence.
In 2026, WAIC is taking place at three different locations across Shanghai, featuring 1,400 speakers from home and abroad, including nine Nobel and Turing Award laureates, as well as company leaders and policymakers. The exhibition involves 1,100 companies showcasing 3,000 products and technologies, including more than 300 products making their global debut.
“Their robotics industry is truly advancing and has extraordinary flexibility, especially for the many jobs that can be done using robots,” said Airlangga.
Airlangga will report what he observed at the exhibition, as well as his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, to President Prabowo Subianto.
“Of course we will report back so that going forward we must not fall behind in AI development, particularly in robotics and the renewable energy sector,” said Airlangga.
At the exhibition, Airlangga visited at least three booths. The first was Unitree Robotics, a robotics company from Hangzhou founded in 2016.
The company focuses on the research, development, production and sale of high-performance legged robots and humanoid robots for consumer and industrial purposes. Its products include the quadruped Go, A and B series robots, as well as humanoid robots such as the H1, G1 and H2.
Unitree is famous for its appearances at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, China’s Lunar New Year celebration. In 2026, Unitree showcased its G1 and H2 robots performing autonomous kung fu displays, including complex movements such as backflips, parkour and a “Drunken Fist” choreography.
The second booth Airlangga visited was Deep Robotics, another Hangzhou-based robotics company founded in 2017 to produce robotic systems and core components, focusing on quadruped and humanoid robots for industrial, automation and research purposes.
Their flagship product is the Jueying series of robots, designed for industrial applications such as power grid inspection, search and rescue, and monitoring of hazardous environments.
The third booth was Connected and Intelligent Technologies Co., Ltd (CICT), a state-owned enterprise under the China Information Technology Group focusing on the intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) industry and smart transportation.
Established in 2012, CICT is involved in technical standards research, product development and market promotion of C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything) technology, as well as integrated solutions for vehicle-road collaboration, intelligent connectivity, autonomous driving and smart cockpits.