At the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), held from September 9 to 13 at Beijing's Shougang Park, the Global Trade in Services Entrepreneurs Conference took place. During this conference, Xia Quan, Global Vice President of Qualcomm, delivered a keynote speech titled "Driving Personal AI Innovation and Building an Open Collaborative Ecosystem." He emphasized that as AI capabilities continue to improve, human-computer interaction is undergoing significant changes. In the past, people primarily completed tasks through applications, requiring them to actively search for information, operate software, and execute tasks. In the future, people will increasingly collaborate with digital agents—simply expressing their needs, and AI will understand the intent, proactively plan, and help complete the task.
Supporting this shift is Personal AI, which is no longer confined to a single device. Instead, it operates seamlessly across smartphones, PCs, wearables, automobiles, and other endpoints, delivering more natural, continuous, and personalized intelligent experiences. Xia Quan noted that truly useful Personal AI must not only understand user needs but also respond in real-time and maintain continuous coordination across different devices and scenarios, implying that future AI capabilities need to operate collaboratively across multiple levels. Qualcomm refers to this trend as "distributed intelligence with end-edge-cloud collaboration," which is supported by a computing continuum that spans terminals, edge devices, and the cloud.
Through platforms such as Snapdragon and Qualcomm Dragonwing, Qualcomm extends high-performance computing, AI, and connectivity capabilities to different parts of this computing continuum. Xia Quan explained that in this architecture, computing tasks are no longer fixed to a specific device or platform. Instead, they can be flexibly allocated and seamlessly coordinated between terminals, edge devices, and the cloud based on specific needs. Thus, the computing continuum is not only a critical foundation for realizing Personal AI experiences but also provides strong support for expanding AI into broader application scenarios.
Xia Quan further pointed out that as Personal AI and agent capabilities mature and run on a distributed end-edge-cloud architecture, their value will extend beyond individual devices or personal experiences, opening new possibilities for enterprise and industrial innovation. As AI capabilities become further integrated into business processes, more services will be delivered in an intelligent manner, and more enterprises will build new products, services, and business models around AI.
To bring Personal AI into the real world, Xia Quan stated that close collaboration between computing, connectivity, models, software, and terminal capabilities is essential to drive the implementation of innovative experiences. For over 30 years, Qualcomm has continued to innovate with Chinese industry partners, jointly advancing mobile communications, smart terminals, and the digital ecosystem. Now entering the AI era, Qualcomm is deepening cooperation with terminal manufacturers, operators, software developers, model partners, and industry clients to explore new Personal AI experiences together.
"From the smartphone in your pocket to the robots around you, and the cars you travel in, Personal AI is entering more and more real-world scenarios," Xia Quan said. "What we are talking about is no longer a distant future, but a reality that is unfolding right now. Qualcomm is willing to continue innovating hand-in-hand with industry partners to promote the development of Personal AI, enabling artificial intelligence to better serve everyone, every industry, and society as a whole."