APEC Chengdu meetings chart regional AI cooperation framework

A student in Bangkok asking a question to an AI chatbot may not realize that the technology answering them has traveled across multiple borders, stitched together from the work of engineers and researchers scattered across Southeast Asia. That chatbot runs on SEA-LION, a family of open-source language models built by AI Singapore to understand the region's languages, dialects, and cultural contexts. The platform itself—called AI Class ASEAN—is run by the Jakarta-based ASEAN Foundation with backing from Google.org. It's a small but telling example of how artificial intelligence is beginning to take shape across the Asia-Pacific: through open collaboration, regional adaptation, and the deliberate crossing of national lines.

This vision came into focus in Chengdu, a city in southwest China, where more than 500 representatives from the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathered in mid-to-late July 2026 for a series of meetings on digital technology and AI. The centerpiece was the APEC Digital and AI Ministerial Meeting on July 23, held under the banner "Digital Technologies and AI for the Empowerment of an Asia-Pacific Community." The numbers behind the room were staggering: APEC's member economies are home to 3 billion people and generate 61.6 percent of the world's economic output. They possess capabilities across the entire AI supply chain—from developing the models themselves to manufacturing the semiconductors that power them. The question animating the meetings was straightforward but urgent: how do you connect those strengths so that innovation actually translates into growth that reaches beyond the largest economies?

Thailand's Digital Economy and Society Minister, Chaichanok Chidchob, framed the challenge plainly. The focus, he argued, should not be on which economy was moving fastest into the AI future, but on ensuring that every member could participate in it. He pushed for deeper cooperation on building trustworthy digital infrastructure and expanding who had access to the training and tools needed to use AI effectively. The ministers who gathered in Chengdu adopted what became known as the Chengdu Statement, a formal agreement encouraging member economies to push AI and digital transformation into practical sectors—manufacturing, agriculture, services—and to make sure that small and medium-sized businesses could actually afford and deploy these tools.

Singapore has already begun this work. The government has created industry-specific AI playbooks, detailed guides designed to help small businesses and industry groups move from experimenting with AI to actually using it to reshape how they operate. According to Tan Kiat How, Singapore's Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, the playbooks address a real problem: many companies still don't know how to use AI to transform their business. Microsoft, meanwhile, is using AI to analyze satellite imagery and acoustic data to protect rainforests and marine ecosystems. The technology's real value, said Microsoft Corporate Vice President Zhang Qi, lies in solving actual problems—helping people spot issues earlier and make better decisions.

China brought substantial weight to the conversation. By the end of 2025, the country had more than 6,200 AI companies. More than 30 percent of Chinese manufacturing firms with annual revenue of at least 20 million yuan (roughly 2.94 million U.S. dollars) had already adopted AI in their operations. During the Chengdu meetings, AR glasses made by INMO, a Sichuan-based company, demonstrated how China is turning its AI capabilities into products people can actually use. The glasses translate speech in real-time across 261 languages and have already been sold in multiple countries. Journalists covering the Chengdu events were given access to them.

China also announced it would provide 5,000 training opportunities and seminars on AI for developing countries over the next five years. Wei Wei, an official with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the country would work with other APEC economies to build innovation platforms, develop high-value AI applications, and align standards and risk management across borders. On July 24, during the APEC High-Level Forum on AI, China announced plans to establish a center in Qianhai, Shenzhen, dedicated to promoting cross-border data flows within the region. The center would function as an open platform for policy research, regulatory coordination, and business services.

The forum issued its own statement, outlining cooperation on secure AI development, responsible adoption, and an environment where innovation could flourish. It called for APEC to continue policy dialogues on AI as the technology evolves. Eduardo Pedrosa, the APEC Secretariat's Executive Director, offered a closing thought: the future of AI would depend on the partnerships the region's economies built together, the choices they made collectively, and their commitment to ensuring that the benefits of innovation reached everyone, not just the largest players.