TL;DR Book around September 2026 for the highest density of events: Alibaba Cloud’s Yunqi / Apsara Conference (the flagship, already sold out for Sep 1) [5] overlaps with the Global Digital Trade Expo and International Smart Space Exhibition the week of Sep 23–27. [7] [8] ICSICT (semiconductors/IC) fills late October, [9] and the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen — 74 km away — runs in November. [12] [11]
Calendar at a Glance
| Date | Event | Venue | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 26–28, 2026 | ICETIS 2026 | Hangzhou (TBD) | Electronic tech & info science |
| Sep 1, 2026 | Yunqi / Apsara Conference | Yunqi Town, Xihu District | Cloud, AI, enterprise |
| Sep 23–27, 2026 | Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) | Hangzhou Grand Conv. Center | Digital commerce, e-commerce |
| Sep 23–27, 2026 | Smart Space Exhibition (ISSE) | Hangzhou Grand Conv. Center | Smart cities, IoT |
| Oct 27–30, 2026 | ICSICT 2026 (IEEE) | Hangzhou (TBD) | Semiconductor / IC technology |
| Nov TBD, 2026 | World Internet Conference | Wuzhen (~1 hr from Hangzhou) | Internet governance, AI policy |
| Mar TBD, 2027 | GAIC-HZ (recurring annually) | Hangzhou Intl Expo Center | AI full stack |
Yunqi Conference (云栖大会) / Apsara Conference
Alibaba Cloud’s flagship annual gathering — the defining tech event in Hangzhou and one of China’s largest cloud/AI conferences, founded in 2009. [3] [18]
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| When | Sep 1, 2026 confirmed; past editions ran 3 days (2024: Sep 19–21 [6]; 2025: Sep 24–26) |
| Venue | No. 369 Heshan St, Xihu District (Yunqi Town International Convention Center) |
| Scale | ~60,000 attendees, 238 exhibitors, 40,000 sqm expo, 158 product launches [2] |
| 2026 theme | “Computing, for the value that cannot be computed” |
| Topics | Cloud computing, LLMs (Qwen), AI agents, enterprise digital transformation |
| Tickets | ⚠ Already sold out for 2026; monitor apsaraticket@service.alibaba.com |
The 2025 edition pivoted from LLM showcases toward practical AI agent deployments, with companies demonstrating production applications on Alibaba’s open-source Qwen models. Alibaba CEO announced ¥380B (~$53B) in AI/cloud infrastructure investment. [1] [4]
September Cluster: GDTE + ISSE (Sep 23–27, 2026)
Two large expos co-located at the Hangzhou Grand Convention and Exhibition Center — often the same week as or immediately after Yunqi.
Global Digital Trade Expo (GDTE) — China’s national digital commerce expo, co-hosted by Zhejiang Province and the Ministry of Commerce. [7]
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Topics | E-commerce, smart logistics, digital medicine, AI, smart living |
| Scale | 10,000+ buyers; ¥162B in trade agreements (4th edition, 2025) |
| Register | gdte.org.cn / reg.gdteonline.com |
International Smart Space Exhibition (ISSE) — Messe Frankfurt’s smart-city and intelligent-building show, 2nd edition co-located with GDTE. [8]
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Topics | Smart cities, IoT, energy-efficient buildings, AI urban governance |
| Organizer | Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd + Hangzhou Expo Group |
IEEE ICSICT — Semiconductor / IC (Oct 27–30, 2026)
2026 IEEE 18th International Conference on Solid-State and Integrated Circuit Technology — biennial IEEE flagship for semiconductor research, hosted in Hangzhou this cycle. [9] [10]
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Topics | IC design, ferroelectric materials, chiplets, advanced memory |
| Audience | Academic researchers, chip engineers, semiconductor industry |
| Paper deadline | June 25, 2026 |
| Organizer | IEEE China Council + Zhejiang University |
| Contact | ieeeicsict@outlook.com |
World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit (day trip)
Held in Wuzhen — a canal town 74 km from Hangzhou (~1 hour by car or bus). [11] China’s top internet governance forum, annually in early November, organized by the Chinese government. [12] [13]
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| When | Early November (2025: Nov 6–9; 2026 date unannounced) |
| Topics | Internet governance, AI policy, digital economy, cybersecurity |
| Scale | Representatives from 50+ countries; senior officials and CEOs |
| Format | Invitation-heavy; press and observer credentials available |
The 2025 summit featured Hangzhou’s “Six Little Dragons” startups and announced China’s national AI advisory body. [14]
GAIC-HZ — AI Industry Expo (March, recurring)
Global Artificial Intelligence Conference Hangzhou Summit & Expo — a privately-organized AI industry conference covering the full chain from chips to applications. The 2026 edition ran March 12–14 (concluded); expect a 2027 edition in the same March window. [15] [16]
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Venue | Hangzhou International Expo Center |
| Topics | AI chips, LLMs, intelligent manufacturing, smart cities, fintech |
| Key names | Huawei, Alibaba Cloud, DeepSeek, NVIDIA, SenseTime |
Hangzhou’s Tech Ecosystem
Hangzhou is China’s self-styled “City of the Internet,” home to Alibaba Group HQ and a dense cluster of AI companies including DeepSeek, NetEase, and DJI software teams. [17] The ModelScope Developer Center (Xihu District, opened late 2025, 10,000+ sqm) hosts regular hackathons and technical seminars — continuous programming for developers year-round, not just major conferences. [17] ModelScope itself hosts 170,000+ open-source AI models serving 25M+ developers globally.
Recurring community groups on Meetup.com:
- Hangzhou Apache Spark Meetup — 1,077 members [19]
- Hangzhou Big Data Developers — 97 members
- Unity Hangzhou — 242 members