Qualcomm Showcases 5G+AI Ecosystem Collaboration at China Unicom Partner Conference 2025, Accelerating the Intelligent Digital Future

Shanghai played host to the 2025 China Unicom Partner Conference on July 18-19, an event centered around the theme of “Synergy for Real-World Impact: Co-creating a New Integrated Ecosystem.” The conference brought together industry titans, academic experts, and key partners to explore the evolving paradigms of digital technology integration and to chart a course for high-quality development in the age of intelligence.

Qualcomm, a significant player in the wireless communication ecosystem, marked its continued involvement in this pivotal industry gathering, underscoring its commitment to the ongoing evolution of mobile technologies. As a long-standing collaborator with China Unicom, Qualcomm was recognized with the “Terminal Ecosystem Partner – Outstanding Contribution Award,” a testament to the impactful achievements resulting from their collaboration in driving industry innovation and fostering ecosystem synergy. This year, Qualcomm’s exhibition booth, themed “Together, We Move Everyone Forward,” highlighted the company’s innovative strides in both 5G Advanced (5G-A) and AI technologies. Demonstrations spanned a range of devices and applications, including smartphones, PCs, automotive solutions, XR, and IoT, showcasing the latest collaborative advancements with partners like China Unicom. This underscores Qualcomm’s dedication to transforming 5G and AI integration into tangible industry value, fostering a robust digital ecosystem for the future.

Meng Pu, Chairman of Qualcomm China, emphasized the deep-rooted partnership: “Qualcomm and China Unicom share a nearly three-decade-long history of collaboration, having navigated every major technological leap from 3G and 4G to the current 5G-A era. We are now entering an accelerated intelligent era driven by the synergy of 5G-A and AI. Digital-physical convergence is reshaping industries with unprecedented depth and breadth and Qualcomm, as both a pioneer and a facilitator in this industry, is committed to working with China Unicom and a broad spectrum of ecosystem partners. With innovative technology as our engine and open collaboration as our cornerstone, we aim to open up vast new avenues for growth and unlock the boundless potential of the digital age.”

From Cloud Inference to Tangible Access: AI’s “Real-World” Trajectory

The proliferation of generative AI is causing a discernible shift in AI processing towards the edge. Market research anticipates explosive growth in the global edge AI market, projecting an increase from $19 billion in 2023 to approximately $163 billion by 2033, representing a compound annual growth rate of 24.1%. By enabling generative AI models to run on edge devices with lower costs and power consumption compared to the cloud, AI services become directly relevant to user and industry needs. This effectively translates AI into practical and accessible intelligence, deeply embedded in everyday workflows and scenarios to unlock real value.

Smart devices are becoming critical entry points and enablers for “democratizing” and “practicalizing” generative AI. AI is evolving from a theoretical concept to a readily usable and cost-effective tool. Hou Mingjuan, Global Vice President of Qualcomm, speaking at the conference’s Digital Consumption Forum, stated: “Generative AI is profoundly reshaping the fundamental architecture of the smart terminal industry. The terminal, formerly a connection point, is evolving into a true smart entity – moving beyond simply responding to users to proactively understanding their needs and proactively providing services. This transformation is accelerating, particularly under the support of on-device AI.” This transition from mere connectivity to genuine understanding places heavier demands on chipsets, algorithms, and systemic collaboration.

Qualcomm’s 15+ years in AI R&D have positioned it as a key driver in bringing AI to the edge. Over 2.5 billion devices are currently powered by Qualcomm AI technology. Leveraging its end-to-end, full-stack optimization across AI applications, models, hardware, and software, the Snapdragon® mobile platform has become the preferred choice for on-device generative AI. At the conference, Qualcomm showcased a range of AI-enabled smartphones powered by the Snapdragon® flagship mobile platform, AI PCs built on the Snapdragon® X Series, and on-device intelligent agent AI demonstrations that understand personalized user needs. The Xiaomi AI glasses, equipped with the first-generation Snapdragon® AR1 Platform, garnered significant attention. These glasses feature multi-modal interaction capabilities, including video recording, real-time Q&A, photo object recognition, and voice control. Notably, Qualcomm and China Unicom also presented their latest advancements in on-device AI collaboration, showcasing the successful deployment of China Unicom’s self-developed “Yuanjing Large Model” on the Snapdragon flagship mobile platform. The Yuanjing “billion-parameter” language model, boosted by the CPU, GPU, and NPU functionalities of the Snapdragon platform, will provide powerful technical support for consumer-grade devices, IoT products and other AI applications ultimately benefiting a broad consumer base.

From Collaborative Growth to Mutual Empowerment: 5G Evolution Toward “Intelligence”

Unlocking AI’s true potential hinges on the seamless integration of on-device and cloud-based AI. This hybrid approach enhances the efficiency and user experience of AI applications and simultaneously necessitates more robust high-speed, low-latency connectivity. 5G-A, since its commercial launch last year, has made significant strides, reinforcing its position as a crucial connectivity foundation. Current data indicates 5G-A coverage in over 300 Chinese cities, serving over 10 million users. The progression from 5G to 5G-A signifies more than just increased speed; it also injects new vitality into the Internet of Everything and empowers everything with intelligence.

Since China Unicom’s pioneering launch of 5G commercialization in 2019, Qualcomm has deepened its cooperation with China Unicom on cutting-edge technologies, innovative applications, and scenario exploration, jointly promoting the implementation and development of key technologies such as 5G-A high-frequency and AI. In November of last year, Beijing Unicom, in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and other partners, took the lead in launching a large-scale 5G-A smart network, deploying a 5G-A 3CC (three-carrier aggregation) commercial network coverage within Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road and the city’s sub-center. With a 5G-A network activation ratio exceeding 85%, it provided robust network capabilities for immersive video, ultra-high-definition live broadcasting, cloud gaming, and other businesses. In May of this year, Guangdong Unicom utilized test terminals equipped with the fourth-generation AI-enabled 5G system solution – Qualcomm® X85 5G Modem-RF system – to successfully complete China’s first 5G-A three-band 4CC technology verification and superimposed 1024QAM high-order modulation technology to achieve a downlink peak rate of 6.3Gbps. During the Chain Expo, Qualcomm also worked with Beijing Unicom and other partners to provide 5G-A Gigabit network service guarantees for the E4 Pavilion at the Chain Expo. This not only met the needs of the exhibition scenario, but also demonstrated that the 5G-A Gigabit network has the ability to support future industrial Internet, XR, naked-eye 3D and other emerging applications laying a solid network foundation for distributed access, edge computing and intelligent manufacturing scenarios.

During this conference, Qualcomm and China Unicom jointly brought a new experience empowered by the 5G-A Gigabit network. The VR somatosensory seat on Qualcomm’s booth integrates the playback of 8K VR film content and synchronized dynamic simulation, bringing a fully immersive viewing and somatosensory experience, which cannot be separated from the support of XR discrete rendering technology solutions jointly created by both parties. Compared with Sub-6GHz, the solution based on 5G-A enhanced connectivity can support more XR user access, significantly reduce rendering latency, meet the needs of large-space and multi-user XR scenarios, and lay a network foundation for creating an unbounded immersive experience. In addition, Qualcomm also focused on displaying a number of advanced connectivity technology products and cooperation results, including the 5G integrated small base station jointly created with Shiju Network, and a number of Wi-Fi 7 products launched with China Unicom, Xiaomi, JD.com, and ASUS, fully demonstrating its technical capabilities and ecological coordination strength in the field of intelligent connectivity.

From Technological Innovation to Scenario Implementation: Ecosystem Acceleration Towards the “New”

The mutual empowerment of 5G-A and AI is accelerating the penetration of new quality productivity into thousands of industries. On the one hand, the integrated development of 5G and AI promotes the efficient collaboration among various production factors, releasing a multiplier effect for quality improvement and efficiency enhancement; on the other hand, with the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, the industrial ecosystem is more focused on the core scenarios and key needs of the real field, and promotes digital technology to be truly transformed into landing, visible and effective solutions and practical value, and jointly promotes the productivity leap led by technological innovation.

In the new stage of in-depth integrated development of terminal-side AI and 5G-A, Qualcomm launched the new Qualcomm Qiao Long brand in February this year, focusing on the industrial Internet of Things and network infrastructure, and promoting the digital upgrade of smart factories, smart cities and other scenarios by empowering industrial robots, cameras, industrial handheld devices and other terminals. At the booth, Qualcomm demonstrated a number of industry application achievements created with industry partners based on the Qualcomm Qiao Long™ product portfolio, such as a new generation of live broadcast cameras designed for commercial live broadcast, an outdoor radio frequency unit (ODU) solution for home or small office environment, and an AI high-computing power module that can be applied to industrial quality inspection and other fields, helping companies seize first-mover advantage in digital transformation. Qualcomm Qiao Long is working with Snapdragon to form Qualcomm’s powerful product matrix, empowering consumer-grade and industry applications, reshaping user experiences and reshaping business models.

In 2025, Qualcomm marked its 40th anniversary and 30 years in the Chinese market. This milestone reflects not only Qualcomm’s unwavering commitment to technological innovation but also the deep-seated partnership and shared growth trajectory with China’s mobile communication industry. Looking ahead, Qualcomm will continue to leverage its technology leadership in “connectivity + computing + intelligence,” collaborate with an expanding ecosystem of partners, and translate 5G+AI innovations into tangible, “real-world” experiences, collectively advancing towards a “new quality” future driven by technology.