A special event titled "Beyond the Arena: US-China Business, AI, and Global Collaboration Private Summit" was held.
The day after the World Cup concluded, New York was still emerging from a 39-day football celebration. On the afternoon of July 20 local time, the "From the Field to the Future" private summit, co-organized by Sina Finance and the China General Chamber of Commerce USA (CGCC), took place. The event brought together Stephen Orlins, President of the National Committee on US-China Relations; LENOVO GROUP (00992) Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing; Deng Qingxu, CEO of Sina Finance; Zhang Jianyu, President of CGCC; Evan Greenberg, Global President of APCO Worldwide; and dozens of Chinese and American entrepreneurs, executives, investors, and scholars from the investment, technology, sports, and cultural sectors. Amidst an uncertain global economic and trade environment, the forum offered a different perspective: the space for cooperation is expanding into new dimensions.
From Sideline Billboards to the Event's Foundation: The Changing Role of Chinese Companies
"Football has no translation, but everyone understands it," said Deng Qingxu, CEO of Sina Finance, in his opening remarks, recounting the moment from the previous night at MetLife Stadium when thousands of strangers embraced after a goal. He also noted "the silent moment of technology": AI-generated millimeter-level offside lines and 3D replays transmitted globally in seconds. International tech media dubbed this World Cup "the largest real-world implementation of enterprise-grade AI to date," involving nearly 8 petabytes of match video data and a daily computational consumption of 15.84 trillion tokens, accounting for about 3% of global AI computing demand.
In this stress test, a significant shift is occurring. "In the past, mentions of Chinese presence at the World Cup mostly referred to rows of billboards around the field. This edition is completely different," Deng Qingxu stated. While brands like Adidas and Coca-Cola still focused on advertising exposure, one Chinese company chose a different path. Instead of placing its brand on the sidelines, it embedded itself into the operational foundation of the event: AI enhancement of the referee's first-person view, AI analysis tools for all 48 teams, and the deployment and maintenance of over 25,000 devices across 16 venues. "This transition from sponsor to technology partner, from being seen to being needed, is a microcosm of the rising global competitiveness of Chinese tech companies."
"Technology democratization" is the most direct illustration of this role. According to official disclosures from LENOVO GROUP, the FIFA AI Pro (Football AI Super Agent), built on its Lenovo AI Factory and Lenovo xIQ agent platform, can search millions of data points and analyze over 2,000 indicators. Coaches can ask questions in natural language and receive reports, charts, and immersive animations in seconds. This tool was made available to all 48 participating teams without distinction. Cape Verde, making its World Cup debut, used it for preparation and became the only team to hold both eventual champion Spain and runner-up Argentina to a draw within 90 minutes. Other non-traditional powerhouses like Curacao and the Democratic Republic of Congo also pulled off upsets.
FIFA's Global Football Development Director Arsène Wenger commented that experts "can spend less time searching for information and more time on performance insights and tactical decisions." As Yang Yuanqing stated in his speech, "This is the meaning of technology democratization. It's not just about making strong teams stronger, but enabling more teams to stand on the same starting line."
From the Field to All Industries: The Spillover Effects of a Stress Test
The consensus at the forum was that the true value of the World Cup extends far beyond the 39-day tournament itself. The capabilities validated here are now spilling over into broader scenarios. Yang Yuanqing noted that the AI on the field wasn't created in a vacuum; the multi-agent collaboration behind FIFA AI Pro originated from the smart manufacturing and supply chain management practices in LENOVO GROUP's more than 30 global factories. In turn, solutions that passed this "ultimate stress test" will return to the industry, "empowering countless sectors, making sports events smarter, urban governance more refined, and factory production more efficient."
International media observations echoed this path. Axios reported that the AI stabilization technology transforming shaky referee camera footage into real-time broadcast quality is being used by LENOVO GROUP for real-time video analysis on factory production lines. The intelligent command center, dubbed the "World Cup Air Traffic Control System" by the company, integrates ticketing, catering, security, and parking systems for real-time resource scheduling, and similar solutions are now serving crowd management at large venues. Fox Business outlined the company's sports technology landscape, noting partnerships with F1, the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, and the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, with plans to apply experience from this World Cup to the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup in Brazil.
Capital markets picked up on the signals. Research firm Futurum Group analyzed that the World Cup deployment "is not just a marketing exercise but a concrete, public proof point for smart devices and hybrid AI capabilities." The firm estimates that as of Q2 2025, LENOVO GROUP led the AI device market with a 24.5% share (HP at 19.9%, Dell at 14.4%). This market is projected to grow from $25.1 billion in 2025 to $123.6 billion by 2030. The firm also stated that 85.4% of surveyed enterprise IT decision-makers are testing or trialing AI PCs, and 61.6% of enterprises are accelerating their upgrade cycles due to AI prospects. A football tournament became a public showcase for enterprise AI procurement decisions.
From the World Cup to the AI Future: Envisioning New Avenues for Cooperation
While entrepreneurs discussed the present, Stephen Orlins, President of the National Committee on US-China Relations, offered a perspective spanning half a century. "In 1972, the National Committee on US-China Relations hosted the visiting Chinese table tennis team. It was like an early version of the World Cup, changing American views of China almost overnight," Orlins recalled. Over the following 50 years, he witnessed the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and China and supported LENOVO GROUP's acquisition of IBM's PC business two decades ago, "because I believed it was crucial not only for Lenovo but also for the future of US-China relations." Orlins stated, "Investment between the US and China will happen eventually because it serves the interests not only of everyone in this room but also of all Americans and Chinese."
The trust built half a century ago by a small ping-pong ball now has a new carrier. "The World Cup is the common language of all humanity, and AI is the common challenge of industrial transformation," Yang Yuanqing's words set the tone for the afternoon's discussions. AI is a test that all companies and economies must undertake.
Evan Greenberg, Global President of APCO Worldwide, approached the topic from a business management perspective. AI's true function is neither to create nor destroy jobs but to "eliminate tasks." Research shows that 60% of people's work time is spent on "work about work." AI should act as a "liberator," returning time to creation and connection. "Trust, like data, is the currency of the AI era," and responsible deployment will determine the winners in the next phase of the business world. In the context of US-China relations, he saw complementarity rather than confrontation: "China's belief in open source and efficiency is pushing the hyperscalers that drive American innovation. They push each other forward, contributing to each other's success, like the draw between Cape Verde and Spain. Neither side won, but both were pushed to new heights. I don't see the US and China as rivals; I see them as strategic partners." He cautioned entrepreneurs that without common standards and rules, companies would have to constantly adapt solutions for different markets, essentially imposing a "hidden tax" on everyone.
Zhang Lu, Founding Managing Partner of Silicon Valley's Fusion Fund, provided on-the-ground data on the current ecosystem: over 40% of Silicon Valley's first-generation residents are immigrants, and 60% of her fund's unicorns were founded by first-generation immigrants. At ICML, the world's largest machine learning conference, over 60% of papers come from Chinese scholars, 70% of whom work in the US. Many Silicon Valley startups build low-cost innovations on Chinese open-source models, while Chinese open-source model companies use US tools and frameworks. Governance is also a shared challenge. She recently participated in the UN's AI for Good committee alongside Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and presidents of seven small nations, exploring ways to build consensus on regulation first.
Jonathan Krane, founder of KraneShares, stated that Chinese assets are "currently undervalued" and that investments in AI by companies like Alibaba and Tencent are not yet recognized by the market, presenting a "rare opportunity." He also sees complementary paths in the humanoid robotics sector. Winston Ma, former representative of CIC North America and partner at Dragon Global Family Office, said his next focus is on sovereign wealth funds originating from AI, or "AI's own sovereign wealth funds," which "could come entirely from the profits of AI companies and be reinvested into public life industries like sports and entertainment – the human experience domains AI is first disrupting." On the sports and culture panel, Wesley Chu, President of Authentic Brands Group Asia Pacific, noted that his company, an AI-driven sports and entertainment licensing platform owning brands like Reebok and Champion, leverages AI. "Our Chairman often says AI is magic. But like magic, you still need a magician to perform it. Its role is to make us, as a global company, much more efficient in building brands."
The forum's most poignant moment might have been Deng Qingxu's concluding request: look at the person on your left, then the person on your right. They may have different skin colors, nationalities, and companies, but being here today is a small act of globalization. "Accumulating these small connections is the entire possibility of future business. Connection is more powerful than confrontation."
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