Besides Ma, the other tycoons in attendance included Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu, CATL CEO Zeng Yuqun and Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, according to a report from state broadcaster CCTV.
The symposium on private business comes just weeks after Chinese startup DeepSeek’s latest AI model roiled global stock markets and AI players by delivering comparable performance to US-based industry behemoths at significantly lower cost. Its success has also brought optimism to China’s tech sector, which is still recovering after a severe regulatory crackdown lasting more than three years.
