The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai kicks off at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre on June 26,2023. Photo:VCG

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai kicked off at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) on Wednesday, bringing together global leaders from the mobile ecosystem. This marks the first fully in-person iteration of the event since 2019, marking a significant event for the industry since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three-day event acts as a catalyst for cutting-edge breakthroughs, collaboration and knowledge-sharing, fostering partnerships and driving innovation across various sectors.

Nearly 300 exhibitors participated the event, showcasing the latest achievements in mobile communications development and seeking business opportunities in China's fast-growing market.

Chinese tech giant Huawei has come to the event in full force, and their 5.5G achievements attracted numerous visitors.

Huawei showcased four of the major features of 5.5G - 10 Gbit/s downlink, 1 Gbit/s uplink, 100 billion connections and native AI. It is also exploring the five connectivity areas expected to go mainstream with 5.5G - connectivity for people, for things, for vehicles, for industries and for homes. 

Huawei has already started helping a number of operators around the world begin commercial verification of 5.5G. The 5.5G industry will continue to grow quickly as the first release of 5.5G standards is expected to be frozen in the first half of 2024 and related technologies have already been extensively verified, the Global Times learned from the company.

"5G has been in commercial use around the world for four years now. It's driving new value creation, and 5.5G is the next step forward," Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's rotating chairwoman and CFO, said in a keynote speech at the opening day of the MWC Shanghai.

In the past decade, the telecommunications industry has come close to doubling its number of customers globally, from 3.2 billion to 5.4 billion, and China has been a large part of this growth, said John Hoffman, chief executive of GSMA, a global telecommunications industry association and the MWC organizer.

Stefan Metz, head of trinamiX Asia, also expressed his enthusiasm for the Chinese market, citing its huge customer base and extensive ecosystem. 

TrinamiX GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, made its debut at the MWC Shanghai. The company showcased a face authentication solution which offers smartphone users biometric security to safeguard their data against frauds and leaks. It also presents a unique sensor module that can be integrated directly into smartphones, enabling consumers to measure their health condition by placing the device on their skin.

As a technology company, trinamiX relies on partnerships with other companies for manufacturing, and China, being a hub for consumer electronics, is an ideal location for our operations, Metz told the Global Times.

"We are here and plan to continue staying in the country," Metz said.

Semiconductor giant AMD is set to participate in a forum themed Cloud Networks: Evolving to the Future. 

"We are working with the leaders in China both with local service venders and radio venders. Through the radio we display at the AMD booth on MWC Shanghai, you can see that we have strong local ecosystem in China. And we are going to work and to win with this ecosystem in China," Gilles Garcia, senior director and marketing business lead of Wired and Wireless Communications Group of AMD, said in a note sent to the Global Times.