This year’s Smart City Summit & Expo and the Net Zero City Exhibition will be kicking off on March 17 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, where the 2026 edition of this event is going to showcase the AI City Pavilion, which organizers say is the world’s first full-scale showcase of what a “city sovereign AI” system could look like.
The initiative is being led by ASUSTeK Computer Inc. and Foxconn together with more than 20 partners, and the idea is to let the world know that, instead of cities relying entirely on external platforms or fragmented technology systems, they could actually operate their own AI infrastructure that manages everything from transportation and healthcare to security and governance.
According to Samson Hu, who also chairs the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance, Taiwan is bringing together government agencies, industry players, and academic institutions to refine these AI City solutions while pushing them onto the international stage, essentially positioning the country as a hub for urban AI innovation.
This year’s expo revolves around the theme “Digital and Green Transformation,” which means the event isn’t just about technology demos – seven government ministries and 13 city and county governments will be showing how policy and tech can actually work together to drive sustainable urban growth and scale beyond regional borders.
At the center of it all is the AI City Pavilion itself, which was developed by ASUS, Foxconn, and the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance. The pavilion brings together nearly 60 different solutions built around a five-layer architecture covering computing infrastructure, AI models, platforms, applications, and innovation frameworks, while showcasing four real-world use cases – transportation, healthcare, security, and city governance – based on deployments in Tainan and Kaohsiung.
The whole concept revolves around the idea of “City Sovereign AI,” which essentially combines Taiwan’s strengths in computing power, AI development, ICT infrastructure, and system integration to create a Smart City 4.0 platform. It’s delivered through a platform-as-a-service, giving city leaders and system integrators a framework that could make adoption faster while also positioning Taiwan as a potential exporter of these AI-driven urban systems.
Hu also highlighted the creation of what he describes as a national AI City team capable of delivering high-performance yet cost-effective urban intelligence, bringing together platform services, citizen and municipal applications, and computing resources such as AI servers and supercomputers in one unified ecosystem.
A wide range of technology partners are involved as well, including AMD, Qualcomm, Innodisk, Askey, Ennoconn, Sharp Corporation, Trend Micro, and Gogolook, along with research support from National Tsing Hua University, all of which help illustrate Taiwan’s end-to-end AI ecosystem.
Another area getting attention at the show is robotics. The AI Robotics Zone, developed with the Smart Robotics Application SIG and the government of Tainan, will highlight how robots could increasingly play a role in urban services, with demonstrations covering healthcare, food service, logistics, inspection, and even disaster response using service robots, autonomous mobile robots, and firefighting robots.
Energy resilience is also part of the conversation. Companies such as Delta Electronics, Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone Telecommunications, and Acer will be presenting technologies that combine energy management, communications, and sustainability – including AI-driven distributed energy systems, virtual power plants, digital twins, and UAV-based monitoring tools.
And it’s not just established companies taking part. More than 250 startups will join through a collaboration with the National Innovation & Entrepreneurship Association, connecting innovators with industry alliances in semiconductor applications, smart mobility, digital city platforms, and healthcare technology.
Overall, the 2026 expo is shaping up to be a pretty big gathering. Organizers say delegations from 53 countries and 174 cities will attend, along with more than 3,000 international business leaders, while universities such as National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, National Taipei University of Technology, National Sun Yat-sen University, National Taiwan Ocean University, National Tsing Hua University, and Feng Chia University will also be involved.
One new feature this year is an initiative called CITY VISION IN ACTION, which brings city officials, tech companies, and solution providers into collaborative workshops designed to tackle real-world urban challenges together.
When you look at the bigger picture, the message behind the event is pretty clear. Smart cities are no longer just about deploying isolated technologies – they’re starting to move toward owning and managing their own AI infrastructure, and Taiwan is trying to position itself right at the center of that shift.
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