Key Takeaways
- • Hu Qi, Executive Director at Qiming Venture Partners, has spent the past decade continuously in AI investment, transitioning from an AI algorithm engineer with a Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence to a venture investor—maintaining focus throughout both pre-hype and post-popularization periods of the sector.
- • Qiming Venture Partners manages $9.5 billion across eleven USD funds and seven RMB funds, positioning it as a major player in Chinese venture capital with deep AI sector expertise across over 100 invested AI projects spanning AI 1.0 through AI 2.0 cycles.
- • The 2026 WAVES Conference, hosted by 36Kr in Guangzhou, signals a structural shift in Chinese venture capital, with AI moving from theoretical concept to deep industry integration and hard-tech entrepreneurship transitioning from niche to mainstream consensus among investors and entrepreneurs.
- • Hu Qi's career trajectory reflects broader industry transformation: his continuous presence in AI investment across changing market cycles demonstrates the persistence required in emerging technology sectors and the value of deep domain expertise in venture capital decision-making.
Summary
Hu Qi, Executive Director at Qiming Venture Partners, shared his investment thesis and decade-long trajectory in artificial intelligence at the 2026 WAVES Conference hosted by 36Kr in Guangzhou on June 25, 2026. Hu holds a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence and has maintained continuous focus on the AI sector since graduation, transitioning from algorithm engineering roles into venture investment without departing from his core domain expertise. His career arc—working on AI during periods of low market attention and continuing through subsequent popularization—positions him as a representative figure for investors navigating the sector's evolution from emerging technology to industry-critical infrastructure.
Qiming Venture Partners, the firm where Hu serves as Executive Director, has established significant scale and AI-sector specialization. The firm currently manages $9.5 billion in assets across eleven USD-denominated funds and seven RMB-denominated funds, reflecting both its capital base and geographic operational focus. Qiming has invested in over 100 AI-related projects spanning multiple technology cycles, from earlier AI 1.0 implementations through contemporary AI 2.0 developments, providing the firm with longitudinal experience across different phases of AI adoption and maturation within the Chinese technology ecosystem.
The 2026 WAVES Conference itself serves as a barometer for Chinese venture capital sentiment and investment priorities. The event, themed "This Summer," convened top-tier investors, industry leaders, and emerging entrepreneurs across two days of programming including 14 in-depth roundtables and multiple independent speeches. The conference architecture—with dedicated tracks on AI, hard-tech, international expansion, and healthcare—reflects the current mainstream consensus that these sectors represent core investment opportunity areas. The programming suggests a fundamental repositioning in how Chinese venture capital views technology entrepreneurship: hard-tech development, previously considered a niche track, has achieved status as mainstream investment focus alongside AI's movement from theoretical concept into practical industrial application.
Hu Qi's public remarks at the conference emphasized the continuity of his AI focus across changing market conditions, noting that observers had joked about his sustained attention to AI whether the sector was popular or unpopular. This observation carries implications for institutional investors evaluating venture capital talent: deep domain expertise maintained through multiple market cycles may provide superior pattern recognition and risk assessment compared to managers who enter high-profile sectors opportunistically during periods of peak market attention.
Qiming Venture Partners, the firm where Hu serves as Executive Director, has established significant scale and AI-sector specialization. The firm currently manages $9.5 billion in assets across eleven USD-denominated funds and seven RMB-denominated funds, reflecting both its capital base and geographic operational focus. Qiming has invested in over 100 AI-related projects spanning multiple technology cycles, from earlier AI 1.0 implementations through contemporary AI 2.0 developments, providing the firm with longitudinal experience across different phases of AI adoption and maturation within the Chinese technology ecosystem.
The 2026 WAVES Conference itself serves as a barometer for Chinese venture capital sentiment and investment priorities. The event, themed "This Summer," convened top-tier investors, industry leaders, and emerging entrepreneurs across two days of programming including 14 in-depth roundtables and multiple independent speeches. The conference architecture—with dedicated tracks on AI, hard-tech, international expansion, and healthcare—reflects the current mainstream consensus that these sectors represent core investment opportunity areas. The programming suggests a fundamental repositioning in how Chinese venture capital views technology entrepreneurship: hard-tech development, previously considered a niche track, has achieved status as mainstream investment focus alongside AI's movement from theoretical concept into practical industrial application.
Hu Qi's public remarks at the conference emphasized the continuity of his AI focus across changing market conditions, noting that observers had joked about his sustained attention to AI whether the sector was popular or unpopular. This observation carries implications for institutional investors evaluating venture capital talent: deep domain expertise maintained through multiple market cycles may provide superior pattern recognition and risk assessment compared to managers who enter high-profile sectors opportunistically during periods of peak market attention.
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