Mobile World Congress kicks off with spotlight on AI, 5G

The 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC) opened on Monday in Barcelona, Spain, bringing together industry leaders, policymakers, and technology innovators to explore advancements in 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced connectivity.

The four-day event at the Fira Gran Via exhibition center is themed "Converge, Connect, Create," emphasizing the fusion of mobile and AI-driven technologies.

As the world's premier mobile technology gathering, this year's MWC has drawn more than 2,800 exhibitors and 1,200 speakers, with organizers expecting over 100,000 attendees to come through the doors.

More than 300 Chinese firms, including the main telecoms operators China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, and top tech firms like Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, and Xiaomi, are all showcasing their latest innovations.

These include breakthroughs on 5G-A, an evolutionary upgrade to 5G technology, as well as wearable terminal products applied in automobiles, smart computers, mobile phones, AR smart glasses, and smart watches.

The buzz around the cutting-edge innovations brought by China's leading tech firms was evident on the opening day of the event, with numerous attendees stopping by the Chinese exhibition booth.

Many hailed China's latest tech developments and expressed hopes for increased collaboration between Chinese and foreign enterprises in the future.

"The quality of Chinese telecommunication products is truly outstanding. I am very impressed and really like them. I believe they are comparable to the top products of other brands on the market," said a Spanish product manager attending the event.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.