The ongoing 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics has become a key window for showcasing Chinese manufacturing and technological strengths.
Pin trading has long been part of Olympic culture. A smart pin exchange station tucked inside the athlete village has become an unexpected attraction.
Participants place one of their own pins into a capsule, then let an AI-driven robotic arm randomly select another. The station is powered by Alibaba Cloud’s large language model, Qwen. It allows users to give voice instructions in Chinese, English, French and Italian.
Chinese tech brands show their presence
At the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, many Chinese tech brands supported the event’s operations.
Alibaba Cloud has a partnership with the International Olympic Committee to deploy cloud and AI technologies. TCL has a partnership with Olympic Broadcasting Services to supply hundreds of TVs, digital signage and LED screens for Olympic broadcasts.
Chinese sportswear brands such as Anta and Li-Ning have also expanded their presence. Anta Group, through its three brands, Anta, FILA, and Descente, is providing professional competition and training gear to as many as 13 Chinese national teams.
Anta is equipping 10 national teams across core speed disciplines, including short track speed skating, speed skating and skeleton. FILA is providing gear for China’s national freestyle skiing aerials team. Descente is supporting both the national snowboard half-pipe team and the alpine skiing team.
At this year’s Winter Games, Li-Ning supplied the Chinese delegation’s opening and medal-ceremony uniforms.
Chinese outdoor apparel brand TANBOER signed a sponsorship deal with Austria’s national snowboard team.
Experts said that Chinese brands’ faster push into overseas sporting arenas marks a shift from resource integration to standards-setting. Chinese brands have shifted from home-stage exposure to direct competition across multiple national delegations, where performance, delivery and commercial acceptance matter more than symbolism.
Written by Sha Liu, additional reporting by Xinhua and Global Times.
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