AI Transformation and the “Inner Capability Framework” for Global Market Expansion

On December 9, the World AI & IoT Innovation Alliance (WAIA), in collaboration with the Yuehai Subdistrict Office of Nanshan District, Shenzhen, successfully hosted the training salon “AI Transformation and the Inner Capability Framework for Global Expansion of IoT Enterprises.”

The event featured two seasoned industry experts—Li Zijun, Founder of Blue Ocean Uli (Shenzhen) Technology Development Co., Ltd., and Sami Wong, Founder of 3Drips (Shanghai) Psychology & Business Consulting. The discussions focused on two critical dimensions of global expansion: large-model AI applications and psychological readiness for cross-cultural markets, offering enterprises a comprehensive, forward-looking, and highly practical roadmap for overseas growth.
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The Era of Incremental Competition: How Large AI Models Enable Global Expansion

Li Zijun emphasized that, amid rapid technological shifts and intensifying market pressure, leveraging large AI models to reduce costs and improve efficiency has become an inevitable choice for enterprises. Against a complex global backdrop—marked by geopolitical uncertainty, U.S. GPU export controls, and China’s strategic focus on hard-tech development—innovation models driven purely by concepts are losing momentum. Instead, companies such as Cambricon and Moore Threads demonstrate how alignment with national industrial policy and clear technology roadmaps can create new growth opportunities.

As the global economy enters an era of incremental competition, overseas expansion has become a key strategic breakthrough, albeit one accompanied by challenges such as prolonged loss cycles and trade barriers.

Following the fourth wave of AI innovation sparked by ChatGPT in 2023, continuous advancements—including DeepSeek and Google Gemini 3.0 in 2025—have intensified industry competition, reinforcing a “move fast or fall behind” environment. Large models, with their strengths in natural language interaction, deep contextual understanding, and generative creativity, are driving technological democratization and opening new pathways for enterprise efficiency gains.

Li highlighted the dual impact of large AI models:

• At the individual level, repetitive roles face substitution risks, while experienced professionals can significantly enhance productivity using lightweight AI tools.

• At the enterprise level, AI adoption can deliver substantial cost reductions in marketing, legal services, and human resources.

At the same time, challenges such as hallucinations, outdated training data, limited real-time capabilities, and organizational integration issues must be carefully managed.

He outlined a three-tier AI adoption strategy:

1. Entry level: Using general-purpose models for new, incremental scenarios

2. Intermediate level: Deep integration with core business processes

3. Advanced level: Building domain-specific large models

Implementation should follow a structured path—from low-intrusion entry, to optimized human–AI interaction, and ultimately to a centralized decision-support system—supported by cross-functional teams, quantified roadmaps, prompt engineering capabilities, and robust data security governance.

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The Invisible Foundation of Global Success: Psychological Readiness as a Core Competency

Sami Wong underscored that the ultimate success or failure of overseas expansion is deeply rooted in cross-cultural psychological adaptation. Global expansion is fundamentally people-centric: consumer psychology, team dynamics, and cultural alignment directly shape decision-making and operational outcomes. As an “invisible but critical competitive capability,” psychological readiness often outweighs replicable business models or pricing advantages.

Sami identified key uncertainties faced by enterprises going global:

• A 30% gap between market assumptions and on-the-ground realities, where AI data alone cannot fully capture local psychological drivers

• Delayed decision feedback in overseas markets, contrasting sharply with the rapid, trend-driven domestic environment and often triggering anxiety

• Cognitive gaps caused by language and ongoing cultural shock, requiring continuous “break-and-rebuild” mental adjustments

Additional hidden challenges include habitual imitation, high talent turnover (up to 80–90% in some Southeast Asian tech firms), weak boundary awareness, and low tolerance for trial-and-error.

He proposed a stage-based psychological strategy:

• Early stage: Adopt a “zero-based mindset,” conduct rigorous risk assessment, and cultivate patience—drawing on examples such as Huawei's willingness to absorb losses during initial market entry

• Mid stage: Address team volatility and cultural conflict through clear role definition and psychological resilience training

• Mature stage: Move beyond a “colonial mindset” toward true localization, build emotionally cohesive teams, and adopt growth-oriented thinking and delayed gratification to transition from survival to refined operations

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Interactive Dialogue and Ecosystem Exchange

During the interactive discussion session, participants actively exchanged views on AI adoption and compliance. Fan Min, Deputy General Manager of the Intelligent IoT Product Department at China Mobile IoT, raised questions on AI usage and intellectual property. Zhuang Yijian, President of the Hong Kong IoT Chamber of Commerce, and Rita Gimenez, WAIA’s Europe Liaison Representative, also shared insights, fostering consensus through cross-regional dialogue.

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Looking Forward

WAIA will continue to build high-level platforms for dialogue and collaboration, encouraging enterprises to expand globally through collective strength. By aggregating cutting-edge technologies, premium industrial resources, and key ecosystem partners, WAIA aims to connect the full value chain—from innovation and project deployment to market expansion, capital enablement, and standards co-development—forming a resilient and far-reaching global cooperation network.

Contact & Further Information

Contact & Further Information

For further information, event follow-ups, or collaboration inquiries, please contact the WAIA Secretariat.

Email: yujia@waia.com丨Website: www.waia.com

We welcome inquiries from enterprises, research institutions, and ecosystem partners worldwide.