.智能
Is .智能 a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody is chasing .智能, as of 7 October 2026. One applicant claimed it and is out. We keep the entry on the record either way.
- Journey To The West
The Chinese word for "smart" is a hot AI-era keyword, but Chinese-script web addresses see little real-world use as primary identities.
chinese smart-device, smart-home, and AI product companies wanting a native-script keyword address, plus domain speculators betting on the "smart everything" wave in the Chinese-language market
In Journey To The West's published portfolio of 323 strings submitted in the ICANN 2026 round; a Chinese-script IDN (“smart”, A-label xn--5kv130d). Their catalog line: “Intelligence, built into everyday things.”
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet in the same script: an abstract Chinese-language technology-wave adjective ('mobile' then, 'smart/AI' now) opened as a namespace so any company can plant its primary identity on the era's defining capability word.
A Chinese-script generic state-of-technology word sold as broad open real estate — the buyer is any Chinese-market operator asserting a capability rather than a vertical, exactly the shape of 智能.
Near-literal same word doing the same job — an era-defining quality adjective offered as an open registry for anyone claiming the trend — but in Latin script it courts a different registrant pool than a Chinese-script string does.
What a .智能 domain is
.智能 is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. Nobody is chasing .智能 today. The applicants that claimed it are out.
Is the .智能 domain extension real yet?
.智能 is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .智能 domain?
You can’t yet. A .智能 name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .智能 was .移动, delegated on 5 February 2014.
Is .智能 a real TLD?
Not yet. .智能 is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because an applicant claimed .智能 and is no longer in it. We keep the entry, and every entry on this page links to its source.
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
“.智能 (smart) · Tech & Energy · “Intelligence, built into everyday things.””Journey To The West Corporation
- The string itself is among the strongest Chinese tech keywords: 智能 is the everyday word attached to smart phones, smart homes, smart vehicles, and it is the second half of the standard Chinese term for artificial intelligence, so semantic fit with the AI era is excellent. The problem is the delivery vehicle: by analogy with earlier Chinese-script gTLDs (e.g. .在线, .中文网, .公司), registration spikes have tended to be speculative or defensive while sustained primary-identity use stayed thin, since Chinese businesses overwhelmingly brand on ASCII domains and users rarely type han-script suffixes. In-country usability also depends qualitatively on Chinese regulatory licensing and registrar distribution, which shapes whether mainland buyers can even hold and host on it — a market factor beyond delegation. The applicant is a Beijing-based portfolio applicant with 323 submitted strings including 69 Chinese-script IDNs, which I read neutrally as a breadth strategy; per-string marketing depth is unknown. I place it high in the 10-29 band: not 30-49 because analogous Chinese IDN TLDs have not shown durable volume or credible brand-signal adoption, and not 1-9 because the keyword is genuinely hot and defensive/speculative demand from smart-hardware brands is plausible. Main market uncertainty: whether AI-era input modes (voice, chat assistants) meaningfully revive Chinese-script domain usage over the next 5 years, which would raise the ceiling for exactly this kind of keyword string.