The Hangzhou Wahaha Group is a private group of companies, and the largest beverage producer in China. Wahaha has roughly 150 subsidiary companies and 60 manufacturing bases scattered throughout China. In 2017 Wahaha signed a letter of intent with the University of Haifa in Israel and the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) to jointly set up an artificial intelligence research center. The center will work toward commercialization of artificial intelligence.