In order to make the aerodynamic characteristics of vertical axis wind turbine""s airfoil intelligence and improve the power factor of the vertical axis wind turbine, Simulated annealing algorithm was used to the optimization method, the aerodynamic performance calculation tool XFOIL is combined with the stall correction model under the MATLAB program to calculate the aerodynamic characteristics before and after airfoil optimization. The airfoil mathematical model for controlling the airfoil curve is constructed by the CST airfoil modeling method. The control parameters of the airfoil are selected as design variables. The maximum relative thickness of the airfoil and the location of the maximum relative thickness are the constraints. The resistance ratio is the objective function, an airfoil intelligent optimization algorithm is established, and the optimization design of the NACA0018 airfoil is completed. The results show that the aerodynamic performance of the optimized airfoil is improved, the maximum lift coefficient is increased by 2%, the peak lift-to-drag ratio is increased by 5.22%, and the maximum tangential force coefficient is increased by 6.77%. It is concluded that the stall performance of the optimized airfoil has been effectively improved.