https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/519756/feed Get the latest on China’s push for semiconductor innovation, as the nation strives for self-reliance in this critical technology. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Nayan Seth Nayan Seth US Republican Senator Steve Daines, a close aide to President Donald Trump and a key interlocutor between Washington and Beijing, has called on the two capitals to stay engaged and “not retreat” over differences on issues including rare earth supply chains. Daines told the South China Morning Post that both sides still had issues that predated Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington last week and that they would continue working on them after the summit. “So that’s again why... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3369505/no-retreat-key-trump-ally-urges-continued-us-china-engagement-rare-earths?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3369505/no-retreat-key-trump-ally-urges-continued-us-china-engagement-rare-earths?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Oct 2026 22:00:09 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and AMD chief Lisa Su have joined an influential advisory board at a prestigious Chinese university, placing the two US artificial intelligence chip leaders in a high-level forum known for connecting global executives with senior Chinese officials. Huang and Su were among three new members appointed to the advisory board of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management (SEM), alongside Marc Pictet, senior managing partner of Swiss wealth and assets... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3369237/nvidia-and-amd-chiefs-join-tsinghua-advisory-board-us-china-chip-tensions-persist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3369237/nvidia-and-amd-chiefs-join-tsinghua-advisory-board-us-china-chip-tensions-persist?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:35:01 +0000 Mark Magnier Mark Magnier The US and China need to improve communication, work together more closely and more fully embrace technology to stem risks associated with artificial intelligence, the founder of Nvidia said on Monday. “We should recognise that we’re competitors, and competitors are still able to collaborate,” said Jensen Huang, head of the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of about US$5.5 trillion. “This is such an important and consequential technology. It has the incredible... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3369150/important-and-consequential-nvidias-jensen-huang-us-china-ai-race-risk-management?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3369150/important-and-consequential-nvidias-jensen-huang-us-china-ai-race-risk-management?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:20:17 +0000 Eve Qiao Eve Qiao China’s top state research body has put artificial intelligence (AI) and other frontier technologies at the heart of its new five-year plan unveiled on Monday, as global competition in science and technology heats up. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, the country’s highest academic institution, laid out a detailed blueprint for research and technology development aligned with the national 15th five-year plan covering 2026 to 2030. The plan focuses on innovation in areas including AI and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/science/article/3369084/china-targets-ai-and-frontier-tech-newly-unveiled-innovation-blueprint?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/science/article/3369084/china-targets-ai-and-frontier-tech-newly-unveiled-innovation-blueprint?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:00:17 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow If the American guests seated at the head table with President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump at Thursday’s White House state dinner were any indication, Washington now views its relationship with Beijing largely through the prism of technology. Analysts said the seating arrangement underscored how tech industry titans driving the global AI infrastructure boom were pushing to draw the two economic superpowers closer together. Sitting alongside Xi, Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan, Trump... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3368774/xi-trump-dinner-puts-us-tech-titans-spotlight-what-does-it-mean-china-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3368774/xi-trump-dinner-puts-us-tech-titans-spotlight-what-does-it-mean-china-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:00:17 +0000 Sylvia Ma Sylvia Ma As President Xi Jinping prepares to travel to the United States to meet his American counterpart Donald Trump, attention is turning to the group of business leaders who could join him. The South China Morning Post previously reported that executives from electric vehicle maker BYD, smart manufacturing giant Xiaomi and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited were likely to accompany Xi on the trip – though Beijing has yet to officially confirm the delegation. What has raised... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3368409/why-chinas-frontier-ai-pioneers-are-expected-miss-weeks-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3368409/why-chinas-frontier-ai-pioneers-are-expected-miss-weeks-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000 Howard Liu Howard Liu China is attempting to breathe new life into its nearly 20-year-old Han Xin code by promoting a miniaturised version to use on semiconductors, marking the latest chapter in Beijing’s long-running attempt to secure a foothold for its home-grown standards in global industrial supply chains. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Monday that the “Micro Han Xin” code – a scaled-down iteration of the 2007-era symbology – had entered the formal international standardisation... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3368357/china-eyes-chip-industry-foothold-tiny-han-xin-code-challenge-us-standard?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3368357/china-eyes-chip-industry-foothold-tiny-han-xin-code-challenge-us-standard?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:00:09 +0000 Sylvia Ma Sylvia Ma When the presidents of the United States and China meet in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether their two countries can make good on their agreement to work towards “constructive strategic stability”. In the fourth part of this series, Sylvia Ma looks at the economic and technological levers available to both in their protracted rivalry. For years, Huawei Technologies has served as a central battleground in the contest between the world’s two largest economies. As Washington... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3368262/us-china-tech-war-has-evolved-last-xi-trump-summit-who-has-edge-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3368262/us-china-tech-war-has-evolved-last-xi-trump-summit-who-has-edge-now?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Sep 2026 22:00:06 +0000 Howard Liu Howard Liu Huawei Technologies on Thursday unveiled a new computing architecture that it says could make as many as 1 million processors work as a single computer, putting its UnifiedBus interconnect technology at the centre of an ambitious effort to rethink how large data centres are built. The Peerium Computing Architecture combines nested parallelism, unified memory addressing and peer-to-peer interconnect, with UnifiedBus serving as the high-speed fabric connecting processors, memory, storage and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367882/how-huawei-plans-bypass-us-chip-curbs-its-new-unifiedbus-technology?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367882/how-huawei-plans-bypass-us-chip-curbs-its-new-unifiedbus-technology?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:07 +0000 Ralph Jennings,He Huifeng Ralph Jennings,He Huifeng President Xi Jinping has reiterated calls for China to make its supply chains more resilient and self-sufficient while accelerating the creation of a modern industrial system underpinned by advanced manufacturing. Xi’s latest directives, issued at a national conference on advanced manufacturing in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday, were said to be aimed at strengthening the Chinese economy, the state-run Xinhua reported. Xi’s push this week echoed Beijing’s previous statements and came as the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3367877/president-xis-industrial-power-play-sees-china-bet-big-ai-chips-and-smarter-factories?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3367877/president-xis-industrial-power-play-sees-china-bet-big-ai-chips-and-smarter-factories?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:29:58 +0000 Howard Liu,Iris Deng,Coco Feng Howard Liu,Iris Deng,Coco Feng Huawei Technologies said on Thursday that it would launch its next-generation artificial intelligence chip in the first quarter of 2027, moving the target launch forward by nine months as the firm aggressively expands its ecosystem amid China’s self-sufficiency push. David Wang Tao, rotating and acting chairman for Huawei, said on Thursday that the Ascend 960DT chip, an AI chip designed for model training, “with performance doubling”, would be “ready in the first quarter of 2027”, three quarters... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367832/huawei-quickens-ai-chip-pace-promises-next-entrant-3-quarters-early?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367832/huawei-quickens-ai-chip-pace-promises-next-entrant-3-quarters-early?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Sep 2026 06:36:28 +0000 SCMP SCMP We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Another Chinese national dies in US immigration custody, raising profiling fears The Chinese-American community expressed anger and concern on September 3 over the death of a Chinese national in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on US territory. Read the full story here. 2. US... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3367373/ice-death-strikes-china-proposed-over-ai-huawei-trial-7-us-china-relations-reads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3367373/ice-death-strikes-china-proposed-over-ai-huawei-trial-7-us-china-relations-reads?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:00:07 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee A DeepSeek engineer has issued a stark warning about the potential concentration of advanced artificial intelligence and resources in proprietary US developers Anthropic and OpenAI, intensifying a growing debate in China over calls by US industry leaders to “pace” AI development amid safety concerns. The comments preceded an expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump on September 24, where AI safety may emerge as a key point of dialogue as the two countries race... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3367605/deepseek-ai-engineer-slams-anthropic-openai-over-pacing-calls-invokes-nazi-germany?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3367605/deepseek-ai-engineer-slams-anthropic-openai-over-pacing-calls-invokes-nazi-germany?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:30:14 +0000 Frank Chen Frank Chen An intensifying tech race with the United States, along with Beijing’s drive for technological self-reliance, has led China’s leaders to place greater significance and urgency on breakthroughs in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence to integrated circuits and chips in its latest five-year plan for electronics and information technology. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, on Tuesday... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3367622/china-bets-chips-and-ai-new-5-year-road-map-challenge-us-tech-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3367622/china-bets-chips-and-ai-new-5-year-road-map-challenge-us-tech-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:02 +0000 Khushboo Razdan,William Zheng,Dewey Sim Khushboo Razdan,William Zheng,Dewey Sim Rising tensions over artificial intelligence are shaping the final preparations for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States. Washington and Beijing are discussing the possibility of folding a long-awaited AI dialogue into a broader economic meeting in the days before Xi meets US President Donald Trump, according to several people familiar with the arrangements. The two leaders agreed in Beijing in May to launch an intergovernmental dialogue on AI. For months, that channel was... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3367242/ai-fight-shadows-final-preparations-xi-jinpings-white-house-visit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3367242/ai-fight-shadows-final-preparations-xi-jinpings-white-house-visit?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:00:10 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow American artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has accused its Chinese AI rivals DeepSeek and Moonshot on Thursday of covertly routing customer requests to its Claude models, then showing users the responses as if they were from their own models. The new allegations mark a further escalation in US criticism of China’s AI industry practices. Earlier this week, three US government agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), claimed... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3367112/moonshot-deepseek-secretly-routed-user-requests-claude-anthropic-claims?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3367112/moonshot-deepseek-secretly-routed-user-requests-claude-anthropic-claims?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2026 23:23:18 +0000 Howard Liu Howard Liu Huawei Technologies’ latest flagship mobile processor is serving as a high-stakes test of whether the company can bypass US technology sanctions by layering circuits on top of each other to boost performance, according to analysts. The Shenzhen-based firm on Monday launched the Kirin 9050 Pro, the first commercial chip employing its LogicFolding architecture. The new strategy aims to squeeze greater computing power out of semiconductor designs without relying solely on the circuit-shrinking... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366669/huaweis-new-kirin-chip-puts-logic-folding-test-bigger-ambitions-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366669/huaweis-new-kirin-chip-puts-logic-folding-test-bigger-ambitions-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 02:00:18 +0000 Ji Siqi Ji Siqi China will impose provisional anti-dumping duties of up to 99.2 per cent on Japanese dichlorosilane, a critical chemical used in chipmaking, after an eight-month investigation found that dumped imports had harmed local manufacturers. The Ministry of Commerce announced the preliminary ruling on Monday, saying importers of dichlorosilane originating from Japan would be required to pay corresponding cash deposits from Tuesday. Shipments from Denal Silane, a manufacturer of semiconductor speciality... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3366661/china-hits-critical-japanese-chipmaking-chemical-steep-anti-dumping-measures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3366661/china-hits-critical-japanese-chipmaking-chemical-steep-anti-dumping-measures?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Sep 2026 11:27:28 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Huawei Technologies has released a new research paper showing its Tau Scaling Law-based semiconductor architecture can avoid overheating, which analysts view as a key technical hurdle for its anticipated Kirin 2026 smartphone chip. The paper, authored by He Tingbo, chairwoman of the Huawei Scientist Committee and president of the company’s semiconductor business department, rebutted scepticism that vertically stacking logic circuits would create an insurmountable thermal bottleneck. It was... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366543/huawei-paper-shows-tau-scaling-law-chip-solves-overheating-ahead-kirin-2026-launch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366543/huawei-paper-shows-tau-scaling-law-chip-solves-overheating-ahead-kirin-2026-launch?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:06:42 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Chinese technology companies seeking public listings are increasingly concentrated in areas where Beijing is trying to break its reliance on foreign technology, as years of US export controls reshape the country’s pipeline of stock market hopefuls. About 20 per cent of companies that have launched initial public offerings on Shanghai’s Star Market so far this year are engaged in tackling key technological “chokepoints” facing China, compared with just 8.1 per cent in 2022, according to a Morgan... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366164/us-export-curbs-have-reshaped-chinas-tech-scene-around-chokepoints-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366164/us-export-curbs-have-reshaped-chinas-tech-scene-around-chokepoints-report?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Sep 2026 01:29:43 +0000 Howard Liu Howard Liu Chinese chip equipment giant Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (AMEC) has unveiled six new machines – at different stages of commercialisation – in a single day as the company accelerates research and development to feed soaring local demand driven by Beijing’s self-reliance push. The new line-up, announced at an industry conference in Wuxi on Tuesday, spans several steps in chip production, including etching tools that carve microscopic patterns into wafers, deposition systems that build... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366079/chinas-amec-unveils-6-chip-making-machines-one-day-speed-self-reliance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366079/chinas-amec-unveils-6-chip-making-machines-one-day-speed-self-reliance?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Sep 2026 07:04:16 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng A Chinese court’s order to freeze 2.14 billion yuan (US$318 million) in Nexperia-affiliated assets has cemented the operational independence of its Chinese manufacturing engine from its European headquarters, leaving its local facilities increasingly isolated amid a prolonged custody battle. The Dongguan Intermediate People’s Court in the southern province of Guangdong, where Nexperia’s biggest assembly and test plant is located, has frozen the equity interests in four subsidiaries owned by the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3365996/whats-next-after-china-court-freezes-us318m-nexperia-assets-amid-wingtech-battle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3365996/whats-next-after-china-court-freezes-us318m-nexperia-assets-amid-wingtech-battle?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:30:07 +0000 Khushboo Razdan Khushboo Razdan US President Donald Trump has already announced the date: September 24. That is when, Trump says, Chinese President Xi Jinping will come to the White House for a visit following the “America first” leader’s own three-day trip to Beijing in May. But there is a diplomatic wrinkle. The Trump administration has publicly put the date on the calendar. Beijing has not formally announced Xi’s Washington visit. According to sources familiar with the plan, Xi is expected to arrive in Washington on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3365846/prediction-markets-have-priced-trump-xi-summit-do-bets-have-any-value?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3365846/prediction-markets-have-priced-trump-xi-summit-do-bets-have-any-value?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:17 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Leading chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) has joined a growing list of Chinese technology companies suing the US government over their additions to Pentagon blacklists, as legal experts said US courts had shown a willingness to hold the Department of Defence to account. Recent rulings involving Chinese tech firms including lidar sensor maker Hesai Group, drone manufacturer DJI and biotech firm WuXi AppTec indicated that judges were prepared to scrutinise the US government’s evidence... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3365751/cxmt-joins-growing-list-chinese-tech-firms-suing-us-pentagon-over-blacklists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3365751/cxmt-joins-growing-list-chinese-tech-firms-suing-us-pentagon-over-blacklists?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Aug 2026 09:46:26 +0000 Xinlu Liang Xinlu Liang On the windswept plains just south of Tibet’s second-largest city, the towering smart inspection systems and automated cargo gantries of a brand-new international land port gleam under the plateau’s high-altitude sun. Official road maps predict the multibillion-yuan project in Shigatse will process up to 300 trucks daily by the end of 2030 – loading cargo off trains and onto the trucks that will take goods to their final destination. It will also allow the authorities to carry out customs checks... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/politics/article/3365622/can-beijings-gateway-plan-tibet-survive-geopolitics-and-natural-disasters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/politics/article/3365622/can-beijings-gateway-plan-tibet-survive-geopolitics-and-natural-disasters?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Aug 2026 22:00:09 +0000 Vincent Chow,Lucy Quaggin Vincent Chow,Lucy Quaggin The front page of the Danville Register & Bee, a local newspaper in southern Virginia with a circulation of fewer than 4,000, carried an unusual headline. “LEADER: CHINA BEHIND THE MISCONCEPTIONS”, it read, above a photograph of two homes dwarfed by a data centre behind. The leader in question was Vic Ingram, chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA), a local body jointly established by the city of Danville and neighbouring Pittsylvania County to promote... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3365368/small-virginia-town-distrust-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3365368/small-virginia-town-distrust-big-tech-hampers-trumps-ai-push?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Aug 2026 15:27:24 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng The China unit of Dutch chipmaker Nexperia has announced plans to shift its entire product line to a domestic 12-inch silicon wafer foundry, pursuing what it calls “independent operations” amid a nearly one-year-long dispute with its European headquarters. Speaking at a press conference themed “based in China, serve the world” on Sunday, Nexperia’s China team – which used to source wafers from the firm’s European fabrication plants – said it was moving towards “100 per cent domestic production”,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3365049/nexperias-china-unit-pivots-domestic-12-inch-wafers-pursuit-100-independence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3365049/nexperias-china-unit-pivots-domestic-12-inch-wafers-pursuit-100-independence?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Aug 2026 08:12:26 +0000 Wency Chen,Ann Cao Wency Chen,Ann Cao Supernodes were everywhere at last month’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai. Assemblies of dozens or hundreds of computer chips and associated hardware, supernodes are China’s way around the United States’ ban on the export of the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips. Using greater quantities of domestic chips to deliver world-class computing power, they allow China to dodge the chokehold the US is trying to place on its AI aspirations. At this year’s WAIC,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/big-tech/article/3364660/chinas-supernodes-go-mainstream-ai-model-sizes-grow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/big-tech/article/3364660/chinas-supernodes-go-mainstream-ai-model-sizes-grow?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Aug 2026 06:54:50 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow As China deepens the commercialisation of its vast troves of data, the United States needs to develop its own national data strategy that treats data as an economic asset to better position itself to prevail in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, a key US congressional advisory body has said. In a report published on Tuesday, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) warned that the US risks ceding global leadership in setting global data... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3364489/us-urged-follow-chinas-lead-treating-data-economic-asset?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3364489/us-urged-follow-chinas-lead-treating-data-economic-asset?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Aug 2026 23:27:39 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao China’s top two contract chipmakers, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and Hua Hong Grace Semiconductor, saw their profits surge by triple digits in the second quarter, amid a spike in demand for domestic artificial intelligence chips free of US export controls. Net profits for SMIC and Hua Hong jumped 261.7 per cent and 385.9 per cent year on year to US$479.2 million and US$38.6 million, respectively, in the June quarter. SMIC, the country’s largest foundry, said... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3363929/ai-demand-drives-triple-digit-quarterly-profit-growth-chinese-foundries-smic-hua-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3363929/ai-demand-drives-triple-digit-quarterly-profit-growth-chinese-foundries-smic-hua-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:00:10 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin China is expanding its scientific collaboration with Iran into the strategically sensitive field of rare earths, including processing technologies that Beijing has increasingly sought to protect from overseas transfer. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) unveiled the latest joint workshop programme with its Iranian counterpart on Monday, listing the “exploration and processing of rare earth elements” among five areas selected for cooperation. The Chinese side will provide... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/science/article/3363814/china-sending-scientists-iran-rare-earth-exploration-and-processing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/science/article/3363814/china-sending-scientists-iran-rare-earth-exploration-and-processing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:00:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Ann Cao Minxiao Chang,Ann Cao China’s most advanced artificial intelligence models are still being trained on Nvidia chips, sources at major Chinese large language model (LLM) developers say, as the prohibitively high cost of switching to local semiconductors continues to hamper Beijing’s push for self-sufficiency. While domestic hardware continues to advance, changing chip architecture presents a steep engineering bottleneck. “Training LLMs on Nvidia chips for now remains the norm among Chinese AI developers,” said a person... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3363491/chinas-top-ai-still-trained-nvidia-chips-what-delaying-switch-local-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3363491/chinas-top-ai-still-trained-nvidia-chips-what-delaying-switch-local-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:23 +0000 Xiaofei Xu,Ben Jiang Xiaofei Xu,Ben Jiang Aiming to catch up with the United States and China, the European Union has opened bidding for up to seven AI gigafactories, putting up €10 billion (US$11.52 billion) in public money and counting on private investors for €20 billion more. Industry insiders welcomed the tender – modest by AI industry standards and more than a year in the making – as a necessary first step, but warned that the plan as drafted risked benefiting the very American tech giants Europe wanted to rival and that Brussels... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/article/3363338/europe-hails-ai-gigafactory-plan-industry-fears-deeper-us-tech-reliance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/article/3363338/europe-hails-ai-gigafactory-plan-industry-fears-deeper-us-tech-reliance?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:00:07 +0000 Huizhao Huang,Xiaofei Xu Huizhao Huang,Xiaofei Xu Officials in Berlin are reportedly mapping out industries where China is still dependent on German suppliers, as they search for the same kind of chokepoints Beijing has spent years accumulating in Europe. But while European analysts deemed the search long overdue, some warned that any leverage it found would be both hard to use and shorter-lived than Berlin hoped. The reported search comes amid escalating trade tensions and increasing concerns in Germany about losing its industrial base to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3363035/germany-may-be-searching-its-supply-chains-leverage-china-will-it-find-any?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3363035/germany-may-be-searching-its-supply-chains-leverage-china-will-it-find-any?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:01:14 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao When Liao Heng joined Huawei Technologies’ chip-design unit in 2016, he was sceptical about whether China could ever build world-class semiconductors. A former child prodigy who entered Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University in 1987 at age 14 before moving to Princeton University for postdoctoral research, Liao had spent over a decade in the United States watching what he described as a “long sunset” for American chip start-ups. Working abroad, he noted, often bred a “blind arrogance” that... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3362960/top-huawei-chip-scientist-opens-strategy-blind-arrogance-and-his-war-hero-mindset?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3362960/top-huawei-chip-scientist-opens-strategy-blind-arrogance-and-his-war-hero-mindset?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:29:31 +0000 SCMP SCMP We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Liberation Day 2.0? US slaps fresh wave of tariffs on China, 50-plus economies On July 24, the United States imposed a fresh wave of tariffs against 60 economies, including China, Japan, South Korea, India and European Union member states, hours before a temporary 10 per cent blanket levy... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3362449/trump-election-claims-debunked-us-critical-minerals-fears-7-us-china-relations-reads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3362449/trump-election-claims-debunked-us-critical-minerals-fears-7-us-china-relations-reads?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Aug 2026 14:00:10 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao China has revised regulations on the protection of chip design, a critical move to push for tech self-sufficiency amid US export controls. Premier Li Qiang signed a State Council decree to promulgate the revised rules on the protection of layout designs of integrated circuits, Xinhua reported on Monday. The new rules will take effect on October 15. The revision clarified financial penalties for infringement as well as licensing, transfer and co-ownership rights, aiming to accelerate the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3362825/china-tightens-chip-design-protection-and-clarifies-rights-spur-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3362825/china-tightens-chip-design-protection-and-clarifies-rights-spur-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:18:43 +0000 Ben Jiang,Ling Xin Ben Jiang,Ling Xin American materials scientist Elsa Reichmanis, whose pioneering work helped lay part of the foundation for modern semiconductor manufacturing, said scientific collaboration should transcend rivalry after receiving one of China’s highest honours for foreign experts, describing science as “a universal language” that benefits all of society. Reichmanis, a professor of chemical engineering in Lehigh University’s department of chemical and biomolecular engineering and the director of its Institute for... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3362398/us-scientist-elsa-reichmanis-defends-global-collaboration-amid-scrutiny-science-exchange?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3362398/us-scientist-elsa-reichmanis-defends-global-collaboration-amid-scrutiny-science-exchange?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:00:09 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is meeting US officials and lawmakers in Washington this week amid reports that its export-controlled processors have been used to train advanced Chinese artificial intelligence models. Huang met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, US outlet Axios reported, citing an anonymous source. Neither the US Commerce Department nor Nvidia confirmed that the meeting occurred, and its purpose was not disclosed. “Jensen is in DC to meet with leaders on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3362184/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-meets-us-officials-scrutiny-grows-over-china-chip-access?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3362184/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-meets-us-officials-scrutiny-grows-over-china-chip-access?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jul 2026 21:21:58 +0000 https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/series/3362173/exclusive-jacob-helberg-interview?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/series/3362173/exclusive-jacob-helberg-interview?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jul 2026 15:12:20 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Zhipu AI have not only seen their share prices skyrocket, but they have also handed a windfall to their common backer: Alibaba Group Holding. Before the listing of China’s memory-chip giant on Monday, Alibaba owned nearly 5 per cent of CXMT, making it the chipmaker’s largest industrial shareholder, according to the prospectus. Alibaba has invested about 7.6 billion yuan in CXMT since 2021. Based on Tuesday’s closing market capitalisation of about 3.14... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3362156/cxmt-zhipu-how-alibabas-investment-pays-growing-ai-and-chip-portfolio?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3362156/cxmt-zhipu-how-alibabas-investment-pays-growing-ai-and-chip-portfolio?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:30:06 +0000 Howard Liu,Ann Cao Howard Liu,Ann Cao Western anxiety over a potential breakthrough in Chinese chipmaking gear may be rising, but home-grown machines are not the greatest threat facing industry leader ASML, according to analysts. The Dutch firm’s shares fell more than 8 per cent at one point on Monday in the US before closing down 5.8 per cent, after The Information reported that China had begun manufacturing home-grown immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines through a state-backed company in Shanghai. China would... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3362139/chinas-home-grown-duv-progress-not-biggest-threat-asml-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3362139/chinas-home-grown-duv-progress-not-biggest-threat-asml-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jul 2026 10:30:08 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei is urging Washington to tighten chip export bans and clamp down on Chinese “distillation”, framing it as critical for preserving the US lead in artificial intelligence. In a blog post on Monday, Amodei called a chip ban “the most efficient and direct way” of preventing Beijing from building frontier AI models for military use and domestic surveillance, which he said was his primary concern. The US “should not sell powerful chips or chipmaking equipment... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3362105/anthropic-ceo-amodei-urges-washington-tighten-china-chip-export-bans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3362105/anthropic-ceo-amodei-urges-washington-tighten-china-chip-export-bans?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jul 2026 07:10:57 +0000 Han Li Han Li A congressional advisory panel focused on China has returned from a trip to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou with commissioners pledging to make the visits an annual event to strengthen engagement and inform their work on US-China relations. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), an independent advisory body established in 2000, provides annual reports and recommendations to lawmakers on trade and national security-related policies. “We are committed to seeking to return at... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3362047/us-congressional-party-vows-annual-visits-china-after-positive-trade-trip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3362047/us-congressional-party-vows-annual-visits-china-after-positive-trade-trip?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jul 2026 20:30:35 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen On the surface, China’s cutting-edge tech sector – from the algorithmic breakthroughs of DeepSeek and Zhipu AI to the hardware of Unitree Robotics and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) – mirrors Silicon Valley’s venture capital-backed ecosystem. But a closer look at their financing histories reveals a common investor: the Chinese state. Beijing’s strong presence underscores a more profound structural shift in how China’s frontier technology is being funded. As Western venture capital and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3361779/investment-chinese-characteristics-how-beijings-money-reshaping-tech-ventures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3361779/investment-chinese-characteristics-how-beijings-money-reshaping-tech-ventures?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Jul 2026 02:00:15 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow A group of American tech giants, including Nvidia, Palantir and Meta, signed a public letter on Friday calling for US leadership in open-weight AI models, an area that China currently dominates. The challenge comes amid growing speculation that the Trump administration might introduce restrictions on open AI models. These would aim to address national security risks of the fast-moving technology and combat the growing popularity of Chinese models, a move that critics say would instead hurt US... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3361813/nvidia-palantir-meta-warn-against-premature-restrictions-open-weight-models?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3361813/nvidia-palantir-meta-warn-against-premature-restrictions-open-weight-models?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:57:47 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Huawei Technologies founder Ren Zhengfei has thrown his weight behind the Chinese tech giant’s Tau Scaling Law, framing the new chip-design principle as an existential necessity to survive tightening US sanctions. “The Tau Scaling Law is the only path forward for Huawei to break the siege,” Ren said in recent internal remarks posted on Huawei’s Xinsheng Community intranet, according to a report on Friday by the state-backed Science and Technology Daily. Unlike companies with other technological... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3361772/huaweis-ren-zhengfei-backs-tau-scaling-law-beat-us-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3361772/huaweis-ren-zhengfei-backs-tau-scaling-law-beat-us-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:00:09 +0000 Nayan Seth,Lucy Quaggin Nayan Seth,Lucy Quaggin More than one-third of Americans see China, and not the United States, as the global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), according to a Pew Research Centre survey released on Thursday, as US President Donald Trump confirmed the technology would be on the agenda when his Chinese counterpart visits the US later this year. The survey found that 36 per cent of Americans believe China is more advanced than the United States in developing artificial intelligence. By comparison, only 12 per cent... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3361654/more-americans-think-china-world-leader-ai-new-survey-reveals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3361654/more-americans-think-china-world-leader-ai-new-survey-reveals?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Jul 2026 23:21:24 +0000 Nayan Seth Nayan Seth Washington is still not receiving sufficient critical mineral exports from China, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday, even as top American and Chinese officials met to finalise key economic deliverables for President Xi Jinping’s expected visit to the White House. “We are getting a flow of critical minerals from China. It’s not as much as we would want. It’s not at the pace we would want, but we are getting them,” Greer said during his testimony before the Senate Finance... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3361513/us-not-getting-enough-critical-minerals-china-greer-says-xi-trump-meeting-looms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3361513/us-not-getting-enough-critical-minerals-china-greer-says-xi-trump-meeting-looms?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jul 2026 21:36:35 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow The Trump administration has accused Chinese start-up Moonshot AI of covertly extracting capabilities from leading US artificial intelligence models and obtaining restricted Nvidia chips abroad, escalating Washington’s scrutiny of the company following the release of its powerful Kimi K3 model. Michael Kratsios, the White House science and technology adviser, alleged on Wednesday that the Beijing-based company had targeted Anthropic’s most powerful model, Claude Fable 5, through large-scale... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3361510/trump-tech-official-accuses-chinas-moonshot-ai-stealing-anthropic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3361510/trump-tech-official-accuses-chinas-moonshot-ai-stealing-anthropic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jul 2026 19:32:25 +0000