https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/520842/feed DeepSeek is a Chinese artificial intelligence company founded by Liang Wenfeng. Its low-cost AI model was developed with significantly fewer computing resources than those of bigger US tech firms like OpenAI and Meta. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Lucy Quaggin Lucy Quaggin Citing national security concerns, the US government has ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and any third-party services developed using the Chinese artificial intelligence model from their information systems. In a notice made public on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also barred agencies from acquiring DeepSeek products and services, including those developed by affiliated entities. The notice said that using the company’s products “may result in... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/article/3371431/us-orders-deepseek-removed-federal-systems-citing-national-security-risks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/article/3371431/us-orders-deepseek-removed-federal-systems-citing-national-security-risks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:49:10 +0000 Wang Huiyao Wang Huiyao In New York last month, US-China talks on artificial intelligence opened up a path of cooperation. This was affirmed by the Xi-Trump summit in Washington where both presidents agreed to establish a formal AI dialogue and hotline. With the next AI meeting set to happen in November, it is imperative that both countries further cooperation. The AI ecosystem is in flux. American tech companies are draining their coffers as they commit vast sums to chips, data centres and energy before the revenue... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3370909/us-china-ai-talks-must-ensure-safety-both-tech-and-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3370909/us-china-ai-talks-must-ensure-safety-both-tech-and-business?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:30:05 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek apologised and promised compensation to users after its services suffered a nearly five-hour outage on Thursday. DeepSeek will issue users a full refund for any consumption between October 8 and October 14 in the form of credits, according to a notice posted on the Hangzhou-based start-up’s application programming interface (API) platform. DeepSeek’s namesake chatbot and API services for its V4 Pro and V4.1 Flash models went offline on Thursday... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371047/deepseek-offers-user-refunds-after-suffering-another-major-outage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371047/deepseek-offers-user-refunds-after-suffering-another-major-outage?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Oct 2026 12:55:26 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang New research has exposed a potential flaw in the memory-saving technology underpinning DeepSeek’s models, marking a rare challenge to a breakthrough that has helped the Chinese artificial intelligence lab close the gap with US rivals OpenAI and Anthropic with its low-cost approach. The findings were published late last month in a paper led by researchers from ByteDance and co-authors affiliated with Princeton University, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. The study,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3370550/deepseeks-cost-saving-ai-may-lead-inaccuracy-model-performance-research?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3370550/deepseeks-cost-saving-ai-may-lead-inaccuracy-model-performance-research?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Oct 2026 07:00:07 +0000 Dhruv Atreja Dhruv Atreja On June 12, two of the world’s most capable artificial intelligence models went dark. An American export directive barred foreigners from using Anthropic’s two flagship AI models, and because the company could not check every user’s nationality, it switched them off. Access returned on July 1 but the warning is clear: India’s AI future can be switched off from Washington. In September, Beijing came calling. At the Brics summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised China would “be a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3369950/ai-indias-choice-neednt-be-between-us-leash-or-chinese-hook?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3369950/ai-indias-choice-neednt-be-between-us-leash-or-chinese-hook?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Oct 2026 21:30:07 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Did Chinese AI companies secretly tap US models to close the technology gap? That is the central question hanging over China’s tech sector following a wave of allegations from Washington and American AI lab Anthropic. According to a joint advisory by the National Security Agency, FBI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last month, Chinese AI developers have been systematically extracting capabilities from US frontier models to reduce their own computing, electricity and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3370317/anthropic-claims-chinese-ai-firms-secretly-use-claude-it-true?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3370317/anthropic-claims-chinese-ai-firms-secretly-use-claude-it-true?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:30:07 +0000 Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Meta Platforms’ breakout Muse personal AI agent is shining a spotlight on a new battleground in artificial intelligence – one in which China’s biggest internet companies are already jostling for position. Launched on September 8, Muse surpassed 2.5 million downloads in its first two weeks and topped free-app rankings on Apple and Google’s US app stores. Its popularity has drawn fresh attention to the emerging market for what are known as agent harnesses. Unlike chatbots, which merely respond to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370123/can-china-match-metas-muse-race-harness-ai-agents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370123/can-china-match-metas-muse-race-harness-ai-agents?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:08 +0000 Ralph Jennings Ralph Jennings TikTok owner ByteDance is China’s Going Global champion, according to a new SCMP Plus databank tracking mainland companies’ overseas expansion efforts. The social media giant topped the debut SCMP Plus Going Global 100 ranking ahead of Apple assembler Foxconn Industrial Internet, online fashion retailer Shein and electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD. More than 2,000 companies were assessed as part of the research project, which assigned each contender a weighted score based on overseas revenue,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/3370010/bytedance-heads-first-scmp-plus-going-global-100-ranking?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/china-business/article/3370010/bytedance-heads-first-scmp-plus-going-global-100-ranking?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Oct 2026 03:02:05 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee China’s open-weight artificial intelligence models are taking off globally, but much of the money they generate is flowing to third-party providers rather than the companies that create them, according to a new study. Developers including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI make their model weights – essentially the “brains” of their AI systems – freely available for download. This strategy, which has accelerated global adoption over the past two years, allows other companies to run the models on their own... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3370012/chinas-open-weight-ai-models-are-winning-global-users-who-capturing-value?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3370012/chinas-open-weight-ai-models-are-winning-global-users-who-capturing-value?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:00:09 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Even as geopolitical frictions and market swings unsettle venture investors, Hong Kong-founded Hermitage Capital is sticking to a global strategy of backing frontier technology companies wherever they emerge. With a US$1.5 billion war chest that is 80 per cent in US dollars, with the remainder in renminbi, the private equity firm is ramping up investments across artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics, mainly in the US and China, capitalising on a market turnaround triggered by the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3369872/hong-kongs-hermitage-capital-stays-devoted-top-tier-tech-stocks-amid-jitters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3369872/hong-kongs-hermitage-capital-stays-devoted-top-tier-tech-stocks-amid-jitters?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:00:07 +0000 Wency Chen,Howard Liu Wency Chen,Howard Liu China has set a five-year goal for the expansion of intelligent computing capacity to drive artificial intelligence (AI) that calls for a more than fourfold increase on what was in place at the end of June this year. To reach the 2030 target while being blocked by the United States from importing the most advanced Western-made AI chips will require innovation, adaptation and the application and coordination of vast resources. Judging by the 177 per cent increase in capacity achieved in the year... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/policy/article/3369537/chinas-ai-compute-ambitions-demand-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/policy/article/3369537/chinas-ai-compute-ambitions-demand-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Oct 2026 07:05:21 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek on Wednesday open-sourced a suite of core tools tailored for Huawei Technologies’ Ascend AI chips, marking a step forward in the country’s push to end dependence on processors from US giant Nvidia amid US export curbs. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek released six software modules that mirror its prior open-source tools for Nvidia’s AI chips, aiming to build a new “independent and controllable” software ecosystem for graphics processing units (GPUs),... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369301/chinas-deepseek-open-sources-tools-help-huawei-chips-supplant-nvidia-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369301/chinas-deepseek-open-sources-tools-help-huawei-chips-supplant-nvidia-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:31:08 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee For China’s elite artificial intelligence researchers, Silicon Valley no longer holds the unrivalled appeal it once did. A growing number are opting to stay home to build their careers, helping China overtake the United States as the leading workplace for top-tier AI talent, according to a study released this week by the think tank Carnegie China. China employed 41 per cent of the world’s leading AI researchers tracked by the study last year, pulling ahead of the US at 34 per cent, according to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368809/china-overtakes-us-top-workplace-elite-ai-researchers-study-finds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368809/china-overtakes-us-top-workplace-elite-ai-researchers-study-finds?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:30:17 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow There are growing calls for Washington and Beijing to agree to slow down development of artificial intelligence. But even if they wanted to do so, how could they verify that the other side would do the same? A group of researchers and start-ups is developing technology intended to make this a possibility, without relying on trust alone. Their proposed tools would allow third parties and governments to check some claims about how AI models are being trained or used – possibly without needing... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/article/3368570/can-us-and-china-verify-ai-deal-start-ups-are-starting-build-tools?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/article/3368570/can-us-and-china-verify-ai-deal-start-ups-are-starting-build-tools?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Sep 2026 22:34:38 +0000 Chong Ming Lee,Vincent Chow Chong Ming Lee,Vincent Chow 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 sixth part of a series, Chong Ming Lee and Vincent Chow examine what’s behind the call for “pacing” by American AI giants – effectively a slowdown in development – and how the phenomenon is being viewed in China. After years of rapid development, leading US AI executives are... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3368503/pacing-problem-can-ai-fears-overcome-us-china-race-dynamics-and-force-slowdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3368503/pacing-problem-can-ai-fears-overcome-us-china-race-dynamics-and-force-slowdown?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:00:06 +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 Lucy Quaggin Lucy Quaggin The US and China should agree on international regulatory standards for artificial intelligence (AI), akin to atomic-era guardrails, said Ro Khanna, the ranking member of the US House Select Committee on China, in New York on Monday ahead of the two countries’ high-stakes summit. The remarks come two days before Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive in Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump for a closely watched summit where AI is expected to be on the agenda after the two... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3368311/us-china-need-nuclear-style-ai-safeguards-congressman-says-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/diplomacy/article/3368311/us-china-need-nuclear-style-ai-safeguards-congressman-says-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Sep 2026 22:48:38 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Chinese artificial intelligence models from seven major developers combined generate only about 10 per cent of the revenue reported for OpenAI and Anthropic, even as investor enthusiasm remains intense, according to US-based research firm Rhodium Group. The Chinese AI models earned an estimated US$10.7 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from March to August, a fraction of the more than US$100 billion combined for OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the Rhodium report published on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367991/top-chinese-ai-models-make-10-openai-anthropic-revenue-despite-high-valuations-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367991/top-chinese-ai-models-make-10-openai-anthropic-revenue-despite-high-valuations-report?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:00:06 +0000 Iris Deng,Howard Liu Iris Deng,Howard Liu Huawei Technologies expects a major domestic shift towards its artificial intelligence computing infrastructure for model training next year, as its Ascend processors gain ground on Nvidia in China despite supply constraints, according to rotating chairman Eric Xu Zhijun. “I believe that starting from next year, a lot of the AI model training will be based on the SuperPoD or SuperCluster based on Ascend 950DT,” Xu told reporters during the Huawei Connect 2026 conference in Shanghai on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367955/china-see-major-shift-huawei-ai-model-training-2027-rotating-chair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367955/china-see-major-shift-huawei-ai-model-training-2027-rotating-chair?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:59:31 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s ruling Communist Party mouthpiece has rejected US allegations that Chinese artificial intelligence companies conducted “industrial-scale” distillation of American frontier models, warning that Beijing would respond if Washington continued to suppress China’s AI industry. In a commentary published on Wednesday, People’s Daily said the US claims were “without factual or legal basis” and accused Washington of “politicising” a normal technical and commercial practice. The strong stance came... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3367717/peoples-daily-rejects-us-claims-malicious-ai-distillation-warns-countermeasures?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3367717/peoples-daily-rejects-us-claims-malicious-ai-distillation-warns-countermeasures?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:35:08 +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 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Researchers from China’s leading universities and tech giants are setting their sights on a crucial new front in the AI race with the US: developing systems capable of building better versions of themselves without human intervention. In a joint paper published on Thursday, researchers from ByteDance, Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, among others, outlined a five-stage road map for recursive self-improvement (RSI). The study, titled “The Last AI Built by... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3367486/chinese-researchers-chart-five-stage-path-toward-last-ai-built-humans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3367486/chinese-researchers-chart-five-stage-path-toward-last-ai-built-humans?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:30:06 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s declaration that artificial general intelligence (AGI) has arrived following the release of OpenAI’s latest model, Astra, has ignited debate over whether AI’s holy grail is now reality. As China races to close the gap with the US, leading Chinese AI companies are declaring their ambitions to pursue AGI, even as Beijing appears to maintain a cautious stance towards the concept. Here is a primer on what AGI means, where top Chinese AI developers stand, and how Chinese... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3367207/what-agi-how-chinas-ai-firms-are-catching-openai-astra-sparks-debate?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3367207/what-agi-how-chinas-ai-firms-are-catching-openai-astra-sparks-debate?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 12 Sep 2026 03:00:09 +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 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee DeepSeek has released its V4.1 Flash model, claiming it outperforms its previous flagship while cutting inference costs and boosting speeds – the latest salvo in China’s aggressive price-and-performance war. The Chinese artificial intelligence developer said on Thursday that V4.1 Flash used a new “Causal-Encoder-Decoder” architecture. While built on a massive 552 billion-parameter framework, it relies on a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) design. In traditional AI, every query runs through the entire... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367051/deepseek-says-new-flash-ai-model-beats-kimi-k3-cyber-coding-benchmarks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367051/deepseek-says-new-flash-ai-model-beats-kimi-k3-cyber-coding-benchmarks?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:26:24 +0000 Mia Nurmamat Mia Nurmamat China has rejected US allegations of “aggressive, malicious” AI distillation as groundless, warning that it would retaliate if Washington used the claims as a pretext to contain the country’s rapidly advancing artificial intelligence sector. China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday that US allegations of Chinese AI companies copying American models “on an industrial scale” lacked factual and legal grounds, accusing Washington of using the allegations to assert technological dominance,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/article/3367001/china-rejects-us-claims-industrial-scale-ai-model-distillation-warns-retaliation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/article/3367001/china-rejects-us-claims-industrial-scale-ai-model-distillation-warns-retaliation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:28:47 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese frontier artificial intelligence lab DeepSeek has hired underwriters including Citic Securities in preparation for a domestic initial public offering (IPO), according to two people familiar with the matter. Citic Securities was one of the four underwriters tapped by the Hangzhou-based firm, which aims to begin the IPO process this year to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Nasdaq-like Star market, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information was private. DeepSeek... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366948/chinese-ai-firm-deepseek-taps-underwriters-including-citic-securities-ipo-sources?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366948/chinese-ai-firm-deepseek-taps-underwriters-including-citic-securities-ipo-sources?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:34:42 +0000 Nayan Seth Nayan Seth US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed that China “can never get ahead” of America in artificial intelligence, in part due to its “central planning”, as three government agencies accused Beijing of maliciously copying technology from its leading firms. “The technical word for stealing and copying American AI models is distillation. So, the Chinese distil our models and they can never get ahead of us,” he said on Tuesday during a discussion at the Southern Methodist University’s Cox School... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3366835/us-accuses-chinese-ai-firms-malicious-copying-ai-technology?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3366835/us-accuses-chinese-ai-firms-malicious-copying-ai-technology?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 20:50:57 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek is embarking on what it calls an “unprecedented” hiring spree to overhaul back end systems severely strained by booming user demand and compute-heavy AI agents. Cui Tianyi, a former quantitative trading expert who joined DeepSeek in March to lead its Harness team, said in a social media post on Monday evening that the Hangzhou-based company was seeking to recruit around 150 senior back end engineers. According to Cui, the push was driven by rapid... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366740/deepseek-embarks-unprecedented-hiring-spree-it-overhauls-backend-systems?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3366740/deepseek-embarks-unprecedented-hiring-spree-it-overhauls-backend-systems?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 06:30:37 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee China’s artificial intelligence developers are competing for paying users on a new consumer front: Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall, where AI subscription plans are now being sold alongside smartphones, skincare and luxury fashion brands. Moonshot AI, developer of the Kimi K3 model, and MiniMax were in talks to open official flagship stores on the e-commerce platform, people familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post on Monday. The move comes as AI developers look for new channels... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366617/chinas-moonshot-and-zai-bring-ai-model-subscription-race-tmalls-retail-shelves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366617/chinas-moonshot-and-zai-bring-ai-model-subscription-race-tmalls-retail-shelves?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Sep 2026 08:00:13 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang The global artificial intelligence boom recently crossed a landmark threshold: autonomous agents now consume more than five times as much data as human users, triggering a surge in processing costs that is giving lower-priced Chinese models a competitive edge, according to analysts. Unlike traditional chatbots that simply respond to human prompts, these agents operate independently to execute multi-step workflows, such as writing software, conducting research or managing business operations. A... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366385/ai-economics-rise-machines-token-use-could-work-advantage-chinese-models?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3366385/ai-economics-rise-machines-token-use-could-work-advantage-chinese-models?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:10 +0000 Mark Magnier Mark Magnier US President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that the US held a significant lead over China in artificial intelligence, touted what he termed unprecedented levels of inbound US investment and said he was thrilled about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month. The president’s bravado comes as inflation and oil prices rise, his war of choice with Iran drags on and his polling numbers hit new lows ahead of the US midterm elections in November. “AI is going up, and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3366162/trump-calls-xis-washington-visit-exciting-claims-us-leads-china-ai-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3366162/trump-calls-xis-washington-visit-exciting-claims-us-leads-china-ai-race?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Sep 2026 23:13:30 +0000 Vincent Chow,Lucy Quaggin Vincent Chow,Lucy Quaggin The US Congress on Tuesday advanced a new bill that seeks to establish American global leadership in open-source artificial intelligence, an area where China currently dominates, by promoting adoption of US open-source models and publicising risks associated with using their Chinese counterparts. The legislation was one of several proposals marked up in the US House of Representatives targeting China amid escalating tech competition between the two countries. Congressional committees “mark up” a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3366035/congress-advances-new-bill-give-us-edge-open-source-ai-race-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3366035/congress-advances-new-bill-give-us-edge-open-source-ai-race-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Sep 2026 21:08:28 +0000 Ben Jiang,Wency Chen Ben Jiang,Wency Chen DeepSeek is nearing the completion of a new funding round valuing the company at about 500 billion yuan (US$74 billion) before investment, as the Chinese artificial intelligence start-up moves closer to a potential listing on Shanghai’s Star Market, according to people familiar with the matter. The company was seeking to raise about 50 billion yuan in the round, which was expected to close before the end of August, according to one person. Investors included incumbents from the company’s last... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3365280/deepseek-nears-pre-ipo-funding-round-2027-market-debut-takes-shape-sources?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3365280/deepseek-nears-pre-ipo-funding-round-2027-market-debut-takes-shape-sources?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:01:09 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen The usage of open-weight AI models from China hit a record high on a popular US web development platform, driven largely by DeepSeek’s latest lightweight model, as business demand for Anthropic’s cutting-edge Fable 5 stalls due to high costs. Open-weight models accounted for 54 per cent of token volume on Vercel’s AI Gateway on Tuesday, surpassing the 46 per cent consumed by proprietary models, according to data on its website. Open models reached a record share of 62 per cent on the platform on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3365204/deepseek-leads-surge-low-cost-chinese-open-weight-models-us-platform?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3365204/deepseek-leads-surge-low-cost-chinese-open-weight-models-us-platform?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:30:07 +0000 Jevans Nyabiage Jevans Nyabiage The United States may want the world to choose sides in the AI race with China, but in Africa, many businesses are pursuing a more pragmatic strategy: using Chinese models where they offer better value or flexibility, while keeping their options open. For example, when African insurtech platform Curacel expanded the range of artificial intelligence (AI) models powering its internal infrastructure, it did not look only to Silicon Valley. Instead, the Nigeria-based firm – which provides AI-powered... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3364966/african-firms-adopting-chinese-ai-us-china-rivalry-intensifies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3364966/african-firms-adopting-chinese-ai-us-china-rivalry-intensifies?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:00:05 +0000 Chenjie Song,Minghao Sun Chenjie Song,Minghao Sun At a recent Apec digital technology and AI forum in Chengdu, ministers across the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum issued a statement in support of open-source artificial intelligence models – a rare point of agreement in a debate often framed as a zero-sum US-China contest. It pointed towards an AI order that cuts against the assumption of a contest with a single winner, an assumption that still shapes Washington’s alarm over every Chinese AI breakthrough. Across Asia, governments are... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3364157/asia-reaching-open-road-chinese-ai-offers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3364157/asia-reaching-open-road-chinese-ai-offers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Aug 2026 08:30:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese AI companies are optimising software to cope with surging demand for inference, as part of that workload still relies on computing power from a limited pool of high-end chips amid restricted access to Nvidia processors. Compared with training an artificial intelligence model, which relies on high-end chips, inference – a later phase in which the trained model applies its knowledge to process responses – can be adapted to domestic hardware. However, industry insiders said complex tasks... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3364700/chinese-ai-chips-fall-short-coding-forcing-firms-stretch-scarce-nvidia-supply?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3364700/chinese-ai-chips-fall-short-coding-forcing-firms-stretch-scarce-nvidia-supply?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:30:12 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Alibaba Group Holding’s new lightweight AI model Qwen3.8-27B has matched much larger near-frontier rivals while being able to run on everyday hardware, impressing developers as local AI gains momentum. The Qwen3.8-27B, a small model with 27 billion parameters, performed on par with OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Luna, which was billed as the most cost-efficient model in the US lab’s latest flagship series, benchmark firm Artificial Analysis said on Monday. It nearly matched leading open-weight models from... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3364404/alibabas-lightweight-qwen-model-takes-larger-ai-systems-openai-deepseek-zhipu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3364404/alibabas-lightweight-qwen-model-takes-larger-ai-systems-openai-deepseek-zhipu?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:05 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek is venturing into a new battleground beyond large language models, launching a developer preview of its long-anticipated Harness – a software framework that helps developers turn AI models into autonomous agents. The release on Thursday marks a strategic pivot as DeepSeek moves to build foundational digital scaffolding for AI agents – systems capable of using AI models to operate external software, run code, and complete complex jobs on their... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3364082/launch-deepseeks-harness-marks-its-strategic-pivot-towards-autonomous-agentic-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3364082/launch-deepseeks-harness-marks-its-strategic-pivot-towards-autonomous-agentic-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:03:52 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng China’s richest province has deepened its partnership with technology giant Alibaba Group Holding, eyeing a broad digital upgrade spanning artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and smart public services. Under a strategic cooperation framework agreement signed on Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province in southern China, the Hangzhou-based firm planned to increase its investments in computing power, AI models and digital services, according to a report by local state media... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3364053/chinas-richest-province-taps-alibaba-power-its-ai-and-chip-push?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3364053/chinas-richest-province-taps-alibaba-power-its-ai-and-chip-push?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:15:43 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has quietly released DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813, an updated version of its latest flagship model, leaving some developers underwhelmed by its overall capabilities and disappointed in its pricing – but impressing researchers in niche areas like cybersecurity. The stealth update to April’s preview version came with a brief statement on DeepSeek’s official website on Wednesday, noting that the model offered “significantly enhanced agent capabilities”, but... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3363895/deepseeks-updated-v4-pro-ai-model-struggles-benchmarks-shines-cybersecurity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3363895/deepseeks-updated-v4-pro-ai-model-struggles-benchmarks-shines-cybersecurity?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:00:32 +0000 Daisy Wu Daisy Wu For years, quantitative trading was the undisputed darling of China’s stock market, using sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence to deliver eye-popping returns and grow into one of the most powerful drivers of trading volume and liquidity, even as traditional, discretionary stock-pickers struggled to keep pace. Yet that rise has also stirred growing controversy, particularly during periods of market turmoil, when critics argue that computer-driven strategies exacerbated volatility... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/banking-finance/article/3363712/what-are-chinas-quantitative-trading-funds-and-why-are-they-so-controversial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/banking-finance/article/3363712/what-are-chinas-quantitative-trading-funds-and-why-are-they-so-controversial?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Aug 2026 01:00:27 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Alibaba Group Holding is asking app users to open their wallets for its artificial intelligence office assistant, as the Chinese technology giant tests whether businesses and consumers are ready to pay for its digital assistant. The e-commerce giant’s Qwen app now offers three membership tiers for the assistant, with annual plans ranging from 200 yuan (US$29.60) to 1,499 yuan for its flagship version, according to the listing on Apple’s App Store. Users can also buy extra video generation... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3363656/alibaba-tests-paid-ai-appetite-us30-annual-qwenwork-subscription?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3363656/alibaba-tests-paid-ai-appetite-us30-annual-qwenwork-subscription?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:30:07 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen The cost for businesses to run AI models has fallen to a yearly low, according to research by investment bank Jefferies, driven by a heated global price war and a surge in adoption of low-cost Chinese open-source tools, such as those from DeepSeek. Average inference prices – measured per million tokens, or chunks of data handled by a model – ranged between US$1.16 and US$1.18 from August 6 to 8. That marked the lowest level recorded this year, Jefferies said on Monday, citing data from US... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3363549/enterprise-ai-costs-hit-2026-low-driven-price-wars-chinese-open-source-models-research?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3363549/enterprise-ai-costs-hit-2026-low-driven-price-wars-chinese-open-source-models-research?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Aug 2026 13:30:06 +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 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen DeepSeek announced on Thursday a “significant” price hike, amid surging global demand for a new ultra-cheap model, which sparked debate over how the Chinese artificial intelligence start-up has delivered powerful performance at rock-bottom prices. Overall pricing for its application programming interface (API) services would be raised “in the near future”, with specific plans to be advised later, the Hangzhou-based company said in a statement on its developer platform on Thursday. A “significant... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3363129/deepseek-signals-significant-price-hike-amid-surge-demand-low-cost-ai-models?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3363129/deepseek-signals-significant-price-hike-amid-surge-demand-low-cost-ai-models?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Aug 2026 05:01:29 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng Tencent Holdings is ramping up its overseas push for its flagship Hy3 artificial intelligence model, joining a wave of Chinese technology firms taking aim at the world’s leading players. On Wednesday, the Shenzhen-based technology giant rolled out Hy3 to global developers, enterprises and users through its workplace agentic tool WorkBuddy, creation studio Tencent Design Miora and model platform TokenHub. According to Tencent, Hy3 would be available free of charge worldwide on WorkBuddy until... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3362991/tencent-ramps-overseas-ai-push-wider-rollout-flagship-hy3-model?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-war/article/3362991/tencent-ramps-overseas-ai-push-wider-rollout-flagship-hy3-model?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Aug 2026 02:58:48 +0000 SCMP SCMP We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Nato launches defence projects to counter Russia and China Nato member states unveiled a series of defence initiatives in June aimed at strengthening weapons development, production and supply chains in response to security challenges posed by Russia and China. Read the full story here. 2.... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3362444/us-saudi-nuclear-doubt-boko-harams-ai-terrorism-7-global-relations-reads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3362444/us-saudi-nuclear-doubt-boko-harams-ai-terrorism-7-global-relations-reads?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Chinese AI company DeepSeek is inviting open-source developers to test its upcoming “harness” – software designed to turn large language models (LLMs) into AI agents – accelerating a push into agentic tech as DeepSeek’s latest V4 Flash model sends another cost-efficiency shock wave through Silicon Valley. The Hangzhou-based firm was looking for open-source project developers to join beta testing for DeepSeek Harness, according to a social media post on Saturday by Cui Tianyi, who leads the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3362792/chinas-deepseek-beefs-agentic-ai-harness-tests-v4-model-jolts-silicon-valley?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3362792/chinas-deepseek-beefs-agentic-ai-harness-tests-v4-model-jolts-silicon-valley?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:00:07 +0000