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Artificial intelligence
Self-driving cars and autonomous vehicles
China digital currency
Alibaba
Tencent Holdings
Pinduoduo
Xiaomi
Baidu
JD.com
Kuaishou
Alibaba has become more vocal about its chip unit this year and is reportedly working toward spinning it off with an initial public offering. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Alibaba chip unit T-Head triples capital amid AI hardware bet

First injection in over three years comes as Alibaba works on full-stack AI infrastructure, from its Qwen models to chips to cloud services.

Artificial intelligence

Hard work and endurance: what Alibaba’s team-building says about its AI drive

Nuclear fusion

Chinese start-up tackles fusion energy software bottleneck with help of AI

Artificial intelligence

Zhipu, DeepSeek push China’s trillion-parameter AI frontier amid US clampdown

China’s AI developers deepen push into massive foundation models, backed by lower costs and investor momentum despite US restrictions.

Even as model sizes balloon, Chinese AI firms continue to compete aggressively on price rather than relying solely on performance premiums. Photo: Shutterstock
Even as model sizes balloon, Chinese AI firms continue to compete aggressively on price rather than relying solely on performance premiums. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

US AI lead vulnerable to China amid ‘structural challenges’: scholar

China’s advantages in energy and industrial applications could erode America’s AI ‘moat’, according to University of Hong Kong academic.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba Cloud expands in France amid Europe’s data sovereignty push

Opening of Paris hub is a response to increased demand, says the China tech giant as it looks to roll out agentic AI services across Europe.

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Artificial intelligence

Can Chinese silicon replace Nvidia? Here are 5 AI models trained on local chips

A growing number of Chinese AI labs are experimenting with shifting earlier model training phases onto domestic chips.

Chinese AI models have become increasingly competitive with their US peers, but the country’s AI hardware still lags significantly. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Chinese AI models have become increasingly competitive with their US peers, but the country’s AI hardware still lags significantly. Photo: Shutterstock Images
China’s private sector

Smart-driving chips: the weapon of choice in China’s EV tech war

Carmakers strive for more control over computing hardware to reduce reliance on Nvidia and Horizon Robotics.

Artificial intelligence

China’s Alipay gets AI-agent overhaul to challenge rivals Tencent and ByteDance

Fintech giant is seen leveraging its billion-user base to launch a conversational interface that coordinates 10,000 services, with safeguards.

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Artificial intelligence

AI for less: price war in China deepens amid ‘intense’ competition

Narrowing capability gaps between models and falling costs of service set stage for price reductions to continue, analysts say.

A land grab is under way in China's AI sector as companies offer discounts to capture market share, according to analysts. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Robotics

Alibaba eyes physical world with its first suite of AI models for robots

Alibaba unveils Qwen robot models to push AI beyond chatbots, as embodied intelligence becomes the next frontier in global AI.

The Qwen and Alibaba logos are seen in this illustration taken January 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters
The Qwen and Alibaba logos are seen in this illustration taken January 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters
Semiconductors

China’s ban on German chip giant Infineon sparks rally in domestic GaN stocks

A decision by China’s Supreme People’s Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s injunction issued against the German company in May.

Artificial intelligence

Zhipu AI’s stock rockets after Chinese firm launches GLM-5.2 model

Zhipu and some Chinese peers aim to capture users changing from US rivals’ top models amid high prices, geopolitical bans.

Artificial intelligence

China’s AI ‘hundred model’ war shifts to enterprise value, JPMorgan says

Major platforms are deploying paid subscriptions and coding tools, favouring practical utility over raw power to unlock significant commercial revenue.

Specialised data centres like this one are needed to support AI services. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Like US models, Chinese AI is learning to ‘game’ safety tests, research lab says

In just a few months, Chinese AI models have risen from near-zero ‘evaluation awareness’ to within striking distance of their US counterparts.

DeepSeek’s V4 Pro model noted during its thinking phase that the scenario it was presented with was likely fictional. Photo: AFP
DeepSeek’s V4 Pro model noted during its thinking phase that the scenario it was presented with was likely fictional. Photo: AFP
United States

Elon Musk becomes world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX IPO

The company’s shares hit US$160.95 each, propelling the world’s richest person’s fortune to US$1.1 trillion.

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Semiconductors

Facing US chip curbs, China launches photonics lab to power AI with light

Lab director says fundamental scientific challenges need to be overcome to achieve theoretical performance.

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Semiconductors

Can Huawei’s breakthrough help China’s chip design software firms catch US rivals?

Domestic chip design software vendors embrace Huawei’s Tau Scaling Law, but analysts caution that breaking US dominance is far from easy.

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Major domestic chip design software firms will benefit from opportunities brought by Huawei’s ambitious target of achieving 1.4 nanometre-equivalent chips by 2031, according to analysts. Photo: Shutterstock
Major domestic chip design software firms will benefit from opportunities brought by Huawei’s ambitious target of achieving 1.4 nanometre-equivalent chips by 2031, according to analysts. Photo: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 poses a challenge for China’s AI developers

Restrictions on access to the powerful model, ‘targeted at Chinese AI labs’, are sparking debate about safety, innovation and open research.

SpaceX

Blast off on Wall Street: record SpaceX IPO could make Musk a trillionaire

At US$135 a share, the offering will raise US$75 billion, making it the biggest market debut in history.

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Artificial intelligence

Could the AI ‘self-evolution’ trend add fuel to the China-US tech war?

Anthropic says its Mythos model is edging closer to ‘recursive self-improvement’ as Chinese developers seek to close gap.

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Illustration: Brian Wang
Artificial intelligence

China leads US in everyday AI apps but firms are overvalued, experts say

Chinese labs have unveiled new models that trail closely behind those from US peers such as OpenAI and Anthropic in capabilities.

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An ad for Doubao, ByteDance’s AI assistant, is seen at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport on May 16, 2026. Photo: Getty Images
An ad for Doubao, ByteDance’s AI assistant, is seen at the Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport on May 16, 2026. Photo: Getty Images
Semiconductors

To beat chip crunch, Chinese firm inks memory deal bigger than its sales

The US$1.86 billion multi-year flash deal with unnamed supplier underscores how downstream companies scramble to secure capacity.

Electric & new energy vehicles

China’s battery dominance

Chinese companies dominate the global supply of lithium batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems and are driving the next stage of battery development.

Hong Kong stock market

How the AI trade is stirring dotcom-era jitters across global markets

Signs of excess are mounting in AI trade, with soaring IPOs and stretched valuations echoing run-ups to past market peaks, analysts say.

Bank of America says of its 10 proprietary indicators for market stress, seven are currently flashing, in line with averages before the prior bear markets since 1990. Photo: Getty Images
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