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Artificial intelligence (AI)
Self-driving cars and autonomous vehicles
China digital currency
Alibaba
Tencent Holdings
Pinduoduo
Xiaomi
Baidu
JD.com
Kuaishou
A customer uses his phone in front of a board with the menu at AGI Bar in Beijing. Drinkers at the AI-themed bar in the city's tech district can even plug in to DeepSeek for free. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Back in the Harness: DeepSeek continues its pivot towards agentic AI

With the launch of Harness, China’s DeepSeek continues to build the foundational digital scaffolding for autonomous AI agents.

Artificial intelligence

Zhipu launches GLM-5.3 model as China seeks Mythos-level edge in cyber defence

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Artificial intelligence

Chinese doctor stuns maths world by cracking decades-old problem using ChatGPT

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Alibaba

Alibaba adds commercial restrictions to open-weight Qwen3.8-Max AI model

In a strategy shift, Alibaba’s flagship Qwen3.8-Max model comes with terms for certain companies using it to generate revenue.

Alibaba’s decision to release Qwen3.8-Max’s weights is a shift from its strategy of keeping its most advanced Max models proprietary. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Alibaba’s decision to release Qwen3.8-Max’s weights is a shift from its strategy of keeping its most advanced Max models proprietary. Photo: Shutterstock Images
E-commerce

JD.com’s second-quarter profit rises 15% as food-delivery losses narrow

Net revenue dips, but still beats analysts’ estimate, as e-commerce giant contends with weak demand and fierce competition.

Semiconductors

Chinese chip foundries surge as AI boom drives triple-digit profit growth

SMIC, Hua Hong Grace results highlight how local foundries are aggressively running their plants at full capacity to meet domestic needs.

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Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek’s flagship AI model update underwhelms – except in cybersecurity

Chinese AI start-up’s model impresses in niche areas like cybersecurity but leaves some developers disappointed in its overall capabilities.

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Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek quietly released an updated version of its latest flagship model, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek quietly released an updated version of its latest flagship model, DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Semiconductors

China’s YMTC breaks into top 3 flash-memory suppliers with 14% market share

The chipmaker captured a larger proportion of bit shipments, but still ranks fifth by revenue due to heavier exposure to lower-value products.

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China technology

The next tech race? China launches push to leapfrog US in ‘brain chip’ devices

China is throwing the power of the state behind efforts to overtake Elon Musk in a vital frontier technology: brain-computer interfaces.

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Honor

Robot in a pocket: Honor’s new phone camera nods back at users

The Chinese smartphone maker has integrated embodied AI to control camera movement, along with other features to boost interest amid a cooling market.

Chinese smartphone maker Honor has launched the Robot Phone, a handset with a motorised, fold-out gimbal camera. Photo: Handout
Tencent

Tencent capex jumps 176% on AI push as revenue beats estimates

The firm’s second-quarter revenue surpassed market projections at US$30.4 billion, but the surge in AI spending led to a large negative free cash flow.

The Tencent booth at the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
The Tencent booth at the 2025 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing. Photo: Reuters
Semiconductors

Why does SK Hynix want to sell its chip facility in southwest China?

The South Korean chipmaker wants to pivot towards the high-margin AI memory sector, but analysts warn any sale would face valuation hurdles.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba tests paid AI appetite with US$30 annual assistant subscription

The e-commerce giant launches paid tiers for its office assistant in the Qwen app as costs for artificial intelligence mount.

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Alibaba

Alibaba says it can build AI data centres in 100 days with modular design

With CUBE 5.0, Alibaba Cloud expects to more than double modular data centre delivery efficiency this year amid AI boom, report says.

Alibaba is stepping up its data centre push globally as part of its US$56.3 billion AI capital expenditure commitment set out last year. Photo: dpa
Robotics

Unitree IPO deluge masks humanoid robots’ limitations

Retail investors subscribed for more than 5,500 times the shares on offer in Unitree Robotics’ offering amid hype about advances for humanoid robots and a run of Shanghai IPO windfalls.

Photo: SCMP
Photo: SCMP
Artificial intelligence

Meta strikes at China’s open AI lead, betting on potential US curbs

Meta’s renewed push into open-source models aims to attract US businesses wary of the regulatory risks associated with adopting Chinese AI.

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Robotics

Unitree IPO frenzy leaves retail investors with 1-in-5,500 odds

Robotics company’s US$900 million Star Market listing offers slimmer odds than recent offerings by CXMT, Moore Threads and MetaX.

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Artificial intelligence

Enterprise AI costs hit yearly low driven by price wars, open-source models

Average inference prices ranged between US$1.16 and US$1.18 from August 6 to 8, according to Silicon Data’s index.

DeepSeek’s new V4-Flash-0731 model costs US$0.03 per task. Photo: Shutterstock Images
DeepSeek’s new V4-Flash-0731 model costs US$0.03 per task. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Robotics

AgiBot dethrones Unitree as world’s top humanoid maker ahead of IPOs

AgiBot’s shipments surged 562 per cent year on year, supported by a portfolio of full-size bipedals, compact units and wheeled robots.

Semiconductors

Memory prices to peak this year in upcycle turning point, research suggests

AI demand is keeping supplies tight, but slower pricing momentum and expansion by CXMT and YMTC are raising questions over how long boom can last.

Semiconductors

What is delaying Chinese AI giants switching from Nvidia to local chips?

High transition costs are keeping AI developers in China reliant on Nvidia chips, industry sources say.

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Huawei Technologies’ Compute Architecture for Neural Networks requires developers to rewrite and optimise large amounts of code. Photo: Shutterstock
Moore Threads

China’s ‘little Nvidia’ plans Hong Kong listing after 147% revenue jump

The Chinese AI chip developer plans a listing in Hong Kong to deepen its ‘international strategic footprint’.

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People visit the Moore Threads booth at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Photo: Getty Images
People visit the Moore Threads booth at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. Photo: Getty Images
China technology

China races to develop brain-computer interfaces that can be inserted in minutes

The technology – which allows patients to control digital devices using their thoughts – can be implanted like a stent in just a few minutes.

Artificial intelligence

Jevons Paradox: why China’s cheap AI models could be good for Silicon Valley

China’s open-weight models have led AI firms to slash prices, but they will also massively boost overall AI demand, analysts say.

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Artificial intelligence

The next AI race is for data, and China wants more of it

The global supply of high-quality, publicly available human-generated text could be fully exhausted within the next six years.

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A visitor looks at a large Chinese language dictionary at an exhibition in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong on May 12, 2025. Photo: Jelly Tse
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