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Shoucheng Holdings presents humanoid robots from some of its investee firms, including Unitree Robotics and Galaxea AI, at an event in Hong Kong on April 30, 2025. Photo: Handout
Robotics

Why car park operator Shoucheng is doubling down on China robotics investment

The company, a subsidiary of Chinese steel giant Shougang, plans to invest in about 50 robotics firms over the next two to three years.

Artificial intelligence

Ant Group showcases its top AI researchers in bid to woo talent in tight market

DeepSeek

DeepSeek’s new maths-solving model is generating buzz, but mostly about R2

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Robotics

Robotic hair washer to set up shop in Hong Kong after mainland debut

The first shop in Hong Kong, scheduled to open in June, would be equipped with six of the second-generation hair washers.

He Qiufeng, chairwoman of Guangdong Sheng Tai Health Technology Group. Photo: Coco Feng
He Qiufeng, chairwoman of Guangdong Sheng Tai Health Technology Group. Photo: Coco Feng
Artificial intelligence

Google hopes to strike deal with Apple to use Gemini AI on iPhones

A potential deal this year will see Gemini AI included within Apple Intelligence, Google CEO Sundar Pichai says.

Artificial intelligence

The SMC: what to see at the Shanghai AI incubator visited by Xi Jinping

The Chinese president toured the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Centre on Tuesday to highlight the country’s vast potential in AI.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba’s Qwen3 AI model family helps narrow US-China tech gap: analysts

It reflects Qwen’s current position as the world’s largest open-source AI ecosystem, surpassing Meta Platforms’ Llama community.

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The new Qwen3 AI model family is available on open-source platforms GitHub and HuggingFace, as well as Alibaba’s own ModelScope service. Photo: Shutterstock
The new Qwen3 AI model family is available on open-source platforms GitHub and HuggingFace, as well as Alibaba’s own ModelScope service. Photo: Shutterstock
Alibaba

Alibaba uses food delivery network to upgrade Taobao on-demand delivery

Food delivery service Ele.me is handling orders for Taobao Instant Commerce as e-commerce giants compete on speed.

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Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek quietly updates open-source model that handles maths proofs

The Chinese start-up has released the Prover-V2 model a day after Alibaba released Qwen3, and ahead of an anticipated release of DeepSeek-R2.

US-China tech war

Chinese AI and robotics start-ups respond to Xi’s self-reliance call

The Chinese president met representatives from several AI and robotics start-ups during a visit to Shanghai.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the Shanghai Foundation Model Innovation Center on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Xinhua
Xiaomi

Smartphone giant Xiaomi unveils AI model, joining fierce competition in China

Xiaomi says its open-source MiMo reasoning model, trained completely in-house, rivals the performance of OpenAI’s o1-mini and Alibaba’s QwQ-32B.

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Xiaomi, which recently broke into China’s electric vehicle market, is now making its own artificial intelligence models as it looks to infuse its hardware with generative AI. Photo: AFP
Xiaomi, which recently broke into China’s electric vehicle market, is now making its own artificial intelligence models as it looks to infuse its hardware with generative AI. Photo: AFP
TSMC

TSMC triples down on Arizona with construction on new US plant ahead of tariffs

The world’s most advanced chipmaker announced the third phase of its US expansion the same day Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick toured the site.

Artificial intelligence

Meta introduces Llama application programming interface to attract AI developers

Llama API will help Meta go up against APIs offered by rival model makers including OpenAI, Google and China’s DeepSeek.

Artificial intelligence

Elon Musk teases Grok 3.5 hours after Alibaba’s Qwen3 generates buzz

Musk said the latest version of xAI’s Grok model can answer technical questions about rocket engines and electrochemistry.

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Elon Musk said the latest version of xAI’s Grok model can answer technical questions about rocket engines and electrochemistry. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Pony.ai partners with Tencent to provide robotaxi services on WeChat

With access to more than a billion users on Tencent’s platforms, Pony.ai is set to significantly boost its revenue potential.

The interior of a Pony.ai robotaxi, seen at the Shanghai Auto Show. Photo: Reuters
The interior of a Pony.ai robotaxi, seen at the Shanghai Auto Show. Photo: Reuters
Biomedicine: Companies

Chinese biotech giant sees strong US revenue despite trade tensions

The company, which has been targeted by Washington, saw US revenue jump 28 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 21 per cent globally.

Huawei

Huawei enlists 11 carmakers in pact on driving safety as Tesla awaits FSD nod

The ‘intelligent assisted driving safety initiative’ was signed by Audi China, state-owned SAIC Motor and Guangzhou Automobile, among others.

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Artificial intelligence

Alibaba unveils Qwen3 AI models that it says outperform DeepSeek R1

The release comes just days after Baidu introduced two advanced models amid speculation about the imminent release of DeepSeek’s R2.

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Alibaba has released the third generation of its Qwen AI model series. Photo: Reuters
Alibaba has released the third generation of its Qwen AI model series. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Geely-owned DreamSmart to push mobile payments via AI smart glasses

DreamSmart is working with Ant International to enable mobile payments for users of its StarV Air2 eyewear.

Artificial intelligence

Exclusive | China’s Tsinghua University snags top American AI researcher from Microsoft

Lamb will join the prestigious school’s College of AI and has already started accepting applications from prospective PhD and master’s students.

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Quantum computing

Chinese quantum computing firm tackles breast cancer screenings, drug design

Hefei-based Origin Quantum has demonstrated its computer’s ability to process medical imaging data ‘exponentially faster’ than classical machines.

Scientists work on the Origin Wukong superconducting quantum computer. Photo: Origin Quantum
DeepSeek

DeepSeek speculation swirls online over Chinese AI start-up’s R2 model

The latest speculation includes R2’s imminent launch and the new benchmarks that it set in terms of cost-efficiency and performance.

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DeepSeek’s R2 artificial intelligence model was said to have been trained on a server cluster of Huawei Technologies’ Ascend 910B chips, according to Chinese social-media posts. Photo: Shutterstock
DeepSeek’s R2 artificial intelligence model was said to have been trained on a server cluster of Huawei Technologies’ Ascend 910B chips, according to Chinese social-media posts. Photo: Shutterstock
Robotics

China’s UBTech, Midea push humanoid robots into factories amid push for adoption

UBTech’s Walker humanoids are headed for a car plant, while Midea plans to have its own robots in an appliance factory by next month.

E-commerce

Labubu mania takes China’s Pop Mart to top of US App Store charts

Before the recent surge in interest in Chinese e-commerce platforms, Pop Mart’s business was already booming.

E-commerce

China’s delivery services market faces shake up as JD.com takes on Meituan

The fight escalated this week as both companies accused each other of blocking delivery riders from accepting orders from rival platforms.

A Meituan food delivery courier rides an electric scooter in Chongqing, China, on March 29, 2025. Photo: Getty Images
China Future Tech
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
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Big Tech

Elon Musk teases Grok 3.5 hours after Alibaba’s Qwen3 generates buzz

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Elon Musk said the latest version of xAI’s Grok model can answer technical questions about rocket engines and electrochemistry. Photo: Reuters

Tech Trends

Why car park operator Shoucheng is doubling down on China robotics investment

Shoucheng Holdings presents humanoid robots from some of its investee firms, including Unitree Robotics and Galaxea AI, at an event in Hong Kong on April 30, 2025. Photo: Handout

Business

Shanghai start-up United InnoMed plans studies to develop heart-failure treatment device

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Employees produce ventilators at Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, a medical device manufacturer based in Shenzhen. Photo: Xinhua

Big Tech

Ant Group showcases its top AI researchers in bid to woo talent in tight market

The Ant Group logo is seen on its building in Hangzhou. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Big Tech

DeepSeek’s new maths-solving model is generating buzz, but mostly about R2

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A quiet update to a specialised maths AI model has fuelled speculation about when DeepSeek will release its next-generation reasoning model. Photo: TNS
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