News/China
China plans to deploy 115K banned Nvidia AI chips despite U.S. restrictions
Chinese companies are planning to deploy approximately 115,000 restricted Nvidia AI chips across dozens of data centers in Xinjiang, despite U.S. export bans that have prohibited such sales since 2022. The ambitious infrastructure project highlights China's determination to build AI computing capacity using banned semiconductors, though U.S. officials and Nvidia question whether such large-scale smuggling operations are feasible. What you should know: The data center plans center around Xinjiang's energy advantages and a massive government-backed computing facility. Around 70% of the planned computing power is concentrated in a single compound backed by the Xinjiang regional government, likely the "converged computing...
read Jul 14, 2025Benchmark Capital faces backlash over $75M Chinese AI investment
Benchmark Capital faced intense criticism after leading a $75 million funding round in Manus, an AI startup founded in China, with Republican senators and fellow venture capitalists questioning the firm's decision to invest in Chinese AI technology. The backlash highlights growing tensions in Silicon Valley over China-related investments, as geopolitical concerns increasingly influence venture capital decisions in the AI sector. The big picture: What was once considered standard international investment activity has become politically charged, with some investors now viewing Chinese AI investments as potentially aiding a strategic competitor. What they're saying: Critics framed the investment as fundamentally misguided from...
read Jul 13, 2025Open-source Kimi K2 outperforms GPT-4 on coding and math benchmarks
Moonshot AI has released Kimi K2, an open-source language model that outperforms GPT-4 on key benchmarks including coding and mathematical reasoning while being available for free. The Chinese startup's trillion-parameter model achieved 65.8% accuracy on SWE-bench Verified and 97.4% on MATH-500, surpassing OpenAI's GPT-4.1 at 92.4%, signaling a potential shift in AI market dynamics where open-source models finally match proprietary alternatives. What you should know: Kimi K2 features 1 trillion total parameters with 32 billion activated parameters in a mixture-of-experts architecture, optimized specifically for autonomous agent capabilities. The model comes in two versions: a foundation model for researchers and developers,...
read Jul 10, 2025Huawei targets Middle East and Asia for AI chips despite 200K production cap
Huawei Technologies is actively seeking customers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia for its AI chips, marking an ambitious attempt to challenge Nvidia's dominance in international markets despite significant manufacturing constraints. The Chinese tech giant is targeting regions where governments have already committed to purchasing millions of Nvidia and AMD chips, positioning itself as an alternative supplier in the rapidly growing AI infrastructure market. What you should know: Huawei has approached potential customers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand about purchasing its older-generation Ascend 910B processors. The outreach represents Huawei's strategy to establish a foothold in markets currently...
read Jul 7, 2025Chinese SMEs outpace global rivals in AI adoption with government backing
Chinese companies hold a significant advantage in AI adoption, with small and medium-sized enterprises showing exceptional willingness to experiment with AI applications for business value. This edge stems from Beijing's strategic positioning of AI as a national priority, creating market conditions that accelerate both innovation and productivity gains. What you should know: Chinese businesses demonstrate a particularly aggressive approach to AI integration compared to their global counterparts. Small and medium-sized Chinese companies have been "very willing to try to capture value from AI adoption," according to Guoli Chen, a strategy professor at INSEAD business school. The Chinese government's designation of...
read Jul 7, 2025Huawei denies copying Alibaba’s AI model amid China’s heated competition
Huawei's AI research division has denied allegations that its Pangu Pro large language model copied elements from Alibaba's Qwen AI model, following claims made in a technical paper posted on GitHub. The controversy highlights growing tensions in China's competitive AI landscape, where tech giants are racing to develop cutting-edge models following the success of startup DeepSeek's low-cost R1 model. What happened: An entity called HonestAGI published a paper claiming Huawei's Pangu Pro Moe model showed "extraordinary correlation" with Alibaba's Qwen 2.5 14B model. The paper alleged that Huawei's model was derived through "upcycling" rather than being trained from scratch, suggesting...
read Jun 30, 2025Germany orders Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek AI app over China data concerns
Germany's top data protection regulator has formally requested Apple and Google remove the DeepSeek AI app from their stores, citing concerns over illegal data transfers to China. This marks the latest escalation in a growing international crackdown on the Chinese AI startup, as Western governments grapple with data sovereignty concerns amid rising AI adoption. What you should know: Germany joins a growing list of countries taking action against DeepSeek over data privacy violations.• Meike Kamp, Berlin's federal commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, said DeepSeek failed to provide sufficient guarantees that user data is protected under EU-equivalent standards.•...
read Jun 27, 2025Trump secures China rare earth deal while escalating AI competition
President Donald Trump is preparing to sign executive orders that would dramatically escalate AI competition with China, despite having just resolved a months-long trade dispute over rare earth metals essential for AI development. The timing appears contradictory, as the White House is simultaneously securing critical AI resources from China while positioning the countries as locked in an "AI arms race." What happened: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced Thursday that China agreed to resume rare earth metal deliveries to the US following Trump's controversial "Liberation Day" tariffs from April. The deal was one of 10 trade agreements signed Tuesday after China...
read Jun 27, 2025Global governments restrict DeepSeek AI over China data security fears
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has triggered a global regulatory backlash, with governments across multiple continents restricting or investigating the company's popular ChatGPT rival over data security and privacy concerns. The widespread scrutiny reflects growing international wariness about Chinese AI systems and their potential access to sensitive user information. DeepSeek gained international attention in January 2025 when it claimed to have developed an AI model capable of matching ChatGPT's performance at significantly lower costs. However, the company's own privacy policy reveals that it stores user data—including chat requests and uploaded files—on servers located in China, raising red flags for government officials...
read Jun 27, 2025Xiaomi Smart Band 10 launches with AI fitness tracking for $37
Xiaomi has officially launched the Smart Band 10, its latest budget fitness tracker featuring a larger 1.72-inch AMOLED display, AI-powered fitness tracking, and enhanced ecosystem integration. Starting at just 269 RMB (~$37), the device maintains Xiaomi's commitment to affordable wearables while introducing significant upgrades that position it as a serious competitor in the fitness tracking market. What you should know: The Smart Band 10 represents a substantial upgrade over its predecessors with key improvements across display, fitness tracking, and smart features. The device features a 1.72-inch AMOLED display with narrower, symmetrical bezels, 1,500 nits peak brightness, and a 60Hz refresh...
read Jun 26, 2025Uber backs Kalanick’s bid to acquire Pony AI’s US operations
Uber Technologies is in preliminary talks with founder Travis Kalanick to help fund his acquisition of the U.S. operations of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony AI, according to a New York Times report. The potential deal would see Kalanick running Pony AI's American unit while continuing to lead his ghost kitchen company CloudKitchens, marking a significant return to the mobility sector for Uber's controversial co-founder. What you should know: The discussions remain in early stages with no financial details disclosed about the potential transaction. Kalanick would maintain dual leadership roles, overseeing both Pony AI's U.S. arm and his current venture...
read Jun 26, 2025Show me, Xiaomi: Chinese firm’s AI glasses offer features Meta’s Ray-Bans lack
Xiaomi has unveiled AI-powered smart glasses that feature electrochromic dimming technology, allowing users to manually adjust lens darkness by sliding their finger along the frame. While the glasses closely resemble Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses in design and core functionality, this manual dimming feature addresses a key limitation that has made smart glasses less practical for all-day wear across varying lighting conditions. What you should know: The Xiaomi AI glasses offer several hardware upgrades over Meta's current offerings while maintaining a similar price point. They feature a 12MP camera capable of 2K video recording at 30 frames per second, built-in microphones,...
read Jun 24, 2025Huawei’s CloudMatrix-Infer outpaces Nvidia H100 with 384 AI chips
Huawei unveiled CloudMatrix-Infer, a massive AI inference system featuring 384 Ascend 910C NPUs and 192 Kunpeng CPUs interconnected through a 2.8Tbps Unified Bus architecture. The system represents Huawei's most ambitious challenge to Nvidia's AI infrastructure dominance, offering superior throughput performance while demonstrating the company's complete vertical AI stack from silicon to software. What you should know: CloudMatrix-Infer delivers impressive performance metrics that outpace Nvidia's H100 chips on similar workloads. The system achieves 6,688 tokens/sec prefill and 1,943 decode/sec per NPU, surpassing Nvidia H100 performance on comparable tasks. Huawei compensates for individual chip limitations by networking five times more processors than...
read Jun 23, 2025Huawei unveils 6 strategies to dial in 5G-A networks monetization
Telecom operators worldwide face a familiar challenge: they've invested billions in 5G infrastructure, but generating meaningful revenue from these networks remains elusive. Now, Huawei's carrier business group is pushing a new strategy centered on 5G-Advanced (5G-A)—an enhanced version of 5G that promises faster speeds, lower latency, and more sophisticated network management capabilities. Speaking at MWC Shanghai 2025, James Chen, president of Huawei's carrier business group, outlined how operators can finally unlock the revenue potential of their 5G investments. His message was clear: the window for 5G-A monetization is open, but success requires strategic focus on differentiated services, industry-specific solutions, and...
read Jun 23, 2025Chinese VC firm launches AI benchmark testing real-world business value
Chinese venture capital firm Hongshan Capital Global has launched Xbench, an AI benchmarking system that evaluates models on both traditional academic tests and real-world task execution. The platform addresses a critical gap in AI assessment by testing whether models can deliver actual economic value rather than just pass standardized tests, with regular updates designed to keep evaluations current and relevant. What you should know: Xbench takes a dual approach to AI evaluation that goes beyond conventional benchmarking methods. • The system includes traditional academic testing through Xbench-ScienceQA, which covers postgraduate-level STEM subjects from biochemistry to orbital mechanics, rewarding both correct...
read Jun 23, 2025Shanghai festival showcases world’s first fully AI-produced animated feature
The Shanghai International Film Festival has evolved from a regional showcase into a global laboratory where traditional filmmaking collides with cutting-edge technology. The 27th edition, which concluded recently, delivered clear signals that China's entertainment industry is accelerating its international expansion through strategic technological adoption and market consolidation. This transformation matters because Shanghai is positioning itself as the bridge between Eastern and Western entertainment markets while simultaneously pioneering AI applications that could fundamentally reshape how content gets produced worldwide. The festival's bold moves—from merging traditional film and TV markets to showcasing fully AI-produced features—offer insights into where the global entertainment industry...
read Jun 19, 2025AI avatars help Chinese 7-hour livestreamer generate $7.65M in sales
Chinese livestreamer Luo Yonghao and his co-host generated $7.65 million in sales during a seven-hour session using AI avatars of themselves on Baidu's e-commerce platform. The digital human performance outpaced Luo's previous personal livestream, signaling a potential shift in how AI-powered virtual influencers could reshape China's massive e-commerce livestreaming industry. What you should know: The AI avatars were built using Baidu's generative AI model, which learned from five years of video content to replicate Luo's jokes and presentation style. Luo, who has 24.7 million followers on ByteDance's Douyin platform, started livestreaming in April 2020 to pay off debts from his...
read Jun 19, 2025White House AI czar: China now just 2 years behind US chip design
White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks warned that China has become highly skilled at circumventing US semiconductor export controls and is now only about two years behind American chip design capabilities. His comments highlight growing concerns about the effectiveness of current trade restrictions and China's rapid technological advancement despite ongoing sanctions. What you should know: Sacks pointed to specific examples demonstrating China's ability to work around US restrictions and continue advancing its technology sector. Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecommunications giant hit with extensive US export controls, is rapidly closing the gap with international competitors. DeepSeek's breakthrough AI model...
read Jun 19, 2025Deep cuts, not deepfakes: China’s $13.9M AI project brings classic martial arts cinema back to life
China's film industry has launched an ambitious AI-powered initiative to restore 100 classic kung fu films and produce "A Better Tomorrow: Cyber Border," billed as the world's first fully AI-produced animated feature film. The Kung Fu Film Heritage Project, unveiled at the Shanghai International Film Festival, represents a major effort to digitally resurrect martial arts cinema legends while positioning Chinese studios at the forefront of AI-driven filmmaking. What you should know: The restoration project will use artificial intelligence to enhance image quality, sound, and production values of landmark martial arts films while preserving their original storytelling and aesthetic. Titles slated...
read Jun 17, 2025Italy targets DeepSeek in 2nd regulatory probe over AI hallucination warnings
Italy's antitrust regulator AGCM has opened an investigation into Chinese AI startup DeepSeek for allegedly failing to adequately warn users about the risk of AI hallucinations in its responses. The probe represents the latest regulatory challenge for DeepSeek in Italy, following a February order from the country's data protection authority to block access to its chatbot over privacy concerns. What you should know: The Italian Competition and Market Authority (AGCM), which oversees both antitrust issues and consumer protection, is examining whether DeepSeek provides sufficient warnings about AI-generated misinformation. The regulator claims DeepSeek did not give users "sufficiently clear, immediate and...
read Jun 13, 2025AstraZeneca signs $5B+ AI drug deal to rebuild China operations
AstraZeneca has signed a research agreement worth more than $5 billion with Chinese drugmaker CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, marking the Anglo-Swedish company's latest effort to rebuild its business in China following recent challenges including the arrest of its China president and potential import fines. The collaboration will focus on AI-driven drug discovery for chronic diseases, positioning AstraZeneca to strengthen its foothold in its second-largest market while leveraging China's growing pharmaceutical research capabilities. What you should know: The partnership establishes a comprehensive framework for discovering and developing pre-clinical candidates targeting chronic diseases. AstraZeneca will pay CSPC an upfront fee of $110 million...
read Jun 13, 2025US limits Huawei AI chip production to 200K units despite $25B investment
U.S. Commerce officials revealed that China's Huawei Technologies can produce no more than 200,000 advanced AI chips in 2025, despite the company's higher demand and ambitious expansion plans. This production cap reflects the ongoing impact of U.S. export controls, even as officials warn that China is rapidly closing the technological gap with American AI chip capabilities. The big picture: U.S. export restrictions since 2019 have successfully limited Huawei's AI chip production capacity, but China's massive investments in semiconductor technology are accelerating its ability to compete with American companies like Nvidia. What you should know: Huawei's Ascend 910C chips represent China's...
read Jun 12, 2025China’s $10B+ bet to build AI chips faces 4 major hurdles
U.S. export controls have effectively cut China off from the world's most advanced artificial intelligence chips, forcing Beijing to build an entire domestic semiconductor ecosystem from scratch. This isn't simply about replacing a few high-end processors—it requires mastering four interconnected technological domains that took decades for the West to develop. The challenge extends far beyond chip design. U.S. restrictions target every link in the semiconductor supply chain, from the specialized manufacturing equipment needed to produce chips to the memory components that make them functional. China has mobilized tens of billions of dollars to bridge these gaps, achieving some breakthroughs through...
read Jun 10, 2025Huawei CEO admits chips lag US despite $25B annual R&D spend
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei has publicly acknowledged that the company's chips lag one generation behind U.S. competitors, marking the first official comments from Huawei leadership about their advanced chip manufacturing capabilities since U.S. export controls began in 2019. Despite this technological gap, Ren revealed that Huawei is deploying alternative strategies like cluster computing and mathematical optimization to bridge performance differences, while investing $25 billion annually in research and development. What you should know: Huawei is compensating for its chip technology deficit through innovative workaround solutions rather than direct competition. The company uses "mathematics to supplement physics, non-Moore's law to supplement...
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