China’s AI chip industry is no longer trying to build an Nvidia clone. Under sustained US export controls that block access to the most powerful general-purpose GPUs, the country’s largest technology companies are pivoting toward application-specific integrated circuits, custom chips designed to do one thing extremely well rather than handle any workload. The shift is […]
Beijing’s new framework codifies the technology-tracing approach the NDRC used to unwind Meta’s $2bn Manus acquisition, making cross-border AI deals materially harder. China has formalised a tougher framework for outbound-investment review, codifying the legal-and-administrative posture the National Development and Reform Commission used to unwind Meta’s $2bn acquisition of AI-agent startup Manus in April. The updated rules, […]
A top-level Communist Party publication has signaled a shift in how Beijing intends to govern its largest internet platforms. A draft commentary set to appear in the Qiushi journal on Monday says the focus will be on balancing support for growth with enhanced regulatory oversight. The message is directed at companies including Alibaba, Meituan, and […]
BYD has unveiled the Xuanji A3, which it calls China’s first automotive-grade 4-nanometre chip for self-driving vehicles. CEO Wang Chuanfu announced the chip at an event at BYD’s Shenzhen headquarters on 28 May, saying it delivers the lowest power consumption per unit of compute in its class, drawing roughly 20% less than comparable semiconductors. The chip has […]
Liu Qiangdong’s pledge to safeguard JD.com’s workforce from automation sits uncomfortably with his own ‘unmanned era’ vision and a flagship warehouse already running on four employees. Liu Qiangdong, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, vowed in an internal speech this week to protect the company’s 900,000-strong workforce from AI and robotics, according to a […]
China’s $1.1bn AI, robotics and EV package for Serbia lands four days after 34,000 protesters filled the capital demanding early elections. Brussels has yet to develop a coherent response to either. On Saturday, tens of thousands of Serbians filled the centre of Belgrade in what police estimated as a 34,300-person rally demanding early elections, accountability […]
SAMR has penalised the two electronics firms for procedural violations in their now-collapsed asset sale, the latest signal of Beijing’s tightening merger-enforcement posture. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has fined Luxshare Precision Industry and Wingtech Technology for violations in connection with their now-unravelling asset sale, according to a Reuters report on Wednesday. The fine […]
Foreign-branded smartphone shipments to China, a category dominated by Apple, rose 1.8% year-on-year in April to 3.59 million handsets, according to Reuters calculations based on figures published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the government-run research body that tracks domestic handset shipments. The number is a meaningful deceleration. Foreign-brand shipments to China grew […]
Top researchers at private Chinese AI companies are being asked to surrender passports, in a quiet expansion of the controls that began at DeepSeek earlier this year. China is widening its informal travel restrictions on senior AI researchers, extending controls that began at DeepSeek earlier this year to a broader group of private-sector firms working at the […]
