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Semiconductors
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC)
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People visit the Moonshot AI stand, featuring the Kimi K3 model, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 18. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Why China’s open-weight AI model Kimi K3 is sparking anxiety in Silicon Valley

Analysts say Beijing-based start-up Moonshot’s 2.8 trillion-parameter large language model could narrow the gap with the US within ‘weeks’.

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Artificial intelligence

Moonshot AI pushes China closer to US in frontier tech

Semiconductors

Alibaba targets Nvidia’s dominant software ecosystem with open-source AI stack

Semiconductors

Chinese chip start-up Biren bets on light-based ‘supernodes’ to match Nvidia

The firm uses near-packaged optics to bypass traditional architecture limits and scale more than 1,000 processor cards across a cluster.

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Biren Technology is considered crucial to China’s efforts to reduce reliance on US chipmaker Nvidia amid Washington’s export curbs on advanced chips. Photo: Handout
Biren Technology is considered crucial to China’s efforts to reduce reliance on US chipmaker Nvidia amid Washington’s export curbs on advanced chips. Photo: Handout
Artificial intelligence

Xi’s call on AI, Trump blasts China, US tariffs

This week: Chinese president urges open and secure AI, US leader accuses Beijing over 2020 election, GDP growth slows. Next week: US global tariff expiry, Apec ministers meet, Hong Kong lawmakers decamp to Beijing.

Artificial intelligence

Xi Jinping warns against creating ‘new historical injustices’ in AI era

Chinese leader’s presence at World AI Conference signals Beijing’s push to elevate AI from tech priority to pillar of geopolitical strategy.

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Semiconductors

Chinese Nvidia alternatives project massive sales as AI chip demand surges

Moore Threads and Hygon are capitalising on surging demand for AI computing power as they race to fill the void left by Washington’s export controls.

Moore Threads, a GPU start-up founded in 2020, is now one of China’s most closely watched semiconductor players. Photo: Moore Threads
Moore Threads, a GPU start-up founded in 2020, is now one of China’s most closely watched semiconductor players. Photo: Moore Threads
Artificial intelligence

BrainCo claims mind-to-robot link at China’s World AI Conference

Hangzhou-based firm says users can control robots using only their thoughts via EEG headsets, marking a leap in embodied AI tech.

Artificial intelligence

Top takeaways from Xi Jinping’s opening address at the World AI Conference

The speech marks the Chinese president’s first-ever keynote address at the nation’s premier artificial intelligence summit.

Artificial intelligence

Xi Jinping says ‘one country’ cannot monopolise AI – as it happened

President’s personal attendance seen as a sign of China’s inclusion of artificial intelligence into broader geopolitical strategy.

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President Xi Jinping arrives at the opening ceremony for the World AI Conference in Shanghai on Friday. Photo: AP
Semiconductors

TSMC pledges extra US$100b for Arizona fab expansion amid soaring AI chip demand

Riding on the AI boom, the Taiwanese chipmaker’s net income jumped 77 per cent to NT$706.6 billion (US$22 billion) in the second quarter.

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A view of TSMC’s complex in Phoenix, Arizona, under construction earlier this year. Photo: UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
A view of TSMC’s complex in Phoenix, Arizona, under construction earlier this year. Photo: UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Artificial intelligence

Sam Altman signals OpenAI price war as rivalry with Anthropic, China heats up

American AI pioneer eyes 75 per cent fee cut for flagship software to counter market gains by Claude and low-cost alternatives from Chinese providers.

Artificial intelligence

China’s DeepSeek eyes US$70b valuation in new talks weeks after first round

Company’s fresh fundraising talks come straight off its landmark Series A, as investors scramble to back national AI champion.

Artificial intelligence

China’s StepFun beats Apple and OpenAI to ‘world’s first AI phone’

Tencent-backed firm launches the AI-native StepX Neo smartphone, challenging US tech giants amid Apple-OpenAI legal clashes.

Tencent Holdings-backed StepFun introduced the StepX Neo in Shanghai on Monday, which it claims to be the world's first agentic smartphone. Photo: Weibo
Artificial intelligence

Will a new focus help Chinese AI labs challenge Thinking Machines Lab?

AI labs Yoolee and InfiX.ai say they aim to rival US start-up with industry-specific AI solutions, reduced costs and enhanced privacy.

Two Chinese AI labs, Yoolee AI and InfiX.ai, aim to challenge the likes of Thinking Machines Lab and Palantir with a focus on AI solutions tailored for specific industries, reduced costs and enhanced privacy. Photo: Shutterstock
Two Chinese AI labs, Yoolee AI and InfiX.ai, aim to challenge the likes of Thinking Machines Lab and Palantir with a focus on AI solutions tailored for specific industries, reduced costs and enhanced privacy. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China tech war

Nvidia’s future challenger? Chinese start-up reveals aggressive AI chip road map

As US sanctions block access to advanced lithography, a Shanghai-based firm bets on chip redesign, 3D memory stacking to break bottlenecks.

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Artificial intelligence

Beyond Claude Code: the Chinese AI tools poised to benefit after back-door alert

As Beijing flags a security risk in Anthropic software, domestic tech firms are rapidly embracing local alternatives such as ByteDance’s Trae and Alibaba’s Qoder.

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Semiconductors

Chinese chip start-up launches 8-inch production line pilot for 2D chips

The company says the production line launch marks a critical step towards China’s drive for tech self-sufficiency.

A Chinese chip start-up has launched what it claims to be the world’s first 8-inch production line for two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. Photo: qq.com
A Chinese chip start-up has launched what it claims to be the world’s first 8-inch production line for two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. Photo: qq.com
US-China tech war

Nvidia gets China boost, Iran ceasefire breaks, GDP release

This week: China allows limited imports of Nvidia H200 chips, the US and Iran resume attacks in the Middle East, and a Chinese submarine fires a test missile into the Pacific Ocean. Next week: Second-quarter GDP numbers come out, CXMT starts mainland IPO, Hong Kong Book Fair opens its doors, and more.

Semiconductors

Why Chinese AI labs like DeepSeek and Zhipu are looking beyond models to chips

Custom silicon allows for hardware optimisation tailored to specific architectures, such as the DeepSeek-R1 model.

US-China tech war

FCC denies US firm with Chinese links approval to provide telecoms services

The Federal Communications Commission said it was adding Digitalsystem Technology to a list of firms posing risks to US national security.

The headquarters of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

World working together ‘as one ecosystem’ on RISC-V chip research: executive

Alibaba vice-president Qi Xiaoning says global tech firms continue to build a unified, open-standard ecosystem amid rising geopolitical barriers.

Alibaba Group Vice-President Qi Xiaoning speaks at the SCMP China Conference 2026 on Tuesday, in a keynote speech. Photo: SCMP/Jonathan Wong
Alibaba Group Vice-President Qi Xiaoning speaks at the SCMP China Conference 2026 on Tuesday, in a keynote speech. Photo: SCMP/Jonathan Wong
Alibaba

Alibaba bans staff from using Claude Code over Anthropic spyware concerns

The Chinese tech giant has listed Claude Code as ‘high-risk’ software, after discovering Anthropic had tracked Chinese users using hidden code.

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Semiconductors

Can China’s memory chip giant CXMT keep thriving after IPO and AI boom?

CXMT is taking orders for its advanced DDR5 server memory from Tencent and ByteDance after completing customer validation, a source says.

Robotics

Now hiring: Nvidia’s robotics team ramps up its China talent hunt

The US chip giant says it is recruiting for more than a dozen roles as it looks to move robots from research labs to real-world deployment.

Visitors tour the Nvidia booth displaying humanoid robots at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing on June 25, 2026. Photo: AP
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