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China technology

China technology
Latest news, features and opinion on China’s technology industry, including AI, the US-China tech war, 5G, smartphone makers and apps, and issues surrounding China’s Great Firewall.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
The Deepseek logo is seen in this illustration photo taken on January 29, 2025. Photo: Reuters
DeepSeek

Weixin is testing DeepSeek to put China’s super app on steroids

Beta users can click an ‘AI Search’ option within Weixin to access DeepSeek, in addition to Tencent’s Hunyuan foundational model.

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E-commerce

China’s online sellers face turmoil after Trump’s tariff reversal

Electric & new energy vehicles

How DeepSeek’s AI has become a must-have feature in Chinese smart EVs

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Artificial intelligence

Chinese sex doll maker sees jump in 2025 sales as AI improves user experience

WMDoll founder Liu Jiangxia says the integration of generative AI models ‘makes the dolls more responsive and interactive’.

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About 90 per cent of WMDoll’s sales are outside mainland China, with sex doll shipments to the US making up half of the company’s export volume. Photo: Thomas Yau
DeepSeek

China’s Tianjin city adopts DeepSeek as part of rush to embrace domestic AI

The northern port city is opening an AI computing centre in collaboration with the tech giant Huawei.

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IPO

Chinese spatial design firm Manycore Tech files for IPO in Hong Kong

Manycore and DeepSeek are part of a group of start-ups, called ‘Six Little Dragons’, that have bolstered the tech-hub status of Hangzhou.

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China jobs

Are China’s AI advancements a double-edged sword hanging over job prospects?

With China’s youth-unemployment rate an ever-present threat for young jobseekers, now many may have to adapt to an environment awash with AI automation.

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China’s workforce is bracing for the impact of artificial intelligence. Photo: Simon Song
Diplomacy

Brazil’s Lula chides Beijing, EU, US for practices that gave China its tech edge

The Brazilian president also hinted that he may file a WTO complaint against Washington’s tariffs.

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Electric & new energy vehicles

Zeekr joins China’s autonomous-driving race, to unveil tech at Shanghai car show

New York-listed Zeekr, which finalised a merger with Lynk on Friday, will reveal its L3 self-driving system in April.

Science

Chinese scientists develop ‘injection’ to make lithium-ion batteries last longer

Repair technology could significantly extend the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries found in electric vehicles and smartphones.

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Lithium-ion batteries are key components of modern phones and electric vehicles. Photo: Shutterstock Images
Artificial intelligence

DeepSeek spurs Baidu, other AI competitors to adopt open-source strategy

Baidu on Friday said the next generation of its Ernie large language models will be open source from June 30.

DeepSeek’s open-source strategy has upended the tech industry’s view of how artificial intelligence models are developed. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China tech war

President Xi to meet China’s tech entrepreneurs in nod to breakthroughs

Between 20 and 30 founders and chief executives of China’s largest technology companies are expected to assemble in Beijing on Monday, according to sources.

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Semiconductors

Trump said to be reviewing terms underpinning US Chips Act awards

One source says the White House is frustrated by subsidy recipients announcing significant overseas expansion, including in China.

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Alibaba

Jack Ma tours Alibaba’s Freshippo supermarket in central China

The Alibaba founder was spotted visiting one of the company’s grocery stores just days after visiting its Hangzhou campus.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma (sixth from left) visits a Freshippo supermarket in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, on Thursday. Photo: RedNote
TikTok

Apple, Google restore TikTok app in US after assurances from Trump

The Chinese video app briefly went dark last month to comply with a federal ban.

Apple and Google have restored TikTok to their respective US app stores. Photo: Reuters
China manufacturing

How China is betting big on state-led research to drive a tech revolution

Though start-ups like DeepSeek are winning headlines, a key pillar of China’s tech revolution is its massive state-directed research programme.

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Technology

Editorial | Global cooperation needed to ensure safe development of AI

As US fails to sign landmark pact, it remains essential for all nations to take an inclusive, open and ethical approach to artificial intelligence.

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Artificial intelligence

Baidu to offer Ernie Bot service for free as DeepSeek heats up China’s AI market

From April 1, the Ernie Bot platform will be free to use and provide access to Baidu’s Ernie large language models.

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Baidu’s Ernie Bot service had a user base of 430 million as of November 2024. Photo: Shutterstock
Smartphones

Apple partners with Alibaba in AI as Chinese rivals embrace DeepSeek

DeepSeek has become the top AI choice for Chinese Android smartphone makers from Huawei to Vivo, as Alibaba scores Apple as local partner.

DeepSeek

Ready, set, DeepSeek: how China’s economic growth suddenly became tied to AI

Tech innovation has rapidly become key to boosting labour productivity that will be necessary to sustain China’s economic momentum.

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Alibaba

Alibaba’s Joe Tsai hails DeepSeek as open-source inspiration for AI developers

‘Let’s find out what are the actual problems in the world and use AI to solve them’, Tsai says at the World Governments Summit.

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Media entrepreneur Jeffrey Katzenberg (left) talks to Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai about artificial intelligence at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on February 13, 2025. Photo: Alibaba
Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Rethinking AI development: maximum intelligence vs useful applications

It is no longer about who has the most advanced AI model. Capital will follow revenue-generating commercialised applications.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Artificial intelligence

Letters | DeepSeek’s open-source approach embodies ancient Chinese wisdom

Readers discuss the Chinese AI company’s decision to keep its models open source, and the global reaction to its breakthrough.

DeepSeek

DeepSeek frenzy drives AI adoption by local Chinese governments

District governments in China are using DeepSeek’s models for a variety of tasks, from proofreading documents to locating lost people.

US-China trade war

China’s ‘iPhone City’ eerily quiet as Foxconn moves production amid trade war

The giant iPhone assembly plant in Zhengzhou has cut back on hiring as Apple loses market share in China and Foxconn shifts production overseas.

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Foxconn’s giant iPhone assembly facility in Zhengzhou, Henan province, is cutting back on hiring amid the US-China trade war. Photo: Weibo
Apple

Apple’s AI partnership with Alibaba excites Chinese iOS developers

App developers called Alibaba’s open-source Qwen models the ‘ideal’ choice, as news of the deal lifted sentiment about Apple’s China prospects.

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Chinese iOS developers are hopeful that news of a partnership between Apple and Alibaba means an imminent launch of Apple Intelligence on the mainland. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

Opinion | Why Trump is not TikTok’s saviour

The president’s insistence on US ownership and tariff threats betray how much he covets the app, in particular its hi-tech algorithm.

DeepSeek

DeepSeek fuels China’s push to cut reliance on Nvidia ecosystem

Chinese chipmakers’ rush to support DeepSeek’s popular AI models is giving a boost to the country’s efforts to cut reliance on US tech.

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