Tech

Tech Trends
Tech War
Big Tech
Policy
China Future Tech
MiniMax plans to beef up its research and development. Photo: Handout

Banking & Finance

China’s generative AI tiger MiniMax pursues Hong Kong IPO to expand global reach

Hong Kong equity market offers platform for mainland Chinese AI firms seeking international investors amid intensifying domestic competition.

Coins in sand: how the UAE draws in the global crypto community

China’s Huawei ramps up foldable handset battle with global launch of Mate X7

Tech Trends

China’s Xreal to power Google’s Android AI glasses as smart eyewear demand grows

Project Aura, which features dual-chip design and optical see-through lenses, is a fresh example of China’s expanding R&D capabilities.

Aura projects applications directly into the user’s sightline, enabling interaction via hand gestures and granting access to Google Play apps. Photo: Handout
Aura projects applications directly into the user’s sightline, enabling interaction via hand gestures and granting access to Google Play apps. Photo: Handout

Big Tech

AI race: Meta reportedly uses Alibaba’s Qwen for its ‘Avocado’ model

Reported move to reinvigorate Meta’s faltering AI effort with new ‘Avocado’ model is another likely win for Chinese AI.

Banking & Finance

Swift tests blockchain with Ant International and HSBC in cross-border trial

By using the ISO 20022 messaging standard, the partners say they can make tokenised deposits interoperable with legacy systems.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Tech

Apple takes China’s smartphone battle house to house with 3-hour iPhone delivery

Apple is ramping up the fight for the Chinese market as rivals Huawei and Xiaomi pile on the pressure.

Apple is ramping up the fight for the Chinese market. Photo: Shutterstock
Apple is ramping up the fight for the Chinese market. Photo: Shutterstock

Blockchain

Bitcoin drops below US$90,000 as AI worries sour risk appetite

The fall signals renewed market jitters after the historic crypto crash in October.

Tech Trends

AI’s US$400 billion problem: Are chips getting old too fast?

Before the AI wave unleashed by ChatGPT, cloud computing giants typically assumed that their chips and servers would last about six years.

Big Tech

Nvidia builds location verification tech that could help fight chip smuggling

China’s top cybersecurity regulator has called Nvidia in for questioning about whether its products contain back doors.

8
The Nvidia logo is displayed on a building in Taipei, Taiwan April 16, 2025. Photo: Reuters

Big Tech

Less hype, more hardware: SenseTime banks on multimodal AI to regain its edge

SenseTime may have slipped from the spotlight as one of China’s “AI dragons”, but its tilt at multimodal, real-world AI hints at a comeback.

SenseTime co-founder and chief scientist Lin Dahua. Photo: Vincent Chow
SenseTime co-founder and chief scientist Lin Dahua. Photo: Vincent Chow

Big Tech

Chinese supercomputer maker Sugon and chip developer Hygon call off merger plans

The aborted merger dashes industry expectations for a major domestic ecosystem covering advanced processors and high-performance servers.

Big Tech

Alibaba names AI-lab leader Zhou Jingren as new group partner

He will join the 17-member Alibaba Partnership, which steers the company’s course and includes co-founders Jack Ma and Joe Tsai.

Tech

Power and data centres will put China ahead of US in the AI race, says investor

AI is now a race to build data centres and secure electricity, says investor Allen Zhu, who argues China’s energy push puts it ahead.

Chinese venture capitalist Allen Zhu Xiaohu of GSR Ventures Management. Photo: Handout

Tech Trends

China’s Moore Threads to unveil AI chip road map to rival Nvidia’s CUDA system

Founder Zhang Jianzhong is expected to launch the firm’s next-generation AI chip architecture and MUSA platform road map in Beijing.

Moore Threads Technology expects to release a new-generation graphics processing unit every year. Photo: Moore Threads
Moore Threads Technology expects to release a new-generation graphics processing unit every year. Photo: Moore Threads

China Business

China’s Fosun Pharma unit strikes US$2.1 billion obesity drug deal with Pfizer

Yao Pharma’s deal with the US pharmaceutical giant underscores China’s growing role in global biotech licensing.

Big Tech

Microsoft makes US$17.5 billion pledge for AI cloud in India

The country of 1.45 billion people is increasingly drawing the attention of AI power brokers as a market and a source of talent and data.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Tech War

How Nexperia saga exposes Europe’s waning influence in US-China chip war

The dispute around the Dutch chipmaker shows the erosion of Europe’s geopolitical neutrality in the face of escalating US-China rivalry.

19
Nexperia is caught in a geopolitical tussle between the Netherlands and China. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Nexperia is caught in a geopolitical tussle between the Netherlands and China. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Tech War

China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race

The AI war is increasingly waged among ‘hyperscalers’ – companies with full-stack capabilities across software, hardware and applications.

videocam
80

Tech War

How Huawei and DeepSeek are tending the garden of China’s AI aspirations

Amid growing AI rivalry with the US, the two companies are leading China’s drive to shake off the nation’s dependence on Nvidia processors.

14

Big Tech

Immediate gratification: instant commerce transforms China’s retail market

Instant commerce has developed over a short period of time, as providers expanded their on-demand delivery coverage beyond food.

Illustration: Henry Wong
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
China Future Tech
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
China Future Tech

Big Tech

China’s DeepSeek challenges Google DeepMind with new AI model

6
A shop advertising DeepSeek in Hong Kong. Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images

China Business

Look beyond AI ‘titans’ for growth stocks, BofA Securities says

Sectors with relatively high profitability include semiconductor equipment, printed circuit boards, optical modules, and outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing, according to BofA Securities. Photo: Shutterstock

Big Tech

AI race: Meta reportedly uses Alibaba’s Qwen for its ‘Avocado’ model

The logo of Meta Platforms is seen outside its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. Photo: TNS

China Economy

China’s biotech firms may see ‘major breakthroughs’ within a decade. Here’s why

videocam
Chinese biotech firms set to crack the global market within a decade, according to industry experts. Photo: Getty Images

Big Tech

Less hype, more hardware: SenseTime banks on multimodal AI to regain its edge

SenseTime co-founder and chief scientist Lin Dahua. Photo: Vincent Chow
MORE IN China Future Tech
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
OPINION
Winston Mok

Opinion | How China can help Africa build human capital

Winston Mok
James David Spellman

Opinion | Why 2026 will be the year AI hype collides with reality

James David Spellman
Andrew Sheng

Opinion | Age of AI holds both promise and peril

Andrew Sheng
Jeffrey Wu

Opinion | Why the real AI race is within China and not across the Pacific

Jeffrey Wu
Ningrong Liu

Opinion | The bright side to US-China decoupling and global self-reliance drives

Ningrong Liu
Brian P. Klein

Opinion | Will AI kill the middle class?

Brian P. Klein
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
MULTIMEDIA
Video

Australia’s under-16 social media ban due to take effect

dsfewd
02:58
Video

Chinese firm unveils new lightweight AI glasses

New AI glasses
01:56
Video

China’s ‘Goddess of Wealth’ jailed for over 11 years by UK court

China cryptoqueen jailed for more than 11 years by UK court over US$6.4 billion bitcoin fraud
02:26
Video

Third consecutive championship for South Korea’s T1

South Korea’s T1 clinches third consecutive League of Legends World Championship esports win
01:32
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
TRENDING TOPICS
Huawei Technologies
Artificial intelligence
Smartphones
Alibaba
Tencent Holdings
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement