https://www.scmp.com/rss/318224/feed Latest news and scientific research from China and Asia. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Chinese autonomous driving start-up WeRide said on Wednesday that it aims to expand its services in the central areas of cities, as the sector eyes commercialisation. “All we have achieved is aimed at covering urban centre areas one day,” said Tony Han, WeRide’s chief executive. The company will initially target Guangzhou, but its services were currently stretched thin because of a limited number of vehicles. “We are working to add more autonomous vehicles to our fleet, and hope this soon covers... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3120412/chinese-autonomous-driving-firm-weride-expand-services-sector-eyes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3120412/chinese-autonomous-driving-firm-weride-expand-services-sector-eyes?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Feb 2021 12:00:41 +0000 China’s health care industry, the second-largest in the world with US$3.5 trillion spent in 2018, is attracting global telemedicine investors and service providers as the government gives technology a role to improve the allocation of vital medical resources. Companies like Medix Global, which provides second opinions, necessary tests and monitors recovery – known as medical case management – for individual customers, are seizing the opportunity left unattended by AliHealth, WeDoctor and other... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3119909/foreign-telemedicine-firms-struggle-crack-china-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3119909/foreign-telemedicine-firms-struggle-crack-china-market?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Jan 2021 02:30:11 +0000 The United States is leading rivals in development and use of artificial intelligence while China is rising quickly and the European Union is lagging, a research report showed on Monday. The study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation assessed AI using 30 separate metrics including human talent, research activity, commercial development and investment in hardware and software. The US leads, with an overall score of 44.6 points on a 100-point scale, followed by China with 32 and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3119115/us-leads-world-artificial-intelligence-china-catching-study?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3119115/us-leads-world-artificial-intelligence-china-catching-study?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Jan 2021 06:51:18 +0000 China more than doubled its construction of new wind and solar power plants in 2020 from a year earlier, government data showed, reflecting Beijing’s pledge to cut fossil fuel dependence and bring carbon emissions to a peak within a decade. China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, added 71.67 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity last year, the most ever and nearly triple 2019’s levels, according to data released by the National Energy Administration (NEA) late Wednesday. China’s 2020... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3118675/china-doubles-new-renewable-capacity-2020-and-raises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3118675/china-doubles-new-renewable-capacity-2020-and-raises?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jan 2021 08:00:21 +0000 The city of Beijing will develop new “trillion yuan” hi-tech manufacturing clusters and strengthen its capabilities in areas such as artificial intelligence and quantum communication research, according to its new five-year action plan to be a global science and technology hub. The Chinese capital wants to attract more global talent by offering better work conditions, and opening up its research facilities to international scientists to boost China’s influence in global science and technology... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3118559/chinese-capital-beijing-sets-sights-building-trillion-yuan-hi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3118559/chinese-capital-beijing-sets-sights-building-trillion-yuan-hi?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Jan 2021 00:30:20 +0000 China’s production of integrated circuits and industrial robots surged in 2020, as the country boosted its output of hi-tech products amid tighter US restrictions, according to official industrial statistics. A similar growth rate in imported chips, however, suggests China remains far from its goal of self-sufficiency in the critical technology. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released new data on Monday that showed the US blacklisting of Chinese tech champions like Semiconductor... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3118327/china-boosts-semiconductor-production-2020-imports-keep-apace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3118327/china-boosts-semiconductor-production-2020-imports-keep-apace?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jan 2021 13:00:18 +0000 China’s leading search engine, Baidu, has entered the fray to take on Tesla and a clutch of domestic smart electric car makers through a new partnership with vehicle manufacturer Geely. Baidu, which already runs one of the world’s largest open autonomous-driving platforms, plans to use Geely’s production facilities and development capabilities to reinforce its foray into car manufacturing, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter. Shares of Geely Automobile shot up by a fifth in... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3117004/chinese-search-giant-baidu-jumps-smart-electric-car-fray-teaming?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3117004/chinese-search-giant-baidu-jumps-smart-electric-car-fray-teaming?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Jan 2021 12:28:55 +0000 China is planning to realign hundreds of “state key laboratories” with the country’s technology priorities and articulate a 10-year programme to boost spending on fundamental science research, as Beijing rolls up its sleeves in competing for tech dominance against the United States. At the national technology working conference on Tuesday, the Ministry of Science and Technology said China will carry out a systemic restructuring of the country’s national key labs and release a 10-year plan to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3116753/china-us-tech-rivalry-beijing-plans-restructure-national-labs-boost?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3116753/china-us-tech-rivalry-beijing-plans-restructure-national-labs-boost?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jan 2021 10:00:14 +0000 China’s health care sector can expect a brighter outlook as services resume their growth trajectory after the government tackled the Covid-19 pandemic to strengthen economic expansion, analysts said. While vaccine deployment is certain to hog the limelight, Citigroup said internet platform operators can profit from ongoing policy reforms to spur greater adoption of online services and reduce hospital trips. Pressure on drug prices is a key challenge to market players, China Renaissance... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3116183/coronavirus-china-2021-outlook-brightens-health-care-operators?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3116183/coronavirus-china-2021-outlook-brightens-health-care-operators?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Jan 2021 01:45:08 +0000 What is the C919? The C919 is a narrow-body jet being built by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), a state-owned company based in Shanghai, to compete with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320. How is the C919 being developed? The Chinese government formed Comac in 2008 to design and build the single-aisle C919. However, most of the parts are imported from foreign manufacturers, including the engine, avionics, control systems, communications and landing gear. According to a report... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3115793/c919-what-chinas-home-grown-alternative-airbus-boeing-duopoly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3115793/c919-what-chinas-home-grown-alternative-airbus-boeing-duopoly?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jan 2021 10:30:14 +0000 Shenzhen, the southern boomtown hand-picked by Chinese President Xi Jinping as a model “socialist” city, has set lofty development and technology goals in a blueprint for 2025 and beyond, painting itself a bright future despite challenges from US sanctions and slowing economic growth at home. The mainland city, which spent the last couple of decades transforming from a sweatshop manufacturing base into China’s answer to Silicon Valley, has hopes to boost its economy to 4 trillion yuan (US$612.8... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3115999/shenzhen-focus-chips-ai-and-biomedicine-grow-gdp-40-cent-over-five?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3115999/shenzhen-focus-chips-ai-and-biomedicine-grow-gdp-40-cent-over-five?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Dec 2020 11:00:08 +0000 Hitachi Zosen, a Japanese sustainable energy engineering company, will build the world’s largest facility to produce methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen generated at a coal-based industrial zone in Shaanxi province. The facility, a pilot project, is part of a Sino-Japanese collaboration on carbon reduction. Osaka-based Hitachi Zosen, a 139-year-old former shipbuilding giant that now focuses on energy from waste, desalination plants engineering and industrial equipment manufacturing, has... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3115473/chinas-carbon-neutral-goal-hitachi-build-worlds-biggest-plant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3115473/chinas-carbon-neutral-goal-hitachi-build-worlds-biggest-plant?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Dec 2020 03:00:28 +0000 The Hong Kong researchers at the centre of China’s mission to collect lunar rock samples said they felt a “big relief” after the arrival of the samples back on Earth on Thursday, but they added that their space quest was far from over. The research team at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, led by Professor Yung Kai-leung, developed the sampling scoops and sealed container used by the Chang’e 5 mission to collect and bring back surface soil and rocks from the moon – the first collection of lunar... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3114399/hong-kong-team-behind-change-5-moon-rock-sampling-set-sights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3114399/hong-kong-team-behind-change-5-moon-rock-sampling-set-sights?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Dec 2020 00:00:15 +0000 In a sign that China is making progress in brain-computer interface technology, a public hospital in Shanghai has begun neuromodulation treatment for depressed patients by using electrode chips implanted in their brains, according to Chinese media reports. Affiliated with the prestigious Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai briefed Chinese media on its brain-computer interface (BCI) therapy project when it unveiled a new BCI and neuromodulation centre last... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3114029/shanghai-hospital-clears-ethical-reviews-chip-brain-implant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3114029/shanghai-hospital-clears-ethical-reviews-chip-brain-implant?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Dec 2020 09:45:15 +0000 Two years before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chinese authorities revealed plans to use cloud-seeding to control the weather. The feat involved launching 1,104 rockets packed with silver iodide into the sky, which helped eliminate any threat of downpours in the nation’s capital during the event’s opening ceremony on August 8 that year. Fast-forward around 12 years since that Olympiad, and China now plans to aggressively expand its weather control programme. The country expects its... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3113392/master-weather-china-drive-advance-rain-making-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3113392/master-weather-china-drive-advance-rain-making-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2020 11:00:14 +0000 More than three decades after Hong Kong and Singapore separately embarked on growing biotechnology sectors at almost the same time, their outcomes have proven dramatically different. Observers say Hong Kong’s efforts have sputtered and lagged behind Singapore’s strides in setting up a range of research institutions, attracting top talent and manufacturers, creating jobs and providing a launch pad for start-ups. There is now a new urgency for Hong Kong to prove its prowess, given China’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3112916/hong-kong-lags-behind-singapore-biotech-race-greater-bay-area-could?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3112916/hong-kong-lags-behind-singapore-biotech-race-greater-bay-area-could?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Dec 2020 02:00:18 +0000 China is looking to revamp its “national team” in the global competition for scientific and technological leadership, including bigger roles for its companies and attracting more international talent to join. Some experts think the strategy would particularly benefit the government’s Greater Bay Area scheme, which includes Hong Kong and Shenzhen. The new five-year plan – China’s policy outline for 2021 to 2025 – said it would push the development of its national laboratories and overhaul its... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3112648/chinas-plan-boost-innovation-and-what-it-could-mean-research?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3112648/chinas-plan-boost-innovation-and-what-it-could-mean-research?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Dec 2020 08:00:16 +0000 Hello, this is Bien Perez from the South China Morning Post’s Technology desk, with a wrap of our leading stories this week. Puerto Rico’s massive space telescope, the Arecibo Observatory, has ended 57 years of astronomical discoveries after sustaining severe damage since August of this year. The 900-tonne instrument platform of the telescope, which was featured in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye starring Pierce Brosnan, collapsed on Tuesday. That has left China’s Five-hundred-metre Aperture... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3112620/inside-china-tech-fast-keeps-big-eye-space-after-arecibo-collapse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3112620/inside-china-tech-fast-keeps-big-eye-space-after-arecibo-collapse?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Dec 2020 22:00:21 +0000 An optoelectronic chip project built for Chinese telecoms champion Huawei Technologies Co. was completed this week, providing the company with semiconductor supply chain capabilities from chip design and manufacturing to packaging and testing, according to a website post from the company that built the facility. The original post from China Construction Eighth Engineering Division Corp, published on Wednesday but since removed, said the second phase of the Huawei “light” fab project, located in... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3112520/huawei-takes-step-toward-supply-chain-independence-optoelectronics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3112520/huawei-takes-step-toward-supply-chain-independence-optoelectronics?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Dec 2020 04:12:00 +0000 After the collapse of the world’s second-largest radio telescope in Puerto Rico on Tuesday, China’s massive 500 metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is now the only giant, single-dish telescope in the world – but it will not open to global scientists until next year. The Arecibo Observatory, suspended by cables connected to three towers in a sinkhole, collapsed on Tuesday after the telescope’s 900-ton instrument platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below, according... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3112416/chinas-fast-worlds-only-giant-single-dish-radio-telescope?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3112416/chinas-fast-worlds-only-giant-single-dish-radio-telescope?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Dec 2020 11:30:24 +0000 After Britain became the first country to grant emergency approval on Wednesday to a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the US could be the next country to authorise its use. The US Food and Drug Administration said that its vaccine advisory committee would meet on December 10, with its results announced soon after. The vaccine makers have earmarked 100 million doses for the US, costing US$1.96 billion, with the option for an additional 500 million doses, according to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3112315/after-britain-us-could-be-next-approve-pfizer-and-biontechs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3112315/after-britain-us-could-be-next-approve-pfizer-and-biontechs?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Dec 2020 16:15:39 +0000 Google’s artificial intelligence unit took a giant step to predict the structure of proteins, potentially decoding a problem that has been described as akin to mapping the genome. DeepMind Technologies’ AlphaFold reached the threshold for “solving” the problem at the latest Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction competition. The event started in 1994 and is held every two years to accelerate research on the topic. Different folds in a protein determine how it will interact with other... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3112026/deepmind-ai-breakthrough-helps-solve-how-diseases-invade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3112026/deepmind-ai-breakthrough-helps-solve-how-diseases-invade?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Dec 2020 01:52:23 +0000 As Beijing doubles down in its contest with the US for technological leadership, it is looking to Chinese industrial champions to drive the country’s innovation programme – and even basic research in science and technology – once dominated by the state sector. The hard lessons from Washington’s export ban on the sale of advanced chips to telecoms giant Huawei did not need spelling out to Chinese Communist Party leaders at the end of October, when they approved an outline of China’s 14th... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3111990/china-pivots-state-corporate-partnerships-drive-technology-self?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3111990/china-pivots-state-corporate-partnerships-drive-technology-self?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:00:25 +0000 China now leads the world in artificial intelligence patent applications, surpassing the United States for the first time, a development seen bolstering the country’s position as the second-largest market for AI amid Beijing’s tech and trade war with Washington. The achievement was highlighted by Li Yuxiao, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies, at a press conference on Monday during the 7th World Internet Conference (WIC). China filed more than 110,000 AI patent applications... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3111510/china-tops-world-ai-patent-filings-surpassing-us-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3111510/china-tops-world-ai-patent-filings-surpassing-us-first-time?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Nov 2020 11:30:18 +0000 China’s first lunar mission to bring samples back to Earth faces new technical challenges and much could go wrong, according to Chinese space authorities. In the first mission of its kind by any country in more than 40 years, a Long March 5 rocket carrying the Chang’e 5 lunar spacecraft blasted off from Wenchang, Hainan province, on Tuesday morning. “A long journey just begins,” Pei Zhaoyu, deputy chief of the lunar programme at the China National Space Administration, said as the rocket lifted... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3111146/chinas-first-moon-mission-bring-samples-back-earth-faces?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3111146/chinas-first-moon-mission-bring-samples-back-earth-faces?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Nov 2020 07:28:30 +0000 With Elon Musk’s SpaceX shuttling Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station and Virgin Galactic planning to begin commercial flights next year, space has never been more accessible. For the business-minded, it’s never had more commercial potential. Around US$3.25 billion was invested in space start-ups in 2018, while a 2020 report by Morgan Stanley predicted the space economy could be worth up to US$1.1 trillion by the 2040s. Space was once the exclusive domain of superpower space... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3110162/singapore-emerging-space-technology-hub-southeast-asia-we-talk-scientists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3110162/singapore-emerging-space-technology-hub-southeast-asia-we-talk-scientists?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Nov 2020 23:15:19 +0000 In a laboratory in the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), researchers study a swinging metal pole designed to mimic the movement of human arms. Using a highly compact generator containing fewer than 10 components – including a motion capture unit and power generation unit – the researchers aim to harvest the energy created by human motion to power smartwatches and wristbands. This research, documented in academic journals including Applied Energy and IEEE Internet of Things Journal earlier... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3108264/smartwatches-powered-wearers-cuhk-researchers-aim-harvest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3108264/smartwatches-powered-wearers-cuhk-researchers-aim-harvest?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Nov 2020 00:15:05 +0000 Semiconductors, also known as microchips, are silicon-based devices made up of hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, of transistors, which act as tiny “switches” to control the movement of electrons. Today’s most advanced chips are produced using what is called the 7-nanometre manufacturing process, where one nanometre equals about one billionth of a metre. Only two companies in the world - Samsung and TSMC - are able to produce 7nm chips in volume. Smaller nanometre process nodes... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3107371/why-semiconductors-are-important-and-how-they-became-flashpoint-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3107371/why-semiconductors-are-important-and-how-they-became-flashpoint-us?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Oct 2020 04:50:36 +0000 From Monday, senior Chinese officials are set to converge on Beijing for a key meeting to thrash out detailed five-year targets for economic growth, and long-term development goals for 2035. The importance and urgency of pursuing local innovation and technology have never been greater, as China seeks to speed up its economic transformation through developing hi-tech industries and strengthening self-reliance in the face of worsening relations with the United States, which is moving to restrict... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3106838/no-rocket-science-china-beat-us-tech-it-must-boost-rd-investment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3106838/no-rocket-science-china-beat-us-tech-it-must-boost-rd-investment?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Oct 2020 01:30:14 +0000 Robots will destroy 85 million jobs at mid-sized to large businesses over the next five years as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates changes in the workplace likely to exaggerate inequalities, a World Economic Forum (WEF) study has found. Surveys of nearly 300 global companies found four out of five business executives were accelerating plans to digitise work and deploy new technologies, undoing employment gains made since the financial crisis of 2007-8. “Covid-19 has accelerated the arrival of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3106383/robots-will-destroy-85-million-jobs-over-next-five-years-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3106383/robots-will-destroy-85-million-jobs-over-next-five-years-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Oct 2020 03:10:12 +0000 Toshiba Corp said on Monday it aims to generate US$3 billion in revenue from its advanced cryptographic technology for data protection by 2030, as the sprawling Japanese conglomerate scrambles to find future growth drivers. The cybersecurity technology, called quantum key distribution (QKD), leverages the nature of quantum physics to provide two remote parties with cryptographic keys that are immune to cyberattacks driven by quantum computers. Toshiba expects the global QKD market to grow to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3106047/toshiba-targets-us3bn-revenue-quantum-cryptography-2030-it-searches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3106047/toshiba-targets-us3bn-revenue-quantum-cryptography-2030-it-searches?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:46:21 +0000 China’s efforts to become carbon neutral by 2060 are expected to receive a boost from a pair of scientific research projects involving methanol, an alternative biofuel for internal combustion and other engines. The Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is leading the two initiatives, which consist of a project that turns solar power into methanol and another that produces hydrogen from methanol. The projects can “fundamentally improve the ecological... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3105859/chinas-carbon-neutral-efforts-get-boost-new-ways-produce?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3105859/chinas-carbon-neutral-efforts-get-boost-new-ways-produce?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Oct 2020 11:00:18 +0000 When 29-year-old Nora Xu flew to the United States six years ago, she was hoping to pursue a stable life in the country by studying computer science, like millions of bright Chinese students before her. She sealed part one by picking up a bachelor’s and master’s degree. Part two has been more difficult though, and after applying for hundreds of suitable positions, she has yet to land an entry-level job. “This year has been extremely difficult for foreign students and employees … there are too... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3105513/why-tougher-us-visa-rules-highly-skilled-foreign-workers-could-be?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3105513/why-tougher-us-visa-rules-highly-skilled-foreign-workers-could-be?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Oct 2020 23:00:22 +0000 The global PC market has posted back-to-back quarterly double digit growth rates as corporations and schools continue to invest in the transition to remote working and learning amid second and third waves of Covid-19 in many countries. Global shipments of traditional PCs - comprising desktops, notebooks and workstations - grew 14.6 per cent year on year to 81.3 million units in the September quarter even as many vendors missed opportunities due to a sizeable backlog of unfulfilled orders,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3105263/global-pc-shipments-see-double-digit-growth-third-quarter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3105263/global-pc-shipments-see-double-digit-growth-third-quarter?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Oct 2020 04:16:26 +0000 Hello, this is Bien Perez from the South China Morning Post’s Technology desk, with a wrap of our leading stories this week. Amid rising tensions with Washington, Beijing has had to downplay some of the country’s technological catch-up efforts, such as the “Made in China 2025” policy road map. Sensing a threat to US global hi-tech dominance, the Trump administration had seized on the plan as an example of what it sees as unfair state intervention in China’s economy. In reality, however, China’s... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3104881/inside-china-tech-beijing-sharpen-countrys-rd-focus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3104881/inside-china-tech-beijing-sharpen-countrys-rd-focus?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Oct 2020 22:00:13 +0000 Novoheart Holdings, the inventor of artificial “mini-hearts” co-founded by a Hong Kong scientist, is expanding its research and manufacturing budget in the region to commercialise a technology that can speed up drug discovery process. The Canada-listed firm sees Hong Kong as part of its global efforts to access a deep pool of talents and markets, co-founder and chief executive officer Ronald Li said. Including new facilities in Wuxi in mainland China’s southern Jiangsu province, and in eastern... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3103995/hong-kong-scientist-behind-artificial-mini-hearts-takes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3103995/hong-kong-scientist-behind-artificial-mini-hearts-takes?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Oct 2020 12:03:46 +0000 Hutchison China MediTech (Chi-Med), whose stock has surged 70 per cent in London over the past six months, expects to receive approvals to sell its endocrine and lung cancer drugs in China by June next year, chief executive officer Christian Hogg said. The cancer drugs manufacturing and innovation unit of billionaire Li Ka-shing‘s conglomerate CK Hutchison, plans to triple the size of its marketing team over the next three years in anticipation of the green light, he added. That will take the... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3103842/billionaire-li-ka-shings-biotech-unit-hopes-new-cancer-drug?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3103842/billionaire-li-ka-shings-biotech-unit-hopes-new-cancer-drug?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Oct 2020 10:30:08 +0000 A leading Chinese artificial intelligence researcher in the US has returned to China as Beijing strives to become a global leader in the field. Professor Zhu Songchun, an award-winning expert in computer vision at the University of California at Los Angeles, has joined Peking University to lead its Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the university said in a statement last Friday. The university said it was working with Beijing city and the central government to set up a new and separate AI... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3103543/artificial-intelligence-expert-zhu-songchun-return-china-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3103543/artificial-intelligence-expert-zhu-songchun-return-china-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:34:02 +0000 China’s fragmented outsourced drug discovery services market will see further consolidation as companies seek to grab market share amid a biotechnology boom. The market, dotted with companies with specialty expertise, are becoming attractive targets for suitors seeking a foothold in the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, according to private equity firm Advent International. “The industry is growing at around 20 per cent a year in the last few years, benefiting from the biotech boom,”... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3103451/mergers-afoot-chinas-biotechnology-industry-suppliers-become?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3103451/mergers-afoot-chinas-biotechnology-industry-suppliers-become?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2020 04:40:16 +0000 Over the past year, President Xi Jinping has on multiple occasions described China’s reliance on imported technology with the term Qia Bozi, which translates to being strangled by an adversary. And no industry better reflects this weakness than semiconductor manufacturing – the microprocessors that power the modern economy, from smartphones to cars. China often boasts of having the world’s most extensive industrial value chain and is known as the global leader in assembling mobile handsets, but... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3103385/us-china-tech-war-can-chinas-chipmaking-drive-save-it-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3103385/us-china-tech-war-can-chinas-chipmaking-drive-save-it-us?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Sep 2020 15:30:08 +0000 Hello, this is Melissa Zhu from SCMP’s tech desk in Hong Kong with your Saturday morning round-up of this week’s biggest stories about China tech: more complications surrounding the US TikTok deal, Huawei’s chip supply situation and advancements that could pave the way for safer organ transplants from pigs to humans. An unpopular agreement The deal between ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart over TikTok’s US operations – pending approval from both the Trump administration and Beijing authorities – has... https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3103071/inside-china-tech-tiktok-deal-happening-or-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3103071/inside-china-tech-tiktok-deal-happening-or-not?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Sep 2020 21:30:18 +0000 A home-grown Hong Kong company plans to join a growing list of firms tapping the city’s stock market for capital for health care-related investment amid the Covid-19 pandemic. GeneHarbor (Hong Kong) Biotechnologies, which produces anti-ageing supplements, plans to make an initial public offering before June next year for funds to develop compounds to treat neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, chief executive officer Wang Jun said. “We are [already] a profitable company,” he told the Post... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3102651/geneharbor-plans-hong-kong-ipo-fund-new-medicinal-products-widen?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3102651/geneharbor-plans-hong-kong-ipo-fund-new-medicinal-products-widen?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Sep 2020 06:05:17 +0000 A team led by Chinese researchers say they have succeeding in producing genetically modified pigs with cells that are more compatible with the human immune system, paving the way for safe and effective organ transplants from animals to humans. In a study published Monday in the Nature Biomedical Engineering journal, the researchers said they used CRISPR – Cas9 and a combination of other genetic technologies to inactivate porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs), a group of viruses that could be... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3102646/gene-editing-chinese-scientists-bring-safer-pig-human-organ?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3102646/gene-editing-chinese-scientists-bring-safer-pig-human-organ?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Sep 2020 05:07:16 +0000 Are electronic cigarettes a safe alternative to smoking? The World Health Organisation (WHO) says no, but China’s largest e-cigarette brand Relx Technology thinks more research could prove otherwise. “E-cigarettes are sometimes viewed with suspicion because we have incomplete knowledge,” said Relx co-founder and head of R&D and supply chain Wen Yilong. The company unveiled a new bioscience laboratory on Thursday to study the health effects of vaping. The lab in Shenzhen will investigate the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3102028/chinas-largest-e-cigarette-brand-relx-study-health-effects?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3102028/chinas-largest-e-cigarette-brand-relx-study-health-effects?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Sep 2020 08:30:09 +0000 Evive Biotech, a unit of Shenzhen-listed Yifan Pharmaceutical, aims to break the dominance of American drugs developer Amgen in the US$5.5 billion global market for a type of post-chemotherapy treatment drugs. In the process, the innovative drugs developer is hoping to become the first Chinese company to win regulatory approval to sell a novel biological drug in the US market, chief executive Liu Jubo said in an interview. Biological drugs, also known as large molecule drugs, are derived from... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3102007/yifan-pharmas-unit-eyes-us55-billion-post-chemotherapy-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3102007/yifan-pharmas-unit-eyes-us55-billion-post-chemotherapy-treatment?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Sep 2020 01:50:59 +0000 Hybribio, one of the three mainland Chinese biotechnology groups involved in the Hong Kong government’s Covid-19 mass testing scheme, plans to expand its operations in the city, a top executive said. The company had been looking to grow its business in the financial hub even before the coronavirus pandemic, said director and vice general manager Kun Tit Sang, who oversaw the company’s operations during the two-week testing programme that ended on Monday. “We’ve always been here and we were doing... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3101858/mainland-listed-hybribio-involved-hong-kongs-covid-19-mass?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3101858/mainland-listed-hybribio-involved-hong-kongs-covid-19-mass?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Sep 2020 01:30:08 +0000 China’s minister of science and technology has invited technology talent to enjoy what he called the “China opportunity”, amid an escalating tech war that has seen controls, such as visas, tightened for Chinese students, workers and academics in the US. Minister Wang Zhigang said that China will “take more active attitudes and pragmatic measures to deepen international tech collaboration, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of talents, and let them, from home or abroad, enjoy... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3101137/sci-tech-minister-welcomes-talent-china-opportunity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3101137/sci-tech-minister-welcomes-talent-china-opportunity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Sep 2020 05:34:36 +0000 Chinese tech giant Baidu is in talks with investors to raise up to US$2 billion over three years for a biotech start-up, which will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to discover new drugs and diagnose diseases, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. A second person confirmed the start-up plan. Baidu is unlikely to be the controlling investor, the first person said. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity, adding they did not have more details on the investment as talks... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3100934/baidu-investors-said-be-talks-raise-us2-billion-biotech-start?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3100934/baidu-investors-said-be-talks-raise-us2-billion-biotech-start?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2020 01:30:36 +0000 China’s biotechnology merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions have almost doubled this year, with interest perking up among investors amid a global rush to develop a cure for the Covid-19 disease. Some 19 deals worth US$3.1 billion were recorded in the sector that focuses on the research and development of novel drugs and medical devices from January to June this year, compared to 16 transactions totalling US$1.74 billion in the preceding six months, according to data compiled by... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3100889/chinese-biotech-sector-blowing-hot-ma-and-ipo-deals-surge-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3100889/chinese-biotech-sector-blowing-hot-ma-and-ipo-deals-surge-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2020 11:15:22 +0000 CanSino Biologics, which developed a Covid-19 vaccine candidate with the Chinese military’s research arm, will start testing its vaccine candidate on humans in Russia as part of its global search for the coronavirus cure. The drug maker has initiated phase three of human trials for its Ad5-nCoV vaccine candidate after receiving the green light from the health ministry in Moscow, it said in a statement on Wednesday. It will partner NPO Petrovax Pharm for the clinical trials. The move sparked a... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3099953/cansino-gets-russias-approval-start-covid-19-vaccine-trials?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3099953/cansino-gets-russias-approval-start-covid-19-vaccine-trials?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Sep 2020 11:31:25 +0000