https://www.scmp.com/rss/318222/feed Keep track of the latest China technological innovations. 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 Tencent-backed Kuaishou Technology wrapped up the first mega IPO of the year on Friday. It set the final offer price at HK$115 per share, top-end of the range, after the short video platform set a record as the most oversubscribed deal ever in Hong Kong attracting retail investors’ demand totalling HK$1.28 trillion (US$164.8 billion), according to preliminary data provided by people familiar with the transaction. The top price has helped the loss-making company raise US$5.4 billion, the biggest... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3119805/tencent-backed-kuaishous-ipo-overbought-1200-times-retail?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3119805/tencent-backed-kuaishous-ipo-overbought-1200-times-retail?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jan 2021 10:00:07 +0000 [Sponsored article] Initiatives are under way to boost pride in the “Made in Hong Kong” label, which now carries a new meaning that reflects the city’s evolution from labour-intensive factories to innovation and technology (I&T) focused industries over the decades. In the 1950s and 60s, entrepreneurs tapped a fast-growing supply of manpower to turn Hong Kong into a global manufacturing and export hub. The city specialised in high-volume production for companies worldwide, churning out products... https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/innovation/topics/digitalised-industry/article/3119560/backed-tech-and-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/innovation/topics/digitalised-industry/article/3119560/backed-tech-and-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jan 2021 02:20:44 +0000 From streets filled with cameras to apps that require biometric identification, facial recognition use has been growing in China but a new survey by a state media outlet indicates that Chinese residents are sceptical about the use of the technology in public spaces. A survey of 1,515 anonymous Chinese residents by Beijing News Think Tank on Tuesday found that 87.46 per cent of respondents oppose the use of facial recognition technology in commercial zones. And 68.64 per cent thought that facial... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3119281/facial-recognition-used-china-everything-refuse-collection-toilet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3119281/facial-recognition-used-china-everything-refuse-collection-toilet?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Jan 2021 16:00:16 +0000 Huawei Technologies Co plans to sharpen the focus of its wearables research and development on health care, as the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker pushes into new growth areas amid its struggles with US trade sanctions. The initiative could also enable Huawei to catch up with Xiaomi Corp, the world’s second-biggest wearables vendor behind Apple. Shenzhen-based Huawei is undertaking three health research programmes on hypertension management, body temperature and coronary heart... https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3119149/huawei-ramps-wearables-effort-focus-health-care-amid-push-new-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3119149/huawei-ramps-wearables-effort-focus-health-care-amid-push-new-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Jan 2021 15:00:11 +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 electric car assemblers and battery producers are setting a new goalpost in their battle for supremacy in the world’s largest vehicle market: a driving range of up to 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) on a single charge. Their new weapon is the solid-state battery, deemed a better option because the electricity from solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte is safer, more reliable and more efficient than the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in existing lithium-ion or lithium polymer... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3118477/china-ev-battery-race-teslas-rivals-join-nio-efforts-achieve?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3118477/china-ev-battery-race-teslas-rivals-join-nio-efforts-achieve?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Jan 2021 12:00:07 +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 Hong Kong could play a leading role in easing China’s financial integration with the rest of the world amid Beijing and Washington’s technology and trade war, according to the city’s securities regulator. Attempts by the Trump administration to decouple the world’s two largest economies had also cemented Beijing’s resolve to further expedite its financial integration with other economies of the world. This presented a “breakthrough” opportunity for Hong Kong, said Julia Leung Fung-yee, the... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3118350/hong-kong-could-spearhead-chinas-financial-integration?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3118350/hong-kong-could-spearhead-chinas-financial-integration?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jan 2021 11:00:14 +0000 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s biggest contract chip maker, is gearing up to roll out its newest chip production process, enabling the development of integrated circuits that speed up the performance of consumer electronics devices without sacrificing battery life. The company will begin “risk production” of its 3-nanometre chipmaking process this year, an advance over the 5-nanometre process that was rolled out for mass production in 2020. The technology advance will... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3118183/tsmc-gears-mass-production-3-nanometre-chips-high-end-computers-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3118183/tsmc-gears-mass-production-3-nanometre-chips-high-end-computers-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Jan 2021 12:00:08 +0000 Matt Haldane Matt Haldane When the Chinese government effectively banned cryptocurrencies in 2017, the future of blockchain technology in the world’s second-largest economy did not look bright. But an endorsement from President Xi Jinping in late 2019 completely turned things around. More than a year later, China has launched its own “internet for blockchain” called the Blockchain Service Network. A number of both private and public organisations have also implemented blockchain in a variety of use cases, including... https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3117745/what-blockchain-how-it-works-and-how-china-will-lead-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3117745/what-blockchain-how-it-works-and-how-china-will-lead-world?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Jan 2021 12:00:15 +0000 Beijing-based Kuaishou Technology, the world’s second-largest video-sharing app, has won the green light from Hong Kong to raise roughly US$5 billion to US$6 billion, potentially the city’s largest IPO in over a year, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. The company, in which Tencent Holdings, China’s largest games publisher, owns a 21.6 per cent stake, was cleared by the listing committee of the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday night. The nine-year-old company can now launch... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3117828/tencent-backed-video-sharing-app-kuaishou-wins-green-light?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3117828/tencent-backed-video-sharing-app-kuaishou-wins-green-light?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Jan 2021 02:22:52 +0000 The European Union should create a united front with the US to tighten control of the transfer of semiconductor technologies to China that could be used to advance weapons developed by the Chinese military, according to the recommendation from a French think tank. “The military end-use of semiconductor technology is a serious issue from the perspective of peace in East Asia,” Institut Montaigne, a Paris-based public policy think tank, said in the report issued on Thursday. “There should be a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3117777/french-think-tank-calls-united-front-us-control-semiconductor?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3117777/french-think-tank-calls-united-front-us-control-semiconductor?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Jan 2021 00:00:22 +0000 China has drafted new rules that legalise autonomous driving (AD) tests on highways, putting it in line with the US, Germany and the UK, as the country’s new vehicle makers and autonomous driving companies speed on towards a driverless future. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s (MIIT) new draft regulations allow for “road testing and example application of smart connected vehicles”, and highways are permitted as one of the scenarios to test driverless cars. The draft,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3117735/china-allow-driverless-car-tests-highways-putting-it-same-lane-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3117735/china-allow-driverless-car-tests-highways-putting-it-same-lane-us?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jan 2021 09:00:16 +0000 The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly accelerated the adoption of digital technology, which in turn has touched seemingly every aspect of our lives: socialising, shopping, working from home and more. Extended reality (XR) – an umbrella term for immersive technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) – has perhaps benefited most from the pandemic’s early lockdown days, by enabling consumers to explore and meet within distinct virtual environments from home. Video game news site... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3117372/how-extended-reality-technology-can-help-brands-build-better-b2b?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3117372/how-extended-reality-technology-can-help-brands-build-better-b2b?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Jan 2021 04:00:10 +0000 China rolled out a prototype of a state-of-the-art maglev vehicle that its developers said could herald cheaper and faster next-generation magnetic levitation train transport, even approaching the speed of some planes. Researchers at Southwest Jiaotong University unveiled the new maglev train and 165-metre (540 feet) test track in Chengdu on Wednesday. The train is designed to travel at up to 620km/h (385mph) but researchers said they were working to stretch that speed to 800km/h (497mph). The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3117620/chinese-prototype-shape-maglev-train-tech-come?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3117620/chinese-prototype-shape-maglev-train-tech-come?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2021 13:45:06 +0000 China’s Megvii Technology, one of the foremost developers of facial-recognition technology, is looking to favourable policies and more receptive investors at home to help bankroll its expansion in artificial intelligence. The Beijing-based owner of facial-recognition software Face++ has kick-started an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq-like Star Market in Shanghai. The Post reported in April that it was mulling such a plan. Megvii attempted to list in Hong Kong but let its application... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3117539/chinas-megvii-kick-starts-ipo-shanghais-star-market-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3117539/chinas-megvii-kick-starts-ipo-shanghais-star-market-after?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2021 06:25:52 +0000 [Sponsored article] The continuing Covid-19 pandemic has created huge environmental and social challenges for people around the world as they adapt to the “new normal”. Amid the risk of catching the deadly coronavirus disease, Covid-19, members of the public have had to adapt to lockdowns and other social-distancing restrictions during the outbreak. Many of them have lost their jobs at struggling businesses, or been forced to work and study from home. In Hong Kong, for example, there has also... https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/innovation/topics/ideas-impact/article/3116961/how-budding-innovators-can-help-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/innovation/topics/ideas-impact/article/3116961/how-budding-innovators-can-help-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2021 02:12:10 +0000 The head of Intel Corp’s self-driving car subsidiary said on Tuesday the company wants to shift toward using its own radar-based technology and use a single lidar sensor per vehicle by 2025 in a bid to lower the cost of autonomous driving. Mobileye has taken a different strategy from many of its self-driving car competitors, with a current camera-based system that helps cars with adaptive cruise control and lane change assistance. Those systems are on the road today and are gathering data to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3117489/intels-self-driving-car-unit-mobileye-plans-step-use-its-own-radar-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3117489/intels-self-driving-car-unit-mobileye-plans-step-use-its-own-radar-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Jan 2021 01:52:27 +0000 Kuaishou Technology and Bilibili executives will become the internet stars of their own online videos when they digitally market their video-sharing apps’ Hong Kong share sales in the coming months. Kuaishou is readying a US$4 billion to US$5 billion initial public offering (IPO) before mid-February, while Bilibili has applied to the Hong Kong stock exchange to raise roughly US$3 billion via a secondary listing in the city. ByteDance is also mulling floating Douyin, the domestic version of its... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3117127/bilibili-and-kuaishous-hong-kong-listings-will-showcase-e?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3117127/bilibili-and-kuaishous-hong-kong-listings-will-showcase-e?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:29:43 +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 [Sponsored article] While robotic technology has been widely used by big manufacturing companies to increase productivity, the high cost of getting started means many smaller businesses have yet to take advantage of its huge potential. However, Inovo Robotics, a Hong Kong-based technology start-up, is working to solve this problem. Since it was founded in 2016, the robotics company has been developing solutions for small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them adapt to automation in their... https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/innovation/topics/pioneering-spirit/article/3116602/how-2-hong-kong-pioneers-hi-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/tech/innovation/topics/pioneering-spirit/article/3116602/how-2-hong-kong-pioneers-hi-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jan 2021 03:01:06 +0000 Some users of China Telecom, one of the country’s three state-owned telecoms companies, can now make quantum encrypted phone calls using a special SIM card and smartphone app, the company announced last week. The move is the latest from China showcasing the country’s commitment to all things quantum computing, an area that, like artificial intelligence and 5G, has become part of the ongoing US-China tech war. The service was launched as a pilot programme in Anhui province, where China Telecom... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3116659/china-telecom-launches-quantum-encrypted-phone-calls-smartphones?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3116659/china-telecom-launches-quantum-encrypted-phone-calls-smartphones?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Jan 2021 01:13:37 +0000 Chinese electric-car maker Xpeng Motors has attempted to allay concerns that the popularity of rival Tesla’s new locally-built Model Y sport utility vehicle (SUV) could damage its prospects. He Xiaopeng, founder and chief executive of the Shenzhen-based electric vehicle (EV) start-up, suggested that the smart features of Xpeng’s cars would give it the competitive edge it needs against other players. “We are confident of the unique smart features of our products,” He said in a statement sent to... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3116399/electric-car-maker-xpeng-shrugs-concerns-teslas-steeply?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3116399/electric-car-maker-xpeng-shrugs-concerns-teslas-steeply?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Jan 2021 16:30:17 +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 Days before Hong Kong’s typical weekend sales launch of residential property, Sammy Po Siu-ming would arm himself with thousands of cashier’s orders for a quaint ritual in the world’s costliest real estate market. Across 400 branches at Midland Realty, the chief executive of one of the city’s biggest realtors’ network must get ready for customers who walk in without the requisite HK$100,000 (US$12,800) cashier’s order that qualifies them to bid for new property. Po would exchange a cashier’s... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3115642/hong-kong-takes-tentative-step-towards-paperless-home-sales-new-worlds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3115642/hong-kong-takes-tentative-step-towards-paperless-home-sales-new-worlds?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Dec 2020 02:00:09 +0000 Reuters,Bloomberg Reuters,Bloomberg Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase said on Monday it would suspend trading in the digital currency XRP after US regulators last week charged associated blockchain firm Ripple with conducting a US$1.3 billion unregistered securities offering. The move by San Francisco-based Coinbase comes as the firm is preparing for a stock market listing and has confidentially applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. It would be the first major American cryptocurrency exchange to list on... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3115622/coinbase-suspend-trading-cryptocurrency-xrp-after-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3115622/coinbase-suspend-trading-cryptocurrency-xrp-after-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Dec 2020 02:36:58 +0000 Nasdaq-listed Futu Holdings is on track to launch its Singapore operations by April and is simultaneously eyeing expansion in the US next year as part of its global plans, according to the founder and chairman of the online brokerage platform. “Singapore is one of the major financial centres in the world, while it can also serve as a bridge to Southeast Asia,” said Leaf Li Hua, in an exclusive interview at the firm’s headquarters in Shenzhen. The Tencent Holdings-backed trading platform has made... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3115510/tencent-backed-online-trading-platform-futu-presses-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3115510/tencent-backed-online-trading-platform-futu-presses-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Dec 2020 04:30:17 +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 Although China imports US$300 billion worth of chips annually – about US$160 billion of which are re-exported in finished electronics products – it is a laggard when it comes to making them. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly urged the country to become more self-reliant when it comes to core technologies like semiconductors, which power all manner of electronics from AI to smartphones. Officially, the Chinese government has never stipulated that chip making technologies should be of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3115048/ten-chinese-semiconductor-start-ups-got-leg-their-founders-foreign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3115048/ten-chinese-semiconductor-start-ups-got-leg-their-founders-foreign?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Dec 2020 00:00:14 +0000 Georgina Lee Georgina Lee As Hong Kong’s financial regulators tighten their scrutiny of cryptocurrencies, the machines that dispense bitcoin and other digital tokens may soon be among the last remaining avenues for individual retail traders. A broader set of rules currently being considered would subject the city’s virtual currency exchange platforms to licensing requirements by the Securities and Futures Commission, and forbid them from servicing retail investors. But the bitcoin automatic teller machines (ATMs) could... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3115239/new-anti-money-laundering-regulations-must-exclude-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3115239/new-anti-money-laundering-regulations-must-exclude-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Dec 2020 06:01:28 +0000 Chinese autonomous driving start-up WeRide has raised US$200 million in Series B1 funding from China’s top commercial bus manufacturer, Yutong Group, as more traditional vehicle makers look to develop autonomous driving technologies and the industry expects more policy support from the government. “WeRide is now the only autonomous driving company to obtain strategic investment from leading automakers of both commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles,” the companies said in a joint press... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3115052/chinas-weride-raises-us200-million-bus-maker-yutong-group-autonomous?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3115052/chinas-weride-raises-us200-million-bus-maker-yutong-group-autonomous?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Dec 2020 03:14:42 +0000 Apple is moving forward with self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The iPhone maker’s automotive efforts, known as Project Titan, have proceeded unevenly since 2014 when it first started to design its own vehicle from scratch. At one point, Apple drew back the effort to focus on software and reassessed its goals. Doug Field, an Apple veteran who had... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3114872/apple-aims-produce-first-self-driving-car-2024-eyes-next-level-battery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3114872/apple-aims-produce-first-self-driving-car-2024-eyes-next-level-battery?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Dec 2020 01:51:17 +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 China’s market regulator flexed its muscles this week, slapping fines of 500,000 yuan (US$76,300) each on Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings-backed China Literature and Shenzhen Hive Box for not properly reporting past acquisitions for clearance. “The internet industry is not outside of antitrust law,” SAMR said in a statement on Monday. “Although the fines are relatively small, the punishment signals to society that we are tightening up antitrust regulation in the internet space.” The... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3114343/chinas-market-regulator-flexes-muscles-signalling-wild-west-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3114343/chinas-market-regulator-flexes-muscles-signalling-wild-west-era?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Dec 2020 21:15:08 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Leading virtual currency bitcoin on Wednesday traded above US$20,000 for the first time following a sustained run higher in recent weeks. Just 12 years old, bitcoin reached a record-high US$20,398.50 before pulling back to US$20,145, which was still an intraday gain of nearly 4 per cent. It has seen a meteoric rise since March, when it stood at US$5,000, spurred by online payments giant PayPal saying it would enable account holders to use cryptocurrency. A number of central banks have meanwhile... https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/3114244/bitcoin-rises-above-us20000-first-time-after-sustained-rally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/3114244/bitcoin-rises-above-us20000-first-time-after-sustained-rally?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Dec 2020 15:11:31 +0000 Zoom Video Communications said on Wednesday it would expand its presence in Singapore by opening a research and development centre and will immediately hire hundreds of engineering staff for the new operations. The videoconferencing services provider said in a statement that is also doubling its data centre capacity in the country. The San Jose, California-based company launched the Singapore data centre, its first in Southeast Asia, in August. The company has seen a surge in users of its video... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3114169/zoom-set-rd-centre-and-hire-hundreds-engineers-singapore-following?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3114169/zoom-set-rd-centre-and-hire-hundreds-engineers-singapore-following?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:40:12 +0000 JD Digits, the digital technology arm of e-commerce firm JD.com, has launched an artificial intelligence-driven system that improves the efficiency of thermal power plants, as China’s tech giants continue to apply AI technologies to a range of traditional industries to improve performance. The AI control system, which has been rolled out in Langfang city in northern Hebei province, automatically adjusts a range of variables for thermal boilers in real time, including the coal feeding process,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3114030/jd-builds-ai-control-system-can-save-chinas-thermal-power-plants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3114030/jd-builds-ai-control-system-can-save-chinas-thermal-power-plants?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Dec 2020 11:15:08 +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 [Sponsored article]  In one of the toughest years for global economies, Hong Kong has once again proved its capacity for recovering from difficulties, ranking first in Asia on the 2020 FM Global Resilience Index. The city’s status as a global financial hub remains as strong as ever, with its huge potential for budding entrepreneurs and opportunistic investors – especially those in the innovation and technology (I&T) sector. Joseph Fung, managing partner of Saltagen Ventures, an early-stage... https://www.scmp.com/presented/business/topics/reach-sky/article/3113862/virtual-60-second-business-pitch-lift-contest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/presented/business/topics/reach-sky/article/3113862/virtual-60-second-business-pitch-lift-contest?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Dec 2020 07:54:35 +0000 Masha Borak Masha Borak Online shoppers got their first opportunity to test out China’s new digital currency this weekend during an e-commerce festival organised by JD.com, the country’s second-largest online retailer. JD kicked off the Double Twelve festival on Friday evening with nearly 20,000 orders using the digital yuan, known officially as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the company said in a WeChat post. The trial, the first for an online shopping platform in China, was conducted as a partnership... https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3113823/chinese-e-commerce-platform-jdcom-kicks-digital-yuan-trial-double?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3113823/chinese-e-commerce-platform-jdcom-kicks-digital-yuan-trial-double?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Dec 2020 06:28:36 +0000 Hello, this is Melissa Zhu from SCMP’s tech desk in Hong Kong with a round-up of our top stories in the world of China technology. This week, we look at how some recent innovations have taken inspiration from history: a video game developer has used artificial intelligence (AI) to recreate the faces of ancient Chinese emperors, while China’s online microlenders are putting a digital twist on the age-old practice of moneylending. And in other news, Chinese regulators have removed TripAdvisor and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3113570/inside-china-tech-tracing-historical-roots-recent-ai-moneylending?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3113570/inside-china-tech-tracing-historical-roots-recent-ai-moneylending?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Dec 2020 22:00:13 +0000 Life has largely returned to normal in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 outbreak was first identified a year ago. Now residents will soon have a new way to spend their free time following a hi-tech upgrade to a local ecological park, which has been equipped with self-driving vehicles to shuttle sightseers, sell food and clean up after visitors. The project adds 19 autonomous vehicles to Longlingshan Ecological Park, in a southwestern suburb of Wuhan. The fleet will include... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3113587/mountain-park-wuhan-gets-hi-tech-upgrade-self-driving-buses-vending?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3113587/mountain-park-wuhan-gets-hi-tech-upgrade-self-driving-buses-vending?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Dec 2020 09:00:31 +0000 This is the fourth part in a series looking at fintech in China in the wake of regulators’ suspension of Ant Group’s IPO. This article looks at how the microlending industry has grown in the country on the back of high smartphone penetration and rapid adoption of mobile payments. Historians have traced the earliest forms of lending to Mesopotamia around 4,000 years ago, when farmers began to borrow seeds and livestock issued against later repayment. Fast forward several centuries to the modern... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3113410/how-chinas-online-microlenders-reached-tipping-point-worlds-biggest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3113410/how-chinas-online-microlenders-reached-tipping-point-worlds-biggest?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Dec 2020 01:00:07 +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 Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic it has become a necessity for millions of students to resort to online learning for the first time. While education technology (edtech) businesses have responded rapidly to meet growing demand from educators and parents worldwide, this change in focus represents only a fraction of the industry’s overall expenditure. Less than 4 per cent of the US$6.3 trillion spent on global education this year has gone on digital fields, HolonIQ, a global edtech... https://www.scmp.com/native/news/hong-kong/education/topics/esperanza-reimagine-education/article/3112894/how-edtech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/native/news/hong-kong/education/topics/esperanza-reimagine-education/article/3112894/how-edtech?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Dec 2020 05:29:14 +0000 Taiwanese exports of hi-tech goods to China have accelerated in recent months as Chinese companies look to end their reliance on American technology and replace components no longer available due to US sanctions. US president-elect Joe Biden is not expected by analysts to call off the trade war initiated by the Trump administration in July 2018, or ease restrictions on Chinese tech firms such as telecoms network giant Huawei Technologies Co. early in his term. Ongoing hostilities could prove a... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3113142/us-sanctions-china-send-taiwan-tech-exports-mainland-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3113142/us-sanctions-china-send-taiwan-tech-exports-mainland-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Dec 2020 03:42:03 +0000 When a group of 16 lawyers and law students met in a small auditorium at Zhejiang University’s Guanghua Law School last week, they were facing a unique opponent: an artificial intelligence (AI) program designed by Alibaba Group Holding’s Damo Academy. In the first competition of its kind in China, humans were pitted against AI on Friday in reviewing contracts, one of the most common tasks conducted at law firms. The AI program passed with flying colours, sending its results within a minute after... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3113058/analyse-ai-faster-evaluating-contracts-human-lawyers-alibaba?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3113058/analyse-ai-faster-evaluating-contracts-human-lawyers-alibaba?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Dec 2020 00:00:06 +0000