https://www.scmp.com/rss/513515/feed Ben is a Beijing-based technology reporter for the Post focusing on emerging start-ups. He has previously covered Chinese tech for publications including KrAsia and TechNode. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ben Jiang Ben Jiang A wave of companies, from the start-up launched by artificial intelligence “godmother” Li Fei-Fei to the largest Chinese tech firms, are racing to introduce their latest approaches to world models – an emerging field aimed at extending AI beyond language processing to learning from and comprehending physical reality. Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday unveiled Happy Oyster, which it called an open-ended world model designed for real-time and “flowy” virtual world creation and interaction,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3350351/chinese-tech-giants-ai-godmother-li-fei-fei-race-seize-edge-world-models?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3350351/chinese-tech-giants-ai-godmother-li-fei-fei-race-seize-edge-world-models?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:00:14 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang China is gaining from America’s trillion-dollar artificial intelligence spending spree despite Washington’s efforts to curb Chinese technology ties, as the US data centre boom ripples through Asian technology supply chains, according to research by Oxford Economics. Roughly US$2 trillion worth of data-centre projects are planned or under way in the US, according to a report by the consultancy, with as much as three-quarters of the cost tied to equipment such as semiconductors and servers. That... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3350010/china-quietly-profits-us-ai-boom-despite-washingtons-tech-curbs-research?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3350010/china-quietly-profits-us-ai-boom-despite-washingtons-tech-curbs-research?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:00:08 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang An open-source artificial intelligence project aimed at harvesting human capabilities into reusable AI “skills” has gone viral in China, gaining traction as a meme among the country’s uneasy young workers as they face growing job insecurity amid rapid AI advances. Supposedly, certain skills of luminaries such as Steve Jobs, spiritual figures like Gautama Buddha and ordinary office workers have been extracted into digital form and uploaded online, making these skills – such as Jobs’ product... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349790/colleague-skill-ai-job-fears-china-set-viral-spread-supposed-ability-harvester?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349790/colleague-skill-ai-job-fears-china-set-viral-spread-supposed-ability-harvester?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:31:10 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang A new video generation model quietly unveiled by Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding has overtaken Seedance 2.0, ByteDance’s most advanced model, as the world’s top-ranked artificial intelligence video tool based on an evaluation by a benchmark site, offering a glimpse into the AI talent race as the market heats up. The HappyHorse 1.0 model, which was still under internal beta testing, was developed by the Innovation Business Unit under the e-commerce giant’s newly formed Alibaba Token Hub... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349662/alibabas-happyhorse-tops-seedance-offering-glimpse-chinas-race-ai-talent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349662/alibabas-happyhorse-tops-seedance-offering-glimpse-chinas-race-ai-talent?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:30:14 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang China is rolling out a campaign to sharply cut artificial intelligence computing costs for small businesses, as demand for processing power surges alongside a fresh round of price increases by domestic providers. The country plans to build an “inclusive computing service network” – offering broad coverage, lower costs and improved service quality – to reduce barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking access to computing resources, according to a notice published by the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348910/china-build-inclusive-ai-network-ease-cost-pressures-small-firms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348910/china-build-inclusive-ai-network-ease-cost-pressures-small-firms?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:00:11 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Less than a year after US artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic called out China as an “adversarial nation” and vowed to restrict the country’s access to its technologies, the company inadvertently released coding secrets, triggering a frenzy among Chinese developers. The leak occured after an Anthropic employee accidentally included the modified source code of Claude Code, the company’s sensational AI coding tool popular among developers worldwide, in a file within a software package... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348817/anthropics-ai-code-leak-ignites-frenzy-among-chinese-developers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348817/anthropics-ai-code-leak-ignites-frenzy-among-chinese-developers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:17 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang The breakdown of Chinese tech giant Baidu’s autonomous driving vehicles in Wuhan on Tuesday evening affected services and left many passengers stranded on highways with heavy traffic for hours, hurting the company’s autonomous driving ambitions as it moves to expand its robotaxi business globally. Phone calls for help from affected customers to the traffic police line in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei province, surged from 8.57pm, after many Apollo Go robotaxis stopped in the middle of the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348654/baidus-robotaxi-breakdown-wuhan-strands-riders-raises-safety-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348654/baidus-robotaxi-breakdown-wuhan-strands-riders-raises-safety-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:21 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Apple’s accidental roll-out on Tuesday of its highly anticipated Apple Intelligence feature in mainland China – which has yet to receive regulatory approval – before swiftly pulling it could raise the ire of regulators and expose the US tech giant to potential penalties, an industry expert warned. The brief release could have violated local rules on artificial intelligence security evaluations, algorithm filings and data protection, according to You Yunting, a Shanghai-based intellectual... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3348527/apples-accidental-ai-feature-roll-out-china-risks-regulatory-backlash-expert-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3348527/apples-accidental-ai-feature-roll-out-china-risks-regulatory-backlash-expert-says?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:39 +0000 Ben Jiang,Ann Cao Ben Jiang,Ann Cao Biren Technology and Iluvatar CoreX, two Chinese graphics processing unit (GPU) champions that are seen as potential alternatives to Nvidia, saw their revenues surge in 2025 amid China’s accelerated push for chip self-sufficiency, according to their first earnings reports since listing in January. Biren’s annual revenue surged 207.2 per cent from a year ago to 1.03 billion yuan (US$149 million), beating the consensus estimate of 954.5 million yuan, while its crosstown rival Iluvatar CoreX posted... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348446/biren-iluvatar-corex-post-triple-digit-revenue-growth-losses-persist-ai-chip-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348446/biren-iluvatar-corex-post-triple-digit-revenue-growth-losses-persist-ai-chip-race?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:45:09 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek suffered a prolonged outage overnight that extended into early Monday morning, disrupting service for hundreds of millions of users, according to a company notice and user feedback. The Hangzhou-based AI lab’s namesake chatbot website and app were offline from Sunday evening, with the company continuing to investigate while issuing fixes from between 1am and 9am on Monday, according to service maintenance records the company published online. The... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348345/deepseek-outage-leaves-millions-cut-and-sparks-complaints-rivals-gain-ground?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348345/deepseek-outage-leaves-millions-cut-and-sparks-complaints-rivals-gain-ground?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2026 03:41:43 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang The recent nationwide frenzy to adopt OpenClaw, an open-source artificial intelligence agent, has pushed token use to new levels and given fresh momentum to China’s booming AI sector, according to industry experts at a state-backed conference on Friday. “Since late January token consumption [on my company’s platform] has been doubling every two weeks, and by now it has increased roughly tenfold,” said Xia Lixue, co-founder and CEO at Infinigence, a Beijing-based AI computing service provider,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348147/openclaw-effect-explosion-ai-token-use-adds-fuel-chinese-ai-development?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348147/openclaw-effect-explosion-ai-token-use-adds-fuel-chinese-ai-development?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:30:16 +0000 Ben Jiang,Ann Cao Ben Jiang,Ann Cao Chinese food and on-demand delivery giant Meituan reported on Thursday its second consecutive quarterly loss since 2022, as intense competition and a prolonged price war with Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com last year squeezed margins. The company reported a 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) adjusted net loss – worse than the 12.9 billion yuan average estimate by analysts – for the fourth quarter ended December 31, compared with adjusted net profit of 9.8 billion yuan a year earlier. Its... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348017/meituan-posts-second-consecutive-quarterly-loss-amid-costly-instant-commerce-battle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348017/meituan-posts-second-consecutive-quarterly-loss-amid-costly-instant-commerce-battle?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 10:22:19 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Shares of Chinese short-video platform Kuaishou fell more than 13 per cent to HK$45.96 by midday in Hong Kong on Thursday, a day after reporting strong sales growth, as analysts warned that its core advertising and live-streaming businesses could face mounting pressure this year. The sharp decline reflected investor concerns over a cautious growth outlook for the Beijing-based firm, compounded by its heavy spending on artificial intelligence, according to Zhang Xueru, an analyst at investment... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347951/chinas-kuaishou-slumps-analysts-flag-growth-pressure-despite-strong-results?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347951/chinas-kuaishou-slumps-analysts-flag-growth-pressure-despite-strong-results?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:28:50 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang China is stepping up its efforts to build Beijing and its environs, along with other major city clusters, into “international technological innovation centres”, according to a high-ranking official – part of the country’s accelerated push for tech self-sufficiency. Speaking at the opening of the state-backed Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing on Wednesday, Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang said the country would intensify its campaign to achieve “high-level self-reliance in science and technology”... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347816/china-names-beijing-other-city-clusters-global-tech-hubs-self-reliance-push?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347816/china-names-beijing-other-city-clusters-global-tech-hubs-self-reliance-push?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:15:20 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang A US move to ban imports of new foreign-made consumer routers aims to pressure Chinese manufacturers to “onshore” parts of their production chain, although that will be a challenge given limited US manufacturing capacity, according to analysts. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Monday that it had updated its Covered List to include consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries, citing concerns that the devices could “pose unacceptable risks to the national security of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3347733/us-move-ban-chinese-routers-part-onshoring-push-could-be-uphill-battle-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3347733/us-move-ban-chinese-routers-part-onshoring-push-could-be-uphill-battle-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:30:08 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang The international commerce unit of Alibaba Group Holding on Monday introduced an enterprise-focused artificial intelligence agent platform to automate complex cross-border e-commerce operations for small businesses worldwide, as companies rush to adopt AI agents to boost efficiency. The Accio Work agent platform unveiled by Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group (AIDC) was designed to give small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and solo founders access to an AI task force by deploying a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3347539/alibaba-unveils-ai-agent-platform-automate-global-e-commerce-small-businesses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3347539/alibaba-unveils-ai-agent-platform-automate-global-e-commerce-small-businesses?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:00:11 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang By the time software programmer Guo Cancan realised something had gone horribly wrong with OpenClaw – the task-executing AI agent that has ignited a fervour across China – the damage was already done. While on holiday over the Chinese New Year, Guo was tinkering with the autonomous open-source program. When he attempted to resolve an error that it had made, OpenClaw responded by deleting nearly everything on his computer’s D: drive – a major storage partition – wiping out years of personal data... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346513/inside-openclaw-mania-gripping-china-security-fears-surge-alongside-enthusiasm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346513/inside-openclaw-mania-gripping-china-security-fears-surge-alongside-enthusiasm?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2026 22:00:14 +0000 Wency Chen,Ben Jiang Wency Chen,Ben Jiang The OpenClaw craze is rapidly driving up prices and depleting stock of Apple’s Mac Mini compact computer across China, according to local sellers, as consumers scramble to secure machines capable of safely running the open-source artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide rush to “raise a lobster”. Beijing electronics seller Frank Chai said he was asking for a mark-up of at least 500 yuan (US$73) for a basic Mac Mini model, which comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of memory and 256GB storage and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346538/apples-mac-mini-selling-out-across-china-openclaw-fever-rages?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346538/apples-mac-mini-selling-out-across-china-openclaw-fever-rages?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:00:11 +0000 Ann Cao,Ben Jiang Ann Cao,Ben Jiang China’s OpenClaw craze has taken an ironic turn, with social media platforms now flooded with paid services offering to uninstall the artificial intelligence (AI) agent after users initially paid to have it installed. On Xianyu, the second-hand marketplace under Alibaba, the keyword “uninstall OpenClaw” was trending on Thursday, based on a search by the South China Morning Post. Records showed that a Shanghai-based seller named “mojito lime water” charged 299 yuan ($43.55) to uninstall the agent... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3346397/chinas-openclaw-users-paid-install-viral-ai-agent-now-they-spend-remove-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3346397/chinas-openclaw-users-paid-install-viral-ai-agent-now-they-spend-remove-it?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:00:14 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang China’s cybersecurity agency on Tuesday issued a second warning about security and data risks tied to OpenClaw, despite a rush among local governments and tech companies to adopt the artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide frenzy. At a time when major Chinese cloud service providers were touting easy deployment of OpenClaw to capitalise on its popularity, improper installation and use of the agent had also led to severe security risks, said the National Computer Network Emergency... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346138/china-issues-second-warning-openclaw-risks-amid-adoption-frenzy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3346138/china-issues-second-warning-openclaw-risks-amid-adoption-frenzy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:14:18 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Beijing is planning “moderately proactive” technology infrastructure expansion covering artificial intelligence (AI), telecommunications and space internet, while emphasising strength in coordinating green energy planning in tandem with computing initiatives to solidify its advantage in infrastructure amid the AI race with the US. The infrastructure buildout plan forms a core pillar of the nation’s draft 15th five-year plan, released last week during the legislative “two sessions” meeting and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3346055/china-lays-out-its-blueprint-ai-space-internet-and-green-energy-tech-race-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3346055/china-lays-out-its-blueprint-ai-space-internet-and-green-energy-tech-race-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Mar 2026 04:59:21 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Some local governments in China have rushed to support the adoption of OpenClaw, the artificial intelligence agent sweeping the country, even as warnings about privacy and security risks linger in the background. In Shenzhen, China’s southern tech hub, the AI and robotics agency of Longgang district published a draft on Saturday proposing sweeping measures, including subsidies of up to 2 million yuan (US$290,000) for approved projects. The initiative came a day after nearly a thousand people... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3345986/chinese-local-governments-offer-openclaw-project-subsidies-security-questions-linger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3345986/chinese-local-governments-offer-openclaw-project-subsidies-security-questions-linger?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2026 13:30:08 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang As global concern rises over artificial intelligence and the potential for AI agents to disrupt lives and industries, people in southern China are rushing to embrace the technology even as privacy concerns intensify. On Friday, nearly 1,000 people lined up outside Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings’ Shenzhen headquarters to install OpenClaw – a popular open-source AI agent software – on their computers. The crowd, a mix of amateur developers, retired space engineers, housewives, students and AI... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3345865/openclaw-fever-why-china-rushing-raise-lobster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3345865/openclaw-fever-why-china-rushing-raise-lobster?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:00:08 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang China’s commerce ministry warned that the “Dutch side” should be held accountable if the latest dispute between Nexperia and its Chinese subsidiary triggers another global chip supply crisis, adding to concerns over further worldwide disruption. “Nexperia’s [latest] action has seriously disrupted the company’s normal production and operations,” a ministry spokesperson said in a press conference on Saturday. “If this again triggers a global semiconductor supply chain crisis, the Dutch side must... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3345872/china-warns-fresh-chip-crisis-nexperia-dispute-flares?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3345872/china-warns-fresh-chip-crisis-nexperia-dispute-flares?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Mar 2026 10:30:08 +0000 Ben Jiang,Wency Chen Ben Jiang,Wency Chen China has pledged to provide a range of supportive measures to promote the diffusion of advanced technology through all levels of the country’s economy, as Beijing seeks to strengthen frontier industries such as artificial intelligence amid an intensifying rivalry with the United States. In its annual work report, the government urged state-owned enterprises to take the lead in opening their vast industrial ecosystems to emerging technologies, and vowed to supply the necessary funding for all... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3345595/china-put-state-owned-firms-capital-work-nurturing-tech-champions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3345595/china-put-state-owned-firms-capital-work-nurturing-tech-champions?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2026 22:00:09 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com reported a 2.7 billion yuan (US$392 million) loss in the fourth quarter and a halving of annual profit amid an ongoing food delivery battle it ignited last year. The fourth-quarter loss contrasted with a profit of 9.9 billion yuan a year earlier, marking the company’s first quarterly loss since the start of 2022, according to its earnings results on Thursday. Profit for last year dropped nearly 53 per cent to 19.6 billion yuan. However, by non-generally accepted... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345617/jdcom-posts-first-quarterly-loss-nearly-four-years-delivery-battle-takes-toll?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345617/jdcom-posts-first-quarterly-loss-nearly-four-years-delivery-battle-takes-toll?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:01:45 +0000 Wency Chen,Ann Cao,Ben Jiang Wency Chen,Ann Cao,Ben Jiang Wang Jian, a prominent Chinese artificial intelligence scholar and director at Zhejiang Lab, said China had both the “resources and responsibility” to make AI more accessible globally at a time when other countries, such as the US, were increasingly acting in their own interests. Speaking to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday on the sidelines of China’s annual legislative “two sessions” meetings in Beijing, Wang said the world remained far from the goal of turning AI into an... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3345451/china-poised-expand-global-access-ai-despite-rivalry-us-wang-jian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3345451/china-poised-expand-global-access-ai-despite-rivalry-us-wang-jian?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2026 12:01:18 +0000 Mia Nurmamat,Ben Jiang Mia Nurmamat,Ben Jiang In an unprecedented Chinese New Year marketing blitz, Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings spent an estimated 8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) to turn their artificial intelligence assistants into household names, according to Morgan Stanley. Now the dust is settling. A week after the holiday ended, early data offers a first glimpse into how China’s AI landscape is evolving and which players gained lasting traction from the spending spree. Morgan Stanley said all platforms... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3345301/chinas-ai-red-packet-battle-burns-through-us1-billion-will-users-stick-around?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3345301/chinas-ai-red-packet-battle-burns-through-us1-billion-will-users-stick-around?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:00:11 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese artificial intelligence-powered drug researcher XtalPi Holdings said it expects to turn its first annual profit on the back of strong revenue growth, according to a corporate filing. The Shenzhen-based company projected a swing to a net profit of at least 100 million yuan (US$14.5 million) in 2025 from a net loss of around 1.5 billion yuan in 2024, notching its first full-year profit, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. XtalPi attributed the earnings boost... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3345305/chinese-ai-drug-researcher-xtalpi-expects-turn-first-annual-profit-193-revenue-jump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3345305/chinese-ai-drug-researcher-xtalpi-expects-turn-first-annual-profit-193-revenue-jump?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 12:33:07 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese chip designers from Cambricon Technologies and Moore Threads Technology to MetaX Integrated Circuits posted stellar earnings on Friday, driven by growing demand for domestic semiconductors amid Beijing’s tech-sufficiency push. Beijing-based Cambricon, seen as a local alternative to US chip giant Nvidia, reported a net profit of 2.06 billion yuan (US$301 million) for 2025, its first full-year profit since listing in 2020, according to a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Revenue for... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344927/chinese-chip-firms-cambricon-moore-threads-post-sales-jump-surging-domestic-demand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344927/chinese-chip-firms-cambricon-moore-threads-post-sales-jump-surging-domestic-demand?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:26:21 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Baidu founder, CEO and chairman Robin Li Yanhong touted the performance and potential of artificial intelligence chips developed by its Kunlunxin semiconductor design unit during the fourth-quarter earnings call, offering a rare bright spot in an otherwise lacklustre quarter. “We’re proud to see the market increasingly recognise [Kunlunxin chips’] value and proven performance,” Li said on Thursday. The Kunlunxin chips are built on a proprietary architecture and deliver “stable, high-performance... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344772/baidu-touts-ai-chips-potential-amid-sluggish-fourth-quarter?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344772/baidu-touts-ai-chips-potential-amid-sluggish-fourth-quarter?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang JD.com is making a renewed push into its online supermarket business with a subsidy programme worth more than 20 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) over three years, a move aimed at defending its position in China’s e-commerce and on-demand grocery sectors. In a statement on Thursday, JD.com said the subsidy would cover products on a dedicated channel called “Billion-Yuan Supermarket”, under its JD Supermarket service. The aim was to help vendors generate an additional 200 billion yuan in sales over... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344738/jdcom-renews-demand-delivery-fight-us29-billion-grocery-subsidies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344738/jdcom-renews-demand-delivery-fight-us29-billion-grocery-subsidies?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Feb 2026 12:30:14 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese open-source artificial intelligence models, led by those from MiniMax AI and Moonshot AI, have topped global token usage, ending a year of market dominance for US developers, according to data from OpenRouter. Online AI hosting platform OpenRouter’s latest ranking reflected the increased international demand for Chinese open-source models on its site following a series of new releases. Launched around two weeks ago, the M2.5 from Shanghai-based MiniMax emerged as the most popular AI... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344587/chinas-minimax-moonshot-top-ai-token-use-ranking-ending-year-us-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344587/chinas-minimax-moonshot-top-ai-token-use-ranking-ending-year-us-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2026 11:30:07 +0000 Vincent Chow,Ben Jiang Vincent Chow,Ben Jiang US artificial intelligence lab Anthropic’s allegation that Chinese AI firms were “distilling” its Claude models has exposed a widely used AI training technique, sparking heated debate over its accepted boundaries, an analyst said. Anthropic said in a blog post on Monday that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI and MiniMax AI used roughly 24,000 fraudulent accounts to generate more than 16 million exchanges with its Claude models. The US firm said the activity amounted to unauthorised “distillation” of its... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3344499/anthropics-distilling-charges-against-chinese-firms-expose-ai-training-grey-area?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3344499/anthropics-distilling-charges-against-chinese-firms-expose-ai-training-grey-area?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Feb 2026 13:05:35 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Last August, Beijing hosted the world’s first ever robotics competition, hailed as the Olympics for robotics, where human-shaped biped robots competed in sports events. Opening the grand show was a piano piece performed by a human pianist and a humanoid robot developed by Beijing-based start-up LinkerBot, which specialises in making dexterous hands for humanoids. The LinkerBot robot pianist was equipped with the company’s L6 mode of dexterous hands, designed for refined and delicate operations... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344242/doraemon-dexterous-hands-chinas-linkerbot-equips-robots-human-skills?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344242/doraemon-dexterous-hands-chinas-linkerbot-equips-robots-human-skills?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Feb 2026 04:00:11 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang US President Donald Trump lashed out at Taiwan for undermining the US chip sector, sparking renewed unease in the global semiconductor industry despite the island’s earlier pledge to invest heavily in the US. “Taiwan came [into the chip sector and] they stole our chip business,” Trump said in a press conference on Saturday following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that he had exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs under a law designated for national emergencies. Trump directed his ire... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344246/trump-renews-attack-taiwans-chip-sector-after-us-supreme-court-tariff-ruling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344246/trump-renews-attack-taiwans-chip-sector-after-us-supreme-court-tariff-ruling?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Feb 2026 08:03:24 +0000 Ben Jiang,Vincent Chow Ben Jiang,Vincent Chow Artificial intelligence is already reshaping industries and markets, even though artificial general intelligence (AGI) – a still theoretical form of AI capable of humanlike reasoning across many tasks rather than single specialised functions – has yet to be achieved. That was the message of a recent essay posted on X by start-up founder Matt Shumer, titled “Something Big Is Happening”. He likened the current moment to the period just before the Covid-19 pandemic, arguing that the disruption... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343568/ai-rattles-us-investors-while-chinas-tech-stocks-hold-steady-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343568/ai-rattles-us-investors-while-chinas-tech-stocks-hold-steady-now?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 14 Feb 2026 10:00:08 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese consumers placed over 120 million orders on Alibaba Cloud’s flagship artificial intelligence app Qwen within six days, signalling growing acceptance of AI-powered shopping as the company joined other mainland Chinese tech giants in a multibillion-yuan holiday campaign. Nearly half the orders came from residents in counties and hinterland areas, with around 1.56 million people aged 60 and above making their first online purchases through Qwen, according to a statement on Thursday from... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343289/alibabas-qwen-tops-120-million-orders-6-days-amid-chinas-ai-shopping-battle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343289/alibabas-qwen-tops-120-million-orders-6-days-amid-chinas-ai-shopping-battle?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Feb 2026 09:02:39 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese tech giant Baidu launched a Wikipedia challenger this week, banking on artificial intelligence to bridge information gaps for local and worldwide audiences in a move analysts said was aimed at seizing global opportunities. BaiduWiki, a Wikipedia-style service available in English, Spanish, French, Russian and Japanese, quietly went live on Monday, according to records from the Wayback Machine, a digital archive platform. A now deleted post on Baidu’s official account on social-media site... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343254/chinas-baidu-unveils-ai-driven-wikipedia-challenger-bid-international-users?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343254/chinas-baidu-unveils-ai-driven-wikipedia-challenger-bid-international-users?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Feb 2026 02:51:49 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has updated its flagship AI model, adding support for a large context window with more up-to-date knowledge and fuelling further anticipation over its next major release. When asked, DeepSeek’s namesake chatbot confirmed in multiple responses that from Wednesday it had expanded its context window from 128,000 tokens to over 1 million – a nearly tenfold increase expected to improve AI systems’ handling of human queries. A larger context window... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343225/deepseek-boosts-ai-model-10-fold-token-addition-zhipu-ai-gears-glm-5-launch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343225/deepseek-boosts-ai-model-10-fold-token-addition-zhipu-ai-gears-glm-5-launch?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Feb 2026 13:52:17 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang TikTok parent ByteDance has unveiled its latest generative artificial intelligence image model that it says undercuts the popular Nano Banana image editor from Alphabet’s Google, a fresh development that comes as China and the US intensify their AI competition. ByteDance’s new image model faced immediate competition from Alibaba Cloud, which also released its latest image-generation model, Qwen-Image-2.0, on Tuesday. Chinese short-video giant ByteDance said its Seedream 5.0 image model ships... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343082/chinas-bytedance-alibaba-unveil-ai-image-tools-rival-googles-popular-nano-banana?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343082/chinas-bytedance-alibaba-unveil-ai-image-tools-rival-googles-popular-nano-banana?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang TikTok parent ByteDance’s pre-release of its latest artificial intelligence video model, Seedance 2.0, over the weekend has sent ripples across the tech and video production sectors as competition among Chinese tech titans’ AI apps intensifies. The model – still in beta and available to select users of Jimeng AI, ByteDance’s AI video platform – delivered enhanced lifelike video outputs that blurred the boundary between AI content and reality, offered smoother camera movement and improved visual... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342932/bytedances-new-model-sparks-stock-rally-chinas-ai-video-battle-escalates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342932/bytedances-new-model-sparks-stock-rally-chinas-ai-video-battle-escalates?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:30:11 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Hours after Alibaba Group Holding began offering freebies including bubble tea through its artificial intelligence app Qwen on Friday, a surge in downloads pushed the chatbot past Tencent Holdings’ Yuanbao to the top of China’s Apple App Store, climbing from 10th place a day earlier. More than 10 million free orders – worth 250 million yuan (US$36 million) – were placed within nine hours using vouchers capped at 25 yuan through Qwen, its team said on its official Weibo account. The surge in... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342702/alibabas-bubble-tea-giveaway-pushes-qwen-past-tencents-yuanbao-top-china-app-store?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342702/alibabas-bubble-tea-giveaway-pushes-qwen-past-tencents-yuanbao-top-china-app-store?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:35:13 +0000 Ben Jiang,Yulu Ao Ben Jiang,Yulu Ao Search-engine leader Baidu introduced its first-ever dividend policy and unveiled a three-year share buy-back programme of US$5 billion on Thursday, briefly sending its shares sharply higher, as the Chinese artificial intelligence heavyweight sought to shore up investor confidence amid intensifying competition. The company said in a stock exchange filing that its board had approved a share repurchase programme running through the end of 2028. Baidu also declared its first-ever dividend payment... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342462/baidu-unveils-first-ever-dividend-and-us5-billion-buy-back-amid-ai-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342462/baidu-unveils-first-ever-dividend-and-us5-billion-buy-back-amid-ai-race?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Feb 2026 04:30:30 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up StepFun has unveiled a lightweight AI model that it says punches above its weight, rivalling larger systems from domestic competitors including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI as competition intensifies in the country’s AI sector. The Shanghai-based AI lab said on Monday its latest Step 3.5 Flash model was designed to deliver advanced reasoning and agentic capabilities while maintaining efficiency. Despite its relatively modest size of about 196 billion... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342222/punches-above-its-weight-compact-ai-model-chinas-stepfun-outshines-larger-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342222/punches-above-its-weight-compact-ai-model-chinas-stepfun-outshines-larger-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 09:30:37 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese open-source artificial intelligence models are being adopted by OpenClaw, the global hit AI agent, for their favourable balance of cost and performance, according to industry experts. OpenClaw, which has been a runaway success since its late 2025 launch, announced on Friday that it was offering Chinese start-up Moonshot AI’s latest Kimi K2.5 and Kimi Coding agent for free in its service, while adding support for MiniMax, another Chinese foundational AI developer. Analysts said Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342137/value-money-ai-agent-openclaw-adopts-chinese-models-cost-edge-over-us-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342137/value-money-ai-agent-openclaw-adopts-chinese-models-cost-edge-over-us-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:17 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang China’s frontier artificial intelligence labs are ending the lunar year on a high note, racing to release a series of new AI models in the last few weeks of the Year of the Snake as the country gears up to celebrate the start of the Year of the Horse. Beijing-based Zhipu AI and Shanghai-quartered MiniMax, which just made their stock exchange debuts in Hong Kong, would be the next to update their flagship AI systems with across-the-board enhancements, according to sources familiar with their... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3342051/chinas-ai-labs-race-debut-latest-models-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3342051/chinas-ai-labs-race-debut-latest-models-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Feb 2026 06:00:11 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese regulators have slapped a 26 million yuan (US$3.7 million) fine on a unit of Kuaishou Technology, operator of the country’s No 2 short video platform, over multiple violations and misconduct in its live-streaming e-commerce operations, signalling tighter oversight of this market segment. Chengdu Kuaigou Technology, a unit of Beijing-based Kuaishou, was found to have committed seven breaches including failure to disclose information in accordance with the law, charging unreasonable fees... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3341936/china-slaps-us37-million-fine-kuaishou-over-live-streaming-e-commerce-violation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3341936/china-slaps-us37-million-fine-kuaishou-over-live-streaming-e-commerce-violation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 31 Jan 2026 07:39:43 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chips from Chinese semiconductor designer Hygon Information Technology were found unaffected by a recently disclosed vulnerability in products developed by its US tech licenser and former joint venture partner Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), according to analysts, which showed progress in China’s self-reliance drive. Hygon’s central processing units (CPUs), which were developed under a licence to use AMD’s X86-based Zen chip architecture, did not have the hardware security flaw that affected a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341570/hygons-chips-safe-amd-security-flaw-amid-chinas-tech-self-reliance-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341570/hygons-chips-safe-amd-security-flaw-amid-chinas-tech-self-reliance-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:00:12 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek on Tuesday unveiled an upgraded version of its optical character recognition (OCR) model, incorporating an Alibaba Cloud-developed open-source system to boost performance. The new model, DeepSeek-OCR 2, replaced a key component of its original architecture with Alibaba Cloud’s lightweight Qwen2-0.5b model, according to a research paper released by the company. The update, which comes just over three months after DeepSeek launched the first... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3341437/deepseek-taps-alibaba-open-source-ai-technology-boost-ocr-performance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3341437/deepseek-taps-alibaba-open-source-ai-technology-boost-ocr-performance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:00:13 +0000