https://www.scmp.com/rss/519755/feed Get the latest on China’s push for semiconductor innovation, as the nation strives for self-reliance in this critical technology. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ann Cao Ann Cao Alibaba Group Holding expects its annualised recurring revenue from AI models and applications to hit 30 billion yuan (US$4.42 billion) by the year’s end, as the company ramps up its AI commitment. AI products are projected to generate more than 50 per cent of Alibaba’s cloud-computing revenue within the next year, as the tech giant looks to step up its AI monetisation efforts. Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming said the company was likely to “overshoot” the original capital-expenditure target of 380... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3353451/alibaba-ai-revenue-logs-triple-digit-growth-11th-quarter-amid-strategic-reshuffle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3353451/alibaba-ai-revenue-logs-triple-digit-growth-11th-quarter-amid-strategic-reshuffle?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 May 2026 10:57:52 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea’s two memory chip giants, are warning of a prolonged and severe global supply crunch, weeks after the two companies disclosed increased investments in their China wafer fabs to meet surging artificial intelligence demand. During Samsung’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, the company said its order fulfilment rate had plunged to a “record low”. In a rare move, customers worried about shortages were already pre-booking memory capacity for 2027,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3352001/samsung-sk-hynix-flag-record-supply-squeeze-memory-market-ai-demand-soars?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3352001/samsung-sk-hynix-flag-record-supply-squeeze-memory-market-ai-demand-soars?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:30:28 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Cambricon Technologies, dubbed “China’s little Nvidia,” on Thursday became the costliest stock in mainland China’s equities market after it reported substantial growth in the first quarter amid an artificial intelligence boom and China’s tech self-sufficiency push. Cambricon shares rose as much as 18 per cent to nearly 1,680 yuan (US$245) on Thursday, beating optical chipmaker Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology, which traded at around 1,660 yuan. On Wednesday, Cambricon announced a 160 per cent... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3351894/revenue-jumps-chinas-cambricon-metax-amid-thirst-domestic-ai-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3351894/revenue-jumps-chinas-cambricon-metax-amid-thirst-domestic-ai-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:15:23 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen Chinese optical chipmaker Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology reported an elevenfold surge in first-quarter profits as domestic firms capitalise on soaring demand for computing power amid the artificial intelligence boom and the country’s tech self-sufficiency drive. Net profit in the three months ended March 31 jumped 1,153 per cent year on year to 179 million yuan (US$26.2 million), while revenue grew 321 per cent to 355 million yuan, the Shanghai-listed company said in a stock-exchange filing on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3351605/optical-chipmakers-profit-soars-1153-ai-demand-chinas-tech-self-reliance-push?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3351605/optical-chipmakers-profit-soars-1153-ai-demand-chinas-tech-self-reliance-push?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:00:35 +0000 Lucy Quaggin Lucy Quaggin At a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday, lawmakers and experts accused China of buying “what they can” and stealing “what they cannot” in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race, while warning the United States’ immigration and research policies could be hindering innovation necessary to stay ahead. “The pattern is clear. China is dependent on our tech stack to continue their AI development. China is willing to buy what they can, and steal what they cannot, to advance their... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3350380/china-willing-buy-or-steal-us-tech-get-ahead-ai-race-congress-told?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3350380/china-willing-buy-or-steal-us-tech-get-ahead-ai-race-congress-told?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2026 22:26:36 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Chinese chip start-up Dishan Technology has achieved a breakthrough in designing a 2-nanometre artificial intelligence chip, according to local media reports. Shanghai-based Dishan, which focuses on the development of high-performance computing chips and sensor chips, was now in the crucial prototype verification stage for its first 2nm AI graphics processing unit (GPU), the Shanghai Morning Post reported recently. The GPU was unveiled by the company last July. The company then said it had... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3350050/chinas-dishan-technology-nears-2nm-ai-chip-breakthrough-reports-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3350050/chinas-dishan-technology-nears-2nm-ai-chip-breakthrough-reports-say?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:59:56 +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 Zhang Tong Zhang Tong Chinese scientists say they have developed a wafer-scale 2D semiconductor growth method with 1,000 times faster growth, paving the way for industry advances. The surging demand for high‑performance, low‑power chips driven by AI and large-language models has intensified the search for next‑generation semiconductor technologies. Moore’s Law predicted a doubling of semiconductor capacity every two years but as chip dimensions continue to shrink, physical limitations make further performance scaling... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349677/semiconductor-leap-china-looks-next-gen-2d-chip-1000-fold-growth-speed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3349677/semiconductor-leap-china-looks-next-gen-2d-chip-1000-fold-growth-speed?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Apr 2026 08:00:14 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) launched an action plan to enhance its current businesses and seek new growth in 2026, as the largest contract chipmaker in China aims to solidify its role as the backbone of the country’s self-sufficiency drive. Released alongside its annual report for 2025, the plan outlined a commitment to “optimising existing stock and digging for new increments”, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. The company said two trends would... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348044/chinas-top-chip-foundry-smic-unveils-action-plan-seizing-new-growth-opportunities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348044/chinas-top-chip-foundry-smic-unveils-action-plan-seizing-new-growth-opportunities?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:00:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow A new artificial intelligence algorithm developed by Google that could reduce demand for memory chips triggered a slump in global memory stocks, but analysts said it presented an opportunity for investors to “buy the dip”. Shares in memory giants including Samsung and SK Hynix fell after Google said in a blog post on Tuesday that the algorithm, called TurboQuant, reduced the memory demands of key-value (KV) caches – a crucial component of how AI models are served to users – by six times through... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348038/googles-turboquant-ai-advance-dents-memory-chip-stocks-analysts-say-buy-dip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348038/googles-turboquant-ai-advance-dents-memory-chip-stocks-analysts-say-buy-dip?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:24:11 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Agentic artificial intelligence and advanced packaging technology will be key growth drivers for China’s chip industry in coming years, as the country is expected to increase its share of chipmaking capacity to nearly half of the world’s total by 2028. According to data revealed at Semicon China, the world’s largest chip industry trade show, China’s share of wafer fabrication capacity for mainstream processes was expected to reach 42 per cent of global capacity by 2028. That would mark a rapid... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3347902/semicon-china-ai-advanced-packaging-set-drive-countrys-chip-industry-growth?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3347902/semicon-china-ai-advanced-packaging-set-drive-countrys-chip-industry-growth?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:13:25 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao As China undergoes a sweeping economic transition, its regions are also in the process of embracing change. The powerhouses of yesteryear must adapt or risk falling behind, as traditional industries become less reliable growth drivers and new sectors take prominence. In this series, we explore three representative areas of the country as they attempt to navigate this rapidly changing environment. After a 900km (559-mile) journey at the end of last month’s Chinese New Year holiday, 24-year-old Ma... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3347381/kunshan-chinas-foxconn-nerve-centre-old-tech-tries-learn-new-tricks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3347381/kunshan-chinas-foxconn-nerve-centre-old-tech-tries-learn-new-tricks?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Mar 2026 22:00:14 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies has launched the Atlas 350 accelerator card for inference, boasting higher computing power for artificial intelligence applications and better performance than US rival Nvidia’s H20, as AI rapidly advances into the agentic era. The Atlas 350 AI accelerator card would be powered by Huawei’s latest Ascend 950PR chip, designed to deliver enhanced computing power and storage for AI inferencing, said Ma Haixu, a vice-president at Huawei, at the firm’s China... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3347346/huawei-challenges-nvidia-powerful-new-ai-accelerator-card?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3347346/huawei-challenges-nvidia-powerful-new-ai-accelerator-card?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 13:00:18 +0000 Lucy Quaggin Lucy Quaggin Beijing’s global pharmaceutical push is following a playbook seen in rare earths, semiconductors and electric vehicles, US lawmakers said on Wednesday, as concerns grow over the United States’ reliance on Chinese drug ingredients. “China is cornering the market on our medicines – from the supply of generic drugs that Americans depend on every day, to the cutting-edge biotech pipeline that will determine who leads medicine in the years and decades ahead,” said John Moolenaar, the chair of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3347087/fears-grow-over-us-drug-supplys-rising-dependence-chinese-ingredients?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3347087/fears-grow-over-us-drug-supplys-rising-dependence-chinese-ingredients?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Mar 2026 21:33:43 +0000 Coco Feng,Yeon Woo Lee Coco Feng,Yeon Woo Lee Nvidia’s latest language processing chip, unveiled at the company’s annual artificial intelligence conference, has opened a new frontier in the AI inference arms race, as the booming market for AI agents like OpenClaw presents a complex new reality for China’s semiconductor industry, according to analysts. The Nvidia Groq 3 Language Processing Unit (LPU), introduced on Monday at GTC 2026 in San Jose, California, was described by the company as an accelerator with fast memory and low latency... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3346880/how-nvidias-inference-bet-gtc-poses-challenge-and-opportunity-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3346880/how-nvidias-inference-bet-gtc-poses-challenge-and-opportunity-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:10 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao China’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency is shifting from broad aspiration to a precision strike on chokepoint materials, with photoresist – the light-sensitive chemical essential for etching microscopic circuits onto silicon wafers – emerging as a new battlefield. The sector, which provides the key material for lithography, was expected to enter a critical stage of “accelerated breakthroughs and large-scale application” over the coming years, according to Fu Zhiwei, chairman of Xuzhou... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3346555/precision-strike-china-targets-us-japan-stranglehold-photoresist-supply?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3346555/precision-strike-china-targets-us-japan-stranglehold-photoresist-supply?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:09 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Representatives of China’s semiconductor industry are calling for stronger state backing in artificial intelligence chips and critical materials, aiming to fast-track core technology breakthroughs. During last week’s “two sessions” – the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and advisory body – scholars and entrepreneurs in the semiconductor sector urged Beijing to leverage the nation’s advantage in strategic chip raw materials and accelerate the commercial application of AI chips to secure... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345997/chinas-chip-industry-seeks-more-state-support-ai-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345997/chinas-chip-industry-seeks-more-state-support-ai-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:00:12 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng The iPhone 17e, the entry-level addition to Apple’s latest iPhone 17 series, faces an uphill battle in China’s highly competitive smartphone market, according to analysts, as presales for the new handset start on Wednesday. The new budget-priced iPhone “lacks competitiveness”, said IDC China research manager Guo Tianxiang, who pointed out that the handset “still uses outdated moulds, with the chip being the only major upgrade”. “The shortcomings in imaging and display persist, making its overall... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3345273/will-apples-budget-priced-iphone-17e-make-splash-chinas-tough-smartphone-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3345273/will-apples-budget-priced-iphone-17e-make-splash-chinas-tough-smartphone-market?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Mar 2026 11:00:14 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Chinese memory firms GigaDevice Semiconductor and Montage Technology have emerged as new heavyweights in the domestic semiconductor industry, as these companies founded by US-returned Chinese engineers capitalise on the global memory supercycle. Since the two Shanghai-listed companies completed their dual listings in Hong Kong recently, investors have driven up the shares of GigaDevice and Montage by 151 per cent and 97 per cent, respectively. The companies’ listings in January and February... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343706/how-chinas-gigadevice-and-montage-earned-place-memory-chip-market?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343706/how-chinas-gigadevice-and-montage-earned-place-memory-chip-market?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:00:09 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng The Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, backed by the municipal government, has expanded one of its three funds more than 11-fold to pump more capital into the financial hub’s chip firms as part of China’s broader pursuit of tech self-reliance. The third phase of the fund, also known as Shanghai IC Fund III, recently increased its registered capital by 5.5 billion yuan (US$794 million) to 6 billion yuan, according to business registry database Aiqicha. It added two new equity... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343061/tech-war-shanghai-boosts-chip-fund-11-fold-under-chinas-self-sufficiency-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343061/tech-war-shanghai-boosts-chip-fund-11-fold-under-chinas-self-sufficiency-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:30:12 +0000 Xiaofei Xu Xiaofei Xu The financial head of Dutch chipmaking equipment giant ASML – following a year of double-digit sales growth for the company’s machines – said he expects the firm’s already declining sales to China to fall even further, as trade restrictions prevent shipments of the firm’s most advanced units to Chinese clients and demand for other models is likely to taper off after an earlier rush. China’s share of ASML’s global sales dropped by 8 percentage points in 2025, falling to 33 per cent from the 41... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341632/asml-reports-heated-global-demand-2025-cools-china-outlook-amid-us-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341632/asml-reports-heated-global-demand-2025-cools-china-outlook-amid-us-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jan 2026 04:34:10 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Chinese chip designer Shanghai Iluvatar CoreX Semiconductor has unveiled a multi-year graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture road map, aiming to surpass Nvidia’s next-generation Rubin platform within two years, amid the country’s push for semiconductor self-reliance. The company said its Tianshu architecture had outperformed Nvidia’s Hopper platform last year, while a second architecture, Tianxuan, would be built to benchmark against the US firm’s Blackwell platform. A third, Tianji, was... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3341368/iluvatar-corex-targets-nvidias-rubin-gpu-road-map-amid-china-chip-push?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3341368/iluvatar-corex-targets-nvidias-rubin-gpu-road-map-amid-china-chip-push?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:00:13 +0000 Dannie Peng Dannie Peng A joint Chinese-US research team says it has developed a new semiconductor manufacturing method that it says could “open up entirely new avenues” to develop high-performance light-emitting and integrated devices. The process would surpass conventional lithography machines, which are the main way today of making the semiconductors used in most electronics. When a lithography machine etches a chip circuit, the laser strikes the material vertically. If light goes sideways, it causes uncontrolled... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341149/china-us-teams-feat-could-open-entirely-new-avenues-semiconductors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341149/china-us-teams-feat-could-open-entirely-new-avenues-semiconductors?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jan 2026 12:00:10 +0000 Zhang Tong Zhang Tong Chinese scientists have created fully flexible fibre chips with circuits that are integrated and embedded within stretchable strands as thin as human hair at a density rivalling those of a home computer’s central processing unit. Scientists have now advanced fibre-based electronics that already enable power supply and sensing functions and have spurred the growth of electronic textiles by developing integrated circuits in threadlike form. This allows the fibres to compute like chips or display... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341025/chinese-scientists-shrink-semiconductor-chip-fibre-thin-human-hair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341025/chinese-scientists-shrink-semiconductor-chip-fibre-thin-human-hair?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jan 2026 22:00:11 +0000 Shaoshan Liu Shaoshan Liu Europe’s debate over its technological future is both timely and necessary. The centre of gravity for platform technologies, advanced semiconductors, hyperscale cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) has undeniably shifted towards the United States and China. While the US boasts giants like Microsoft and Nvidia, and China has cultivated powerhouses like Huawei and Tencent, Europe has seen its share of the digital platform market shrink. However, viewing this shift as inevitable... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3339748/europes-tech-strength-lies-deployment-not-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3339748/europes-tech-strength-lies-deployment-not-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jan 2026 21:30:10 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen The US has officially green-lighted Nvidia to sell its H200 artificial intelligence chips in China, as the Trump administration seeks to strike a balance between curtailing China’s AI progress and maintaining American AI firms’ global market share. The H200, US chip giant Nvidia’s second-most-advanced AI processor, can be shipped to China under conditions that include that its China shipments account for no more than half of the amount sold domestically, according to the Department of Commerce’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3339797/us-government-approves-nvidia-h200-chip-exports-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3339797/us-government-approves-nvidia-h200-chip-exports-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Jan 2026 23:14:41 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng The global memory-chip crunch has forced a mainland Chinese smartphone manufacturer to pull the plug on the launch of a new handset, making it one of the first cancellations affecting the wider industry due to surging prices of the key component. DreamSmart Group said that its Meizu smartphone brand had cancelled the release of Meizu 22 Air, a slim handset similar to Apple’s iPhone Air. “The sharp rise in memory prices since the fourth quarter has not only impacted [production] costs, but also... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3339566/surging-memory-chip-prices-force-chinese-smartphone-maker-meizu-abandon-launch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3339566/surging-memory-chip-prices-force-chinese-smartphone-maker-meizu-abandon-launch?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:00:11 +0000 Eunice Xu Eunice Xu China’s drive for chip manufacturing equipment self-sufficiency advanced so rapidly in 2025 that even the country’s planners were caught by surprise, as the ratio of domestically developed semiconductor equipment surged to 35 per cent by the year’s end, up from 25 per cent in 2024. The ratio was higher than Beijing’s target of 30 per cent, set in early 2025 to encourage China’s semiconductor industry to favour local suppliers over US rivals such as Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3339366/great-chip-leap-chinas-semiconductor-equipment-self-reliance-surges-past-targets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3339366/great-chip-leap-chinas-semiconductor-equipment-self-reliance-surges-past-targets?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:00:28 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han In its push to secure supplies of critical minerals, the Donald Trump administration has increasingly looked abroad to reduce vulnerabilities in supply chains that underpin many of the world’s most advanced technologies. From China to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Ukraine, key strands of US foreign policy in recent months have centred on access to these materials – a group of roughly 60 minerals that the US Geological Survey considers vital to national and economic security, including rare... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3337551/will-us-led-pax-silica-shore-minerals-supply-chains-and-counter-chinas-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3337551/will-us-led-pax-silica-shore-minerals-supply-chains-and-counter-chinas-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Dec 2025 22:27:27 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese chip designer Moore Threads Technology has unveiled a suite of new products, including its next generation of chip architecture and artificial intelligence chips as it looks to challenge US chip-making heavyweights Nvidia and AMD. The Beijing-based firm, hailed as China’s “little Nvidia”, introduced two forthcoming chips Huashan and Lushan, named after two famous Chinese mountains, at a developer conference in the Chinese capital on Saturday. The Huashan chip, designed for AI training... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3337217/moore-threads-unveils-new-ai-chips-challenge-nvidia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3337217/moore-threads-unveils-new-ai-chips-challenge-nvidia?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Dec 2025 06:29:40 +0000 James Chai James Chai US President Donald Trump finally agreed to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s plea that the company be allowed to sell H200s to China, estimated to be a US$10 billion opportunity. Although Trump claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping responded “positively”, early signs indicate that China may want to limit H200s imports to reduce reliance on the US and develop domestic capability. The White House’s artificial intelligence (AI) tsar, David Sacks, said that China is rejecting H200s, and the Financial... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3336487/us-export-controls-have-fuelled-chinas-ai-development?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3336487/us-export-controls-have-fuelled-chinas-ai-development?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Dec 2025 08:32:26 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao China is stepping up its chip self-sufficiency push by combining relatively mature chips with new computing architectures in an effort to approach Nvidia’s performance levels, according to a top industry expert. Logic chips made with a 14-nanometre process, which are generally seen as trailing cutting-edge AI processors, could reach a performance comparable with Nvidia’s 4nm products if they were integrated with high-performance memory and an innovative computing architecture, said Wei Shaojun,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3334938/huawei-style-chip-stacking-seen-path-china-rival-nvidias-gpus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3334938/huawei-style-chip-stacking-seen-path-china-rival-nvidias-gpus?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Dec 2025 13:00:10 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao China has made significant progress in artificial intelligence hardware as the country’s top memory chipmaker has joined Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to supply some of the world’s most advanced products. ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) on Sunday unveiled its new Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) products with high frequency and expanded memory, which are vital for state-of-the-art AI computing servers and stacks. The DRAM chips were released at the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3333938/chinas-cxmt-challenges-samsung-and-sk-hynix-cutting-edge-ddr5-ai-memory-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3333938/chinas-cxmt-challenges-samsung-and-sk-hynix-cutting-edge-ddr5-ai-memory-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Nov 2025 10:00:18 +0000 Xinmei Shen Xinmei Shen A Hong Kong-invested chip start-up on Friday debuted a processor named after the city’s landmark mountain Lion Rock, a development that is set to elevate the city’s standing in the semiconductor landscape. The RISC-V-based data centre chip from Shanghai semiconductor start-up StarFive – which received an undisclosed investment from the Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) in March – aims to take advantage of surging demand for computing power for artificial intelligence applications. The... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3332852/hong-kong-backed-lion-rock-chip-debuts-boost-citys-semiconductor-standing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3332852/hong-kong-backed-lion-rock-chip-debuts-boost-citys-semiconductor-standing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Nov 2025 02:00:28 +0000 Dannie Peng Dannie Peng China has achieved a massive leap in computing power, spearheaded by a new optical quantum chip capable of accelerating complex problem-solving by over a thousandfold. The photonic quantum chip won the “Leading Technology Award” at the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit last week – one of 17 scientific achievements honoured from more than 400 candidates across 34 countries at the technology gathering. The chip, which is intended to boost efficiency for AI data centres and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3332604/quantum-chip-gives-chinas-ai-data-centres-1000-fold-speed-boost-award-winning-team?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3332604/quantum-chip-gives-chinas-ai-data-centres-1000-fold-speed-boost-award-winning-team?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:00:13 +0000 Ben Jiang Ben Jiang Chinese tech giant Baidu unveiled two artificial intelligence chips at its annual developer and client event on Thursday, underscoring the company’s ambition to play a pivotal role in the nation’s drive for technological self-sufficiency, alongside Huawei Technologies and other domestic players. Baidu introduced the M100, designed by its chip unit Kunlunxin Technology to significantly enhance inference efficiency in models using the mixture-of-experts technique, and the M300, tailored for... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3332596/baidu-unveils-ai-chips-boost-chinas-self-sufficiency-drive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3332596/baidu-unveils-ai-chips-boost-chinas-self-sufficiency-drive?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Nov 2025 06:05:56 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Shanghai-based artificial intelligence chip start-up MetaX has stepped into the spotlight after winning approval last week from Shanghai’s exchange to list on the city’s Nasdaq-style Star Market, underscoring both China’s accelerating AI investment and its potential to challenge US chip giant Nvidia. Known in Chinese as Muxi, MetaX was founded in 2020 by three veterans of US chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) – chairman Chen Weiliang and co-chief technology officers Peng Li and Yang Jian.... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3330511/meet-metax-chinese-ai-chip-hopeful-challenging-nvidias-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3330511/meet-metax-chinese-ai-chip-hopeful-challenging-nvidias-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Oct 2025 01:00:15 +0000 Winston Mok Winston Mok After a video call last Saturday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng are expected to meet in Malaysia this week to hopefully ease tensions before US President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping potentially meet on the sidelines of this year’s Apec summit. The meeting was in doubt when Trump threatened to impose an additional 100 per cent tariff on China, despite later relenting that it might not be sustainable. Washington blamed Beijing for the escalation,... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329654/can-scott-bessent-see-chinas-trade-counterstrike-clear-eyes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329654/can-scott-bessent-see-chinas-trade-counterstrike-clear-eyes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Oct 2025 08:30:10 +0000 Shaoshan Liu Shaoshan Liu Beijing has expanded export controls on rare earths. The latest move requires foreign buyers to obtain a Chinese export licence and extends controls to foreign-made products that use rare earths or technology from China. Washington shot back with threats of sweeping tariff hikes. Markets shuddered and supply-chain chiefs braced. The stakes are systemic. China wields a chokepoint through its dominance in processing of rare earths and manufacture of magnets; the US wields the world’s most powerful... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329374/us-china-tit-tat-escalation-now-feature-not-bug?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3329374/us-china-tit-tat-escalation-now-feature-not-bug?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Oct 2025 09:53:59 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen AMIES Technology, a new Chinese lithography equipment manufacturer that showcased its latest chipmaking products at an industry event in Shenzhen last week, is offering renewed optimism in the nation’s drive to reduce its dependence on Dutch giant ASML. The company presented a wide range of products – including compound-semiconductor lithography machines, laser-annealing systems, advanced inspection tools and solutions for packaging and wafer bonding – at the WeSemiBay Semiconductor Ecosystem... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3329508/meet-amies-chinas-new-hope-breaking-reliance-asmls-chipmaking-machines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3329508/meet-amies-chinas-new-hope-breaking-reliance-asmls-chipmaking-machines?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Oct 2025 02:00:16 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow When Alibaba Group Holding’s CEO Eddie Wu Yongming took the stage at the company’s annual Apsara conference in Hangzhou on September 24, few people expected the media-shy executive to deliver anything shocking, especially since he read from prepared statements at last year’s event. Wu, however, immediately outlined a clear road map for Alibaba’s AI development, with a goal towards so-called artificial superintelligence (ASI) – when the firm’s Qwen open-source models and cloud services would... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3328568/chinas-lesson-us-it-takes-more-chips-win-ai-race?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3328568/chinas-lesson-us-it-takes-more-chips-win-ai-race?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Oct 2025 04:00:13 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) reported a 30 per cent increase in its third-quarter sales as major US tech companies continued to make multibillion-dollar bets on artificial intelligence. Revenue for the three-month period ending in September totalled NT$989.9 billion (US$32.5 billion), according to Bloomberg News calculations based on monthly sales numbers provided by the company, while analysts on average were looking for NT$962.8 billion. The shares of Asia’s most valuable... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3328365/tsmc-posts-better-expected-sales-ai-demand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3328365/tsmc-posts-better-expected-sales-ai-demand?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Oct 2025 08:37:42 +0000 Ann Cao,Wency Chen Ann Cao,Wency Chen When Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek unveiled an updated foundational model late in August, investors in Nvidia were stunned. Shares of the US chip giant slid, as market watchers grappled with news that the two-year-old start-up, which has developed models rivalling the world’s best, was shifting towards supporting domestically produced chips. Adding to their concerns, DeepSeek was not alone in its endeavour to empower China’s AI ambitions without relying on US technology. Last... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3327025/home-grown-heroes-how-huawei-and-deepseek-are-helping-china-break-reliance-us-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3327025/home-grown-heroes-how-huawei-and-deepseek-are-helping-china-break-reliance-us-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Sep 2025 02:00:09 +0000 Jinghan (Michael) Zeng Jinghan (Michael) Zeng When US tech giant Nvidia unveiled its B40-series chips for China – stripped-down versions of its more advanced H20 line – many in Washington and Silicon Valley believed they had struck a clever compromise. The United States would retain its technological lead while allowing China to buy “safe” alternatives that preserved its dependence on American suppliers. Nvidia, in turn, could continue to profit from one of its largest markets. The logic was simple: Beijing would accept something rather... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3326186/why-china-said-no-stripped-down-nvidia-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3326186/why-china-said-no-stripped-down-nvidia-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Sep 2025 01:30:08 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen ByteDance has transferred its semiconductor team, comprising about 1,000 employees, to an existing Singapore-incorporated subsidiary, Picoheart (SG) – a change that was reflected in the internal directory – according to the company and staff. The Beijing-based company notified affected employees last week about the transition and moved their internal messaging accounts on the enterprise collaboration tool Feishu – known internationally as Lark – to a separate entity this week, said a source who... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3324439/bytedance-moves-1000-chip-employees-singapore-unit-internal-directory-update?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3324439/bytedance-moves-1000-chip-employees-singapore-unit-internal-directory-update?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:00:07 +0000 Danielle Popov Danielle Popov China’s semiconductor industry investment totalled 455 billion yuan (US$63.3 billion) in the first half of 2025, a decline of 9.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to a report from chip market research firm Cinno. In contrast, investment in semiconductor equipment surged more than 53 per cent from the same period last year, highlighting the country’s efforts to establish a self-sufficient supply chain. Wafer manufacturing accounted for the largest share of semiconductor investment at 51... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3321579/chinas-chip-investment-falls-first-half-2025-while-equipment-funding-surges-report?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3321579/chinas-chip-investment-falls-first-half-2025-while-equipment-funding-surges-report?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Aug 2025 11:00:08 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Huawei Technologies has unveiled a software tool designed to accelerate inference in large artificial intelligence models, an advancement that could help China reduce its reliance on expensive high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. Unified Cache Manager (UCM) is an algorithm that allocates data according to varying latency requirements across different types of memories – including ultra-fast HBM, standard dynamic random access memory and solid-state drive – thereby enhancing inference efficiency,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3321578/tech-war-huawei-unveils-algorithm-could-cut-chinas-reliance-foreign-memory-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3321578/tech-war-huawei-unveils-algorithm-could-cut-chinas-reliance-foreign-memory-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:00:10 +0000 Bochen Han Bochen Han The White House on Wednesday released proposals to restrict exports of American AI equipment and limit the spread of Chinese AI models as part of a sweeping plan to shape the rules governing the fast-moving technology. The 28-page AI Action Plan marks US President Donald Trump’s administration’s first comprehensive strategy on the topic and comes as national security hawks have raised concerns that superior American chips may reach China – including through third countries – and advance its AI... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3319347/trump-administration-issues-plan-limit-ai-exports-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/economy-trade-business/article/3319347/trump-administration-issues-plan-limit-ai-exports-china?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Jul 2025 21:31:39 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation, days after the chipmaker said it was resuming sales of its H20 chips to the country. Wang said China’s policies for attracting foreign investment remained unchanged, and its doors would only open wider, according to a statement issued by the ministry on Friday. Highlighting the country’s vast market, Wang encouraged multinational firms, including Nvidia, to continue... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3318801/nvidia-ceo-meets-chinas-commerce-minister-discuss-ai-cooperation-foreign-investment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3318801/nvidia-ceo-meets-chinas-commerce-minister-discuss-ai-cooperation-foreign-investment?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jul 2025 13:00:24 +0000 Victoria Bela Victoria Bela China is facing a glut of AI computing power and the booming service sector needs to adapt to changing demand, state media has warned as US tech titan Nvidia prepares to resume exports of its made-for-China chips. Citing data from the Inspur Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday that despite the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, only about 30 per cent of the country’s intelligent computing capacity was being used. As of November, nearly... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318622/warning-glut-ai-computing-centres-china-readies-return-nvidias-h20-chip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3318622/warning-glut-ai-computing-centres-china-readies-return-nvidias-h20-chip?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Jul 2025 12:00:19 +0000