https://www.scmp.com/rss/520122/feed Vincent Chow is a technology reporter covering AI, with a focus on how society navigates the emergence of increasingly powerful AI systems. He previously covered Chinese society and was awarded a SOPA award for his culture reporting. He is currently supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese tech companies are engaged in a public war of words as they compete to capitalise on US start-up Anthropic’s decision to pull its industry-leading Claude models from open-source AI agent tool OpenClaw. The development comes as AI agents have triggered a huge increase in demand for AI tokens – the core metric of AI usage – raising questions about the long-term ability of industry players to meet this demand amid a growing global crunch in computational power. On Sunday, Anthropic... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349146/chinese-ai-rivals-clash-over-anthropics-openclaw-exit-amid-global-token-crunch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349146/chinese-ai-rivals-clash-over-anthropics-openclaw-exit-amid-global-token-crunch?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Apr 2026 07:58:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Facebook owner Meta Platforms has recruited a Chinese industry veteran with experience across artificial intelligence, humanoid robots and extended reality to lead a new hardware team in its superintelligence unit. Xu Rui, a former product manager at Tencent Holdings and TikTok owner ByteDance, would lead a team developing AI devices separately from Meta’s Reality Labs division, which was responsible for the company’s popular smart glasses and virtual reality headsets, US outlet Business Insider... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349081/who-xu-rui-ex-bytedance-executive-tapped-meta-lead-ai-hardware?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3349081/who-xu-rui-ex-bytedance-executive-tapped-meta-lead-ai-hardware?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2026 08:52:22 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow There was a surprise guest speaker at Nvidia’s widely watched GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in San Jose, California, last month: Yang Zhilin, the founder of Beijing-based Moonshot AI, the developer behind the Kimi family of foundational artificial intelligence models. Amid heated rhetoric about US-China AI competition, which some have likened to an “arms race”, the participation of a Chinese AI start-up’s CEO at the flagship event of American chipmaking giant Nvidia might have struck some as... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348973/competition-or-co-opetition-how-convergence-shaping-ai-race-between-china-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348973/competition-or-co-opetition-how-convergence-shaping-ai-race-between-china-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2026 02:00:12 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese companies engaging in artificial intelligence activities are required to set up internal “AI ethics review committees” under new rules released by Beijing on Thursday, effective immediately. The notice comes as policymakers look to ensure that fast-paced AI progress can continue in a “healthy” manner amid growing consumer and enterprise adoption. Jointly released by 10 government bodies and institutions including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Development... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3348995/beijing-mandates-internal-ai-ethics-reviews-ensure-controllable-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3348995/beijing-mandates-internal-ai-ethics-reviews-ensure-controllable-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:54:53 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese companies including Alibaba Cloud and Zhipu AI have opted not to open-source some of their latest artificial intelligence models as they look to capture the full value of their usage through official revenue generating channels. While none of the companies have said that they are moving away from their open-source strategies, the development reflects an industry trend where the most powerful models are growing in size, making them increasingly difficult to host on local hardware. This... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348844/chinese-ai-giants-pivot-toward-proprietary-models-drive-revenue-performance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348844/chinese-ai-giants-pivot-toward-proprietary-models-drive-revenue-performance?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2026 13:07:42 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese artificial intelligence start-ups Zhipu AI and MiniMax have shown early signs of sustainable commercialisation of their AI models, analysts said, as investors continue to pump up their Hong Kong stocks despite widening losses. That assessment comes as the companies reported their first earnings since their respective initial public offerings in early January, providing a glimpse into the business models of an industry still in its infancy globally. The South China Morning Post takes a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348699/what-zhipu-and-minimaxs-first-post-ipo-earnings-say-about-2-chinese-ai-start-ups?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348699/what-zhipu-and-minimaxs-first-post-ipo-earnings-say-about-2-chinese-ai-start-ups?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Apr 2026 02:00:09 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI posted worse-than-expected annual revenue growth in its first earnings report since its initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong in January. Revenue rose 131.9 per cent year on year to 724.33 million yuan (US$104.8 million) for the year ended December 2025, the Beijing-based company said on Tuesday, lagging an estimate of 756 million yuan by analysts polled by Bloomberg. Zhipu, the first foundational AI model start-up in the world to launch an... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348555/zhipu-ai-revenue-jumps-132-first-post-ipo-report-missing-estimates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3348555/zhipu-ai-revenue-jumps-132-first-post-ipo-report-missing-estimates?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:36:26 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Nasdaq-listed iQiyi, a Chinese online entertainment video provider backed by Baidu, has submitted a confidential application for a listing in Hong Kong, the company said on Monday. Details of the proposed listing have yet to be finalised, the company said, pending regulatory approvals from the Hong Kong stock exchange and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as well as the company’s own final decision. “There is no assurance that the proposed listing will take place or when it may take... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348450/streaming-giant-iqiyi-joins-homecoming-wave-proposed-us300m-hong-kong-listing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348450/streaming-giant-iqiyi-joins-homecoming-wave-proposed-us300m-hong-kong-listing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:14:47 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese tech giants Xiaomi and Alibaba Group Holding have launched spring recruitment drives amid fierce competition for the talent driving the global artificial intelligence boom. The campaigns come as the smartphone and e-commerce giants, respectively, look to increasingly position themselves as AI-first firms, amid growing commercial pressures in their traditional businesses. In a Weibo post on Monday, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said the company’s global recruitment campaign would target... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348434/xiaomi-alibaba-ramp-ai-recruitment-amid-global-talent-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348434/xiaomi-alibaba-ramp-ai-recruitment-amid-global-talent-war?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:14 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow ByteDance has bolstered its controversial video-generation model Seedance 2.0 with “advanced” watermarking and intellectual property (IP) protection guardrails ahead of its global roll-out, the TikTok owner has said. The much-anticipated international release comes amid intense scrutiny from Hollywood studios over alleged IP theft after numerous Seedance-generated videos featuring famous Hollywood actors and characters went viral in February. On Wednesday, ByteDance said its global safety and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3348290/bytedance-bolsters-seedance-20-watermarking-ip-safeguards-ahead-global-roll-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3348290/bytedance-bolsters-seedance-20-watermarking-ip-safeguards-ahead-global-roll-out?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Mar 2026 09:00:13 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow The organisers of a leading artificial intelligence conference have apologised after a new policy that appeared to bar US-sanctioned entities from participating sparked a backlash in China, saying the ban was more limited than initially indicated. The apology came after several major Chinese professional bodies urged domestic researchers to boycott the event, amid concerns that prominent tech groups such as Huawei Technologies would be excluded. In a statement on Friday, the Conference on Neural... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348199/top-us-ai-conference-apologises-after-sanctions-policy-sparks-backlash-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348199/top-us-ai-conference-apologises-after-sanctions-policy-sparks-backlash-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:34:14 +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 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese computer scientists and researchers have been urged to boycott a major artificial intelligence conference after its organisers barred submissions from US-sanctioned institutions, including leading Chinese tech groups such as Huawei Technologies. The move by the China Computer Federation (CCF) is the latest flashpoint in deepening US-China tensions over AI, a fast-evolving field with far-reaching economic, social and military implications. The influential professional body said on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348006/ai-rift-widens-china-urges-boycott-top-us-conference-over-sanctions-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3348006/ai-rift-widens-china-urges-boycott-top-us-conference-over-sanctions-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:12 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow A “ChatGPT moment” for China’s humanoid robots – the tipping point at which the technology becomes widely usable – remains years away as persistent challenges in adapting to new tasks and training efficiency continue to hold back the industry, leading experts said on Wednesday at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan. Despite rapid advances in recent years, humanoid robots were still far from large-scale deployment, with both hardware and software limitations yet to be fully resolved, panellists... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347864/why-chinas-humanoid-robots-are-still-waiting-their-chatgpt-moment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347864/why-chinas-humanoid-robots-are-still-waiting-their-chatgpt-moment?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 01:15:07 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Tencent Holdings is rolling out a “ClawBot” plug-in for China’s most popular app WeChat as it seeks to capitalise on the OpenClaw craze, even as authorities continue to warn about risks. The move announced on Sunday will allow WeChat’s more than 1 billion monthly active users to command their OpenClaw artificial intelligence agents directly through the app, which is deeply embedded in daily life in China. In recent weeks, almost every Chinese tech giant has announced new offerings based on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347590/tencent-adds-clawbot-plug-wechat-amid-openclaw-boom-and-privacy-warnings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3347590/tencent-adds-clawbot-plug-wechat-amid-openclaw-boom-and-privacy-warnings?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:30:07 +0000 Vincent Chow,Wency Chen,Enoch Yiu Vincent Chow,Wency Chen,Enoch Yiu Beijing has emphasised the safe and orderly development of artificial intelligence amid growing global anxiety about the disruptive impact of the rapidly advancing technology, as the country’s leaders put the final stamp of approval on China’s next five-year plan at this year’s “two sessions”. The 15th five-year plan elevates China’s AI Plus initiative as a top national priority, according to a draft version of the document submitted for review to the National People’s Congress, China’s top... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3345586/chinas-five-year-plan-emphasises-orderly-ai-development-amid-global-tech-volatility?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3345586/chinas-five-year-plan-emphasises-orderly-ai-development-amid-global-tech-volatility?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2026 15:30:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Alibaba Group Holding is forming a dedicated internal task force headed by CEO Eddie Wu Yongming in a bid to funnel greater resources into its foundational AI model development efforts. On Thursday, Wu said in a letter to members of the company’s artificial intelligence research lab Tongyi that the task force would “jointly coordinate group-wide resources to accelerate foundational model development”. “In technology, standing still means falling behind,” Wu said in the letter, which was provided... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345524/alibaba-sets-new-task-force-led-ceo-eddie-wu-focus-ai-model-development?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345524/alibaba-sets-new-task-force-led-ceo-eddie-wu-focus-ai-model-development?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:00:12 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Alibaba Group Holding has recruited a research scientist from Google DeepMind to bolster development efforts for its Qwen artificial intelligence models, in an internal restructuring that has seen the departure of previous technical lead Lin Junyang. While no successor to Lin was announced, former Google senior staff research scientist Zhou Hao was joining Alibaba as head of post-training research, replacing Yu Bowen, who also departed this week, two sources said. Zhou, who holds a PhD from the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345471/alibaba-recruits-google-deepmind-contributor-join-qwen-ai-team-sources-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3345471/alibaba-recruits-google-deepmind-contributor-join-qwen-ai-team-sources-say?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:36:39 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese artificial intelligence company MiniMax Group posted better-than-expected annual revenue growth in its first earnings report since its blockbuster Hong Kong listing, as its CEO predicted a doubling in revenue this year. Revenue rose nearly 159 per cent year on year to US$79 million for the year ended December 2025, the Shanghai-based company said on Monday, beating an estimate of US$71.39 million by analysts polled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, CEO Yan Junjie said in a post-earnings call that... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3345116/chinese-ai-firm-minimaxs-revenue-jumps-159-us79-million-strong-demand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3345116/chinese-ai-firm-minimaxs-revenue-jumps-159-us79-million-strong-demand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2026 10:39:54 +0000 Vincent Chow,Dannie Peng Vincent Chow,Dannie Peng Chinese companies are leading the way in personalised medicine, the development of healthcare treatments tailored for individual patients. MGI Tech last year unveiled the world’s fastest gene sequencing machine, while BGI Genomics has become the world’s biggest generator of data about human genes. Chinese biomedicine companies also have a world-leading pipeline of novel targeted therapies used in personalised or precision medicine (see previous China Future Tech). New technology, including... https://www.scmp.com/plus/news/china/science/article/3345088/china-ai-boosts-cancer-screening-rare-disease-diagnosis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/plus/news/china/science/article/3345088/china-ai-boosts-cancer-screening-rare-disease-diagnosis?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2026 05:00:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow WeRide, one of China’s big three robotaxi companies, has cut research and development (R&D) costs by “millions” of US dollars by using artificial intelligence to train its fleet in virtual worlds, its CEO said. While rivals had also developed AI models simulating the physical world, WeRide’s efforts stood out as it was using its world model Genesis to support its global expansion strategy, said Tony Han. “It’s the first real marriage between physical AI and generative AI,” Han told the South... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344817/breakthrough-or-hype-how-weride-aims-steer-past-rivals-crowded-robotaxi-field?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3344817/breakthrough-or-hype-how-weride-aims-steer-past-rivals-crowded-robotaxi-field?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Feb 2026 02:00:38 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies has joined hands with US companies OpenAI and Google, among others, to advance global open-source standards in the rapidly advancing field of agentic artificial intelligence. The development marks a rare collaboration between a US-sanctioned Chinese heavyweight and its US counterparts in global AI standards setting amid US-China geopolitical and tech competition. On Tuesday, the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) announced Huawei as one of 97 new members joining... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344667/huawei-joins-openai-google-global-push-advance-ai-standards-rare-china-us-collab?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344667/huawei-joins-openai-google-global-push-advance-ai-standards-rare-china-us-collab?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Feb 2026 02:31:40 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow US private equity firm General Atlantic is selling an equity stake in TikTok owner ByteDance in a deal that raises its valuation of the private Chinese company to US$550 billion, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two unnamed sources. The deal, still pending, confirms a previous report by the South China Morning Post in December that ByteDance’s valuation had surged to US$500 billion on the private market, up from US$400 billion as recently as the second quarter of 2025. General Atlantic... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344631/bytedance-valuation-said-hit-record-us550-billion-proposed-equity-sale?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344631/bytedance-valuation-said-hit-record-us550-billion-proposed-equity-sale?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:17 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese analysts and investors have expressed scepticism about a viral report by a small US research outfit that triggered a major sell-off on Wall Street, saying China could be largely immune to major artificial intelligence disruption, given the low level of digital penetration in the country’s traditional institutions. Citrini Research’s report, published on Sunday, included references to the impact of China’s AI advances. The translated version of the report was widely circulated in Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344476/chinese-investors-and-analysts-shrug-ai-fears-after-citrini-report-sparks-us-sell?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344476/chinese-investors-and-analysts-shrug-ai-fears-after-citrini-report-sparks-us-sell?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Feb 2026 14:15:07 +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 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI’s shares fell nearly 23 per cent on Monday, wiping out more than HK$70 billion (US$9 billion) in market capitalisation as concerns mount over the Hong Kong-listed firm’s computing resources constraints. The stock slump came as Zhipu issued public calls last week to partner with computing resources providers globally, as user complaints about service quality continue to dog the firm despite frenzied investor interest in recent weeks. The shares... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344344/chinese-ai-firm-zhipus-shares-tumble-nearly-23-computing-woes-user-complaints?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3344344/chinese-ai-firm-zhipus-shares-tumble-nearly-23-computing-woes-user-complaints?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:30:07 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow China’s “big tech” giants – including Alibaba Group Holding, ByteDance and Tencent Holdings – released preliminary figures showing impressive gains for their new flagship artificial intelligence offerings during this year’s Spring Festival Gala marketing blitz. While red packet giveaways and extensive advertising campaigns have been a fixture of past Lunar New Year holidays, this year’s multi-billion-yuan competition surrounding a crop of new artificial intelligence products was so intense that... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344017/chinas-tech-giants-report-huge-gains-spring-festival-marketing-blitz?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3344017/chinas-tech-giants-report-huge-gains-spring-festival-marketing-blitz?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:00:10 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Moonshot AI, the Chinese start-up behind the powerful Kimi artificial intelligence models, has added at least another US$700 million to its war chest after launching another funding round that could value it at up to US$12 billion. The new round, which comes just over a month after its last one, could almost triple Moonshot’s previous valuation of US$4.3 billion amid exploding investor interest in China’s AI enterprises. It was jointly led by existing investors including Alibaba Group Holding,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343927/moonshot-ai-targets-us12-billion-valuation-overseas-revenue-surges-kimi-models?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343927/moonshot-ai-targets-us12-billion-valuation-overseas-revenue-surges-kimi-models?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:00:09 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Consumer interest in robots has surged in China since several leading models appeared on stage at Monday’s Spring Festival Gala, with delivery dates pushed as far back as late April. This development follows the featuring of robots from four domestic firms – Unitree Robotics, Magiclab, Galbot and Noetix – at the event after they signed partnerships reportedly worth around 100 million yuan (US$14 million). One of the biggest beneficiaries was Hangzhou-based Unitree, whose G1 humanoid robots... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343908/robotics-firms-see-backlog-orders-after-humanoids-steal-show-spring-festival-gala?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3343908/robotics-firms-see-backlog-orders-after-humanoids-steal-show-spring-festival-gala?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:00:12 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow China’s Unitree Robotics plans to ship as many as 20,000 humanoid robots this year, up from about 5,500 in 2025, according to chief executive Wang Xingxing, after the company drew global attention with its appearance at Monday night’s Spring Festival Gala. Speaking to domestic tech outlet 36Kr after the show, Wang said global humanoid robot shipments could reach “tens of thousands” this year, with Unitree accounting for roughly 10,000 to 20,000 units of that total. The projection follows another... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343825/kung-fu-somersaults-and-scale-unitree-eyes-20000-robot-output-2026-after-gala?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343825/kung-fu-somersaults-and-scale-unitree-eyes-20000-robot-output-2026-after-gala?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Feb 2026 09:32:46 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Alibaba Cloud has unveiled its next-generation open artificial intelligence model, Qwen-3.5, in a move set to have major implications for the global AI race between China and the US. The much-anticipated release, timed on the eve of the Lunar New Year, capped a frenetic week in which nearly every major Chinese AI developer rolled out new flagship models. The two new 3.5-series models were made available on Alibaba’s cloud platform Model Studio on Monday afternoon. The new Qwen-3.5-Open-Source... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343738/alibaba-unveils-qwen-35-sharpening-global-race-spread-ai-models?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343738/alibaba-unveils-qwen-35-sharpening-global-race-spread-ai-models?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:19:44 +0000 Wency Chen,Vincent Chow Wency Chen,Vincent Chow China’s leading humanoid robotics companies dominated the opening of this year’s Spring Festival Gala, the annual variety spectacle staged by state broadcaster CCTV that offers a rare nationwide marketing platform akin to the US Super Bowl, highlighting the central role of the industry in Beijing’s industrial policy. Four robotics firms – Hangzhou-based Unitree, Wuxi-based Magiclab, Beijing-based Galbot and Noetix – had announced partnerships with this year’s gala in deals said to be valued at... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343634/chinas-tech-companies-vie-attention-cctvs-festival-gala-years-biggest-stage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343634/chinas-tech-companies-vie-attention-cctvs-festival-gala-years-biggest-stage?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Feb 2026 22:00:15 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow ByteDance is working to strengthen safeguards in its Seedance 2.0 video-generation tool after it received global blowback for alleged intellectual property (IP) violations, the Chinese short-video giant said on Sunday. The controversy focuses on the TikTok owner’s alleged use of copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence model, as videos of Hollywood celebrities, Disney characters and comic book heroes generated by Seedance have flooded the web in recent days. On Saturday, Disney... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343626/bytedance-ai-video-tool-seedance-accused-disney-copyright-smash-and-grab?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3343626/bytedance-ai-video-tool-seedance-accused-disney-copyright-smash-and-grab?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Feb 2026 09:07:51 +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 Xinmei Shen,Khushboo Razdan,Vincent Chow Xinmei Shen,Khushboo Razdan,Vincent Chow In a move that escalates tensions between Beijing and Washington just weeks ahead of US President Donald Trump’s anticipated trip to Beijing, the Pentagon added a wide range of Chinese companies to a list of firms with alleged links to the military before withdrawing the document. Giants like Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu and BYD are among the firms added to the list. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post. The updated designation also names firms spanning the biotech, AI,... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3343540/pentagon-adds-chinese-firms-military-list-then-withdraws-filing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3343540/pentagon-adds-chinese-firms-military-list-then-withdraws-filing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Feb 2026 16:36:23 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow China’s food delivery giant Meituan on Friday warned that it expected to post a loss of up to 24.3 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) for 2025 due to “intense industry competition”, with the slump likely to persist this year. The sharp reversal from 2024, when the company posted a profit of 35.8 billion yuan, comes on the back of one of China’s most intense price wars last year between Meituan, Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com in local e-commerce and food delivery, which only subsided after... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343538/chinas-meituan-warns-us35-billion-loss-amid-intense-food-delivery-price-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343538/chinas-meituan-warns-us35-billion-loss-amid-intense-food-delivery-price-war?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:15:42 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company MiniMax has released a new model “designed for real-world productivity”, hot on the heels of new releases from its domestic rivals in a frenetic week for China’s AI industry. The update to its M2 large language model comes as investor interest in smaller Chinese AI companies hits new heights, with global investors looking to capitalise on China’s rapid progress in AI beyond the traditional tech giants. Citing in-house benchmark scores, MiniMax said on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343395/chinas-minimax-releases-cheap-ai-model-designed-real-world-productivity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343395/chinas-minimax-releases-cheap-ai-model-designed-real-world-productivity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Feb 2026 02:11:32 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI has launched its latest flagship model, the GLM-5, with a leap in coding capabilities amid a heated race among Chinese tech firms to roll out major new models ahead of the Spring Festival holiday. Zhipu AI, known internationally as Z.ai, said that the GLM-5 represented a shift in AI development from “vibe coding” to “agentic engineering” – AI-automated coding at a larger scale – thanks to its latest model’s enhanced performance. The model’s... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343239/chinas-zhipu-ai-launches-new-major-model-glm-5-challenge-its-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343239/chinas-zhipu-ai-launches-new-major-model-glm-5-challenge-its-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Feb 2026 21:22:50 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Fosun Health Group, a subsidiary of Fosun Pharmaceutical, said it plans to build its first overseas hospitals in Indonesia amid a push by Chinese healthcare companies to expand abroad. The announcement underscores Indonesia’s appeal – home to the world’s fourth-largest population of 287 million – as Beijing encourages its healthcare sector to “go global”. Fosun Health planned to establish “several hospitals” in Indonesia, CEO Frank Hu Hang told delegates at the South China Morning Post’s China... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3343167/fosun-health-build-first-overseas-hospitals-indonesia-amid-chinese-go-global-push?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3343167/fosun-health-build-first-overseas-hospitals-indonesia-amid-chinese-go-global-push?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Feb 2026 07:30:09 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow The biggest threat to middle powers in the artificial intelligence era is “digital colonisation” from expensive and proprietary AI stacks, an Indonesian telecoms executive has said, adding that China’s open-source sales pitch offers better protection for local sovereignty. The emphasis on localisation and digital sovereignty comes as major Chinese AI cloud providers look to compete with US rivals in fast-growing Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia. “The world is moving out of proprietary... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343091/indonesia-telco-chief-warns-digital-colonisation-backs-chinas-open-source-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3343091/indonesia-telco-chief-warns-digital-colonisation-backs-chinas-open-source-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:00:09 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow China’s AI sector is bracing for a monumental week, with a flurry of new models – including a potent “stealth” contender – emerging as domestic tech giants prepare to unveil their flagship products. The race to release new models ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday underscores the intense global competition between frontier companies for users’ attention amid a rapid acceleration of AI progress at the start of 2026, following high-profile releases from US heavyweights Anthropic and OpenAI. On... https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3342951/chinas-ai-arms-race-sees-sector-brace-major-flagship-model-launch-week?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/article/3342951/chinas-ai-arms-race-sees-sector-brace-major-flagship-model-launch-week?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Feb 2026 12:02:58 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Leading US and Chinese artificial intelligence models are frustrating to use in real-world settings because they struggle to learn from context, Tencent Holdings said in a new technical paper – the first co-authored by Vinces Yao Shunyu since he took up the role of chief AI scientist at the firm. AI developers need to place “context learning” at the centre of future model design if their products are to become genuinely useful outside controlled environments, according to researchers from... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3342386/when-context-everything-ai-models-still-struggle-real-world-tencent?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3342386/when-context-everything-ai-models-still-struggle-real-world-tencent?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Feb 2026 11:01:44 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese companies are mitigating the risks of artificial intelligence in their own way and should not be judged through a Western lens, according to Chinese industry insiders. The comments come ahead of what is expected to be a busy month for Chinese AI developers, with new major models set to be released ahead of the Lunar New Year. Last year, concerns about the risks of Chinese models held back some global users from adopting them, with high-profile DeepSeek in particular banned or restricted... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342279/chinese-ai-firms-defend-safety-practices-push-back-western-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3342279/chinese-ai-firms-defend-safety-practices-push-back-western-criticism?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Feb 2026 04:01:43 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) needs to “work very hard” to meet growing demand from leading US chip designer Nvidia, which alone could require TSMC to more than double its capacity in the next decade, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said. Huang’s remarks followed a high-profile banquet on Saturday evening with executives of key supply chain partners in Taiwan, including TSMC chairman and CEO C C Wei and Foxconn chairman Young Liu, as the Nvidia founder sought to shore up supply... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3341994/nvidias-jensen-huang-urges-tsmc-expand-capacity-amid-ai-chip-crunch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3341994/nvidias-jensen-huang-urges-tsmc-expand-capacity-amid-ai-chip-crunch?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Feb 2026 11:00:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has open-sourced its first artificial intelligence models for robotics, as it steps up efforts to build machine intelligence capable of handling complex real-world tasks. The move signals a deeper push by the Hangzhou-based Ant into embodied intelligence – AI systems designed to perceive, reason and act in physical environments rather than purely digital settings. The company is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3341842/ant-groups-open-source-push-aims-move-robots-lab-demos-real-world-work?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3341842/ant-groups-open-source-push-aims-move-robots-lab-demos-real-world-work?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:00:11 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow China’s artificial intelligence hyperscalers have quickly added cloud support for Moltbot, formerly known as Clawdbot, an open-source AI agent that has exploded in popularity globally. Billed as the “AI that actually does things”, Moltbot’s ability to autonomously execute tasks without the user directing each action has caused waves in the global developer community, briefly lifting shares of US web infrastructure giant Cloudflare in pre-market trading on Tuesday before they later... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3341701/chinas-cloud-giants-race-support-moltbot-ai-actually-does-things?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3341701/chinas-cloud-giants-race-support-moltbot-ai-actually-does-things?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jan 2026 12:00:12 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Moonshot AI’s newest release, Kimi K2.5, has narrowed the gap between the US and China to the closest it has ever been in the development of artificial intelligence models, according to third-party evaluations. That feat by the Beijing-based start-up, founded in March 2023, has raised questions about the efficacy of US policies – most notably, export controls on advanced semiconductors – to constrain China’s AI development efforts, said Kyle Chan, a fellow of the John L Thornton China Centre at... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341580/moonshots-newest-release-narrows-us-china-ai-model-development-gap-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341580/moonshots-newest-release-narrows-us-china-ai-model-development-gap-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:00:10 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Education in China’s countryside should shift away from rote-based learning to focus on nurturing curiosity and creativity in the artificial intelligence era, Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma said in a meeting with rural teachers on Monday. In remarks published by the Jack Ma Foundation on Tuesday, former English teacher Ma said the dawn of the AI era posed a challenge for rural education, but also presented an opportunity to “return to the fundamentals of education”. Alibaba owns the South... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341543/teach-our-children-well-jack-ma-urges-changes-chinas-rural-education-ai-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341543/teach-our-children-well-jack-ma-urges-changes-chinas-rural-education-ai-era?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:00:09 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Alibaba Group Holding and Moonshot AI have unveiled their latest flagship artificial intelligence models, narrowing the gap with US industry leaders OpenAI and Google DeepMind. The new models from two of China’s leading AI developers mark the first major Chinese model releases of this year, as industry observers continue to closely monitor the gap between the US and China in developing cutting-edge foundational models. Alibaba Cloud announced its biggest-ever model, Qwen3-Max-Thinking, on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3341380/chinas-alibaba-moonshot-claim-latest-flagship-ai-models-challenge-openai-google?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3341380/chinas-alibaba-moonshot-claim-latest-flagship-ai-models-challenge-openai-google?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:30:08 +0000 Vincent Chow Vincent Chow Tsinghua University and Microsoft researchers have developed a synthetic data pipeline for training artificial intelligence models without the need for real-world data, using chips from leading US chip designer Nvidia. The pipeline called SynthSmith was able to develop a small coding model that outperformed a model twice its size, potentially addressing a key bottleneck of real-world data scarcity for improving AI models, according to the paper published on open access repository arXiv on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341238/tsinghua-and-microsoft-researchers-train-ai-model-using-synthetic-data-nvidia-chips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3341238/tsinghua-and-microsoft-researchers-train-ai-model-using-synthetic-data-nvidia-chips?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Jan 2026 07:45:51 +0000