https://www.scmp.com/rss/525537/feed Minxiao is a technology reporter at the South China Morning Post, covering semiconductors, AI, and fintech. She previously reported for 36Kr and Harvard Business Review China, specializing in the intersection of AI and emerging technologies. Her coverage focuses on global supply chains, Web3, and RWA. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang The driver’s seat was empty and the steering wheel was turning on its own. Sitting in the back of a Pony.ai robotaxi in Shenzhen, I felt a flicker of nervousness. But as the car glided into traffic, the initial unease gave way to an appreciation of something far less futuristic: the blissful absence of small talk with the driver. My test rides in two of China’s major tech hubs – with Pony.ai in Shenzhen and Baidu’s Apollo Go in Beijing – offered a first-hand experience of how autonomous vehicles... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3373603/robotaxis-are-taking-over-chinas-cities-what-are-they-actually-ride https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3373603/robotaxis-are-taking-over-chinas-cities-what-are-they-actually-ride Sat, 07 Nov 2026 13:30:08 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence models led by Moonshot AI’s Kimi family accounted for nearly nine-tenths of estimated global enterprise spending on open-source systems, according to a new study, even though proprietary US rivals continue to capture the vast majority of overall revenue. The report, released this week by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, said Chinese AI systems accounted for 89 per cent of global enterprise spending on open-source models. Kimi led with a 61 per... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3373550/chinas-ai-models-led-kimi-dominate-open-source-enterprise-spending https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3373550/chinas-ai-models-led-kimi-dominate-open-source-enterprise-spending Fri, 06 Nov 2026 13:30:09 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang For autonomous vehicles, the hardest lessons to learn are the ones that can test the skills of even the most experienced human drivers: an errant cyclist darting through a red light, or an animal bolting into oncoming traffic from behind a corner. The Chinese tech giant Baidu has developed a new AI-driven simulator to prepare its Apollo robotaxis for just such rare but high-stakes road hazards, as the firm looks to gain an edge in the fast-growing self-driving taxi market. The system, Apollo... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3373173/baidus-new-ai-simulator-gives-robotaxis-crash-course-rare-road-hazards https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3373173/baidus-new-ai-simulator-gives-robotaxis-crash-course-rare-road-hazards Wed, 04 Nov 2026 01:30:05 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang After spending three months in a coma following a brain haemorrhage, a patient in China has regained the ability to speak, eat and walk with support – part of an early clinical trial using targeted sound waves to help “wake up” severely damaged brains, according to state media. The technology, developed by a coalition including the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, used focused ultrasound waves to stimulate regions deep within the brain without requiring... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3372779/china-joins-global-race-reawaken-brain-injury-patients-through-ultrasound-therapy https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3372779/china-joins-global-race-reawaken-brain-injury-patients-through-ultrasound-therapy Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:00:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Moonshot AI, developer of the popular Kimi series, apologised on Monday for limiting customers’ use of its latest model in a botched roll-out that has also invited scrutiny over its promotional practices and cybersecurity measures. “We’re sorry for the rate limits and unnecessary quota consumption on the K3.1 Pro subscription plan,” Moonshot said in a post on social media. In a separate Chinese-language notice, it said it took responsibility for the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3372247/moonshot-apologises-after-kimi-k31-pro-roll-out-stumbles-promotional-scrutiny-widens https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3372247/moonshot-apologises-after-kimi-k31-pro-roll-out-stumbles-promotional-scrutiny-widens Tue, 27 Oct 2026 06:00:10 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Shares in ZTE rose more than 7 per cent in Hong Kong on Tuesday after the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker posted a nearly fivefold jump in third-quarter profit, driven by rapid expansion in its computing infrastructure and overseas operations. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached 1.31 billion yuan (US$196.3 million) for the three months ended September 30, up 395 per cent from a year earlier, according to an exchange filing released on Monday evening. Revenue climbed 34 per... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3372231/zte-7-after-ai-pivot-computing-surge-drive-fivefold-increase-third-quarter-profit https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3372231/zte-7-after-ai-pivot-computing-surge-drive-fivefold-increase-third-quarter-profit Tue, 27 Oct 2026 03:17:11 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang While few dispute that China is narrowing the gap with the United States in developing artificial intelligence (AI) models, there is one area where Chinese firms are already the undisputed leaders: video. China has seen a proliferation of advanced generative AI video models – systems trained on visual data to generate or edit video content based on user inputs such as text prompts, images and audio. The country’s vast short-video ecosystems and looser copyright rules have helped give Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/plus/tech/big-tech/article/3371915/china-shoots-ahead-ai-video-models https://www.scmp.com/plus/tech/big-tech/article/3371915/china-shoots-ahead-ai-video-models Mon, 26 Oct 2026 01:06:01 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Chinese technology giants are dangling annual pay packages approaching 1 million yuan (US$149,739) to attract artificial intelligence engineers who can turn AI models into commercial applications. Companies including ByteDance, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding are stepping up recruitment and training of the so-called forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), who work directly with customers to develop and integrate AI applications into business operations. Demand for such professionals has... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371925/chinas-tech-giants-are-paying-1-million-yuan-new-kind-ai-engineer https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371925/chinas-tech-giants-are-paying-1-million-yuan-new-kind-ai-engineer Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:00:20 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence model developers DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed export registration procedures and proceeded with open-source releases and overseas licensing activities, according to Chinese state media, days after Beijing moved to tighten oversight on AI tech transfers. Yuyuan Tantian, an influential social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, reported on Thursday evening that the two AI companies had completed the required registrations after Beijing... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3371880/deepseek-minimax-secure-open-source-licenses-days-after-new-china-export-rules-state-media https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3371880/deepseek-minimax-secure-open-source-licenses-days-after-new-china-export-rules-state-media Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:00:25 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Unitree Robotics is developing a “self-evolving” feedback loop designed to allow humanoid robots to write code, run simulations and improve their real-world performance independently, founder Wang Xingxing said, in a move that mirrors a broader push towards “self-improving” artificial intelligence. Speaking on Thursday at a physical AI conference hosted by Unitree in Hangzhou, Wang unveiled the project, dubbed “Unitree Rehearsal”, which he called the company’s most important initiative of the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371818/unitree-developing-ai-system-let-humanoid-robots-improve-themselves https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371818/unitree-developing-ai-system-let-humanoid-robots-improve-themselves Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:30:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang A knife-wielding intruder is confronted. A car is lifted to free a trapped victim. A pedestrian is pulled from the path of an oncoming vehicle. The scenes described are not from a Hollywood blockbuster, but a promotional clip for a new “guardian” robot created by the Chinese technology firm Unitree Robotics. The footage for the H2-X model, released on Wednesday, underscores a wider shift in strategy by the Hangzhou-based firm, as it focuses on finding practical, real-world uses for its athletic... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371683/chinese-firm-unveils-guardian-robot-can-disarm-attackers-lift-cars https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371683/chinese-firm-unveils-guardian-robot-can-disarm-attackers-lift-cars Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:15 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Yuki Chen, a prolific Chinese cybersecurity researcher, has joined leading Chinese artificial intelligence model company Z.ai as the country’s AI sector grapples with the technology’s growing impact on global cyberspace. Chen’s appointment comes amid growing concern over AI-assisted cyberattacks and autonomous agents acting beyond their instructions, including recent cases involving Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings as well as US start-ups OpenAI and Anthropic. “New journey, new mission!” Chen... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371530/who-yuki-chen-chinas-superstar-hacker-who-just-joined-ai-leader-zai https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371530/who-yuki-chen-chinas-superstar-hacker-who-just-joined-ai-leader-zai Tue, 20 Oct 2026 11:30:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s artificial intelligence companies have spent years persuading consumers to pay for their technology. Now, Moonshot AI, the start-up behind Kimi, is taking a different approach: offering AI computing benefits through a credit card. The company has teamed up with the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and American Express for what it calls “the world’s first AI native credit card”. After getting one for myself, the experience offered an intriguing way to bring AI services into everyday... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371226/reporters-notebook-kimis-ai-credit-card-turns-spending-computing-quotas-limits https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3371226/reporters-notebook-kimis-ai-credit-card-turns-spending-computing-quotas-limits Sat, 17 Oct 2026 08:00:11 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang New research has exposed a potential flaw in the memory-saving technology underpinning DeepSeek’s models, marking a rare challenge to a breakthrough that has helped the Chinese artificial intelligence lab close the gap with US rivals OpenAI and Anthropic with its low-cost approach. The findings were published late last month in a paper led by researchers from ByteDance and co-authors affiliated with Princeton University, Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. The study,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3370550/deepseeks-cost-saving-ai-may-lead-inaccuracy-model-performance-research https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3370550/deepseeks-cost-saving-ai-may-lead-inaccuracy-model-performance-research Mon, 12 Oct 2026 07:00:07 +0000 Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Meta Platforms’ breakout Muse personal AI agent is shining a spotlight on a new battleground in artificial intelligence – one in which China’s biggest internet companies are already jostling for position. Launched on September 8, Muse surpassed 2.5 million downloads in its first two weeks and topped free-app rankings on Apple and Google’s US app stores. Its popularity has drawn fresh attention to the emerging market for what are known as agent harnesses. Unlike chatbots, which merely respond to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3370123/can-china-match-metas-muse-race-harness-ai-agents https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3370123/can-china-match-metas-muse-race-harness-ai-agents Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:08 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Two decades after stepping away from the spotlight, iconic actress Joey Wong made an unexpected return to the screen – not through a traditional production, but via artificial intelligence-powered reconstruction. In a two-minute video by NetEase this summer, Wong, one of the most well-known actresses of the 1980s and 90s, had some of her most celebrated roles recreated, including the beautiful ghost in A Chinese Ghost Story and an alluring snake demon in Green Snake. The revival is just the tip... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3368700/quality-over-quantity-chinas-ai-microdrama-producers-battle-viewer-fatigue https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3368700/quality-over-quantity-chinas-ai-microdrama-producers-battle-viewer-fatigue Sun, 04 Oct 2026 02:00:09 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s generative artificial intelligence user base surpassed 700 million at the end of June, accounting for more than half of the population as wide AI adoption pushes the technology’s penetration rate to a record high in the country. The user base data, released Tuesday by the China Internet Network Information Centre, represents an increase of 16 per cent from the end of 2025, when China had 602 million generative AI users with a penetration rate of 42.8 per cent. Question-and-answer... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3369231/chinas-generative-ai-user-base-crosses-700-million-covering-over-half-population https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3369231/chinas-generative-ai-user-base-crosses-700-million-covering-over-half-population Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:00:11 +0000 Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has agreed to acquire World Labs, the artificial intelligence start-up founded by renowned Chinese-American computer scientist Li Fei-Fei, for US$8.2 billion in an all-stock deal, as the company steps up its rivalry with Nvidia. The acquisition, expected to close by the end of this year, would integrate World Labs’ research team and spatial-intelligence model expertise into AMD, according to an announcement on Monday. Li, a Stanford University professor... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3369141/amd-acquires-godmother-ai-li-fei-feis-start-battle-nvidia-intensifies https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3369141/amd-acquires-godmother-ai-li-fei-feis-start-battle-nvidia-intensifies Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:30:18 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Moonshot AI has begun supplying its flagship Kimi K3 model to Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the world’s largest cloud services providers, in a major test case for how open-weight AI models can generate higher revenue from third-party platforms. The model is now available on Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s tool for building generative AI applications, offering “a powerful new option for coding and knowledge work”, Amazon said in an announcement on Friday. While... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3368274/moonshots-kimi-k3-lands-amazon-key-test-chinese-open-source-ai-revenue https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3368274/moonshots-kimi-k3-lands-amazon-key-test-chinese-open-source-ai-revenue Mon, 21 Sep 2026 11:30:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s top internet watchdog has drafted new rules to regulate how social platforms and game developers should protect minors, including a ban on offering “virtual intimacy services” to those under 18 as artificial intelligence-powered companions gain traction. The rules, titled “Ensuring minors’ safe and healthy use of the internet”, would ban online platforms from providing “virtual relatives or companions”, and prohibit them from offering services that “induce minors to become addicted or... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3368252/chinese-regulator-drafts-rules-protect-teenagers-intimate-ai-companions https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3368252/chinese-regulator-drafts-rules-protect-teenagers-intimate-ai-companions Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:30:21 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Wency Chen Minxiao Chang,Wency Chen Chinese artificial intelligence company Z.ai is facing a trust crisis after developers discovered that its coding assistant tool, ZCode, was silently uploading local workspace data to external servers without explicit user consent. Even though the company, also known as Zhipu AI, apologised and patched the vulnerability, developers said the incident was likely to weaken its reputation, especially at a time when cybersecurity is becoming a central issue in the AI industry. The issue came to light... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3368159/chinese-ai-firm-zai-faces-reputation-hit-after-users-spot-unauthorised-uploads https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3368159/chinese-ai-firm-zai-faces-reputation-hit-after-users-spot-unauthorised-uploads Sun, 20 Sep 2026 13:00:09 +0000 Ann Cao,Minxiao Chang Ann Cao,Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence developer Z.ai has raised its year-end annual recurring revenue (ARR) outlook by 25 per cent to US$3 billion, as the firm indicated its fresh US$5 billion war chest had helped clear its computing capacity bottlenecks for the time being. The updated ARR projection, up from a previous estimate of about US$2.4 billion, was disclosed during an investor call on Wednesday, according to a transcript seen by the South China Morning Post. The revised guidance comes days... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367755/chinas-zai-raises-revenue-target-25-after-us5-billion-cash-injection https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367755/chinas-zai-raises-revenue-target-25-after-us5-billion-cash-injection Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:31:13 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s ruling Communist Party mouthpiece has rejected US allegations that Chinese artificial intelligence companies conducted “industrial-scale” distillation of American frontier models, warning that Beijing would respond if Washington continued to suppress China’s AI industry. In a commentary published on Wednesday, People’s Daily said the US claims were “without factual or legal basis” and accused Washington of “politicising” a normal technical and commercial practice. The strong stance came... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3367717/peoples-daily-rejects-us-claims-malicious-ai-distillation-warns-countermeasures https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3367717/peoples-daily-rejects-us-claims-malicious-ai-distillation-warns-countermeasures Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:35:08 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China is surging ahead of the US in consumer AI adoption as technology giants like Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding embed artificial intelligence directly into popular everyday apps, even as American models lead in capability, according to Morgan Stanley. A survey conducted by the bank and published in a report on Monday showed that 80 per cent of Chinese respondents used AI for personal purposes at least weekly, compared with 54 per cent in the US. China’s generative AI user base grew... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367601/china-beating-us-consumer-ai-adoption-thanks-super-apps-morgan-stanley https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367601/china-beating-us-consumer-ai-adoption-thanks-super-apps-morgan-stanley Tue, 15 Sep 2026 11:00:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang When generative artificial intelligence first swept through China’s technology sector, workers faced a clear directive from management: use AI and use it often. Consuming vast numbers of AI tokens – the basic unit of computing power needed to process text or write code – became a badge of honour, with companies often viewing a high token count as a sign that employees were productive and taking initiative. But those computing allowances are now being sharply rolled back as China’s leading... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367593/forget-ai-kpis-how-chinas-tech-giants-are-rationing-tokens-employees https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367593/forget-ai-kpis-how-chinas-tech-giants-are-rationing-tokens-employees Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:30:05 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Researchers from China’s leading universities and tech giants are setting their sights on a crucial new front in the AI race with the US: developing systems capable of building better versions of themselves without human intervention. In a joint paper published on Thursday, researchers from ByteDance, Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, among others, outlined a five-stage road map for recursive self-improvement (RSI). The study, titled “The Last AI Built by... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367486/chinese-researchers-chart-five-stage-path-toward-last-ai-built-humans https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367486/chinese-researchers-chart-five-stage-path-toward-last-ai-built-humans Mon, 14 Sep 2026 13:30:06 +0000 Howard Liu,Minxiao Chang,Ann Cao Howard Liu,Minxiao Chang,Ann Cao The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published its final decision on updates to its equipment authorisation rules, easing market anxiety over potential bans on Chinese optical transceivers. The rule, adopted in July and finalised on Friday, tightens authorisation requirements for devices containing certain hardware components made by entities on the Covered List – a US blacklist of foreign technology equipment and service providers deemed to pose an unacceptable risk to national... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367219/chinese-optical-transceiver-makers-dodge-us-ban-now-fcc-updates-rules https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367219/chinese-optical-transceiver-makers-dodge-us-ban-now-fcc-updates-rules Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:30:09 +0000 Howard Liu,Ann Cao,Minxiao Chang Howard Liu,Ann Cao,Minxiao Chang Huawei Technologies has unveiled a high-speed optical module designed to eliminate bottlenecks in artificial intelligence infrastructure, staking an early claim in the race to set standards for next-generation data centre connections. The Shenzhen-based tech giant showcased what it called the industry’s first 7.2-terabit-per-second (Tbps) near-packaged optics (NPO) product at the China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE) in Shenzhen this week. The technology replaces traditional... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367093/ai-bottleneck-breaker-chinas-huawei-touts-high-speed-optical-module https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367093/ai-bottleneck-breaker-chinas-huawei-touts-high-speed-optical-module Thu, 10 Sep 2026 13:30:08 +0000 Coco Feng,Minxiao Chang Coco Feng,Minxiao Chang Apple’s long-awaited entry into the foldable smartphone market, the iPhone Duo, has drawn immediate attention in China over its eye-watering price tag and exclusive dual-eSIM design, as the American tech giant targets entrenched domestic rivals Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi. Unveiled on Wednesday, the iPhone Duo – Apple’s thinnest and most expensive flagship model yet – captured the attention of Chinese consumers with its smooth transition between inner and outer displays. By Thursday morning,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367021/apple-enters-crowded-foldable-smartphone-market-china-can-it-beat-huawei https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3367021/apple-enters-crowded-foldable-smartphone-market-china-can-it-beat-huawei Thu, 10 Sep 2026 07:13:25 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek is embarking on what it calls an “unprecedented” hiring spree to overhaul back end systems severely strained by booming user demand and compute-heavy AI agents. Cui Tianyi, a former quantitative trading expert who joined DeepSeek in March to lead its Harness team, said in a social media post on Monday evening that the Hangzhou-based company was seeking to recruit around 150 senior back end engineers. According to Cui, the push was driven by rapid... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3366740/deepseek-embarks-unprecedented-hiring-spree-it-overhauls-backend-systems https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3366740/deepseek-embarks-unprecedented-hiring-spree-it-overhauls-backend-systems Tue, 08 Sep 2026 06:30:37 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang The global artificial intelligence boom recently crossed a landmark threshold: autonomous agents now consume more than five times as much data as human users, triggering a surge in processing costs that is giving lower-priced Chinese models a competitive edge, according to analysts. Unlike traditional chatbots that simply respond to human prompts, these agents operate independently to execute multi-step workflows, such as writing software, conducting research or managing business operations. A... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3366385/ai-economics-rise-machines-token-use-could-work-advantage-chinese-models https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3366385/ai-economics-rise-machines-token-use-could-work-advantage-chinese-models Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:10 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen When two of China’s leading AI pioneers went public in Hong Kong in January, they pitched investors on a shared promise: capturing the explosive demand for artificial intelligence at home and abroad. Their first-half earnings, however, suggest that narrative could be splintering into two different trajectories. While Beijing-based Z.ai, also known as Zhipu AI, is winning over market analysts on the back of surging revenue and top-tier model performance, its Shanghai rival MiniMax is facing... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3366253/are-zai-and-minimax-heading-down-opposite-financial-paths-months-after-hong-kong-ipos https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3366253/are-zai-and-minimax-heading-down-opposite-financial-paths-months-after-hong-kong-ipos Thu, 03 Sep 2026 10:38:59 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Ben Jiang Minxiao Chang,Ben Jiang Chinese artificial intelligence company Z.ai on Monday reported a 400 per cent increase in first-half revenue, driven by explosive growth in its open platform and application programming interface business, which helped narrow total losses despite higher research and development spending. Revenue for the six months ended June 30 rose to 953.89 million yuan (US$142 million). Full-year sales were expected to expand 514 per cent to 4.45 billion yuan, according to consensus estimates from analysts... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3365870/chinas-zai-revenue-jumps-400-total-losses-narrow-explosive-cloud-gains https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3365870/chinas-zai-revenue-jumps-400-total-losses-narrow-explosive-cloud-gains Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:43:48 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Drinks, music, vibes … what else can a bar offer to attract customers? One in China’s capital, Beijing, is betting on unlimited access to artificial intelligence models. The AGI Bar in the Zhongguancun tech hub, known as China’s Silicon Valley, was packed with laptop-using customers on a recent night. One of the first things many did after ordering a drink was to connect to the in-house Wi-fi and configure an AI agent to access the free tokens the bar provides. Manager Yang Yuan said the bar,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3365740/not-token-effort-beer-meets-artificial-intelligence-bar-chinas-capital https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3365740/not-token-effort-beer-meets-artificial-intelligence-bar-chinas-capital Sun, 30 Aug 2026 08:00:09 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence companies are carving out a distinct lead over their US rivals in video generation, leveraging vast short-video ecosystems, looser copyright rules and aggressive pricing to dominate an arena where compute alone does not dictate success, analysts say. While US tech giants such as OpenAI and Anthropic continue to lead in frontier closed-source large language models (LLMs), Chinese firms are emerging as some of the most formidable competitors in the AI video... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3365605/china-leverages-short-video-ecosystem-lower-costs-carve-out-lead-ai-video https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3365605/china-leverages-short-video-ecosystem-lower-costs-carve-out-lead-ai-video Sat, 29 Aug 2026 06:00:13 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s Zhipu AI has launched its latest open-weight model, GLM-5.3-Flash – previously code-named Ox Alpha – saying that the system ran entirely on a cluster of 100,000 domestically produced chips during a high-profile stealth trial. The announcement followed a week of heavy traffic on artificial intelligence model marketplace OpenRouter and agent platform OpenCode, where the model processed 62 trillion tokens before its formal release on Wednesday, according to Zhipu. On OpenRouter, the system... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3365433/zhipu-ai-shares-jump-viral-ox-alpha-model-revealed-glm-53-flash-chinese-chips https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3365433/zhipu-ai-shares-jump-viral-ox-alpha-model-revealed-glm-53-flash-chinese-chips Thu, 27 Aug 2026 08:30:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen The usage of open-weight AI models from China hit a record high on a popular US web development platform, driven largely by DeepSeek’s latest lightweight model, as business demand for Anthropic’s cutting-edge Fable 5 stalls due to high costs. Open-weight models accounted for 54 per cent of token volume on Vercel’s AI Gateway on Tuesday, surpassing the 46 per cent consumed by proprietary models, according to data on its website. Open models reached a record share of 62 per cent on the platform on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3365204/deepseek-leads-surge-low-cost-chinese-open-weight-models-us-platform https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3365204/deepseek-leads-surge-low-cost-chinese-open-weight-models-us-platform Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:30:07 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese AI companies are optimising software to cope with surging demand for inference, as part of that workload still relies on computing power from a limited pool of high-end chips amid restricted access to Nvidia processors. Compared with training an artificial intelligence model, which relies on high-end chips, inference – a later phase in which the trained model applies its knowledge to process responses – can be adapted to domestic hardware. However, industry insiders said complex tasks... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3364700/chinese-ai-chips-fall-short-coding-forcing-firms-stretch-scarce-nvidia-supply https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3364700/chinese-ai-chips-fall-short-coding-forcing-firms-stretch-scarce-nvidia-supply Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:30:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Wency Chen Minxiao Chang,Wency Chen Finnish telecoms equipment giant Nokia plans to cut most of its workforce in mainland China and close sites in stages by year end, marking a sweeping retreat after more than four decades as it loses ground to domestic rivals, according to sources familiar with the situation. One Shanghai-based source said teams in both Nokia’s mobile networks and network infrastructure businesses in mainland China were set to undergo lay-offs in batches, with most of the cuts expected to be completed by the end... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3364425/nokia-close-almost-all-sites-mainland-china-year-end-sources-say https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3364425/nokia-close-almost-all-sites-mainland-china-year-end-sources-say Tue, 18 Aug 2026 13:00:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek is venturing into a new battleground beyond large language models, launching a developer preview of its long-anticipated Harness – a software framework that helps developers turn AI models into autonomous agents. The release on Thursday marks a strategic pivot as DeepSeek moves to build foundational digital scaffolding for AI agents – systems capable of using AI models to operate external software, run code, and complete complex jobs on their... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3364082/launch-deepseeks-harness-marks-its-strategic-pivot-towards-autonomous-agentic-ai https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3364082/launch-deepseeks-harness-marks-its-strategic-pivot-towards-autonomous-agentic-ai Fri, 14 Aug 2026 11:03:52 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Alibaba Group Holding has made the core files of its latest flagship AI model Qwen3.8-Max free for anyone to download, as the tech giant introduces new rules requiring large companies to pay for a separate commercial licence to use it. The terms apply to users or their affiliates running a “model as a service” or “AI work assistant” business whose aggregate revenue exceeds US$50 million over any consecutive 12-month period. They are required to obtain a separate licence from Qwen before using... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3363927/alibaba-adds-commercial-restrictions-open-weight-qwen38-max-ai-model https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3363927/alibaba-adds-commercial-restrictions-open-weight-qwen38-max-ai-model Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:30:07 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Alibaba Group Holding is asking app users to open their wallets for its artificial intelligence office assistant, as the Chinese technology giant tests whether businesses and consumers are ready to pay for its digital assistant. The e-commerce giant’s Qwen app now offers three membership tiers for the assistant, with annual plans ranging from 200 yuan (US$29.60) to 1,499 yuan for its flagship version, according to the listing on Apple’s App Store. Users can also buy extra video generation... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3363656/alibaba-tests-paid-ai-appetite-us30-annual-qwenwork-subscription https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3363656/alibaba-tests-paid-ai-appetite-us30-annual-qwenwork-subscription Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:30:07 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Ann Cao Minxiao Chang,Ann Cao China’s most advanced artificial intelligence models are still being trained on Nvidia chips, sources at major Chinese large language model (LLM) developers say, as the prohibitively high cost of switching to local semiconductors continues to hamper Beijing’s push for self-sufficiency. While domestic hardware continues to advance, changing chip architecture presents a steep engineering bottleneck. “Training LLMs on Nvidia chips for now remains the norm among Chinese AI developers,” said a person... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3363491/chinas-top-ai-still-trained-nvidia-chips-what-delaying-switch-local-tech https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3363491/chinas-top-ai-still-trained-nvidia-chips-what-delaying-switch-local-tech Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:23 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Chinese artificial intelligence company MiniMax has open-sourced its new H3 video model but imposed licensing conditions on users in major overseas markets including the US and European Union, underscoring the copyright challenges in generative video AI. After the Shanghai-based company released the model’s weights to developers on Monday, users found that the licence restricted free access in the US, EU, UK and South Korea. The weights – the underlying parameters that encode its intelligence –... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3362951/chinas-minimax-curbs-overseas-access-new-ai-video-model-over-copyright-disputes https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3362951/chinas-minimax-curbs-overseas-access-new-ai-video-model-over-copyright-disputes Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang When 39-year-old Beijing investor Song shelled out 159,800 yuan (US$23,680) for a companion robot, he knew it would not be cooking meals or scrubbing floors. For him, becoming one of China’s first owners of a consumer humanoid was more about embracing the cutting edge. “The happiest part is often the waiting,” Song said of his decision to buy the female version of the U1 Pro, made by Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics. For years, humanoid robots have been confined to factory floors and structured... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3362557/first-impressions-count-chinese-buyers-open-their-homes-ubtechs-consumer-humanoids https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3362557/first-impressions-count-chinese-buyers-open-their-homes-ubtechs-consumer-humanoids Sun, 02 Aug 2026 06:00:17 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang At a video production base in Shenzhen, creators are generating so-called comic dramas using artificial intelligence, compressing months of production down to a matter of weeks. The Moli OPC AI Comic Drama Base, located in the northeastern part of the city, brings together directors, producers and distributors under one roof to capitalise on an emerging content genre: using AI to turn a short comic book or video into a microdrama. China’s AI short-drama market was projected by market... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3362333/how-bytedances-seedance-model-empowers-chinas-nascent-ai-comic-drama-industry https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3362333/how-bytedances-seedance-model-empowers-chinas-nascent-ai-comic-drama-industry Thu, 30 Jul 2026 03:31:57 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s Moonshot AI, whose recently released Kimi K3 model stunned with performance close to American frontier systems, is seeking ambassadors to elevate its global influence. The Beijing-based start-up on Tuesday launched the “Kimi Ambassador Program”, aimed at “passionate Kimi users to build up communities and the future of AI”, according to its website. The move comes as Moonshot seeks to turn the growing attention around Kimi K3 into broader adoption among developers and creators. Unlike... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3362261/chinese-ai-start-moonshot-seeks-influential-ambassadors-widen-kimis-global-reach https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3362261/chinese-ai-start-moonshot-seeks-influential-ambassadors-widen-kimis-global-reach Wed, 29 Jul 2026 09:30:19 +0000 Coco Feng,Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen Coco Feng,Minxiao Chang,Xinmei Shen China’s Moonshot AI has made its latest artificial intelligence model Kimi K3 available for public download, as its open-source strategy and more support for non-Nvidia ecosystems trigger heated debates across Silicon Valley. On Monday, the Chinese AI start-up not only released the model’s “weights” – the underlying parameters that encode its intelligence – but also made available key infrastructure, including tools to improve efficiency and stability. The move has allowed developers around the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3362143/moonshots-kimi-k3-triggers-silicon-valley-debate-over-bans-chinese-open-source-models https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3362143/moonshots-kimi-k3-triggers-silicon-valley-debate-over-bans-chinese-open-source-models Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:13 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang Shares of Chinese AI giant Z.ai soared 37 per cent in Hong Kong on Tuesday to close at HK$1,219 (US$155), after the company recently completed a giant data centre powered entirely by Chinese chips. Also known as Zhipu, the firm’s share prices rebounded after a week-long drop of more than 40 per cent. According to people familiar with the matter, it had built a giant 1-gigawatt (GW) AI computing centre – a facility that will be used to train and deploy its GLM models. The company has positioned... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3361374/zai-shares-surge-37-firm-builds-giant-data-centre-powered-chinese-chips https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3361374/zai-shares-surge-37-firm-builds-giant-data-centre-powered-chinese-chips Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:42:10 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang A groundbreaking cross-border insurance policy covering a piloted aircraft has cleared a key regulatory obstacle, allowing the Shenzhen vehicle to take to the sky in Hong Kong. Shenzhen-based aircraft developer Yivtol recently obtained a policy for an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, underwritten in its home city but issued in neighbouring Hong Kong. With a total liability of HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) covering the one-year period ending in June 2027, this marks the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3361344/landmark-insurance-policy-clears-shenzhens-flying-vehicle-hong-kong-lift https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3361344/landmark-insurance-policy-clears-shenzhens-flying-vehicle-hong-kong-lift Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:29:02 +0000