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For years, Chinese AI founders comforted themselves with a simple fiction: that geography could outrun politics. Move the holding company to Singapore, hire a few local staff, raise money from Silicon Valley, and the gravitational pull of Beijing’s regulatory state would somehow weaken. Manus was the poster child of that belief — until it wasn’t. …
Continue reading “Meta, Manus and the New Fault Line in the US–China Tech Rivalry”
MiniMax’s M2.5 model has emerged as the unexpected frontrunner in China’s latest wave of artificial intelligence releases, earning a clear endorsement from analysts. While much of the recent global conversation has fixated on DeepSeek’s rapid evolution, China has quietly produced five new frontier‑level models in recent weeks. Widening choice Among them—Alibaba’s Qwen 3.5, ByteDance’s Seedance …
The question of whether China can overtake the United States in artificial intelligence has shifted from speculative debate to a central geopolitical storyline. What once looked like a distant rivalry is now a tightly contested race, shaped by compute constraints, divergent industrial strategies, and the growing importance of AI deployment rather than pure research supremacy. …
China’s humanoid robotics sector has undergone a startling transformation over the past year, shifting from online punchline to global headline. At the 2026 Spring Festival Gala — the world’s most‑watched television broadcast — a troupe of Chinese-built humanoids delivered a polished sequence of kung fu routines. These were synchronised with dancing skills and acrobatic flips. …
Continue reading “China’s Humanoid Robots: From Viral Stumbles to Synchronised Spectacle”
For much of the modern AI era, the United States has held a clear advantage in frontier research, compute infrastructure, and commercial deployment. Silicon Valley’s combination of elite talent, abundant capital, and world‑class semiconductor design created an environment where breakthroughs could scale at extraordinary speed. Challenge That dominance, however, is no longer uncontested. China’s accelerating …
Continue reading “China’s AI Tech Surge Puts Pressure on America’s AI Dominance”
China’s Hong Kong‑listed tech stocks have slipped decisively into a bear market, with the Hang Seng Tech Index now more than 20% below its October 2025 peak. The downturn is being driven by a potent mix of tax concerns and global anxiety over the disruptive pace of artificial intelligence. China’s Hong Kong‑listed technology sector has …
Continue reading “China’s Tech Rout: The AI Effect Moves to Centre Stage”
China’s newly released growth figures paint a picture of an economy that is meeting official targets while wrestling with deep structural challenges. According to data published today by the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s GDP expanded by 5% in 2025, matching Beijing’s goal of ‘around 5%’. Yet the headline number masks a more uneven reality …
China’s AI industry has indeed cultivated a reputation for ‘doing more with less’, while the U.S. has poured vast sums into AI development, raising concerns about overinvestment and inflated valuations. The contrast lies not only in the scale of funding but also in the efficiency and strategic focus of each country’s approach. The U.S. Approach: …
Elon Musk’s $1 trillion Tesla payday is tightly bound to the rise of humanoid robots—and China’s role in their production may determine whether his vision succeeds. Elon Musk’s record-breaking compensation package, worth up to $1 trillion, hinges on Tesla’s transformation from an electric vehicle pioneer into a robotics powerhouse. At the centre of this ambition …
Tesla has hit a troubling milestone in China, with October 2025 marking its lowest monthly sales in three years. The American electric vehicle giant sold just 26,006 units, a staggering 35.8% (approx’) drop compared to the same month last year. This slump follows a brief surge in September 2025, when Tesla launched the Model Y …
Continue reading “Tesla’s China Sales Plunge to Three-Year Low Amid Fierce Competition”
China’s industrial sector roared back to life in September, posting a 21.6% year-on-year increase in profits— reportedly the sharpest monthly gain in approximately two years. The rebound offers a glimmer of optimism for the world’s second-largest economy, which has been grappling with sluggish domestic demand and a challenging global trade environment. According to data released …
China’s latest tightening of rare earth exports has reignited global concerns over supply chain fragility and strategic resource dependence. With Beijing now requiring special permits for the export of key rare earth elements—used in everything from electric vehicles to missile guidance systems—the move is widely seen as a geopolitical lever in an increasingly fractured global …
Continue reading “China’s rare Earth clampdown continues to send shockwaves through global markets”
Huawei has unveiled a bold new AI chip cluster strategy aimed squarely at challenging Nvidia’s dominance in high-performance computing. At its Connect 2025 conference in Shanghai, Huawei introduced the Atlas 950 and Atlas 960 SuperPoDs—massive AI infrastructure systems built around its in-house Ascend chips. These clusters represent China’s most ambitious attempt yet to bypass Western …
Continue reading “What is the deal with the new Huawei AI power chip cluster touted by China?”
China’s economic recovery continues to show signs of strain, with the latest figures for August 2025 revealing a slowdown across retail sales, industrial output, and fixed-asset investment. This raises fresh concerns about the sustainability of growth amid persistent domestic and global headwinds China is facing. Retail sales rose by 3.4% year-on-year, falling short of analysts’ …
Continue reading “China experiences a slowdown as retail and industrial output miss targets”
China’s exports to the United States fell sharply in August 2025, marking a six-month low and underscoring the growing strain in global trade dynamics. According to recent data, shipments from China to the U.S. dropped by 33% year-on-year, reflecting both weakening demand and the ongoing effects of geopolitical tensions. This decline is part of a …
Continue reading “China-U.S. trade slump deepens as exports plunge 33%”
China’s electric vehicle (EV) powerhouse is rewriting the global automotive playbook—but not without homegrown company damage. BYD, now the world’s largest EV manufacturer by volume, has been caught in the crossfire of a domestic price war. Damaging price war The price war is damaging margins. It is unnerving investors and revealing the perils of hyper-competition …
In a bold move reshaping the global AI landscape, Chinese startup Z.ai has launched GLM-4.5, an open-source model touted as cheaper, smaller, and more efficient than rivals like DeepSeek. The announcement, made at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, has sent ripples across the tech sector. What sets GLM-4.5 apart is its lean architecture. …
Continue reading “China’s new AI model GLM-4.5 threatens DeepSeek – will it also threaten OpenAI?”
China has reportedly voiced concerns about the security implications of Nvidia’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips, deepening the tech cold war between Beijing and Washington. The caution follows increasing scrutiny of semiconductors used in defence, infrastructure, and digital surveillance systems—sectors where AI accelerators play an outsized role. While no official ban has been announced, sources suggest …
Continue reading “China reportedly concerned about security of Nvidia AI chips”
China’s recent export restrictions on rare earth elements are sending shockwaves through multiple industries worldwide. As the curbs continue to take effect, sectors reliant on these critical minerals—including automotive, defence, and clean energy—are beginning to feel the strain. China controls about 60–70% of global rare earth production and nearly 90% of the refining capacity. Even …
Continue reading “China’s restriction of rare earth materials hurts”
China’s economic landscape is facing mounting challenges as exports to the United States plummet and consumer prices decline, sparking fears of deflation. The latest trade data reveals that Chinese exports to the U.S. fell by 34.5% in May 2025, marking the sharpest drop in over five years. This decline comes despite a temporary trade truce …
China’s manufacturing activity took an unexpected hit in May 2025, marking its steepest decline since September 2022. The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI fell to 48.3, signalling contraction for the first time in eight months. This downturn comes as U.S. tariffs begin to weigh heavily on Chinese exports, dampening global demand and disrupting supply chains. The …
Continue reading “China’s manufacturing sector experiences decline amid Tariff chaos”
Despite the heavy tariffs imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump, China’s industrial sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience. In April 2025, industrial profits rose by 3%, marking the second consecutive month of growth. This increase was largely driven by Beijing’s strategic policy measures, which cushioned the impact of the tariffs and supported private enterprises. In …
Continue reading “China’s industrial profit accelerates in April 2025 – despite Trump’s tariffs”
China’s economy showed signs of slowing in April 2025, with both retail sales and industrial output missing expectations. Retail sales grew 5.1% year-on-year, falling short of analysts’ forecasts of 5.5% growth. The slowdown reflects weak consumer sentiment, driven by deflationary pressures and uncertainty in the housing market. While categories like gold and jewellery (+25.3%) and …
The U.S. stock market surged as investors cheered a breakthrough in trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing. The rollback of tariffs, announced as part of a new trade agreement, sent the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite soaring. The deal, which slashes ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on both sides, is seen as a major …
Continue reading “Trump tariff roll-back – a win for China? U.S. markets rejoice the ‘deal’”
In a surprising breakthrough, the United States and China have agreed to suspend most tariffs on each other’s goods for 90 days, marking a significant step toward easing trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Following high-stakes negotiations in Geneva, representatives from both nations announced that reciprocal tariffs would be slashed from 125% to …
Continue reading “U.S. and China agree 90-day ‘reciprocal’ tariff pause and reduction deal”
Despite the weight of U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, China’s export sector has shown remarkable resilience, posting an 8.1% increase in April 2025 compared to the previous year. This surge comes as a surprise, surpassing economists’ expectations of a modest 1.9% rise. While China’s outbound shipments to the U.S. plunged by over 21%, …
Continue reading “China’s Exports Defy Tariff Pressures, Surge 8.1% in April”