Huawei’s secretive chip lab featured on prime-time TV ahead of Trump’s trip to China
Business

Huawei’s secretive chip lab featured on prime-time TV ahead of Trump’s trip to China

Tech giant’s advances in AI and semiconductors reflect Beijing’s push for tech breakthroughs and self-sufficiency amid US sanctions Huawei Technologies’ little-known chip research lab has been thrust into the national spotlight as Beijing flexes its technology muscles ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China later this week. The Chip Fundamental Technology Research Laboratory was featured for the first time on national television on Friday, when Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei hosted Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang at the firm’s Lianqiu Lake campus in Shanghai, according to footage aired on China Central Television’s prime-time news programme Xinwen Lianbo. While the segment did not disclose details of the technologies under development, Huawei’s chip progress is being closely watched for signs of China’s ability to overcome Western export restrictions. Semiconductors remain at the heart of the Sino-US tech war as Trump heads to China for a state visit on May 13, his first trip to the country in his second term. Huawei has emerged as the face of Beijing’s drive for self-sufficiency, representing China’s strongest pushback against tightening US export controls.

May 11, 2026
Latin America is reassessing the benefits of warm ties with Beijing
Business

Latin America is reassessing the benefits of warm ties with Beijing

From Honduras to Cuba and Venezuela, leaders are taking a more transactional view of what relations with Beijing really bring Beijing’s position in Latin America is far from collapsing, looking at the number of countries in the region that have switched diplomatic ties to it from Taipei. But in parts of the continent, governments are increasingly reassessing what their relationships with Beijing are delivering economically and politically. The shift is becoming visible in countries such as Honduras, Venezuela and Cuba, where economic strain, energy instability and geopolitical pressure are exposing the limits of partnerships that only a few years ago appeared strategically transformative. For Beijing, Latin America remains an important arena for diplomacy, trade and long-term geopolitical influence. Chinese investment, infrastructure financing and commodity demand has helped expand its presence across the region during the past two decades. But recent developments suggest that diplomatic gains alone may no longer guarantee durable political or economic influence. But expectations surrounding the relationship have increasingly come under pressure.

May 11, 2026
MiniMax Affiliated Company Increases Registered Capital 300% to 4B RMB
Technology

MiniMax Affiliated Company Increases Registered Capital 300% to 4B RMB

Shanghai Xiyu Jizhi, the entity behind AI startup MiniMax, has increased its registered capital from 1B to 4B RMB, a 300% surge signaling major AI infrastructure scaling.

May 11, 2026
LaST-R1: New Physical Reasoning Paradigm Achieves 99.9% Success Rate on LIBERO Benchmark
Technology

LaST-R1: New Physical Reasoning Paradigm Achieves 99.9% Success Rate on LIBERO Benchmark

A joint research from Simplexity Robotics, Peking University, and CUHK proposes LaST-R1, a new embodied AI paradigm that achieves 99.9% success on LIBERO benchmark — 22.5% higher than π0.5 in real-world tasks.

May 11, 2026
Chinese smart cars set to control 20% of western European market by 2028: JPMorgan
Business

Chinese smart cars set to control 20% of western European market by 2028: JPMorgan

Amid surging demand for electrification and a worldwide energy crisis, domestic carmakers can benefit from the stepped-up ‘go-global’ drive The pace of electrification on western Europe’s roads is likely to fire up sales of Chinese-developed smart cars, where they could command a 20 per cent share of the regional market in 2028 at the expense of local peers, according to a JPMorgan forecast. “Electrification is accelerating across Europe, creating the precise environment where Chinese OEMs’ (original equipment manufacturers’) product breadth becomes advantageous,” he said. “Investors should anticipate a continued ‘zero-sum game’ dynamic, with Chinese OEMs potentially winning share from tier-two foreign peers in Europe, Asia and Latin America.” In 2025, Chinese cars, comprising exports from China and locally built vehicles, represented 10 per cent of total new car sales in western Europe. JPMorgan previously predicted that Chinese cars could account for 15 per cent of new vehicle deliveries in western Europe by 2030.

May 11, 2026
Hong Kong firm eyes untapped market with launch of tailor-made electric minibus
Business

Hong Kong firm eyes untapped market with launch of tailor-made electric minibus

Of city’s more than 4,000 minibuses, only about 10 currently electric, according to industry leader A Hong Kong electric commercial vehicle solutions company has teamed up with a mainland Chinese manufacturer to launch an electric minibus tailored for the city’s roads, with the government set to stop registering new fossil-fuel commercial vehicles in 2035. Home-grown Wai Lik New Energy unveiled five new electric models on Monday, with founder Ng Chi-wai saying the vehicles were engineered specifically for the city’s narrow streets and steep gradients. The company, which partnered with Fujian-based Wisdom Motor, expects to deliver the new electric minibus in the third quarter of this year. Of the city’s more than 4,000 minibuses, only about 10 are currently electric, according to Chau Kwok-Keung, one of the chairmen of the Hong Kong Taxi and Public Light Bus Association. Wai Lik New Energy aims to capture more than half of the local market in three years. “With the government’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and a full halt on new registrations of petrol and hybrid vehicles by 2035, the introduction of zero-emission public minibuses has become inevitable,” Ng said.

May 11, 2026
Vbot Raises ~500M RMB in Pre-A, Debuts Consumer Robot Dog
Technology

Vbot Raises ~500M RMB in Pre-A, Debuts Consumer Robot Dog

Vbot (维他动力) completes ~500M RMB Pre-A round — largest single investment in China's consumer humanoid robotics track to date. First 500 units of the Vbot Super Robot Dog already delivered.

May 11, 2026
Lumos Robotics Closes ~1B RMB Across A1 and A2 Rounds, Mitsubishi Electric Leads
Technology

Lumos Robotics Closes ~1B RMB Across A1 and A2 Rounds, Mitsubishi Electric Leads

Lumos Robotics, a Tsinghua-founded embodied AI company, raises ~1B RMB total across A1 and A2 rounds led by Mitsubishi Electric, targeting industrial and logistics deployment.

May 11, 2026
LDROBOT Robotics Jumps 103% on HK IPO Debut, Market Cap Hits $2.4B
Technology

LDROBOT Robotics Jumps 103% on HK IPO Debut, Market Cap Hits $2.4B

LDROBOT Robotics surges 103% on its Hong Kong IPO debut, becoming China's second listed robot company after UBTECH. The DTOF LiDAR maker counts Ecovacs and Dreame as clients.

May 11, 2026
Cross-strait ties are ‘not state-to-state’, KMT vice-chair tells senior Beijing official
Business

Cross-strait ties are ‘not state-to-state’, KMT vice-chair tells senior Beijing official

Wang Huning, Beijing’s top official on Taiwan affairs, meets Chang Rong-kung of the island’s main opposition party Wang said the summit showed people on both sides of the strait shared a belief that territory must not be divided and the nation must not be dispersed, according to the Taiwan-based United Daily News. He added that people on both sides wanted to safeguard, inherit and promote Chinese culture and build a common homeland for the Chinese nation. In response, Chang said that from a cultural point of view, “people on both sides are Chinese and belong to one family”. He added that under the existing legal framework, there was only one China and there were no state-to-state relations. “As long as we leverage this reality and reactivate the cross-strait consultation mechanisms, there will be a political foundation [for peaceful development],” he said. Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. But Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

May 11, 2026
Here’s how China plans to sanction-proof its C919 passenger jet
Industry

Here’s how China plans to sanction-proof its C919 passenger jet

Aviation expert Zhang Yanzhong, who played a leading role in developing the C919, warns of a real risk of being cut off from supply chains A leading Chinese aviation engineer has set out a detailed blueprint for building a fully self-sufficient supply chain for large passenger jets. The paper, written by Zhang Yanzhong, a senior academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the former chief scientist of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, acknowledged there was a very real risk that the country could be cut off entirely from components made in the West. Known as the “father of China’s large aircraft” for his decades of work on the Y-20, a military transport plane, and the C919 passenger jet, Zhang is one of the most authoritative voices in China’s aviation establishment. Besides the engine, the auxiliary power unit is supplied by America’s Honeywell and the shell around the engine by Nexcelle. The plane also uses avionics designed and tested by GE and its joint ventures; communication and navigation subsystems from Collins Aerospace and an air data system from Honeywell, according to Zhang.

May 11, 2026
China readies for Trump visit amid rebound in trade growth
Industry

China readies for Trump visit amid rebound in trade growth

Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet for trade talks in Seoul on Wednesday, probably to iron out final details before a presidential summit in Beijing the following day. The discussions would focus on “economic and trade issues of mutual concern”, China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday. The country also confirmed that US President Donald Trump will make a state visit from Wednesday to Friday, the first by a US president in almost nine years. Trump...

May 11, 2026