eChina.news

Innovation

What a visit to China’s AI labs reveals about the battle for global soft power

The ultimate prize in AI is not just owning the technology, but having the power to dictate rules, frame ethics and command global influence Inside the exhibition hall of a Shanghai-based artificial intelligence research institute, an ink-wash map covered an entire wall, immediately drawing your attention. It was a cartography of AI: chipmakers were rendered as mountains on islands and algorithms as jagged mountain ranges, while questions of privacy, fairness and machine consciousness drifted at the edges like uncharted islands. “Why is Huawei’s chip placed right at the estuary?” someone asked. A staffer reminded us, more than once, that it was art – not an official statement of facts.

August 1, 2026

Innovation

Unitree to launch IPO next week as US-China robotics rivalry intensifies

The Hangzhou-based firm will launch its listing in Shanghai next week, as a string of Chinese robotics firms pursue plans to go public Unitree Robotics will launch its initial public offering in Shanghai next week, the firm announced late on Thursday, as China’s robotics start-ups race to go public amid an intense rivalry with their counterparts in the United States. The Hangzhou-based company plans to sell 40.45 million shares, or 10 per cent of its enlarged share capital. After the listing, Unitree founder Wang Xingxing and related parties will hold 31.29 per cent of the company’s shares and 65.31 per cent of its voting rights. Unitree will begin book-building on August 5 and set an offer price the following day, with the final results set to be published on August 14. One of China’s most high-profile robotics firms, Unitree had its listing application accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange in March. China’s securities regulator cleared the registration on July 2. The company’s accounts show a profitable business in a sector that mostly burns cash. Unitree booked revenue of 1.7 billion yuan (US$251 million) last year and adjusted profits of 591 million yuan.

July 30, 2026

Innovation

As AI spending soars, can China’s tech giants deliver long-term profits?

Chinese tech giants and frontier AI labs are locked in a parallel race, escalating capital expenditure to match US and domestic rivals As US tech giants face growing market scrutiny over their swelling artificial intelligence budgets, China’s top technology firms are confronting a similar reckoning: proving that billions of dollars spent on AI infrastructure will yield sustainable profits. Here is a run down on how Chinese tech giants are navigating the AI monetisation challenge. Meta’s slip followed Alphabet’s quarterly earnings last week, where the Google parent logged its first-ever negative quarterly free cash flow as massive AI outlays outpaced revenue generation, fuelling fears of an AI bubble. Yes. Chinese tech powerhouses and frontier AI labs are locked in a parallel race, escalating capital expenditure to match domestic rivals and US competitors. However, the battlefield is rapidly shifting from model capabilities to capital efficiency and return on investment.

July 30, 2026

Innovation

China’s AI road map

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July 30, 2026

Innovation

How ByteDance’s Seedance model empowers China’s nascent AI drama industry

China’s studios are using ByteDance’s model to cut production times from months to weeks and drive down video creation costs 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. China’s AI short-drama market was projected by market intelligence firm DataEye to hit 40 billion yuan (US$5.9 billion) in value this year after generating more than 22 billion yuan in profit in just five months. The number of viewers of short-drama videos also surged past 600 million in the first half of the year. Zhou Xiangxiang, the founder of the Shenzhen-based community, said its content had reached global audiences from Southeast Asia to Latin America. AI helps to reduce not only production time but also production costs. According to Zhou, the computing cost of producing an 80-minute comic drama could be reduced to as low as 25,000 yuan (US$3,694.2). Traditional animation production for a similar-length project could cost at least 160,000 yuan, according to a February report by Guosen Securities.

July 30, 2026

Innovation

In an era defined by AI, can work still be measured by the clock?

Hwaseong, South Korea, past midnight. An engineer watches a defect pattern surface on her screen – the kind that, caught now, saves a week of wafers. She is locked in, fully absorbed, the way engineers get when a breakthrough is close. But she has to go home. The law says so. Yet something is disrupting the clock she races against. Artificial intelligence is quietly rewriting what her hours are worth. On June 29, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stood alongside the leaders of Samsung...

July 29, 2026

Innovation

Why US-led alliance might struggle to rein in Beijing’s growing 6G influence

24-country alliance aims to coordinate next-generation telecoms strategies, but analysts say China’s tech prowess provides clearer road map The alliance, involving 24 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, aims to coordinate their governments’ 6G strategies, share technical resources and lay the groundwork for the commercial deployment of the technology, which is expected to begin replacing 5G in the 2030s. The initiative aimed to “secure leadership in the next generation of global communications”, the US Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration said this week. Unlike previous generations of mobile networks that focused primarily on faster connectivity, 6G is expected to integrate artificial intelligence, sensing and computing capabilities, enabling applications ranging from autonomous systems to humanoid robots. “The US is seeking to build an alternative ecosystem across four fronts – technology, standards, industry and geopolitics – that reduces China’s role,” said Shan Guangcun, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences whose research focuses on AI, robotics and smart sensors.

July 29, 2026

Innovation

Google makes Gemini Spark AI agent available to Hongkongers as it lowers geofences

Roll-out of agent that connects with Google’s Workspace tools echoes industry-wide push into agentic AI Google on Wednesday launched its artificial intelligence agent Gemini Spark in the Hong Kong market, giving local users direct access to a smart assistant to manage complex digital workflows. The launch came months after the American tech giant’s decision in March to lift regional geofences for generative AI services, starting with the Gemini chatbot. Hong Kong users can now access Gemini without using a virtual private network or third-party platform. The roll-out of the Spark agent echoes an industry-wide push into agentic AI: the ability to perform tasks on behalf of human users. Powered by the Gemini 3.6 Flash model, Spark can handle tasks including summarising email threads and logging customer feedback in charts. It was initially launched in the United States in May. To carve out market share against open-source alternatives, Google is leaning heavily on its native advantage: zero set-up integration across its own ecosystem. Unlike open-source models that require local script configurations, Spark connects natively with Google’s Workspace tools, including Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Calendar.

July 29, 2026

Innovation

Advanced technologies now account for 1 in 6 valid invention patents in China

Hi-tech manufacturing and digital industries such as AI have emerged as key drivers of economic growth Advanced technologies now account for around one in every six valid invention patents in China, according to official data. “The accelerated accumulation of patents in cutting-edge sectors is empowering and enhancing the creation of new drivers of economic growth,” administration spokesman Rui Wenbiao said at a press conference in Beijing. China’s stock of “high-value invention patents” – which included patents in the advanced technology and new energy sectors, award-winning patents, and patent families with overseas extensions – now stood at 2.36 million, or 16.8 per 10,000 people, he said. Hi-tech manufacturing and digital industries such as AI have emerged as key drivers of economic growth in China, even as the wider economy struggles with a prolonged property downturn and weak domestic demand.

July 29, 2026

Innovation

Lenovo Capital takes aim at robotics, coding agents in ‘sniper’ AI investment strategy

The venture capital arm of Lenovo Group is doubling down on artificial intelligence for the next industrial cycle, expanding its focus beyond foundational models into robotics, computing infrastructure and AI agents, according to a senior executive. Lenovo Capital has made long-term bets on more than 100 AI companies across the value chain, ranging from chips and hardware infrastructure to models and applications, Song Chunyu, chief investment officer and senior partner at the unit, told the...

July 29, 2026

Innovation

China has 6 of world’s 10 most innovative humanoid robot start-ups: report

The LexisNexis study identified a ‘clear shift towards China’ in the humanoid robot race, with the US falling behind Firms from China dominated the ranking released by legal research platform LexisNexis on Tuesday, claiming a clean sweep of the top five. The top five places went to Shanghai-based Fourier and AgiBot, Shenzhen-based LimX Dynamics and Pudu Robotics, and Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics. Shenzhen’s Leju Robot also made the top 10, ranking ninth. By contrast, only three US start-ups made the cut: Figure AI, Apptronik and Agility Robotics, which took sixth, eighth and 10th positions, respectively. Germany’s Agile Robots was the sole European entrant, ranking seventh. LexisNexis said it evaluated the “strength” of patent assets held by private start-ups that had demonstrated at least one bipedal walking robot. Its proprietary metric, the Patent Asset Index, measured patent portfolio size, technological value and geographic scope. The study highlighted a “clear shift towards China” in terms of innovation across three key humanoid technologies.

July 29, 2026

Innovation

China chip dreams still face long road even after breakthrough

China has begun mass-producing some chipmaking machines, according to a report, marking a step forward in national efforts to become technologically self-sufficient. A state-backed company in Shanghai is making deep ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography machines, The Information reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The unidentified Shanghai-based company plans to hand over five machines this year and about 20 next year, according to the report. Shares of ASML, the world’s biggest...

July 28, 2026