China Executive Insights
Nearly 10 advanced packaging projects totaling 400B yuan announced between May and July 2026, spanning 2.5D/3D, Chiplet, Fan-Out, and automotive chip packaging for AI and HPC.
According to South Korean media outlet Asia Times, China’s smartphone market has contracted significantly amid turbulence in the global semiconductor industry driven by rising chip and component prices. Samsung Electronics is reportedly considering adopting cost-competitive Chinese-made DRAM chips as a way to strengthen its position in China’s entry- and mid-level smartphone market. Sources said Samsung is exploring a reverse thinking strategy by incorporating low-cost Chinese mobile DRAM and other locally sourced semiconductor components into its smartphones. The move is intended to reduce manufacturing costs while boosting shipments of budget and mid-range devices in China. The strategy aims to capitalize on a market gap created as local smartphone makers scale back shipments due to higher component costs fueled by booming demand for AI data centers, which has driven up semiconductor prices. [Icsmart, in Chinese] Every Wednesday and Friday, TechNode’s Briefing newsletter delivers a roundup of the most important news in China tech, straight to your inbox. Your support helps TechNode continue to provide credible, on-the-ground journalism and industry insights about the Chinese tech industry.
FREENOW, the European mobility platform owned by Lyft, announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Baidu’s Apollo Go to begin testing robotaxis in London, UK. Uber also said Apollo Go vehicles are now operating on public roads in the British capital. Baidu said the deployment marks the first time a Chinese autonomous vehicle has conducted real-world road testing in London’s complex traffic environment, and represents Apollo Go’s latest expansion into a right-hand-drive market following its launch in Hong Kong. According to FREENOW, the test fleet will use Apollo RT6 robotaxis equipped with safety operators on board. Initial trials will take place in Brent, a London borough that includes both urban and suburban driving conditions. FREENOW and Apollo Go plan to begin offering rides to the public starting in 2027. [TechNode Reporting] Every Wednesday and Friday, TechNode’s Briefing newsletter delivers a roundup of the most important news in China tech, straight to your inbox. Your support helps TechNode continue to provide credible, on-the-ground journalism and industry insights about the Chinese tech industry.
Huaxi Aviation debuts WorthyAero R1 at 115kg empty weight, 85kg payload, with amphibious capability and 100km/h top speed, targeting personal flight, tourism, and emergency response with a build-small-verify-big strategy.
Chinese internet companies are deploying robotaxis, delivery drones, warehouse robots, embodied AI agents, and physical-world AI infrastructure across transportation, logistics, manufacturing, and services.
Ren Zhengfei writes preface for He Tingbo tau law interview: 381 chips manufactured in 6 years, LogicFolding reduces critical path length, Kirin chip targets 1.4nm density by 2031.
Chinese TGV glass substrate manufacturers scale production for AI chip packaging, with advanced glass interposer solutions offering superior signal integrity and thermal performance for HPC and AI accelerators.
Mineng Technology closes Series A for self-developed SNN neuromorphic chip targeting medical device AI inference, providing brain-inspired computing at 1/1000th the power of traditional GPUs for real-time diagnostics.
Moonshot AI 47-page K3 report reveals KDA+Gated MLA hybrid attention, AttnRes cross-layer retrieval, Stable LatentMoE with 896 experts, and 51.2M RL sandboxes.
CNNC Hualong One reaches 41 units deployed or under construction, Linglong One small modular reactor reaches 90% installation as first SMR passing IAEA safety review globally.
Honor reveals AiMAGE imaging with ARRI collaboration, 8-axis CPA stabilization, 3-axis gimbal, custom Yuguang H1 ISP at 18.8TOPS/W, and master shot video generation on Robot Phone.
China Telecom Hangzhou branch, ZTE, and Zhonghao Xinying deploy 1024-chip domestic TPU cluster with 400 PFLOPS, planned expansion to 10K PFLOPS using second-gen Xuyu TPU.