China Executive Insights
Former Adobe Research scientists—including a former Principal Scientist who developed image deblurring used by the FBI—have co-founded an AI animation startup with Tencent T15. Their first product targets professional animation studios, having raised tens of millions of dollars from investors including Qiji Chuangtan.
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. Tencent Music Entertainment Group reported unaudited first-quarter 2026 revenue of RMB7.90 billion ($1.15 billion), up 7.3% year-over-year. Non-IFRS net profit attributable to equity holders rose 7.0% to RMB2.27 billion ($330 million). Music-related services revenue increased 12.2% to RMB6.51 billion ($944 million). Within that, membership services revenue rose 6.6% to RMB4.57 billion, while non-membership music services revenue jumped 28.0% to RMB1.94 billion, helped by offline performances and advertising. The company said growth in the quarter was supported by stronger music IP monetization, including digital albums, concerts, merchandise, and offline events. Tencent Music also highlighted continued expansion of SVIP and fan membership products, deeper traffic conversion through Weixin Video Account, and broader use of AI in recommendations, music creation, and legacy catalog promotion. [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. On Monday, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) announced that its share issuance and asset acquisition plan had been reviewed and approved by the M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) Review Committee of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The committee determined that the transaction meets regulatory requirements for restructuring and information disclosure. In a filing disclosed in late 2025, SMIC outlined its plan to issue shares to five shareholders of SMIC North, including the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund (Big Fund), to acquire their 49.00% equity stake in the subsidiary. The transaction is valued at RMB 40.601 billion ($5.9 billion), marking the largest merger and acquisition deal in China’s wafer foundry industry to date. SMIC North, a key controlled subsidiary of SMIC, provides 12-inch wafer fabrication services across multiple process technology platforms, along with related supporting services.
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. Chinese tech company Kuaishou Technology is considering spinning off its AI video-generation unit Kling AI for a separate initial public offering next year, according to market sources, as investor enthusiasm surrounding AI continues to fuel demand for AI-related stocks. The company has reportedly begun discussions with potential investors over a pre-IPO fundraising round for Kling AI, which is said to be valued at around $20 billion. Kuaishou has not yet commented on the matter. Launched in 2024, Kling is Kuaishou’s flagship AI model for video generation and quickly gained attention in China’s fast-growing generative AI sector. The model takes a technical approach similar to OpenAI’s Sora, while adding in-house developments, and is generally considered to perform at a comparable level. [TechWeb, in Chinese]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Oppo today issued a fresh apology over a controversial Mother’s Day marketing campaign, saying it deeply regrets the incident and acknowledging failures in both its content approval process and its initial response. In a statement, the company said the ad content and its dismissive handling afterward reflected a serious lack of values and respect. It will overhaul its internal review and approval mechanisms and reinforce alignment with mainstream values. Oppo also confirmed disciplinary measures against multiple executives. The head of its China operations, Duan Yaohui, has been demoted by two levels and will have his salary frozen for 36 months. Several other staff members, including a direct supervisor, a PR director, and project managers, have also been demoted and held accountable.
Huawei's premium foldable Pura X Max sells out with collector's edition (55%) outselling standard model (45%), a rare countertrend in China's contracting smartphone market where the more expensive variant outperformed despite overall industry weakness.
DeepSeek seeks up to $7.35B in first-round financing with Tencent, Alibaba, and state funds in a bidding war, while founder Liang Wenfeng insists on keeping DeepSeek independent—a key test case for China's AI startup ecosystem.