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June 2025: China

Tech news headlines

  • China’s population (2023): 1.4 billion
  • China’s online population: 1.1 billion / 77.3%
  • China’s median age: 40.2 years
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  • AI chip firm, Biren Technology, has raised $207M in fresh funding and is preparing for a Hong Kong IPO / full item
  • “China’s installations of wind and solar in May are enough to generate as much electricity as Poland…” / full item

“…ASML has launched a project designed to discover and foster key engineering talent in China, in the latest show of its commitment to the market despite intensified US restrictions…” / full item

  • “Legislation introduced Wednesday in Congress would block Chinese artificial intelligence systems from federal agencies…” / full item
  • QuantumCTek Co claims to have activated a 1000-qubit quantum system, taking it within sight of IBM quantum tech standards / full item
  • “China could take steps against the European Union after the 27-member bloc barred Chinese firms from most public tenders for medical devices…” / full item

Huawei’s new laptop “is powered by a chip manufactured using years-old technology, suggesting US sanctions are still preventing China from developing cutting-edge semiconductor technologies” / full item

  • US Department of Commerce is reportedly considering revoking authorizations to chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC, limiting availability of US goods and tech at their China facilities / full item
  • “But this rigidly moderated online environment is about to face even stricter controls with the introduction of a state-issued national internet ID.” / full item
  • “Battery makers in America have started to feel the pinch from China’s ban of exports of the critical mineral antimony, to the point of seeing the shortage as a national emergency.” / full item
  • “Chinese automakers… are reportedly preparing to launch vehicles equipped entirely with domestically produced chips, with at least 2 brands targeting mass production as early as 2026” / full item

“The head of China’s central bank pledged to expand the international use of the digital yuan and called for the development of a multi-polar global currency system…” / full item

  • MiniMax AI firm launches M1 model, claiming higher benchmark test scores than DeepSeek’s latest R1-0528 model / full item
  • US chip giant NVIDIA is to attend the China International Supply Chain Expo for the first time in July / full item
  • Patent reveals Huawei’s AI-accelerator quad-chiplet rival for NVIDIA’s Rubin AI GPUs could use packaging tech on a par with TSMC / full item
  • Robotics: “By 2050, about 90% of humanoids… will likely be used for repetitive, simple, and structured work—primarily industrial and commercial purposes. China is likely to have the highest number…” / full item
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University-affiliated institute is now producing photonic chips, marking a milestone in China’s semiconductor and quantum computing capabilities / full item

“While China’s cable sector, as elsewhere, is being hollowed out by smart TVs and the streaming revolution, it carries the additional burden of being small and fragmented.” / full item

  • China has launched a second seismo-electromagnetic satellite for detecting precursors to natural disasters such as earthquakes, in collaborative launch with Italy and Austria / full item
  • “…the G7 comes in two variants: the Max edition with dual NVIDIA Orin-X chips, and the Ultra edition, which debuts XPeng’s self-designed Turing AI chip across three units…” / full item

“China’s GAC has started taking pre-orders for its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi, the GOVY AirCab, at a price tag of RMB 1.68 million ($234,000).” / full item

  • China Telecom Quantum Group has launched a commercial-grade distributed cryptography system integrating quantum key distribution with post-quantum cryptography’ / full item
  • China’s leading science institution unveils AI-driven chip design system with potential to significantly accelerate semiconductor development, and replace human programmers / full item
  • China claims world-first with large-scale application of non-binary AI chips, delivered using proprietary ‘hybrid computing’ tech / full item

China’s EV price war: “…Geely managed to outsell BYD in China with its own cheap take on BYD’s Seagull. The response? BYD cut the price of the already sub-$10,000 Seagull to under $8,000…” / full item

  • Rednote social media platform releases open-source AI LLM in both domestic and international competitive move / full item
  • On board the driverless lorries hoping to transform China’s transport industry’ / full item
  • “Temu’s US daily active users dropped 52% in May versus March, while Shein’s were down 25%, according to Sensor Tower data shared with CNBC.” / full item
  • “Backed by a coordinated national strategy, generous funding, and a rapidly expanding talent base, Beijing isn’t just chasing fusion energy—it’s positioning itself to dominate the field.” / full item
  • “Unlike previous AI agents, Manus uses a browser-based sandbox that lets users supervise the agent like an intern…” / full item

“Humanoid robotics are intended to inject productivity gains across various sectors, especially healthcare, education, logistics and elderly care…” / full item

  • “The 2030 action plan, released by the State Administration for Market Regulation, focuses on breakthroughs in chip technology and quantum-scale measurement…” / full item
  • CEO of China’s CATL predicts a major shift to electric trucks in China by 2028 / full item
  • “The Trump administration plans to broaden restrictions on China’s tech sector with new regulations to capture subsidiaries of companies under US curbs.” / full item
  • Astronstone, launched in 2024, has raised over $13M with stainless steel, reusable launch vehicle modeled on SpaceX Starship and ‘chopsticks’ recovery system / full item
  • South Korea: China’s Tencent is reportedly considering a $15 billion stake in Korean game giant, Nexon / full item
  • South Korea: China’s Alibaba Cloud is to activate a 2nd data center in South Korea in response to demand for AI services, with associated opportunity to push the company’s own AI models / full item
  • South Korea’s LG Energy Solution secures agreement to supply 46-series cylindrical batteries to China’s Chery Automobile, the first time a Korean company will power Chinese EVs / full item

Taiwan: “…the new rule means that Taiwanese companies can no longer freely export advanced chips, technologies, or manufacturing services to Huawei and SMIC. Instead…” / full item

  • Japan: EVONET payments infra provider launches cross-border mobile wallet interoperability with partners, enabling WeChat Pay transactions via QR code across Japan / full item
  • Samsung’s grasp on foundry market’s No. 2 spot grows precarious as SMIC plays catchup’ / full item
  • Visa enters talks with Grab, and China’s Ant International and Tencent, focusing on growth of AI-driven commerce / full item
  • Malaysia’s CIMB Bank and China’s UnionPay International ink MoU to lift payment services in Malaysia, focusing on retail, transportation, medical care, and ecommerce spaces / full item
  • “Hong Kong police allege a mobile game… advocates armed revolution and promotes secessionist agendas, saying those who publish it or share it… risk violating national security laws.” / full item
  • India: “…asked state-run miner IREL to suspend a 13-year-old agreement on rare earth exports to Japan and to safeguard supplies for domestic needs… to reduce India’s dependence on China” / full item
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