China: March 2025

China’s technology news headlines,
gathered across March 2025

Also available:

‣ Asia’s Tech News, Weekly Newsletters
&
‣ Indo-Pacific 5×5: Daily geopolitics updates

• China is reportedly to issue guidance to boost use of open-source RISC-V chips nationwide for the first time, further lifting efforts to curb dependence on foreign technology / full item

• China and Pakistan ink astronaut training agreement that could see the first international astronaut on China’s Tiangong space station / full item

• China: Hanzhou’s Zhipu AI raised over $137M in new funding, just months after landing a 3 billion yuan investment / full item

• China: EHang autonomous aerial vehicles firm partners JAC Motors and Guoxian Holdings to build an eVTOL manufacturing base in Hefei in Anhui prefecture / full item

• China: World’s largest power-class floating wind turbine preps for testing, claiming one turn of the blades as capable of supplying electricity for a family for 2-4 days / full item

China’s EVs-to-humanoid-robots pivot: “Technical know-how and existing supply chains give Chinese electric-vehicle makers a significant head start in the sector…” / full item

• China: Taiwan’s Foxconn commences $137 million New Business Development Group HQ construction in Henan province, looking to focus on EVs, energy storage and emerging industries / full item

• China: Honor smartphone maker is to allocate $10BN over 5 years to developing AI for its devices, moving to develop a system of AI-powered PCs, tablets and wearable tech / full item

• China: Companies ramp up orders for NVIDIA H20 AI chip, made specifically to satisfy US tech curbs, in response to the success of DeepSeek’s alternative model / full item

• China: Cities including Guangzhou, Inner Mongolia’s Hohhot, Ganzhou, and Wuxi have taken steps to enhance administrative efficiency with ‘AI employees’ / full item

“…home appliance manufacturers such as Haier, Hisense and TCL Electronics have joined… Huawei and Tencent in saying they will be using DeepSeek’s models.” / full item

• China: Researchers have developed a prototype for a nuclear battery encased in silicon carbide semiconductor material, with a theoretical operational lifespan of thousands of years / full item

• China: Schools in Beijing will introduce AI courses and teaching into the primary and secondary school curriculum from September, looking to build future growth in the AI sector / full item

• China National Space Administration opens 2028 Tianwen-3 Mars mission to international cooperation and participation / full item

• China: Alibaba launches its first server-grade RISC-V processor, the C930, designed for high-performance computing and positioning as an alternative to Intel Xeon and AMD CPUs / full item

• China: 18 new satellites entered orbit, adding to the Thousand Sails megaconstellation in development, with this the first launch from a new launch facility / full item

• China: Government-backed ‘national venture capital guidance fund’ is to be established, mobilizing $138BN to boost technology firms in strategically-significant fields / full item

• China plans to prohibit non-state companies from mining rare earths, further tightening its control over a strategic sector that has emerged as a battleground in its trade war with the US / full item

• Dutch semiconductor machinery giant, ASML, is to upgrade a reuse-and-repair centre in Beijing, despite growing US-China tech tensions / full item

• China: State-backed Naura moves up in semiconductor equipment vendor rankings, taking 6th place by revenue in the world in 2024, up from 8th just one year earlier / full item

• ICYMI: ‘Global tech industry braces for ‘China shock’ in mature chips’ / full item

• China: Domestic extreme ultraviolet – EUV – lithography system, now testing at Huawei’s Dongguan facility, may be a global game-changer in semiconductor production, and supply chains / full item

• China: Alibaba’s wholesale marketplace expects all sellers on the platform to adopt its artificial intelligence tools by the end of 2025 / full item

• Bank of China has established a $6.9BN fund to back technology startups, alongside Industrial & Commercial Bank of China launch of an $11BN technology and innovation fund / full item

• China: iSpace commercial launch firm, aka Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology, secured new funding as it prepares for first launch of Hyperbola-3 reusable rocket / full item

• China: Huawei has reportedly used shell companies to acquire over 2 million AI chip dies manufactured by TSMC, stockpiling enough high-bandwidth memory for more than a year of production / full item

• China: Xiaomi Corp launched a $5.3 billion share sale to fund EV expansion, offering 750 million shares at a discount after a stock price surge / full item

• Chinese artificial intelligence start-ups are overhauling their business models as they fight to remain competitive following the widespread adoption of rival DeepSeek’s technology…” / full item

• Former Google China head, Kai-Fu Lee, is pivoting his AI firm, 01AI, to use DeepSeek, with plans now to customize Deepseek models for corporate clients in finance, gaming and legal sectors / full item

• China launches new Tianlian data relay satellite to support human spaceflight’ / full item

• China: Beijing Ziwei Yutong Technology Co Ltd, aka AZSpace, looks to conduct orbital manned flight tests in 2027 or 2028 / full item

AI in China: “Tencent last year more than tripled its capital expenditure to $10.7 billion, or 12% of its top line… plans to spend a similar ‘low teens’ percentage of revenue this year…” / full item

• Video: China’s Shenzhou-19 astronauts complete their 3rd spacewalk / full item

• Germany’s BMW partners Huawei to develop in-car smart ecosystem for models made in China / full item

• China: BYD unveils new platform for EVs, claiming time-to-charge half that of Tesla, with plans to build a charging network across China / full item

• China: Ministry of Finance 2025 central budget to allocate $55BN for science and tech, a 10% increase from 2024 constituting the 3rd-largest item behind defense and debt interest payments / full item

• China: Huawei-owned HiSilicon gains Level 2 national certification for security reliability for Kirin X90, its never-before-seen System-on-Chip processor, deepening moves from foreign tech reliance / full item

• China: State-backed Naura moves up in semiconductor equipment vendor rankings, taking 6th place by revenue in the world in 2024, up from 8th just one year earlier / full item

• ‘Global tech industry braces for ‘China shock’ in mature chips’ / full item

• China: Domestic extreme ultraviolet – EUV – lithography system, now testing at Huawei’s Dongguan facility, may be a global game-changer in semiconductor production, and supply chains / full item

• Singapore has charged 3 with fraud, believed to be concerning movement of advanced NVIDIA chips from Singapore to China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence firm / full item

• Thailand Tourism Authority partners China’s Baidu search giant to lift its image among Chinese tourists following safety concerns around a recent abduction in the country / full item

• India: Micromax consumer electronics major launches ‘Startup Energy’, partnering China’s Jinchen to manufacture high-efficiency solar panels in India / full item

• Malaysian electric vehicles are gaining ground in their home market as local carmakers Proton Holdings and Perodua challenge top-seller BYD and Tesla with more affordable models. / full item

• Nat’l Bank of Cambodia and China’s UnionPay Int’l launch phase 2 cross-border payments, now enabling Cambodians to make payments via QR codes in China and other countries / full item

• China’s Baidu-backed StarFive Technology chip design house gains backing from government-owned HK Investment Corp, as the city steps into the RISC-V space / full item

• Samsung-Baidu collaboration on 2nm chips may now be on hold, with Donald Trump’s tightening semiconductor policies likely a contributing factor / full item

• China’s Baidu-backed StarFive Technology chip design house gains backing from government-owned HK Investment Corp, as the city steps into the RISC-V space / full item

• Malaysia: GDS Holdings, a Chinese data centre operator, is seeking $3.4BN-equivalent loan for data centre operations in Malaysia / full item

Asia Tech Newsletters, Weekly: March 2025

• To March 29th on LinkedIn and via Substack
• To March 22nd on LinkedIn and via Substack
• To March 15th on LinkedIn and via Substack
• To March 8th on LinkedIn and via Substack
• To March 1st on LinkedIn and via Substack

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