China’s technology news headlines for obvious reasons covered a huge range of applications, challenges, implementations and more.
Headline items in China in May included, for instance: the forthcoming Sugon-Hygon merger; Huawei’s Ascend AI chip developments; Xiaomi’s Xring01 mobile phone chip; AI-trained humanoid robotics and China’s labor issues; China’s AI-focused space computing satellite constellation; and many more.
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- China’s SMIC may have used older lithography gear to build Huawei’s new 5nm chip’ / full item
- Space Epoch, aka Beijing Jianyuan Technology, completed China’s first sea-based vertical landing of a reusable rocket / full item
“The Trump administration has told US companies that offer software used to design semiconductors to stop selling their services to Chinese groups…” Via the Financial Times: / full item
- China sets the pace on 5G-A with $3B rollout in 2025′ / full item
- ‘Huawei and Alibaba are outpacing established U.S. providers by aligning with government priorities and addressing data sovereignty concerns.’ / full item
- Sugon ‘supercomputer’ maker and Hygon chip designer, leading entities in the computing supply chain, have announced merger plans / full item
- MinoSpace commercial satellite manufacturer wins major contract to build remote sensing sat constellation for Sichuan Province / full item
The Rise of AI Manufacturing in China and South Korea:
‘AI-driven strategies in China and South Korea reinforce East Asia’s manufacturing dominance…’ / full item
- Huawei is pushing its Ascend AI chip-based, high-performance ‘Supernode 384’ architecture as a rival to NVIDIA system for alleviating data center processing bottlenecks / full item
- Here’s a quick overview of the impressive new Huawei Watch 5 / full item
- Xiaomi tech giant claims new Xring 01 mobile phone chip rivals Apple on some performance metrics, whilst delivering a complete phone at a lower price / full item
China’s DJI drones: “With a potential ban looming, the company has until the end of the year to convince US lawmakers it does not pose a national security threat…” / full item
- China “could take legal action against any individual or organisation assisting or implementing US measures that advise companies against using advanced semiconductors from China.” / full item
“BeiDou, China’s version of GPS, now being used over 1 trillion times per day” / full item
- Huawei tech aids milestone with Yimin coal mine in Inner Mongolia, activating a fleet of 100 autonomous, 5G-controlled electric mining trucks / full item
- Xiaomi is reportedly preparing to invest up to $6.9BN over the next 10 years to develop its own mobile processors, following on from recent roll-out of Xring O1 chip / full item
- China’s JinkoSolar is to supply panels to construct a 100MW solar power plant in Azerbaijan / full item
- Tencent bets on its 1.4 billion-user WeChat empire to take pole position in China’s artificial intelligence race, aiming to leverage the super-app’s many features / full item
- Can AI-Trained Humanoid Robots Solve China’s Labor Crisis — And Lead The Future Of Work?’ / full item
“Operating 17 hours a day, the site’s goal is to generate reams of data that… Chinese humanoid startup AgiBot, uses to train robots it hopes will become ubiquitous…” / full item
- A brief video intro to the Tien Kung robot which took part in the recent Half Marathon in Beijing / full item
- Xiaomi smartphone giant is to launch its self-developed XringO1 mobile chip in late May, moving further into advanced chip production / full item
- China is to launch new modules for the Tiangong space station, believed to be in preparation for expanding science activities, and international partnerships / full item
“China has launched its first commercial 10-Gigabit broadband network in Sunan County, Hebei Province, in collaboration with Huawei and China Unicom…” / full item
- Zhipu AI looks to the Belt and Road Initiative to expand its global footprint in bid to better compete with firms like OpenAI / full item
- China launched the first 12 of 2800 satellites intended for on-orbit ‘AI space computing’ constellation / full item
- Huawei unveils its first laptop running the entirely self-developed HarmonyOS, with all Windows licencing having expired in March / full item
“Meet China’s newest and most powerful Chinese domestic solution, the CloudMatrix 384 built using the Ascend 910C… in some metrics is more advanced than NVIDIA’s rack scale solution” / full item
- NVIDIA plans to release a downgraded version of its H20 AI chip for the China market in the next two months, following US export restrictions on the original model / full item
- In February, Huawei submitted a trademark application for ‘MATEROBOT’, with products set to include telepresence robots, chatbot software, smartphones and more / full item
- An overview of EV giant Nio’s 284-acre Factory 2 and the manufacturing automation and robotics that enable the firm to produce high volumes at low cost / full item
- US senator introduces bill calling for location-tracking on AI chips to limit China access’ / full item
- What next for Southeast Asia’s China-backed solar boom?’ / full item
Stanford: Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2025
- China’s dying EV batteries, solar cells are powering a circular economy in new-energy era’ / full item
- Brussels-based renewable lobby group SolarPower Europe has expelled Chinese electronics giant Huawei from its members amid an ongoing EU bribery investigation…’ / full item
- Indonesia emerges as new hub for Chinese solar firms amid Trump’s tariffs on Southeast Asia’ / full item
- China’s Momenta autonomous driving startup partners Uber for robotaxi services for international markets outside of the US and China / full item
“Chinese researchers have cracked a barrier to the home-grown production of advanced chips by building an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source platform…” / full item
- Ant Group is reportedly planning to list its overseas unit in Hong Kong / full item
- Huawei CloudMatrix 384: Built using the Ascend 910C, competing directly with NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 and, on some metrics, more advanced than NVIDIA’s rack-scale solution / full item
- China Academy of Launch Vehicle Tech moves ahead with development of prototype 5-meter and 10.6-meter-diameter stainless steel propellant tanks for super heavy-lift rockets / full item
- China’s ByteDance, parent firm of TikTok, is reportedly looking at a major data center investment in Brazil, with talks underway with renewable energy firm, Casa dos Ventos / full item
- Thailand: China’s Tencent eyes the Thai market for palm biometric payments, in competition with Alipay / full item
“Samsung struggles with 3-nanometer process as China’s SMIC gains ground in 5-nanometers” / full item
- Thailand: China’s Huawei now serves over 80,000 Thai households via its FusionSolar energy solutions, providing up to 70% of their electricity supply / full item
- Malaysia: Sovereign AI Cloud project between Skyvast Corp’n and Huawei is to feature Huawei Ascend Graphic Processing Units in the first deployment outside the China market / full item
- Indonesia: “From China’s BYD to Vietnam’s VinFast, foreign EV investors in Indonesia are reportedly facing disruption from shadowy local enforcers” / full item
Thailand: “A new investor group is expected to take over debt-ridden Neta Auto, looking to revive the Chinese battery electric vehicle maker in China and Thailand…” / full item
- Vietnam: China’s BYD EV giant looks to expand operations at its $366M plant in Vietnam’s north to meet growing market demands for new products / full item
- Vietnam: China’s Shein is reportedly to establish a Vietnam warehouse of near 15 hectares in size in a bid to hedge against US tariffs / full item
- Hong Kong: InvestHK Global Fast Track 2025 is now open for applications / full item
- Japan’s EMURGO blockchain-Web3 company partners Huawei Cloud to extend support for a Cardano Validator Node, enabling developers to build Cardano solutions / full item
- Can Huawei Take On NVIDIA’s CUDA, the Compute Unified Device Architecture? / full item
- Thailand: Here’s a brief overview of the recent Huawei Cloud 2025 Asia Pacific Partner Conference held in Thailand which focused on AI opportunities across a range of industries / full item
China’s AI Infrastructure Surge: Data Centers, AI Models, Military, Global
- Macau: BEYOND Expo 2025 is set for May 21 to 24, presenting innovation, investment, and global collaboration opportunities focusing on consumer tech, climate tech, and healthcare / full item
- India: Government is considering limiting Chinese companies to a maximum of 10% equity investment in electronics JVs, contingent on tech transfer to drive local knowledge / full item
- Japan: TikTok is reportedly to enter Japan’s online shopping market in the next few months, with the company preparing to recruit sellers for its TikTok Shop arm / full item
- Cambodia: China’s BYD EV giant has broken ground on construction of $32 million EV assembly plant in Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, with targeted capacity of 10,000 vehicles / full item
Industrial Metaverse Research Study – Siemens (pdf link)
Asia’s tech news, WEekly
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