Q1 2025: China

China’s technology news in Q1 2025
March 2025 ● February 2025 ● January 2025

China’s population (2023): 1.4 billion
China’s online population: 1.1 billion / 77.3%
China’s median age: 40.2 years

ASEAN Post-2025: Reimagining the ASEAN economic community

China’s Tech news: March 2025

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
Hanzhou’s Zhipu AI raised over $137M in new funding, just months after landing a 3 billion yuan investment / full item
EHang autonomous aerial vehicles firm partners JAC Motors and Guoxian Holdings to build an eVTOL manufacturing base in Hefei in Anhui prefecture / full item
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

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
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
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
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

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

China’s AI Infrastructure Surge: Data Centers, AI Models, Military, Global

ChinA Tech news: February 2025

Recent policy shift allows companies to record data as assets on balance sheets, a world-first, paving the way for data to be market-traded and capable of boosting valuations / full item
DeepSeek introduces discounted off-peak pricing for developers, increasing pressure on domestic and international competitors / full item
China-Laos Artificial Intelligence Innovation Cooperation Centre establishment agreement has been signed, building on China-ASEAN plan / full item
China’s DeepSeek is to open-source five code repositories used in its AI models / full item
Alibaba plans $53 billion investment in AI infrastructure such as data centers over 3 years, apparently shifting primary focus from its e-commerce base / full item

“…since the January launch of the latest model from [Deepseek} three major ports in China have already implemented or are planning to adopt the tool for greater efficiency…” / full item

Huawei takes the wheel at China’s state auto firms’ “Now, not only has SAIC teamed up with Huawei, but it has chosen the partnership model that maximizes Huawei’s role.” / full item
Beijing tech park established 8 new space-focused ‘laboratories’ in the city, alongside a new satellite internet industrial park, targeting a regular schedule of 100 launches / full item
China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp’n, CASC confirmed launch and orbit entry of ChinaSat-10R – Zhongxing-10R – communications satellite / full item
China exported 235.93 GW of PV panels in 2024, a 13% increase over the previous year. Of this, 68.11 GW of modules were shipped to the Asia-Pacific region, up 26% from 2023. / full item
EngineAI takes robotics world-first with the first humanoid robot to perform a front flip, seen as a more complicated movement than a backflip / full item
Dream Fly, and partners, in January completed test flight of China’s first tonne-level hybrid tiltrotor electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen / full item
Cryptography standards body launches ‘Next-generation Commercial Cryptographic Algorithms Program’, with Chinese Cryptography Standardization Technical Committee oversight / full item
SiliconFlow AI infrastructure firm secures $13.8M pre-A with cloud-based multi-LLM platform, lowering costs and barriers to use / full item
Geely EVs giant and tech partner, StepFun, prep to launch 2 open-source AI LLMs for global use / full item

‘”The results were alarming: DeepSeek R1 exhibited a 100% attack success rate, meaning it failed to block a single harmful prompt,” Cisco says.’ / full item

Baidu tech giant is preparing to open-source its Ernie AI model from June 30th, a pivotal move in the AI industry’s response to DeepSeek / full item
China Meteorological Administration reportedly discussed ‘promoting the in-depth integration and application of DeepSeek’ to deliver better weather prediction services / full item
…local governments in China are rushing to adopt DeepSeek’s… AI models to enhance administration and governance, reflecting the rising adoption of AI…. / full item
Russia’s Sberbank reportedly plans collaboration with Chinese researchers and BRICS members on joint AI projects, looking to leverage affordable AI knowledge / full item

“Spacesail will provide satellite communications and broadband Internet services to these countries. This partnership is poised to create challenges for Elon Musk-owned Starlink…” / full item

Tencent’s Weixin app and Baidu search giant launch DeepSeek search function testing / full item
China’s Spacesail ‘megaconstellation’ operator inks MoU with Malaysia’s Measat to expand its presence in wider SE Asia with satellite broadband, direct-to-device comms, and IoT solutions / full item
First launch of the new Long March 8A rocket delivered satellite internet payloads for the Guowang – aka SatNet – 23,000-sat mega-constellation / full item
Yukang, outside Zhengzhou, is reportedly feeling the impacts of supply chain shifts, with Foxconn manufacture-assembly hub now hiring far fewer local workers / full item
Huawei rolls out surprising way to boost sales of latest smart watches in response to low consumer spending – registering them as devices claimable under medical insurance plans / full item
TikTok is to provide US Android users with access to downloadable kit packages, allowing users to instal the app, in a move to bypass US restrictions / full item
DeepSeek tech is to be integrated into Great Wall Motor automaker’s connected vehicle systems, and into China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom offerings / full item
To reduce the impact of the changes, Temu has increased its focus on promoting items stored in U.S. warehouses, allowing it to bypass the tariffs that would have affected direct shipments from China. / full item
US Postal Service overturns all-stop on processing China-Hong Kong parcels, and is now once again accepting parcels of low-value, duty-free packages / full item
Since early 2024, reports have emerged of idle computing centers in China. And in September, renting NVIDIA AI chips in the cloud was cheaper in China than in the US. / full item
Preparations are underway to launch 2 space station resupply cargo craft in Q3 2025, via the runway-capable, reusable, methane-liquid oxygen Zhuque-3 rocket / full item
National table tennis team is to disband athletes’ official fan clubs on social media in bid to curb ‘toxic fandom’, spotlighting an issue also affecting entertainment / full item
8 nations including South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia have so far restricted access to DeepSeek AI services to some degree, citing concerns over data privacy / full item
US Postal Service has temporarily halted acceptance of international packages from Hong Kong and China, following suspension of de minimis trade provisions / full item

What DeepSeek r1 Means ‘ and What It Doesn’t’, a deep-dive: “Public policy can diminish Chinese computing power; it cannot weaken the minds of China’s finest researchers.” / full item

Discovery of copper reserves of over 20M tons in Tibet is set to significantly boost China’s mineral industry with implications for global markets, technology, and geopolitics / full item

“Paradoxically, some of DeepSeek’s impressive gains were likely driven by the limited resources available to the Chinese engineers…” / full item

ICYMI: Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has ordered a ban on the use of China-based services from DeepSeek, RedNote and Lemon8 on government devices / full item
China’s national space endeavors have frequently grabbed headlines, but a transformation at the local level is playing another role in China’s broader space strategy. / full item
DeepSeek is under investigation in Italy and Ireland over questions surrounding data privacy, and relating to EU data protection laws / full item

DeepSeek: “…repeated false claims 30% of the time and gave vague or not useful answers 53% of the time in response to news-related prompts, resulting in an 83% fail rate…” / full item

Alibaba has released a new version of its Qwen 2.5 AI model that it claims surpasses DeepSeek-V3, with timing illustrating the competitive pressure companies face / full item

India: “…the government received 526 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) applications from Chinese investors, of which 124 were approved, 201 were rejected, and 200 remain pending.” / full item

Malaysia: China’s Chery auto-maker is to build a RM2.2 billion ‘smart auto industrial park’ in Hulu Selangor, with initial capacity of 100K vehicles a year, scaling to 300K vehicles / full item
Asia Tech Weekly: Rice alt-proteins, SG space conference, Australia space-solar, Taiwan-Malaysia chips, Deepseek use & issues, Malaysia & AI, Vietnam & Starlink, Japan quantum… / full item
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology launches Low Altitude Economy Research Center, submitting a proposal for a sandbox scheme to explore options / full item
India: Government orders a block on 119 apps on Google Play Store, citing concerns in line with the Information Technology Act, with the majority from China and Hong Kong developers / full item
China Nat’l Space Administration and Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission ink MoU for Pakistan’s first moon rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-8 mission in 2028 / full item
Cambodia: China’s BYD EV giant is to establish an assembly plant in Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone by year-end, initially assembling electric, and hybrid electric-gasoline units / full item
TPG, owner of Vodafone and iiNet, bans workers from using DeepSeek, going as far as to recommend staff not use the application at home / full item
Australia: DeepSeek is to be banned from all federal government devices over concerns around national security / full item
Thailand: TikTok is to invest $3.8BN in a Thailand-based data hosting project / full item
The global floating solar energy market is set to be dominated by the Asia-Pacific region, led by India, China, and Indonesia through to 2033 / full item
China’s UnionPay and Malaysia’s Bank Simpanan Nasional partner to implement UnionPay QR payments in Malaysia in H1 2025 / full item
China’s UnionPay and Malaysia’s Bank Simpanan Nasional partner to launch UnionPay QR payment system in Malaysia / full item
UnionPay, Indonesia Payment System Association, Ant Group International, and Bank of China Hong Kong Jakarta Branch partner for cross-border QR code interconnectivity / full item
Hong Kong: Tencent-backed WeBank enters Hong Kong Web3 space with launch of WeBank Technology Services subsidiary / full item
Taiwan: Ministry of Digital Affairs announces that public sector workers will be banned from using China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence services, citing concerns over data leaks / full item
Vietnam: Huawei and Green Power ink MoU for equipment for 100 MWp solar energy project, looking to deploy rooftop solar on a number of Vietnam’s islands / full item
Supply chains in a fractured world: “Powered especially by investments in the electric vehicles and electronics manufacturing industries, regional economies like Vietnam could win big.” / full item

Collision Course: The future of China’s carmarkers in Russia

China Technology news: January 2025

Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, EAST, achieves milestone by maintaining plasma operation for 1066 seconds, a key moment in nuclear fusion research / full item

“China built out record amount of wind and solar power in 2024 – The nation put up 357 gigawatts of solar and wind, a 45% and 18% increase…” / full item

China has tested a 6-legged robot dog in -40°C Antarctic conditions, reportedly capable of carrying up to 100kg / full item
Nayuta Space gains funding to develop reusable stainless steel rockets using methane-liquid oxygen engines, looking to achieve reusability of both 1st and 2nd rocket stages / full item
An overview of the global reach of Alipay+ in the seamless payments space / full item
Deepwise med-tech firm raised near $69M with AI and internet-based solutions in personal health management, screenings, identification of diseases and more / full item
DeepSeek – What the Headlines Miss: “Real export restrictions on AI chips only started in October 2023, making claims about their ineffectiveness premature…” / full item
ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has earmarked over $20BN in capital expenditure for 2025 with half focused on data centres and networking equipment for AI / full item
Fourth batch of 18 sats for the planned 14000-satellite ‘Thousand Sails mega-constellation launched via Long March 6A rocket, successfully achieving orbit / full item
China unveils a Mach-4 commercial drone prototype, capable of 4 times the speed of sound, targeting supersonic passenger jet services by 2030 / full item
The U.S. Commerce Dep’t and FBI are both investigating a little-known telecoms hardware firm founded by senior Huawei veterans in China over possible security risks… / full item
China unveils ‘Crimson Skyblade’ in nuclear fusion quest for unlimited clean energy’ / full item
Researchers move to assess viability of laser-delivered, wireless power transmission from lunar orbiters to supply spacecraft during long night on the moon’s surface / full item
More than 2 dozen Chinese entities were added to US restricted trade list in the Biden administration’s final days, including Zhipu AI, a significant developer of large language models / full item
State Administration for Market Regulation to tighten oversight of online platforms and livestream e-commerce ‘to ensure a more balanced and healthier market environment’ / full item
Alibaba’s cloud computing unit launched a AI-based coder, reportedly capable of building an application ‘in minutes’ / full item
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology calls for nationwide trials of private 5G networks’ / full item
Zhejiang University and Mirror Me startup unveil quadriped robot, Black Panther 2, capable of a 100-meter dash in under 10 seconds under controlled conditions / full item
Video: China’s EHang eVTOL firm successfully completes unmanned flight in Shanghai / full item
…China appears well-positioned to lead in battery recycling. Yet the very factors that drove its rapid ascent in EV manufacturing… are also introducing unique hurdles… / full item

‘The Dep’t of Commerce has issued a final rule that will prohibit the sale and import of connected vehicle hardware and software systems as well as completed connected vehicles from the PRC and Russia’ / full item

US Commerce Dep’t is to impose new export controls on biotech equipment and related tech, raising national security concerns around AI and data science / full item
China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp’n completes satellite launch for Pakistan, the first of a planned 3-sat group / full item
Chinese officials are reportedly evaluating a potential option for Elon Musk to acquire the US operations of TikTok if the short-video app company fails to fend off proposed ban / full item
Jielong-3 solid rocket launched from a mobile sea platform, placing 10 Centispace sats into orbit to boost signals from systems including Beidou and GPS / full item
Shanghai and Beijing set sights on global brain computer interface industry, rolling out ambitious action plans / full item
Telecom Egypt, the country’s main telecom services operator, inks commercial agreement with China Mobile Int’l to expand digital services / full item
Türkiye telco, Turkcell, and China’s Huawei completed a world-first 2.4Tbps field trial over 160 kilometers on a live transmission network / full item
Ministry of Industry & Info Tech calls for nationwide 10G optical trials this year as part of national ‘new information infrastructure’ strategy / full item
Research institute floats possibility of high-end RISC-V processors for data centers in 2025, taking RISC-V to a new level of chip competition / full item
Big Fund 3, a $47BN state-backed fund, launched phase 3 with investments into 2 other funds focused on the country’s semiconductor and advanced-tech industries / full item
China is effectively transforming the traditional product-centric automotive industry business into a services-centric Internet of Mobility business model. / full item
According to one assessment, Chinese car manufacturers planned to release some 90 new models in the fourth quarter of 2024 and about 90% of them were EVs. / full item
Shijian-25 satellite launches to test on-orbit refuelling, and tech to extend satellite lifespans / full item
Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co reports satellite-to-ground laser transmission milestone of 100Gbps, for high-resolution imagery, a speed equivalent to 10 full movies in 1 second / full item
…wrong to conclude that export controls aren’t working just because DeepSeek has developed a model that’s as good or nearly as good as OpenAI’s. That conclusion would be mistaken for 2 reasons… / full item
China completes world-first satellite-based remote surgeries, with operations conducted via Apstar-6D broadband satellite 36,000km above the planet / full item
Here’s a brief look at China’s short video economy, and its likely responses to a possible drop in users and creators / full item
China’s surging electric vehicle output has ignited demand for automotive chips, but domestic firms remain reliant on foreign suppliers for more than 90 per cent of their needs… / full item
Government expands smartphone trade-in subsidy program, boosting domestic firms like Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo, with knock-on downturn likely for Apple device sales / full item
BYD surpassed its 2024 sales target of 4M EVs with just over 4.27M, up 41.3% vs 2023. The Chinese EV and battery giant is likely to overtake Honda and Ford in 2024 global sales… / full item
An overview of new-generation Long March rockets, commercially-developed launch vehicles, and others, that are expected to see their first flights in 2025 / full item
China’s AgiBot releases large-scale AgiBot World Alpha dataset for humanoid robotics developers, providing foundational models, standardized benchmarks and more / full item
‘An anticipated sales decline after a government subsidy expires at the end of [2024] is expected to exacerbate the financial squeeze that is throttling smaller EV makers, analysts said.’ / full item
Nio EV maker breaks 30K monthly milestone, claiming 31,138 vehicles delivered in December, up 72.87% from December 2023 / full item
Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology, aka Genesat, raised $137M to further develop manufacturing for the 14000-sat G60 Starlink mega-constellation, aka Qianfan and Thousand Sails / full item
Tesla Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory project passes inspection, just 7 months from start of construction, targeting 10K commercial storage batteries annually / full item
Alibaba Cloud cuts AI model pricing by up to 85% in response to ongoing price wars in the domestic AI services market / full item
‘Legacy’ chips used in everyday goods are set to face additional US tariffs in a bid to protect market-driven producers from heavily state-subsidised competition / full item
Indonesia Battery Corp looks to Japanese and South Korean partnerships, alongside raw material suppliers in Australia and South America, in response to US China-related tariff concerns / full item
Hong Kong: Legislative Council discusses new stablecoin bill amid ongoing moves to establish the city as a global cryptocurrency hub / full item
Malaysia’s Hong Leong Bank and China’s WeBank Tech Services, subsidiary of China’s largest digital bank, ink agreement for fintech and AI collaboration and services growth / full item
Indonesia: China’s BYD EV giant targets completion of $1BN plant in Indonesia by year-end, looking at annual production of 150,000 EV units / full item
Several Chinese-owned solar panel makers have shut down or scaled back their operations in Malaysia, industry sources say as US tariffs, and scrutiny, rise / full item
Online now: Q4’24 Venture Pulse Report, Asia findings, from KPMG: Hong Kong’s IPO market ranked among the top 5 global IPO venues during 2024… / full item
Yamaha Motor and BMW have backed Phoenix Tailings, a US-based rare earths processing firm boasting minimal emissions, adding to diversification of supply chains / full item
Thailand: OPPO and RealMe smartphone manufacturers found to have included pre-installed loan apps on devices without Bank of Thailand approval / full item
Taiwan: Government Service Network hit by an average of 2.4M cyber-attacks every day in 2024, double the 2023 total, according to a report by the National Security Bureau / full item
A brief overview of how the recent Honda-Nissan deal may be a key move in responding to the explosive growth of China’s BYD / full item
With significant investments and strategic policies, India appears poised to carve its niche in the global semiconductor landscape. But how realistic is the dream… / full item