South China Morning Pos / Tech

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1. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang brings ‘sovereign AI’ push to Kazakhstan, shrugs off bubble fears

   Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is pitching the concept of “sovereign AI” in Kazakhstan – part of his global crusade urging nations to build domestic computing infrastructure using the firm’s chips – as the energy-rich nation emerges as a US-China battleground for artificial intelligence. Speaking at a fireside chat in Astana on Friday with Kazakh AI and digital development minister Zhaslan Madiyev, Huang said AI was reshaping every industry in a transformation that “affects every single person and...

2. Cambricon’s third quarter profit surges 148% to US$210m amid push to replace Nvidia chips

   Chinese artificial intelligence chip giant Cambricon Technologies reported a 147.7 per cent surge in third-quarter profit on Friday, as the country’s aggressive push to replace Nvidia chips continues to fuel high growth among local chipmakers. The Shanghai-listed chipmaker generated 1.4 billion yuan (US$210 million) in net profit for the three months ended September 30, up from 566.6 million yuan during the same period last year. Revenue reached 3.5 billion yuan, an increase of 104.5 per cent...

3. China’s humanoid robots hunt for work in South Korea as Seoul bets on physical AI

   This article was first published by The Korea Times in a partnership with the South China Morning Post. Chinese humanoid robot makers are accelerating efforts to gain a foothold in South Korea, moving beyond dance performances and showroom displays to factory trials and commercial deployments, as Seoul ramps up investment in physical artificial intelligence. A growing number of Chinese robotics companies – including Hong Kong-listed UBTech Robotics, start-up Anyverse Dynamics, Shanghai-based...

4. DeepSeek, MiniMax secure open-source licences days after new China export rules: state media

   Chinese artificial intelligence model developers DeepSeek and MiniMax have completed export registration procedures and proceeded with open-source releases and overseas licensing activities, according to Chinese state media, days after Beijing moved to tighten oversight on AI tech transfers. Yuyuan Tantian, an influential social media account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, reported on Thursday evening that the two AI companies had completed the required registrations after Beijing...

5. Chinese stocks bounce back from bear market on suspected state support

   Chinese stocks rebounded on Friday after a sell-off drove the benchmark index into a bear market, as surging trading volumes in the nation’s biggest exchange-traded funds (ETFs) pointed to possible state buying and major companies at the centre of the artificial intelligence trade sought to soothe investors. The CSI 300 Index rose 1.7 per cent to 4,105.33 at the close, reversing an earlier decline of as much as 2 per cent. Turnover in several key ETFs tracking the gauge surged, suggesting that...

6. Asia-Pacific AI agent market to surge 14-fold to US$11.2 billion by 2030, Omdia says

   The artificial intelligence agent software market across Asia, Australia and New Zealand is set to expand more than 14-fold by 2030, according to research firm Omdia, as Chinese tech companies increasingly deploy automated tools across office and industrial operations. During its annual event in Beijing on Thursday, Omdia forecast that regional market revenue, which included mainland China and Hong Kong, would reach US$11.2 billion in 2030, up from an estimated US$782 million this year. Over the...

7. Unitree developing AI system to let humanoid robots improve themselves

   Unitree Robotics is developing a “self-evolving” feedback loop designed to allow humanoid robots to write code, run simulations and improve their real-world performance independently, founder Wang Xingxing said, in a move that mirrors a broader push towards “self-improving” artificial intelligence. Speaking on Thursday at a physical AI conference hosted by Unitree in Hangzhou, Wang unveiled the project, dubbed “Unitree Rehearsal”, which he called the company’s most important initiative of the...

8. ‘Jensen’s nightmare’: Huawei, DeepSeek narrow AI chip ecosystem gap with Nvidia: report

   Deepening “symbiosis” with artificial intelligence model start-up DeepSeek is helping Chinese tech champion Huawei Technologies catch up with Nvidia’s chip hardware and software ecosystem in a scenario that could mean Jensen Huang’s “nightmare is starting to come true”, according to a new report. DeepSeek’s latest software releases, on top of its increased experimentation with Huawei’s powerful Ascend 950PR chips, reveal that the technological gap with the US is closing, as the two firms...

9. China moves to set global standards for brain-computer interface technology

   China has taken a major step in spearheading the standardisation of brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies, as it now chairs the secretariat of a subcommittee jointly overseen by two key international organisations and lists the technology applications as a national development priority. The China-led subcommittee, known as ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 43, was set to formulate global standards regarding the communication and interaction between brains and computers that are applicable across...

10. China’s Unitree unveils ‘guardian’ robot that can disarm attackers, lift cars

    A knife-wielding intruder is confronted. A car is lifted to free a trapped victim. A pedestrian is pulled from the path of an oncoming vehicle. The scenes described are not from a Hollywood blockbuster, but a promotional clip for a new “guardian” robot created by the Chinese technology firm Unitree Robotics. The footage for the H2-X model, released on Wednesday, underscores a wider shift in strategy by the Hangzhou-based firm, as it focuses on finding practical, real-world uses for its athletic...

11. Websites pulled offline worldwide as AI finds critical security flaws

    Government agencies and companies around the world shut down websites as they raced Thursday to protect themselves from hacks after artificial intelligence uncovered critical flaws in a widely used programming language called PHP. Wiz, one of the cybersecurity firms that found the two flaws, estimated that PHP code helps run about 70 per cent of the world’s websites – from online stores and news outlets to government services. It called the flaws “among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered...

12. Meta to pay New Mexico a historic US$25 billion in Cambridge Analytica Facebook case

    Meta Platforms was ordered to pay a groundbreaking US$25 billion civil penalty to the state of New Mexico in a consumer deception case spurred by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The fine issued by state court Judge Francis Mathew is among the largest verdicts issued in US legal history. The award comes after a jury in Santa Fe determined that Meta had violated the state’s consumer protection over 43 million times based on widely viewed deceptive statements made by the company and its top...

13. Tesla signs deal to integrate Alipay into its cars as China competition heats up

    Tesla has agreed a deal to integrate Chinese fintech giant Ant Group’s Alipay digital payment software into its vehicles in China, as Elon Musk’s firm steps up efforts to offer localised smart features amid intense competition in the Chinese market. The agreement, signed on Tuesday, will see Tesla roll out an Alipay-powered smart parking service across its Chinese fleet, according to the fintech firm. Neither side revealed a launch date or which car models would receive the feature, though...

14. Washington’s DeepSeek ban may deter US firms from adopting Chinese AI models: experts

    The US government’s latest ban on Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek could have a chilling effect on the wider American business community and deter companies from adopting low-cost Chinese AI models, industry experts say. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built on the Chinese AI model from their IT systems, according to a directive signed in July and published on Monday. The...

15. Apec finance ministers reach consensus on AI, digital financing in Hong Kong

    Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) finance chiefs reached a consensus on economic policy coordination and cooperation on financing technology and artificial intelligence at a landmark two-day gathering in Hong Kong, according to China’s finance minister. Lan Foan said the outcomes achieved during the Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting would help shape discussions at the leaders’ summit in Shenzhen next month. “China will work with all member economies to implement the important consensus...

16. Nvidia CEO to deliver keynote speech in Berlin as his firm faces investor scrutiny over AI

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to take the stage in Berlin on Wednesday, as the world’s most valuable company faces heightened investor scrutiny over whether the massive artificial intelligence spending boom – the engine behind the chipmaker’s meteoric growth – can deliver long-term returns. The conference agenda focuses on sovereign AI, industrial automation and operational infrastructure – key sectors where Nvidia hopes to drive demand beyond the handful of US tech giants currently dominating...

17. DeepSeek seeks ‘total victory’ over closed-source AI with new open-source tool

    Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has fully open-sourced an internally developed framework designed to run AI models efficiently, as a senior researcher at the company described the growing divide between open-source and closed-source AI as a battle between “light and darkness”. The company on Tuesday released DeepInfer, an inference framework tailored to support its DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash model on both Nvidia’s SM100 Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) and Huawei...

18. Why Anthropic has a major China problem ahead of its blockbuster IPO

    The growing popularity of Chinese artificial intelligence models has emerged as a key risk factor for Anthropic ahead of its blockbuster initial public offering, according to US research firm Hedgeye Risk Management. “It’s all about Chinese competition when analysing Anthropic,” said Felix Wang, managing director and global tech sector head at Hedgeye. “Many of my clients are asking the same question.” The assessment comes as Anthropic faces renewed investor jitters over whether its massive AI...

19. What is Discovery Loop, Chinese teen AI prodigy Nathan Chen’s rumoured next destination?

    Just days after announcing his departure from Moonshot AI, teen Chinese artificial intelligence prodigy Nathan Chen Guangyu seems to have found his next destination. On Tuesday, Arfur Grok, a widely-watched anonymous social media account that tracks AI talent movements in the US, posted that the former Moonshot AI researcher was joining Discovery Loop, an AI start-up founded by four former Google senior researchers including former chief scientist Jeff Dean. Launched just two months ago, the...

20. China creates state-owned firm in Xiongan to develop nation’s AI data resources

    China has set up a new state-owned enterprise dedicated to managing the country’s massive data resources, a significant move designed to turbocharge the nation’s artificial intelligence industry and bolster its digital economy. The National Data Group Co – based in China’s “city of the future”, Xiongan New Area in northern Hebei province – is tasked with “developing and utilising data resources, unlocking the value of data elements, serving AI development and fostering a data industry...