China's AI and tech drive

Washington and Silicon Valley split over cheap Chinese AI models

A month of Chinese advances in AI models, chips and robotics has unsettled US tech firms and markets. Washington is now divided over whether to block or tolerate free Chinese models.

The Guardian · Wall Street Journal

US adds dozens of Chinese firms to forced-labour blacklist

The White House on Friday added 43 Chinese companies to the import blacklist meant to block goods made with alleged forced labour in Xinjiang, the third such move that week, according to the South China Morning Post; Global Times put the number at 40. Beijing called the additions economic coercion and vowed countermeasures.

Xi orders faster military adoption of drones and AI

Xi Jinping told the Chinese military to step up its use of unmanned and artificial intelligence technologies, saying combat readiness remains the main guideline and criterion for military modernisation. State media released what it called the first footage of a PLA Army drone swarm in a combat-oriented training exercise.

OpenAI cuts GPT prices by up to 80% as Chinese labs release new models

OpenAI slashed developer prices for its GPT-5.6 line by up to 80 per cent on Thursday, as Chinese rivals DeepSeek and MiniMax pushed out new models. The Wall Street Journal reports OpenAI passed one billion users after the cuts.

South China Morning Post · South China Morning Post · Nikkei Asia

Korean stocks rebound 15 percent after record rout

South Korean shares jumped a record 15% on Friday on renewed optimism about the AI trade, Bloomberg reported, following a record selloff a day earlier that had failed to tempt global investors back into the market. Bloomberg also reported that Seoul plans to direct $14 billion of its sovereign wealth fund into AI investments after the rout.

Samsung chip profit jumps 250-fold as AI memory runs short

Samsung Electronics said its semiconductor division reported a more than 250-fold jump in second-quarter profit, driven by shortages of memory used for artificial intelligence, according to Bloomberg reporting on Thursday. SK Hynix also posted strong results and announced new deals, which Bloomberg described as an answer to investors who doubt the durability of AI chip demand.

US tech companies push back on proposed curbs on Chinese chips and AI

Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday that Nvidia and other Silicon Valley firms oppose a proposed US ban on Chinese AI technology, arguing it would work against their interests. Global Times, citing experts, said a reported warning by US senators to Apple against buying memory chips from CXMT and YMTC exposes a political agenda, distorts market competition and raises costs for US companies.

Beijing threatens countermeasures over US robot and inverter bans

China's commerce ministry warned on Thursday that Beijing would take resolute countermeasures if Washington insists on banning imports of Chinese robots and power inverters. The measure is set to lock out Chinese smart vacuum makers that dominate the options available to American buyers.

China voices 'serious concern' over US curbs in call with Bessent

Vice-Premier He Lifeng held a video call on Thursday with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the US trade representative, raising 'serious concern' over recent American economic restrictions. Bessent said Washington urged Beijing to fully meet its commitments on rare earths.

China opens new five-year plan period

China's economy has entered the period of its new five-year plan, which the state paper Global Times describes as resilient and carried by new growth drivers. The plan sets the framework for industrial and technology priorities into the 2030s.

Moonshot AI valued at $35 billion

The Chinese AI company Moonshot AI raised more than its funding target and reached a valuation of $35 billion, Bloomberg reports. The round strengthens China's leading developer of open-weight models.

BMW to cut 8,000 jobs after China sales slump

BMW will cut about 8,000 jobs by 2027 under its new chief executive Milan Nedeljković, roughly 5% of its workforce, in administration and development rather than production, and offer severance to volunteers instead of making compulsory redundancies. FAZ reports half the cuts fall in Germany, where about half of BMW's 154,000 employees work, and links the move to collapsing sales in China, arguing that German carmakers now need Chinese technology to keep up.

Child dies after gene-editing therapy in China

A six-year-old girl died in China after receiving an experimental gene-editing therapy, a case that scientists quoted by the South China Morning Post called a tragedy showing the need for better safeguards in clinical trials. According to the newspaper, some in the sector fear the death will trigger a policy backlash against China's biotech boom.

South Korean stocks fall 16% in two days as chip selloff deepens

South Korean shares dropped about 16% over two days in a burst of retail selling that erased the gains of the recent AI rally, with chip stocks hit hardest because investors doubt the companies' heavy capital spending. Bloomberg separately reported growing concern at ASML over China export restrictions and demand risk.

US bans new foreign robot and inverter imports, China vows countermeasures

The US Federal Communications Commission has added foreign-made advanced robotic devices and connected power inverters to its Covered List, barring new models from the authorisation they need to be imported and sold in the United States. The category is overwhelmingly supplied by Chinese manufacturers. Beijing's foreign and commerce ministries condemned the step and promised measures to protect Chinese firms.

South China Morning Post · Global Times · Bloomberg

Beijing rejects US Section 301 probe into overcapacity

China's government released a position paper rebutting US and European claims that its industry is building excess capacity, which experts cited by Global Times called a systematic response to those narratives. A Chinese official called Washington's Section 301 investigation unilateral and said Beijing reserves the right to take measures to defend its interests.

US bans imports of Chinese humanoid robots and power inverters

The Trump administration banned imports of advanced foreign-made robotic devices, including humanoid and quadruped robots that are overwhelmingly produced in China, along with connected power inverters, citing national security. The Federal Communications Commission announced the robot ban on Tuesday, saying the devices pose unacceptable risks to national security.

Moonshot AI open-sources the infrastructure behind Kimi K3

The Chinese lab Moonshot AI has published the key infrastructure technologies behind its Kimi K3 model as open source, according to Global Times, which calls K3 the world's largest open-weight model. Only that single, Chinese state-affiliated report is available so far, and it gives no parameter count, licence terms or benchmark figures. The step strengthens the camp that distributes model weights freely against the closed frontier labs.

Global Times

Chip shares slide worldwide after report on Chinese lithography machines

A report that China is bringing a domestically built machine for semiconductor production to market sent chip shares tumbling around the world on Tuesday, 28 July 2026. Samsung and SK Hynix each lost more than 10 percent and Korea's market hit a three-month low, while ASML, Nvidia and the Nasdaq chip complex also fell. Investors are weighing Chinese competition alongside doubts about how US tech groups are financing their artificial-intelligence spending.

FAZ · The Telegraph · Bloomberg

China threatens countermeasures over planned US sanctions on AI firms

Beijing condemned a planned US investigation and sanctions targeting Chinese artificial-intelligence companies, saying it would take "all necessary measures" to safeguard its interests, according to Global Times. The dispute extends the technology conflict from semiconductors to AI developers.

Nvidia forms Open Secure AI Alliance as open-weight dispute widens

Nvidia has created an Open Secure AI Alliance with a cyber security focus to defend openly downloadable AI models, and Abu Dhabi's G42 said on Monday it would join a membership of at least 38 companies. Days earlier, a letter signed by 25 large firms, among them Microsoft and IBM, endorsed open-weight models. At the same time the Chinese start-up Moonshot set out licence conditions for its Kimi K3 model, while investors and policymakers remain split over how safe freely usable systems are.

The National · New York Times · New York Times

China promotes AI, robotics and new drugs as its next growth industries

Chinese state media presented artificial intelligence, robotics and innovative drugs as the country's 'next new three' industries leading a round of industrial upgrading, with a Global Times editorial framing them as an open platform for global innovation. Bloomberg reported on a trillion-dollar programme of six networks intended to wire the Chinese economy for the AI era.