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CBI

China's Robotics Sector Sees Investment Surge as Commercialization Nears

China's robotics industry experienced an unprecedented capital influx in 2025, with funding events more than doubling and total investment reaching approximately 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion), signaling the sector's transition from technological incubation to scaled industrialization. The investment frenzy intensified in the second half of

Chinese AI Startup Kimi Secures US$700 Million, Valuation Surpasses US$10 Billion as Alibaba and Tencent Double Down

Moonshot AI, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup behind the Kimi chatbot, has closed a US$700 million funding round just over a month after completing a previous US$500 million raise, according to people familiar with the matter. The financing pushes the company's valuation past the US$10

China's Tech Giants Drive AI Adoption Among Elderly in Rural Markets

China's major technology companies are quietly reshaping digital consumption patterns in lower-tier cities and rural areas, as middle-aged and elderly users emerge as unexpected early adopters of artificial intelligence tools this year. The Spring Festival holiday has revealed a demographic shift that could unlock a market

China's Autonomous Delivery Vehicle Race Escalates Beyond Scale and Price Wars

The competitive landscape for autonomous delivery vehicles in China is intensifying as industry consolidation, cross-sector entrants, and evolving business models reshape the market beyond traditional scale and pricing battles. In late January, Zelos and Cainiao's autonomous vehicle division announced a strategic partnership, with Cainiao becoming a shareholder

ByteDance Signals AI Ambitions Through Spring Festival Gala Showcase

ByteDance leveraged China's most-watched television event to demonstrate its artificial intelligence capabilities, marking a strategic shift from traditional user acquisition tactics to a comprehensive display of technological prowess that could redefine its competitive positioning in the AI race. The company deployed its Doubao large language model, Seed

Four Chinese Robot Makers Battle for Spotlight at 2026 Spring Festival Gala

Chinese humanoid robotics companies are racing to capture public attention and investor confidence, with four firms making an unprecedented joint appearance at the 2026 Spring Festival Gala in a high-stakes gamble that could reshape the industry's competitive landscape. Galaxea AI, Unitree Robotics, Magic Atom, and Fourier Intelligence

Chinese Automaker Xpeng Skips L3 Autonomous Driving, Bets Directly on L4 Technology

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng is abandoning the intermediate L3 autonomous driving stage, opting instead to leap directly to L4 full self-driving technology—a strategic shift driven by regulatory bottlenecks, mounting development costs, and the pressing need to differentiate in a brutally competitive market where industry profit margins have

Chinese Tech Giants Battle for Spotlight in 2026 Spring Festival Gala's AI and Robotics Showcase

China's 2026 Spring Festival Gala transformed into an unprecedented showcase of artificial intelligence and humanoid robotics, as domestic tech companies deployed cutting-edge technologies across multiple segments of the nation's most-watched television event. The integration of AI-powered production tools and performing robots marked a

Alibaba Unveils Qwen3.5 AI Model With Native Multimodal Capabilities and Enhanced Agent Functions

Alibaba has launched Qwen3.5, a new generation of large language models featuring breakthrough architecture that activates only 17 billion parameters from a total of 397 billion, delivering performance comparable to trillion-parameter models while significantly reducing deployment costs and boosting inference efficiency up to 19-fold. The open-source

Shanghai's Humanoid Robot Makers Chart Divergent Paths to Commercial Viability

Shanghai's humanoid robot sector is navigating a critical inflection point as three leading companies pursue distinct commercialization strategies, shifting industry focus from speculative hype to tangible value creation in limited scenarios. The divergence reflects a broader maturation across China's robotics industry, where survival now depends on