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Dora Zhang

Editor covering China's business and technology, focused on AI, electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and robotics, tracking industry developments, innovation, and market dynamics.

XREAL Cuts AR Glasses Entry Price to $236 Ahead of Hong Kong IPO

Chinese augmented reality hardware manufacturer XREAL introduced a new entry-level sub-brand priced at RMB 1,699 (US$236), executing a volume-driven market share acquisition strategy targeting Gen Z consumers as the company prepares for its Hong Kong initial public offering. The launch of the "xbx"

Volant Raises $138 Million as China’s eVTOL Race Shifts Toward Commercial Scale

Chinese electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) developer Volant Aerotech has secured nearly RMB 1 billion (US$138.8 million) in a Series C+ funding round, a capital injection that signals a critical industry pivot from venture-backed prototyping to state-and-insurance-funded commercial manufacturing. The transaction, led by

MINISO Q1 Profit Boosted by AI Gains as US Growth Slows

A lucrative bet on artificial intelligence is heavily distorting the first-quarter profitability of MINISO Group Holding Ltd., masking a structural margin squeeze in its core retail operations driven by surging intellectual property costs and an increasingly capital-intensive overseas footprint. MINISO reported a 28.5% year-on-year revenue

Xiaomi Q1 Profit Plunges 43% as Memory Costs Rise and AI R&D Surges

Xiaomi reported a sharp earnings deterioration in the first quarter of 2026, with adjusted net profit plunging 43.1% year-on-year to RMB 6.1 billion (US$847 million) on revenue of RMB 99.1 billion (US$13.76 billion), down 10.9% year-on-year — a dual-line

ChinaBiz Briefing | Unitree’s Robot IPO Push, BYD's Japan Advance, and the PC AI War

Today’s developments highlight how Chinese companies are structurally adapting to technological and market ceilings. From Huawei engineering new semiconductor architectures to bypass trade restrictions, to tech giants reviving the PC to unlock AI’s full potential, the focus has shifted from pure scale to systemic efficiency. Meanwhile, as Chinese

China's Tech Giants Wage a New PC War — This Time, AI Is the Weapon

Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance are racing to plant AI agents on desktop operating systems, betting that the PC — long dismissed as a legacy terminal — may be the most defensible gateway to the next computing paradigm. The pivot is striking in its unanimity. Within months of each other in 2026, three

Chinese Automakers Enter Japan as EV Shift Weakens Keiretsu

In 2026, Chinese automakers including Chery Automobile, BYD, GAC Group, Geely’s Zeekr, and Xiaomi Auto are all targeting the world’s fourth-largest auto market, which sold 4.57 million vehicles in 2025. The timing reflects deeper structural shifts inside Japan’s automotive industry. The country’s long-protected

Huawei’s Six-Year Chip Push Tests Whether China Can Produce a Global Semiconductor Champion

When Huawei lost access to advanced global chip manufacturing after US export controls tightened in 2020, the company faced a structural problem shared across China’s semiconductor sector: how to sustain performance gains without access to the world’s most advanced lithography tools. Six years later, Huawei is attempting to

China’s Auto Exports Surge, but Residual Value Gap Threatens Growth

Chinese automakers have conquered volume—now they must conquer trust. In the first four months of 2026, China exported 3.127 million vehicles, a 61.5% year-on-year jump that has reshaped dealer floors from Edinburgh to São Paulo. Yet beneath the headline numbers, a structural fault line is

Leapmotor Q1 Loss Highlights Margin Pressure Amid 442% Export Surge

Leapmotor’s return to unprofitability in the first quarter of 2026 underscores the brutal pricing dynamics of China’s EV market, even as a 442% surge in overseas sales cements the automaker's reliance on global expansion to subsidize domestic market share. After achieving full-year profitability in 2025,