China
The latest startup and technology news coming out of China.
A powerful new video-generating AI model became widely available today — but there’s a catch: The model appears to be censoring topics deemed too politically sensitive by the government in…
Chinese EV manufacturers face a new challenge in their pursuit of U.S. customers: a new House bill that would limit or ban the introduction of their connected vehicles. The bill,…
China has closed a third state-backed investment fund to bolster its semiconductor industry and reduce reliance on other nations, both for using and manufacturing wafers — prioritizing what is called…
Apple has removed the Meta-owned end-to-end encrypted messaging app WhatsApp from its App Store in China following a government order citing national security concerns, the news agency Reuters reported Friday.…
The United States Department of Commerce Monday proposed investing as much as $6.6 billion to fund a third Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) fab in Arizona. The funding would…
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TikTok ban could harm Amazon sellers looking for alternatives
In March, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that could force ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban in U.S. app stores. Much of the related discussion and debate has centered around American data security and speech rights, but a potential move also highlights something else:…
The field of insurance technology has had a rough time. About 7 years ago, early insurtech companies promised to disrupt the insurance industry with new tech, but today, most of…
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Don’t ignore Asia tech
A lot can change in 12 years. When I joined TechCrunch in 2012, I was the only writer it had based out of Asia. For several years, it often felt like I was writing to correct misperceptions I saw in my articles’ comments or on Twitter. Even though Baidu, Alibaba…
Ever since Hong Kong legalized cryptocurrency trading last June, blockchain projects from the West have been paying more attention to the Asian financial hub. Aptos, the a16z- and Tiger Global-backed…
Chinese tech companies are gathering all sorts of resources and talent to narrow their gap with OpenAI, and experiences for researchers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean can be…
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Spyware leak offers ‘first-of-its-kind’ look inside Chinese government hacking efforts
Over the weekend, someone posted a cache of files and documents apparently stolen from the Chinese government hacking contractor, I-Soon. This leak gives cybersecurity researchers and rival governments an unprecedented chance to look behind the curtain of Chinese government hacking operations facilitated by private contractors. Like the hack-and-leak operation that…
After a few years of funding frenzy, autonomous driving companies in China are experiencing a slowdown in investment. Some companies are still hauling in capital, though the era of bankrolling…
The race to build the next big large language model is on, and now a contender out of China has reportedly banked a major round of funding to catapult it…
In 2017, “new retail” began appearing in Alibaba’s earnings reports. Coined by the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, the term “new retail” refers to the seamless integration of online and offline retail.…
On Monday, Tencent, the Chinese internet giant known for its video gaming empire and chat app WeChat, unveiled a new version of its open source video generation model DynamiCrafter on…
In 2023, the global frenzy around artificial intelligence, fueled by the advent of ChatGPT, swept across the world. In China, where OpenAI’s chatbot is unavailable, startups and tech incumbents scrambled…
XPeng, Tesla’s challenger from China, has its eye on the international market and plans to use its smart driving software as a selling point. The Guangzhou-based electric vehicle upstart said…
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Facing roadblocks, China’s robotaxi darlings apply the brakes
A few years ago, robotaxis were the darlings of venture capitalists in China. A cadre of audacious startups, including Deeproute.ai, WeRide.ai, Pony.ai and Momenta reeled in hundreds of millions of dollars to fuel their costly ambitions. With pockets overflowing, they spent generously on building self-driving vehicle fleets. Their geeky executives,…
Amid rising geopolitical tensions, many Chinese tech companies find themselves recalibrating their overseas pursuits, often sidestepping any reference to their origin. One bold startup called DP Technology stands out from…
When it comes to spurring the development of cutting-edge technologies, the Chinese government is rather pragmatic in its policymaking process. In the field of autonomous driving, the country has made…
After years of aggressive expansion at home, China’s autonomous vehicle upstarts are now setting their gaze on overseas markets. WeRide, in particular, has been on a licensing spree. On Monday,…
Semiconductors have in recent years become a focal point in the U.S.’s efforts to impede China’s technological advancement. Now Washington has its eye on yet another red-hot tech sector where…
Nth Cycle is one of the few startups tackling the cleantech’s carbon-heavy supply chain and building a cleaner infrastructure for the sector.
For those who move abroad from China, one thing they miss dearly is the convenience of food delivery apps. Fantuan, a Vancouver-based company, has been working on replicating the experience…
PDD, the firm behind the fast-growing shopping app Temu, is shaking up China’s Big Tech club. On Thursday, news of Alibaba’s market cap sliding under that of PDD made headlines…
Nvidia has long been involved in the development of autonomous vehicle technologies, providing the industry with graphic processing units that can perform millions of calculations simultaneously. Now the semiconductor powerhouse…
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Fate of US venture capital in China teeters on uncertainty
On a weekday afternoon at Red Rock Coffee, the café known for spotting venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, one is likely to overhear a few conversations in Mandarin. With China reopening its borders this spring following three years of COVID-19 restrictions, managers of U.S. funds in the country have been…
Well before Washington banned Nvidia’s exports of high-performance graphic processing units to China, the country’s tech giants had been hoarding them in anticipation of an escalating tech war between the…
Li Auto, an electric vehicle maker adored by young Chinese families, is stepping up its endeavors to build in-house automotive chips and has gone abroad to seek talent for the…
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Anti-censorship tools are quietly disappearing into thin air in China
China — the biggest internet market globally with more than 1 billion users — is no stranger to online censorship. For years, authorities in the country have built out a series of techno-policy restraints, commonly referred to as The Great Firewall, to restrict open access to the internet. But those…
