China’s intensifying technology contest with the United States framed much of the week’s coverage. A feature underscored that the Artificial Intelligence race is increasingly fought by hyperscalers with full-stack capabilities across software, hardware and applications. In Washington, the US Senate passed a measure that limits Nvidia and AMD’s Artificial Intelligence chip exports to China, following a Trump administration deal earlier this summer that had eased some restrictions. Beijing continued to recalibrate critical materials and market oversight: new rare earth export rules will require case-by-case approvals for shipments used in advanced semiconductor design and production, while authorities targeted a consultancy behind teardown reports on Huawei chips after TechInsights claimed Huawei’s Ascend processors used advanced components from TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix. Separately, China launched an antitrust probe into Qualcomm related to its acquisition of Israeli vehicle semiconductor firm Autotalks.
Semiconductors remained in focus across corporate moves and markets. Intel unveiled a new chip built on its 18A process in what the company cast as a pivotal moment to win back market share and attract foundry customers. TSMC posted better-than-expected sales on robust Artificial Intelligence demand, reinforcing its role as the go-to manufacturer for major accelerator designers. On the mainland, memory maker CXMT edged closer to a domestic initial public offering amid a supply crunch for Artificial Intelligence memory chips, with its listing widely watched as China’s best hope to challenge the dominance of SK Hynix, Samsung and Micron. Investor sentiment was mixed, as another report noted that soaring valuations in China’s chip stocks are testing traders’ patience.
Big tech and cloud players accelerated Artificial Intelligence bets. Google launched Gemini Enterprise to challenge Microsoft and OpenAI in the workplace, pitching a unified and open platform strategy. Chinese fintech giant Ant Group released a powerful Artificial Intelligence model that it says outperforms peers in code generation, software development, competition-level mathematics and logical reasoning. Alibaba signaled deeper ambitions in intelligent hardware as its Qwen lab set up a robotics team, and Alibaba Cloud inked a multi-year collaboration with NBA China. ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming made a rare public appearance in Shanghai to launch the Zhichun Innovation Centre, describing a continued focus on talent recruitment and development.
Robotics and hardware trends also surfaced. Unitree’s humanoid and quadruped robots briefly appeared on Walmart’s website, marking the first time Chinese robots were listed on a major US retail platform and highlighting a widening robotics gap. In autos, Tesla’s Shanghai factory deliveries hit a record for the year as a Model Y variant wooed new buyers. Multimedia reports rounded out the week with a look at China’s trials of underwater data centres aimed at lowering the carbon footprint of digital infrastructure.
