China Tech 🇨🇳 AI News

DeepSeek, the Chinese AI startup behind the open-source R1 reasoning model, is planning to release V4 this week as its first multimodal model capable of generating text, images and video. Sources say DeepSeek worked with Huawei and Cambricon to optimize V4 for Chinese AI chips. https://technode.com/2026/03/02/deepseek-plans-v4-multimodal-model-release-this-week-sources-say/ #China #Tech #AI #DeepSeek

JD.com has launched a robot ambulance service offering on-site repair for humanoid, quadruped and AI companion robots. The service covers diagnostics, battery replacement, performance testing and equipment recycling. Initially live in Beijing, JD.com plans to expand to over 50 Chinese cities within three years and also serve European markets. https://pandaily.com/jd-com-launches-robot-ambulance-service-targets-50-cities-in-three-years #China #Tech #Robotics

#Alibaba and #ChinaTelecom are launching a data centre in southern #China powered by 10,000 of Alibaba’s #Zhenwu #semiconductors. This facility, located in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, will support AI models with hundreds of billions of parameters and is expected to expand to 100,000 chips. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/08/china-alibaba-data-center-ai-chips-zhenwu.html?eicker.news #China #Tech #ChinaTech #Technews

Zhipu AI has unveiled GLM-5.1, its most advanced open-source model yet, capable of sustaining autonomous work for over eight hours on a single task - the first open-source model to achieve this. It ranks third globally on coding benchmarks, achieving a new best on SWE-Bench Pro and outperforming GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.6. https://pandaily.com/zhipu-unveils-glm-5-1-its-most-advanced-open-source-model-with-8-hour-autonomous-task-capability #China #Tech #AI

AI agent platform Genspark has secured 385 million USD in funding, lifting its valuation to 1.6 billion USD as commercial adoption accelerates. The company, founded by former Baidu executives, is scaling its AI Workspace product which uses multi-agent orchestration to convert user intent into deliverables. In Japan alone, monthly visits reached 14.96 million in January with users spending nearly 14 minutes on average. Annual recurring revenue has reached approximately 200 million USD. https://pandaily.com/genspark-raises-385-million-accelerates-commercialization-of-ai-agent-platform #China #Tech #AI #Genspark

OpenClaw has launched an official China mirror for ClawHub, providing a localized access point for users in China with improved stability and access speed. The mirror is built on ClawHub infrastructure with technical support from ByteDance. https://technode.com/2026/04/02/openclaw-launches-official-china-mirror-with-infrastructure-support-from-bytedance/ #China #Tech #AI #OpenClaw

Zhipu AI's MaaS platform has reached 1.7 billion yuan in annual recurring revenue, driven by explosive API demand that grew 60x over the past year. The Hong Kong-listed company posted 724 million yuan in 2025 revenue, up 132% year-on-year, with nine of China's top 10 internet companies now using its GLM models. https://pandaily.com/zhipu-s-maa-s-arr-hits-rmb-1-7-billion-driven-by-api-boom #China #Tech #AI #Zhipu

Shenzhen has activated China's first 10,000-card intelligent computing cluster with Huawei Ascend 910C chips, delivering 11,000 petaflops of computing capacity. Nearly 50 organisations have signed framework agreements, with combined booking across both phases reaching 92 percent. https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3348502/shenzhen-activates-chinas-first-10000-card-ai-cluster-domestic-chips #China #Tech #AI #Huawei

Alibaba has launched Qwen3.6-Plus, a next-generation foundation model with up to 1 million token context length, strengthening coding and AI agent capabilities for developers. The model approaches leading global performance on benchmarks including SWE-bench and Terminal-Bench. https://pandaily.com/alibaba-launches-qwen3-6-plus-enhancing-coding-and-ai-agent-capabilities #China #Tech #AI #Alibaba

Apple Intelligence briefly appeared for some iPhone users in the Chinese mainland early this week, before the update was pulled. The incident suggested the feature may be technically ready for the market, even though it has not officially launched. Apple still has not received regulatory approval. https://technode.com/2026/03/31/apple-intelligence-briefly-appears-in-chinese-mainland-before-withdrawal/ #China #Tech #AI #Apple

DeepSeek experienced an 11-hour outage, with users reporting a significant performance boost and speculation of a silent model upgrade. The company has not confirmed the cause or the observed capability changes. https://pandaily.com/deep-seek-restores-service-after-11-hour-outage-amid-model-upgrade-speculation #China #Tech #AI #DeepSeek

Chinese automaker BYD has reportedly raised its export target for 2026 to 1.5 million vehicles, signalling stronger-than-expected international demand for electric vehicles. The company continues to expand globally with new markets and distribution networks. https://technode.com/2026/03/31/byd-reportedly-raises-export-target-to-1-5-million-units/ #China #Tech #EV #BYD

ZTE is partnering with ByteDance to develop the next generation of Doubao AI smartphones, marking a push toward system-level, AI-native devices. The collaboration builds on ZTE's Nubia M153 technical preview launched in December 2025, priced at 3,499 yuan. The new devices integrate Doubao deeply into the operating system with system-level permissions, enabling complex cross-app commands via natural language - such as ordering food or generating social media posts without manual switching. ZTE calls it 'autonomous driving for smartphones.' China shipments of next-gen AI phones are forecast to reach 147 million units in 2026, accounting for 53% of total smartphone shipments. https://pandaily.com/zte-teams-up-with-byte-dance-to-develop-next-gen-doubao-ai-phone #China #Tech #AI #ZTE #ByteDance

Embodied AI startup Xinghaitu has raised nearly 280 million USD in Series B+ funding, lifting its valuation above 2.8 billion USD. The company is scaling deployment of its vision-language-action robots for handling and packaging tasks, targeting tens of thousands of units in 2026. https://pandaily.com/xinghaitu-raises-nearly-rmb-2-billion-valuation-exceeds-rmb-20-billion #China #Tech #AI #Xinghaitu

UBTECH Robotics is offering up to 17 million USD annually to hire a chief scientist for embodied intelligence, as humanoid robots became its largest revenue driver in 2025 with over 1,000 units sold. Full-size humanoid robots generated 821 million RMB in revenue, accounting for 41% of total revenue. https://pandaily.com/ubtech-offers-up-to-17-million-salary-to-hire-chief-scientist-as-humanoid-robot-revenue-grows #China #Tech #Robotics #UBTECH