China

Lawmakers urge EU to curb Huawei’s role in solar inverters over security risks

Lawmakers and security officials are increasingly worried that Huawei’s dominant role in solar inverters could create a new supply-chain vulnerability for Europe’s power grids. Two MEPs have written to the European Commission urging immediate steps to limit ‘high-risk’ vendors in energy systems.

Inverters are a technology that transforms solar energy into the electrical current fed into the power network; many are internet-connected so vendors can perform remote maintenance. Cyber experts warn that remote access to large numbers of inverters could be abused to shut devices down or change settings en masse, creating surges, drops or wider instability across the grid.

Chinese firms, led by Huawei and Sungrow, supply a large share of Europe’s installed inverter capacity. SolarPower Europe estimates Chinese companies account for roughly 65 per cent of the market. Some member states are already acting: Lithuania has restricted remote access to sizeable Chinese installations, while agencies in the Czech Republic and Germany have flagged specific Huawei components for further scrutiny.

The European Commission is preparing an ICT supply-chain toolbox to de-risk critical sectors, with solar inverters listed among priority areas. Suspicion of Chinese technology has surged in recent years. Beijing, under President Xi Jinping, requires domestic firms to comply with government requests for data sharing and to report software vulnerabilities, raising Western fears of potential surveillance.

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Netherlands and China in talks to resolve Nexperia dispute

The Dutch Economy Minister has spoken with his Chinese counterpart to ease tensions following the Netherlands’ recent seizure of Nexperia, a major Dutch semiconductor firm.

China, where most of Nexperia’s chips are produced and sold, reacted by blocking exports, creating concern among European carmakers reliant on its components.

Vincent Karremans said he had discussed ‘further steps towards reaching a solution’ with Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao.

Both sides emphasised the importance of finding an outcome that benefits Nexperia, as well as the Chinese and European economies.

Meanwhile, Nexperia’s China division has begun asserting its independence, telling employees they may reject ‘external instructions’.

The firm remains a subsidiary of Shanghai-listed Wingtech, which has faced growing scrutiny from European regulators over national security and strategic technology supply chains.

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China leads the global generative AI adoption with 515 million users

In China, the use of generative AI has expanded unprecedentedly, reaching 515 million users in the first half of 2025.

The figure, released by the China Internet Network Information Centre, shows more than double the number recorded in December and represents an adoption rate of 36.5 per cent.

Such growth is driven by strong digital infrastructure and the state’s determination to make AI a central tool of national development.

The country’s ‘AI Plus’ strategy aims to integrate AI across all sectors of society and the economy. The majority of users rely on domestic platforms such as DeepSeek, Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen and ByteDance’s Doubao, as access to leading Western models remains restricted.

Young and well-educated citizens dominate the user base, underlining the government’s success in promoting AI literacy among key demographics.

Microsoft’s recent research confirms that China has the world’s largest AI market, surpassing the US in total users. While the US adoption has remained steady, China’s domestic ecosystem continues to accelerate, fuelled by policy support and public enthusiasm for generative tools.

China also leads the world in AI-related intellectual property, with over 1.5 million patent applications accounting for nearly 39 per cent of the global total.

The rapid adoption of home-grown AI technologies reflects a strategic drive for technological self-reliance and positions China at the forefront of global digital transformation.

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China’s Unitree reveals next-generation humanoid ahead of major IPO

Unitree Robotics has unveiled its most lifelike humanoid robot to date, marking a bold step forward in the country’s rapidly advancing robotics industry.

The new H2 humanoid model, showcased in a short social media video, demonstrated remarkable agility and expressiveness, performing intricate dance moves with striking humanlike grace.

The 180cm-tall, 70kg robot features a silver face with defined eyes, lips and nose, alongside the tagline ‘Destiny Awakening – born to serve everyone safely and friendly’.

A model that represents the company’s growing ambition as it prepares for a mainland listing valued at around US$7 billion.

Unitree’s progress underscores the growing strength of China in humanoid robotics, a field increasingly dominated by domestic innovation and manufacturing capabilities.

As global competition intensifies, the company aims to position itself at the forefront of human-robot interaction and industrial automation.

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SenseTime and Cambricon strengthen cooperation for China’s AI future

SenseTime and Cambricon Technologies have entered a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop an open and mutually beneficial AI ecosystem in China. The partnership will focus on software-hardware integration, vertical industry innovation, and the globalisation of AI technologies.

By combining SenseTime’s strengths in large model R&D, AI infrastructure, and industrial applications with Cambricon’s expertise in intelligent computing chips and high-performance hardware, the collaboration supports the national ‘AI+’ strategy of China.

Both companies aim to foster a new AI development model defined by synergy between software and hardware, enhancing domestic innovation and global competitiveness in the AI sector.

The agreement also includes co-development of adaptive chip solutions and integrated AI systems for enterprise and industrial use. By focusing on compatibility between the latest AI models and hardware architectures, the two firms plan to offer scalable, high-efficiency computing solutions.

A partnership that seeks to drive intelligent transformation across industries and promote the growth of emerging AI enterprises through joint innovation and ecosystem building.

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Beijing tightens grip on rare earth exports

China has announced new restrictions on rare earth and permanent magnet exports, significantly escalating its control over critical materials essential for advanced technologies and defence production. The move, revealed ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected meeting with President Xi Jinping, introduces the most rigid export controls yet.

For the first time, Beijing will require foreign companies to obtain approval to export magnets that contain even minimal Chinese-sourced materials or were made with Chinese technology, effectively extending its influence across the global supply chain.

The restrictions could have profound implications for the US defence and semiconductor industries. Rare earth elements are indispensable for producing fighter jets, submarines, missiles, and other advanced systems.

Beginning 1 December 2025, any company tied to foreign militaries, particularly the US, will likely be denied export licenses, while applications for high-tech uses, such as next-generation semiconductors, will face case-by-case reviews. These measures grant Chinese authorities broad discretion to delay or deny exports, tightening their strategic control at a time when Washington already struggles to boost domestic production.

Beijing’s announcement also limits Chinese nationals from participating in overseas rare earth projects without government authorisation, aiming to block the transfer of technical know-how abroad. Analysts suggest the move serves both as a negotiation tactic ahead of renewed trade talks and as a continuation of China’s long-term strategy to weaponise its dominance in the rare earth sector, which supplies over 90% of the world’s magnet manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the US is racing to build resilience. Noveon Magnetics and Lynas Rare Earths are partnering to establish a domestic magnet supply chain, while the Department of War has invested heavily in MP Materials to expand rare earth mining and processing capacity.

Yet experts warn that developing these capabilities will take years, leaving China with significant leverage over global supply chains critical to US national security.

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Alibaba’s Qwen lab launches robotics unit to drive embodied AI

Alibaba Group has established a robotics AI team within its Qwen lab, marking a significant step in its strategy to expand into AI-powered hardware.

However, this move reflects China’s broader push to lead in robotics and embodied intelligence, increasingly driven by generative AI and multimodal foundation models.

Qwen researcher Lin Junyang revealed the creation of the robotics unit on social media, describing it as part of Alibaba’s efforts to move AI from the virtual to the physical world.

The lab’s Qwen series has already achieved global prominence, with seven models ranking among the world’s top ten on Hugging Face, including the multimodal Qwen3-Omni in first place.

Group chairman Joe Tsai recently stressed that success in AI depends less on model scale and more on how rapidly technologies are adopted. He argued that China is focused on cost-effective, open-source AI models that can enable faster integration than the high-cost approach pursued in the US.

Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming confirmed plans to raise AI infrastructure investment to 380 billion yuan over three years to become a full-stack AI provider.

The company also invests in robotics ventures such as Unitree Robotics and X Square Robot, aligning its expansion with national industrial strategies and the country’s accelerating robotics leadership.

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Study shows how AI can uncover hidden biological mechanisms

Researchers in China have used AI to reveal how different species independently develop similar traits when adapting to shared environments. The study focuses on echolocation in bats and toothed whales, two distant groups that created this ability separately despite their evolutionary differences.

The Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences team found that high-order protein features are crucial to adaptive convergence. Convergent evolution is the independent emergence of similar traits across species, often under similar ecological pressures.

Led by Zou Zhengting, the researchers developed a framework called ACEP, which utilises a pre-trained protein language model to analyse amino acid sequences. This method reveals hidden structural and functional information in proteins, shedding light on how traits are formed at the molecular level.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal how AI can detect deep biological patterns behind convergent evolution. The study demonstrates how combining AI with protein analysis provides powerful tools for understanding complex evolutionary mechanisms.

Zou said the work deepens the understanding of life’s evolutionary laws and highlights the growing role of AI in biology. The team in China hopes this approach can be applied to other evolutionary questions, broadening the use of AI in decoding life’s hidden patterns.

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New cyber rules tighten grip on China’s critical infrastructure

China has introduced one of the world’s strictest cybersecurity reporting laws, requiring major infrastructure providers to report serious cyber incidents within just one hour. The regulation, issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China, applies to all network operators working in the country and its territories.

Incidents must be graded by severity, with ‘key infrastructure’ breaches reported within 60 minutes, and ‘particularly serious’ cases, such as those threatening national security or social stability, within 30 minutes. Operators who delay or conceal information face harsh penalties under the new rules.

The directive defines major cyber incidents as those that cause large-scale paralysis, severe data loss, or the compromise of massive amounts of personal information. Even social organisations and individuals are encouraged to report significant security breaches.

Notably, attacks targeting online media or information sites that remain visible for over six hours or reach more than a million views will also be classified as widespread cyberattacks, reflecting Beijing’s tight grip on online information control.

These requirements go far beyond standards in the United States and the European Union. In the US, companies have 72 hours to report major incidents under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, while the EU’s NIS2 Directive allows up to 72 hours for full notification and one month for a final report.

The move underscores China’s dual stance in cyberspace, reinforcing domestic defences while being accused of conducting aggressive cyber operations abroad. Western security agencies recently linked Chinese-backed hackers, such as the group Salt Typhoon, to breaches of US telecoms, the Treasury Department, and other key sectors.

A 2025 CrowdStrike report found China-related hacking activity surged by 150% last year, marking what analysts called an ‘inflexion point’ in Beijing’s global cyber ambitions.

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Alibaba shares climb to highest since 2021

Alibaba’s $250 billion rebound has turned it into China’s hottest AI stock, with analysts saying the rally may still have room to run.

The group’s US-listed shares have more than doubled this year as Beijing pushes for greater technological self-reliance. Despite the surge, the stock remains 65% below its 2020 peak, keeping valuations attractive compared with US giants like Microsoft and Amazon.

Fund managers say global investors still hold relatively minor positions in Alibaba, creating scope for further gains. Some caution remains, however, with Chinese short bets rising last month and price wars in food delivery threatening to dent margins.

Alibaba trades roughly 22 times the estimated forward earnings in Hong Kong, which is in line with the Hang Seng Tech Index but below its historic peak and US peers. Investors say its valuation looks reasonable given its AI push and improving sentiment.

Shares touched their highest level since August 2021 on Friday, standing out against declines in the broader Hong Kong market. The key test will be whether Alibaba can convert its AI ambitions into mainstream revenues.

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