China’s Electronics Makers Double Profits on AI Demand, Lifting Industrial Earnings 15.5%
Electronics added 9.6 points of the 15.5% rise in nine-month industrial profits, and September profits grew 14.4%, up from 4.2% in August.
INTELLIGENCE ON CHINA’S TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION
China is building AI as industrial infrastructure. We track it and analyze what it means.
Daily news, structured databases and research-grade analysis on the models, companies and policies behind China’s AI economy.Daily news, databases and analysis on China’s AI economy.
EF MODELS · OUR DATABASE · AS OF 28 OCTEF MODELS · OUR DATABASE
921MODEL LINES
Chinese AI model lines from 117 developers, tracked version by version, each release with the evidence behind it.Chinese AI model lines from 117 developers, each release with its evidence.
117
DEVELOPERSDEVELOPERS
5,960
MODEL VERSIONSVERSIONS
7,985
DATED RELEASESRELEASES
SOURCE: EF MODELS · AS OF 28 OCT 2026
Explore EF Models →COMPUTE · AI COMPUTING POWER · UPDATED 20 OCTAI COMPUTING POWER · UPDATED 20 OCT
+146%IN A YEAR
China’s AI computing capacity reached 2,592 exaflops at the end of September 2026, more than five times the level at the end of 2024.China’s AI computing capacity: 2,592 exaflops at end-September 2026, over five times end-2024.
SOURCE: MIIT (opens in a new tab), 20 OCT 2026 · “INTELLIGENT COMPUTING” (智能算力) · 1 EXAFLOP = 10¹⁸ OPERATIONS PER SECONDSOURCE: MIIT (opens in a new tab), 20 OCT 2026 · 智能算力
CAPITAL · ALIBABA, TENCENT, BAIDU · Q2 2026 RESULTSCAPITAL · Q2 2026 RESULTS
RMB131.9bn
Capital spending by Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu in the second quarter of 2026, up 114% on a year earlier.Capital spending by Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu in Q2 2026, up 114% on a year earlier.
SOURCE: COMPANY RESULTS; EF CALCULATION · CALENDAR QUARTERSSOURCE: COMPANY RESULTS; EF CALCULATION
ROBOTS · INDUSTRIAL ROBOT OUTPUT · UPDATED 19 OCTINDUSTRIAL ROBOTS · UPDATED 19 OCT
794,781ROBOTS
Industrial robots made in China in January–September 2026: already more than in all of 2025, and up 29.1% on a year earlier.Made in China in Jan–Sep 2026: already more than all of 2025, up 29.1%.
556,369
773,074
794,781
2024
2025
2026 JAN–SEP
SOURCE: NBS (opens in a new tab), 19 OCT 2026 · ENTERPRISES ABOVE DESIGNATED SIZE · GROWTH AS PUBLISHED BY NBSSOURCE: NBS (opens in a new tab), 19 OCT 2026
Today on the frontier
Alibaba Wins Court Order Shielding Its Lobbyists From a Pentagon Contract Ban
A US judge found the lobbying rule tied to the 1260H list likely breaches Alibaba’s free-speech rights, after all its registered lobbyists withdrew in June.
Anthropic’s IPO Filing Flags China Competition, Taiwan Chip Supply and Export Curbs as Risks
Anthropic’s 94 pages of risk factors cover Chinese open-weight rivals, a Chinese state-backed hacking campaign and a June US export curb on its models.
ALSO TODAY
- FUNDINGDeepSeek Steps Up Hiring as It Pitches Investors a New Growth Plan
- APPLIED AIAnt Group’s LingGuang 2.0 AI Assistant Keeps Working After the Chat Ends
- APPLIED AIBaidu Open-Sources an AI Model That Reads Hundred-Page Documents in One Pass
- ROBOTICSXiaomi Picks 21 Joints for Its Robot Hand After Studying 1,827 Factory Tasks
- MARKETSZ.ai Jumps 8.9% on Anthropic’s Filing as China’s AI Hardware Stocks Fall
- APPLIED AIAGIBOT Tests Robots That Teach Themselves on the Job in a Convenience Store
- FUNDINGRobot-Skin Startup MoSense Raises RMB100 Million-Level Round Months After Its Founding
EF MODELS · THE CHINA AI MODEL DATABASE
The whole Chinese model universe, in one place
Organizations, model lines, families, versions and every release event, each traced back to its source.
Latest release events
LIVE FROM EF MODELS · NEWEST FIRST| DATE ↓ | ORGANIZATION | MODEL | EVENT | WEIGHTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-24 | Moonshot AI | Kimi K3.1 Pro Highspeed | API RELEASE | CLOSED |
| 2026-10-23 | Shanghai AI Laboratory | Atria-Dawn | WEIGHTS RELEASE | OPEN |
| 2026-10-23 | Moonshot AI | Kimi K3.1 Pro | API RELEASE | CLOSED |
| 2026-10-22 | Alibaba Group | RynnUnify-Agentic-Reasoner | WEIGHTS RELEASE | OPEN |
| 2026-10-22 | Alibaba Group | RynnUnify-Base | WEIGHTS RELEASE | OPEN |
SHOWING 5 OF 7,985 RELEASE EVENTSFull history with a paid plan →
Who builds China’s models
BIG TECH
AlibabaByteDanceTencentBaiduHuawei
AI LABS
DeepSeekMoonshot AIZhipu AIMiniMaxStepFunBaichuan
RESEARCH INSTITUTES
BAAIShanghai AI LabTsinghua
LISTED AI COMPANIES
iFlytekSenseTime
Coming next to EF Intelligence: EF Companies, then EF Robotics.
The intelligence platform
One account across every database. Each model and company links to the stories and data behind it.
EF Models
LIVE · BETAEvery Chinese AI model, from organization to release event, with its evidence trail.
- ORGANIZATIONS
- 117
- MODEL LINES
- 921
- RELEASE EVENTS
- 7,985
EF Companies
NEXTProfiles of China’s AI and technology companies, linked to the models they build: ownership, funding, listings, and the evidence behind each fact.
Get early accessEF Robotics
PLANNEDChina’s robot makers and their products, from industrial robots to humanoids, tracked release by release.
Get early accessANALYSIS · COMING FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER
China Chose a Different AI Race. Now It Is Being Tested on Its Own Terms.
The West measures the race in frontier benchmarks. China is treating AI as general-purpose infrastructure, diffused across factories, logistics, finance and government. That changes who wins, and how to read the data.
More on Analysis →
Dr. Anders C. Johansson
Founder, EastFrontier
- Deputy Director, Center for Asian Studies, Stockholm School of Economics
- Visiting positions at Harvard, Columbia, Peking University and Fudan
- 30+ peer-reviewed publications; author of a 2022 Vinnova-funded report on China’s AI ecosystem
- Three decades across China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
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