The Decoupling That Wasn’t: US Semiconductor Firms Quietly Grow in China Despite years of escalating export controls, tariffs, and political pressure to reduce dependence on the Chinese market, American semiconductor companies are quietly growing their revenues in China.
Forbes China, in partnership with First Momentum, has released the “2026 Forbes China AI TECH Enterprises TOP 50,” providing the most comprehensive annual snapshot of the nation’s artificial intelligence industry.
China has taken a significant step toward standardizing its rapidly growing humanoid robotics industry with the launch of the country’s first full lifecycle management service platform.
Xiaohongshu, the lifestyle and social commerce platform known in the West as RedNote, has made its most significant organizational commitment to artificial intelligence, announcing the creation of “Dots,” a new first-level AI department that consolidates the company’s scattered AI initiatives under a unified leadership structure.
Artificial intelligence is moving out of data centers and into the physical economy at an accelerating pace across China, with commercial applications proliferating in sectors ranging from agriculture and logistics to heavy construction and manufacturing.
A new institutional framework for AI cooperation between China and Southeast Asia has taken shape with the inauguration of the ASEAN-China Artificial Intelligence Industry Innovation Center in Beijing. The Center, formally opened at a ceremony attended by ASEAN Secretary-General Dr.
China’s labor market is experiencing a structural shift driven by artificial intelligence, with demand for AI professionals surging far beyond the technology sector and into industries that have historically had little need for machine learning expertise.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping how retail investors in China and Hong Kong approach the stock market, with major brokerages integrating large language models into their platforms and enabling AI agents to analyze portfolios, generate strategies, and even execute trades.
A major enforcement action in Taiwan has exposed an alleged scheme to smuggle Nvidia H200 AI servers to China, underscoring the persistent and lucrative black market that has emerged around US export controls on advanced semiconductors.
Xiaomi is making its most aggressive bet yet on artificial intelligence, committing more than 60 billion yuan (US$8.8 billion) to AI investments over the next three years.
Huawei has proposed a fundamental rethinking of how semiconductor progress can be achieved without access to the world’s most advanced lithography equipment.
Squirrel AI, the Shanghai-based company that has built China’s most widely deployed AI-powered adaptive learning platform, has reached 52 million students across more than 60,000 schools and learning centers, according to the company’s latest figures.
UNESCO and China have renewed their strategic cooperation framework for the 2026-2029 period, placing artificial intelligence and STEM education at the heart of a partnership that will influence educational policy and practice across more than 190 UNESCO member states.
China’s robotaxi industry has entered a new phase, moving decisively from technology demonstrations and limited pilots to large-scale commercial deployment.
Nvidia has issued a stark warning about the unintended consequences of U.S. export controls on advanced artificial intelligence chips, arguing that the restrictions are not only damaging its own business but are actively accelerating the global expansion of Chinese competitors, particularly Huawei.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade ministers’ meeting in Suzhou concluded on May 23 without any significant breakthroughs, underscoring the depth and persistence of the divisions between the United States and China on issues ranging from tariffs to artificial intelligence governance.
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has announced plans to host the world’s first public auction of humanoid robots during its annual 618 mid-year shopping festival, a move that signals a decisive shift in the commercialization of embodied artificial intelligence in China.
OpenAI has established its first Applied AI Lab outside the United States in Singapore, backed by a commitment of S$300 million (approximately US$235 million) to the city-state’s AI ecosystem.
The integration of artificial intelligence into China’s healthcare system has moved decisively beyond the pilot stage, with AI diagnostic tools now embedded in daily clinical practice at major hospitals and strategic partnerships between Chinese tech giants and global medical institutions reshaping how medical knowledge is generated and applied.
The complete cancellation of President Donald Trump’s proposed artificial intelligence executive order was the result of a coordinated lobbying campaign by some of the most powerful figures in the U.S. technology industry, according to a detailed investigation by The Guardian.
