September’s month-end technology news from China
China’s tech and startup news headlines in September 2021 covered items, articles, reports, applications and developments including: WeRide’s autonomous cargo vans; NFTs of China’s UNESCO-recognised heritage wall-paintings; Didi’s ride-hailing ambitions in Africa; Pinduoduo’s moves into agri-tech and agri-related funding; UnionPay and Stripe’s growing partnership; and many more.
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- Download: China Internet Report – How the platform business model is powering China’s digital economy, from Bain & Co, AliResearch and Baidu (pdf)
- China’s UnionPay card network and US payments giant Stripe deepen partnership allowing Stripe sellers to take payments from UnionPay cardholders, including in Chinese currency
- SCMP China Internet Report 2021, available to download now
- China: Banking officials now working with fund managers and insurers to explore CBDC use beyond low-value daily retail payments
- China: LLVision Tech releases eyewear that converts speech into text in real-time for hearing-impaired people, using augmented reality and artificial intelligence
- China: The CareVoice health insurtech firm gains backing with services including plug-and-play open platform allowing insurers to manage their own ecosystem and create their own solutions
- China: Beijing municipal gov’t reportedly has proposed consortium investment in Didi Global, giving state-run firms control of the world’s largest ride-hail company
- China: Economic planning body approves national grid operator trials using blockchain for green power trading
- ICYMI: In July, China’s first blockchain-based carbon offset certificate was issued, the first of the country’s steps towards building a national carbon trading platform
- China’s Bitmain bitcoin mining giant inks deal with data center and power partners Bit5ive and ISW Holdings to house 56000 AntMiner units in US state of Georgia
- China: WeRide unveils its first autonomous cargo van, partnering for mass production with JMC
- China: Xiaomi tech giant reportedly to debut its first electric vehicle in 2024, following recent acquisition of DeepMotion autonomous driving firm
- China: Sanya, tourist destination in Hainan province, to hand out 28K e-CNY red envelopes worth $1.55M through lottery
- China: DeepRouteAI autonomous driving technology firm gains $300M backing from Alibaba Group and others with focus on medium-duty trucks and robotaxis
- China: Tencent partners Dunhuang Academy for NFTs of UNESCO world heritage site wall paintings of Mogao Caves – on a blockchain that demands real-name ID verification
- China: Alibaba launches new dropshipping solution and $500K grant program to boost SME e-commerce capabilities
- China: A look at the winners from TechNode’s recent OTEC-Emerge Technology Awards, working in electric and autonomous vehicles, fintech, blockchain and more
- China: Shanghai Maritime University and Conflux blockchain startup launch finance-focused research lab, in part to look at offshore digital yuan transactions
- China: Didi ride-hail giant soon to launch in Lagos, Nigeria, building on presence in 17 countries globally
- China: Pinduoduo launches 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative to boost sustainable agri-tech and digitization of the country’s farming industry, backed by $1.5BN fund
- China: JPMorgan to process US credit card payments for Alibaba’s B2B sales unit based in China, working with Alipay to facilitate transactions
- China: Bytedance to roll out music streaming app with team behind Douyin overseeing the build-out and incorporating copyright managment, licensing and distribution
- China: ByteDance imposes 40-minutes-per-day time limit for under-14s on Douyin, in-country version of TikTok video app
- China: Oppo Communication Lab unveiled, with sights on end-to-end 5G research and development in partnership with Ericsson and others
- China: NIO electric vehicles major sets sights on completion of 1230km battery-swapping network touching on 5 north-south expressways by Chinese New Year 2022
- China: General Motors to invest $300M in Momenta autonomous driving startup, aiming for mass-production self-driving vehicles running on real-time data
- People’s Bank of China announces that virtual currencies “are not legal and should not and cannot be used as currency in the market”
- China: Lithuania National Cyber Security Centre urges citizens to replace Xiaomi and Huawei phones following research finding risk of remote censorship and data transmission
- China: Black Sesame Technologies approaches $2BN valuation with artificial intelligence-based self-driving vehicle computing chips
- China: Geely auto giant steps into high-end consumer devices space with launch of new company, in part aiming to build on in-car services and supporting data ecosystems
- Vietnam: Homefarm e-commerce focused imported food chain gains backing from Alibaba eWTP Technology and Innovation Fund
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