Q3 2024: China's technology news

China’s technology news headlines across Q3 of 2024 – July, August, September – captured a huge range of developments in technologies and implementations including: the launch of the first batch of Geespace ‘mega-constellation’ satellites; Shein’s new $514 million supply chain hub in Guangzhou; China’s robotaxi achievements, and challenges, in the third quarter; and many more.

China tech in September 2024

August 2024: Tech news, China

China’s tech news in July 2024

Asia’s Tech News, Weekly newsletter >

3rd Quarter: Critical technologies in the news, globally

China Tech News: September 2024

China Manned Space Agency unveils extravehicular lunar suit to be used in the country’s future crewed lunar landing missions. / in full
Xpeng EV maker rolls out first of news S5 supercharger, liquid-cooled and claiming capability to deliver up to one kilometer of range charge in one second / in full
Huawei and Chery Automobile add to Tesla Model Y competition with release of Luxeed R7 all-electric coupe SUV, running on HarmonyOS operating system / in full
PayPal Complete Payments platform is set to launch in China, providing international cross-border payments to merchants. / in full
Tianwen-2 prep is underway for 2.5 year sampling mission from a near-Earth asteroid, launching 2025 and later slingshotting to a second asteroid / in full
Uber and China’s WeRide announce partnership to onboard WeRide’s self-driving vehicles to the Uber platform, with first roll-out set for the United Arab Emirates / in full
Alibaba released over 100 open-source AI models under Qwen 2.5 release, claiming the Max edition surpasses Meta’s Llama and OpenAI’s GPT4 in specific areas / in full
China’s Nio launches first Onvo brand EV, with sights on competition with Tesla’s Model Y / in full
China’s space plans: “As part of the plan, five main scientific themes have been identified for future breakthroughs. These are the extreme universe, space-time ripples, the panoramic view of the Sun and Earth, habitable planets, and biological and physical space science.” / in full
Deep Blue Aerospace completes 10 of 11 tasks with first-of-its-kind reusable kerosene-fuelled Nebula-1 rocket, but crashes at the final stage / in full
The US Commerce Department is expected on Monday to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on American roads… / in full
YMTC, a key player in the flash memory segment, achieves chip design architecture innovation as it responds to ‘tech war’ limitations / in full
China’s efforts to match US computing power in artificial intelligence are being hampered by bug-ridden software… / in full
“According to investigations by Chinese media, data center players have built too much capacity, lack the skills to carry out complex AI processes, and have overestimated demand.” / in full
Proposed regulations set requirements for a range of labels to identify AI-generated content during production, display and distribution / in full
Quicktron warehouse robotics firm secures $100M Series D, with China clients including JD and Cainiao and over 1000 other clients across 20 countries / in full
China & nuclear energy: “The world’s biggest emitter, China’s planning at least 150 new reactors in the next 15 years, more than the rest of the world has built in the past 35. The effort could cost as much as $440 billion; as early as the middle of this decade, the country will surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest generator of nuclear power.” / in full
Landspace successfully completes 10km vertical liftoff, vertical landing test of reusable orbital rocket, targeting first orbital flight in 2025 / in full
Here’s a brief overview of Huawei’s new Mate XT, a first-of-its-kind triple-screen folding smartphone / in full
Geespace, backed by Geely, launched 3rd batch of satellites for ‘megaconstellation’ of near 6000 LEO sats, aiming for global broadband services / in full
“China’s artificial intelligence industry could pour more than US$1.4 trillion into developing the technology in the next six years…” / in full
Shanghai’s Energy Singularity looks to raise $500M to further develop cheaper next-gen nuclear fusion tech with small-scale tokamak reactor / in full
China is to to launch a 2-vehicle Mars sample-and-return mission in 2028, aiming for an optimal Mars launch window that opens for only a few weeks every 26 months / in full
Zhipu AI generative artificial intelligence firm secures major state-backed but undisclosed funding, valuing the firm at approximately $2.8BN / in full
The Netherlands plans to limit ASML Holding NV’s ability to repair and maintain its semiconductor equipment in China… / in full
Huawei to unveil new tri-fold smartphone model on the same day as Apple launches the iPhone 16, with Huawei device reportedly hosting 10-inch screen / in full
“Although a difference in yield still exists, SMIC’s capabilities are approaching a level 3 years behind TSMC…with comparable performance as TSMC’s 5-nm products…” / in full
Over $6BN invested to date in nationwide datacenter network, so far consisting of near 2 million server racks and using energy from China’s West to drive Eastern tech centers / in full
YouTube and Shopee e-commerce platform to launch online shopping service in Indonesia, with sights on wider Southeast Asia, as competition with China’s TikTok grows / in full
India: China’s Lenovo announces AI server manufacturing in India, alongside inauguration of state-of-the-art Infrastructure Solutions R&D lab / in full
“Shares sank more than 30%, wiping out $50 billion in PDD’s [parent firm of Temu and Pinduoduo] market value…” / in full
India: Tata Electronics is to hire 20,000 more employees at Hosur iPhone assembly plant, doubling the workforce to tap into Apple’s aims to boost India manufacturing / in full
Taiwan: Two military officers have been indicted on charges of selling classified documents to China contacts in exchange for Tether cryptocurrency payments / in full

GITEX Asia Tech Conference & Expo: April 2025 in Singapore

India: Taiwan’s Foxconn is mulling construction of a $1BN smartphone display modules assembly facility in Tamil Nadu, with operating model side-stepping China components / in full
“Pacific Island nations, notably Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji, have become significant areas of geopolitical competition…” / in full
‘Will Temu find success in Southeast Asia? A preliminary pricing study from Thailand’ from Cube Asia / in full
Vietnam: An overview of Vietnam’s 10 proposed undersea cabling projects, and concerns around possible participation of a number of China’s cable ecosystem firms / in full
Japan and Australia launch Pacific Digital Development Initiative, focused on Pacific Island nations infrastructure, telecoms, and information security. / in full
Asia Tech Weekly: Malaysia & ASEAN Startups, Geely satellites, Intel & Japan, China & nuclear energy, NZ & Techstars, Nauru & Starlink, Singapore & alt-protein, Indian space-tech & NASA… / in full

WEF: Chief Risk Officers Outlook – October 2024

August 2024: China’s tech news

Zero Gravity Aircraft Industry, maker of a 6-seat electric vertical takeoff & landing vehicle, raised $14M, looking to refine tilt-rotor craft and move into mass production / in full
IBM has reportedly shut down R&D in China, laying off over 1000 employees in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian / in full
“TikTok makes choices about the content recommended and promoted to specific users, and by doing so, is engaged in its own first-party speech,” [US Circuit Judge] Shwartz said. / in full
New communications satellite enters geostationary belt, with ChinaSat 4A satellite reportedly to ‘provide users with voice, data, radio and television transmission services’ / in full
Galactic Energy completes 3rd Ceres-1 solid rocket launch, sending 6 sats into orbit from a mobile sea platform / in full
Download: ‘Towards Green Building Value Chains – China and Beyond’, a June 2024 Insight Report from the World Economic Forum and BCG / in full
Bank of China establishes $4.21 billion fund-of-funds to invest in tech innovations, forming the fund in partnership with local governments and industry / in full
“…[with] Trump saying he wants Bitcoin to be ‘mined, minted and made’ in the US, upstart rivals see an opportunity to finally wrest business from Bitmain…” / in full
Shein gains approval for phase 1 construction on a $514M supply chain hub in Guangzhou, set to span at least 800,000 square metres / in full
Honor smartphone maker, former Huawei unit, gains undisclosed investment from China Mobile parent firm in preparation for IPO / in full
Shein-Temu rivalry hits new low with Temu accused of being an ‘unlawful enterprise built on counterfeiting, theft of trade secrets, infringement of IP rights, and fraud’ / in full
UAV test flight successfully carries near 3.2 tons of cargo, completing 40-minute flight with potential altitude claimed of 7300 metres and 2200km range / in full
Mission proposed to launch an exoplanet observatory in 2028, aiming to detect a potential ‘second Earth’ for the first time / in full
Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area – Beijing E-Town – to focus on key segments of industrial applications chains, with flagship robotics & automation projects / in full
Two spacecraft believed to have successfully reached lunar orbits following initial launch issue that left them stranded in low Earth orbit / in full
“Semiconductor industry leaders predict chip rivalry will lead to supply chain split, with few prioritising Chinese market, survey says” / in full
WeRide self-driving giant delays $440M US IPO, citing need for additional time to address documentation requirements / in full
Avatr, EV JV between state-owned Changan Automobile and CATL battery-maker, takes 10% share in Huawei’s auto subsidiary, Yinwang, looking at full-stack tech integration / in full
CATL EV batteries major has backed AutoFlight eVTOL firm, moving into the low-altitude economy space / in full
AeroHT, electric vertical take-off and landing affiliate of Xpeng EV firm, raised $150M, gaining from the country’s low-altitude economy bid / in full
China’s Gotion High-Tech battery manufacturer takes 25% in Slovak batteries R&D firm, InoBat, building on Volkswagen partnership for European markets / in full
ICYMI: China Energy Engineering Corp inks $972M contract to construct major solar energy plant in Saudi Arabia / in full
China’s ByteDance debuts new text-to-video AI app, Jimeng AI, with speculation around eventual TikTok integration / in full
Infographic: ‘China 2024 – Metrics of a Rising Power‘ from BryceTech / in full
Huawei reportedly in testing phase of newest processor, Ascend 910C, with potential clients told that the chip is comparable to NVIDIA H100 / in full
Digital infrastructure providers told to reduce emissions and energy consumption, plus consider closing small facilities, under new green plan / in full
Country’s largest-yet cargo drone completed 20-minute test run with cargo of 2 metric tons / in full
Two US firms enter strategic collaboration to develop small nuclear battery in bid to narrow gap with China’s coin-sized Betavolt nuclear battery / in full
‘Delayed or on track? Here’s a midpoint report card on China’s bid to be global AI leader by 2030’ via Channel News Asia / in full
“…considered the best-performing open-source LLM family [Facebook] Llama models have become a default foundation model that many Chinese startups use…” / in full
‘For Alibaba and several Chinese AI startups, open-source AI presents an opportunity for faster commercialization and global recognition.’ / in full
Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Tech launch of first G60 mega-constellation sats sees Long March 6A rocket disintegrate, creating hazardous debris cloud / in full
‘HP has set an internal goal of making up to 70% of its notebooks outside China, and is looking at Singapore and Thailand as potential production destinations’ / in full
US is set to issue proposed rule barring China-developed software in autonomous vehicles at Level 3 and above, also delivering US road-test ban / in full
China cyberspace ID: 71 ‘net apps, 10 gov’t apps reportedly in National Network ID Authentication Pilot, including WeChat, Taobao, Xiaohongshu, Tencent’s QQ / in full
Fudan University establishes $56M brain-computer interface research centre in Shanghai / in full
Audi’s new e-cars series will not feature Audi 4-ring logo due to ‘brand image consideration’, given co-development with China’s SAIC, local suppliers & tech / in full
State-run Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Tech launches first batch of G60 mega-constellation sats, with sights on 15K+ sats to overtake Starlink’s 5.5K / in full
“Except for a few top-tier companies…most auto parts companies are meeting demands even at a loss in order to retain customers” / in full
A little more on China’s US IPO-bound Windrose electric trucks firm, offering semi trucks with 670km range under full load, backed by fast-charging claiming 245-mile range in under 36 mins / in full
Mercedes-Benz becomes first foreign automaker approved for Level 4 urban/highway fully-autonomous driving tests in Beijing / in full
Long March 3B rocket places 2nd of new series of high-orbit geostationary comms satellites, providing no images, platform info, potential uses or customer info / in full
Unilateral restrictions on China access to AI chips from suppliers including Micron and SK Hynix, and production equipment, now under US consideration, potentially in force by September / in full
ERIAKOS fraud campaign ID’d by Recorded Future dodges automated safety scans with over 600 mobile-only fake web shops using Facebook ads to steal personal and financial data / in full
“…proposed infrastructure includes…data communication, positioning, navigation… space situational monitoring for ground-based, near-Earth, cislunar, lunar surface & deep space…” / in full
Space Pioneer commercial launch firm continues towards first launch of Tianlong-3 rocket despite uncontrolled launch and explosion in June / in full
Singapore’s DBS Bank and partner, China’s Ant International, roll out blockchain-based instant and multicurrency treasury and liquidity management solution, DBS Treasury Tokens / in full
“In addition to making the chips that power the [AI] boom, the company appeals to many Taiwanese who believe that TSMC’s success will determine the… island’s ability to fend off China” / in full
Malaysia: Maxis telco and Huawei enter strategic collaboration on Joint Innovation Center in Malaysia, looking at wide range of cutting-edge technologies / in full
“”Indonesia will become the 2nd largest [EV battery] material producer in the world, 2nd only to China… fill the gap in Indonesia and even the entire ASEAN battery industry” / in full
India: “The unit in Karnataka will soon become the 2nd-largest Foxconn plant after China’s unit. It will create 40,000 direct jobs, especially for middle-level educated individuals…” / in full
Southeast Asia Outlook 2024-34: “Over the next decade, Southeast Asia should outpace China in GDP growth and foreign direct investment…” / in full

Asian Crime Century: The history of organised crime from Asia

July 2024: China technology

20 localities selected for ‘vehicle-road-cloud integration’ pilot program for intelligent connected vehicles, moving towards a unified, shared standard system for the country / in full
Tesla becomes the only foreign-owned EV car brand on purchase catalog of Jiangsu province gov’t, meaning gov’t agencies and public groups can procure them as service cars / in full
“Taiwan’s TSMC is increasing its supply of 3.5 nm semiconductors. However… China has no way to secure these products… we need to find ways to effectively utilize the 7 nm semiconductors.” / in full
ICYMI: China’s Tianlong-3 rocket suffered an unintended launch and crash, with parent firm Beijing Tianbing, aka Space Pioneer, acknowledging a structural failure / in full
‘Underground network smuggles Nvidia’s AI GPUs into China despite US sanctions — some smugglers even sell entire servers’ / in full
StarShine Semiconductor adds Series B funding of $137.6M with focus on radio frequency filters and modules, with China Mobile and Wenzhou City investment platform taking part / in full
Huawei partners chip foundry, Wuhan Xinxin, and semicon packaging firms for high-bandwidth memory – HBM – chips, aiming for domestic control of AI-focused chips / in full
A brief intro to 8 bioengineering startups, including firms from Japan and China working on alternative proteins, collagen products and industrial biocatalysts / in full
Hozon EV firm preps for Hong Kong IPO, looking at funding to launch export of Neta electric cars into global markets / in full
‘A distributed denial-of-service attack affected, among others, the websites of Macau’s security service, police, fire and rescue services, and the academy for public security forces’ / in full
7th launch of iSpace Hyperbola-1 solid-fuel rocket fails, dropping successful-launch record to just 3 out of 7 / in full
HongShan Capital, formerly Sequoia Capital China, has reportedly established a new $2.5BN tech investment fund, backed by city gov’t and private and state-owned insurance firms / in full
Hong Kong arm of China Pacific Insurance Group partners Swiss crypto bank, AMINA Group, with both leveraging crypto investment advisory, on/off-ramping, trading and custodial services / in full
“Average vacancy rates at logistics properties in east and north China are approaching 20%, the highest in years… More warehouses are being built, which is making the problem worse.” / in full
China’s Xpeng EVs maker unveils plans for cheaper mass-market brand, responding to fierce domestic EV competition, seeing HK share price rise in response / in full
Huawei is suing Taiwan’s MediaTek mobile chip developer over alleged IP infringement, in part to offset impacts of US-led tech restrictions by generating licensing fees and royalties / in full
China’s robotaxis challenges: “Base fares start as low as 4 yuan (55 cents), compared with 18 yuan ($2.48) for a taxi driven by a human…” / in full
Government is testing AI companies’ large language models to ensure systems ’embody core socialist values’ in latest expansion of the country’s censorship regime / in full
3rd phase of ‘Big Fund’ has been established with registered capital of $47BN to focus on semiconductors and other strategic, critical and emerging technologies / in full
Huawei-ZGCMC partnership preps to integrate AI and LLMs across industries including mining, bulk transport, equipment manufacturing, cloud computing and beyond / in full
China adds a 5th Gaofen-11 hi-res imaging satellite to CHEOS constellation, believed capable of image resolution of around 10cm, likely for both civil and military use / in full
“Operating 24/7 without human intervention, [Xiaomi] dark factory offers significant cost savings through reduced labor expenses and elimination of lighting, heating, and cooling costs” / in full
Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering proposes 21-sat network around the moon to provide real-time, high-precision navigation and monitoring / in full
‘The upper stage of China’s Long March 6A rocket appears to be creating numerous pieces of space debris, adding to the growing issue of orbital debris.’ / in full
State-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Tech preps for launch capability boost with approaching 1st launch of Long March 12, capable of 12000kg payload delivery / in full
Xiaomi smartphone giant unveils $330M fully-automated manufacturing, claiming 24/7 operation with no human intervention and targeting annual production of 10M phones / in full
Huawei has completed construction of $1.4BN Lianqiu Lake R&D centre in Shanghai, with 30,000 personnel set to work on semiconductors, wireless technologies, IoT and more / in full
Cyberspace regulator has proposed a ‘cyberspace ID’ for citizens, claiming a protective step for individuals and centralized, rather than per-company, data storage / in full
Windrose electric truck firm aims to raise $200M round before pursuing US IPO, with manufacturing underway in Georgia and sights on European assembly plants / in full
Baichuan AI completes $690M funding round, backed by major tech firms including Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi, becoming the country’s 2nd most-valued AI firm / in full
“The PRC’s advancements… in photonic technology aim to revolutionize the nation and military with chips potentially 1000 times faster than their electronic counterparts.” / in full
On MIT Tech Review: ‘How to access Chinese LLM chatbots across the world’ / in full
China’s International Lunar Research Station: “We hope to work with 50 countries by inviting 500 foreign scientific research institutions, and 5,000 foreign scientific research personnel…” / in full
Peru inks deal with China’s Huawei to train 20,000 Peruvian citizens in new technologies, with a focus on AI tech / in full
Amazon reportedly to add discount section to compete with Temu and Shein featuring low-cost goods for shipping from China to overseas consumers / in full
Japan’s Toyota, partnering with China’s state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group, looks to launch autonomous driving-enabled EV in China, hoping to recover from sales slump / in full
‘China’s subsea strategy and a new data center for Singapore’ from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times / in full
“…reports indicate that Chinese companies have accessed NVIDIA’s latest AI chips… on the US export control list, through overseas servers of American companies Google and Microsoft.” / in full
China’s Chang’e-6 reentry capsule returned to Earth on June 25th, completing 53-day mission and returning with near 2kg of samples from the moon’s far side / in full
Download: ‘How China’s Human Capital Impacts Its National Competitiveness’, a brief from CSIS, the Center for Strategic and International Studies / in full
OnTime AKA Ruqi Mobility, a ride-hailing firm backed by Tencent, looks to raise $179MM in IPO, with trading set for Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July / in full
First 18 satellites commencing build-out of China’s G60 Starlink mega-constellation of over 12,000 satellites is set for August 5th / in full
China’s ByteDance, parent firm of TikTok, is now working with chips firm, Broadcom, on a restrictions-compliant 5 nanometer AI-focused processor design / in full
OpenAI has warned developers in China it will begin blocking access to its tools and software from July, with reasoning not yet provided / in full
“For Chinese undersea cable maker Wuhan FiberHome Int’l Technologies, being banned by the U.S. government is nothing to worry about. It has, in fact, been good for business.” / in full
Thailand: China’s BYD EV giant to open first SEA factory in Thailand’s Rayong province, a $486M facility producing 150,000 vehicles per year / in full
Download: ‘Tokenization of Money – e-HKD and the future of global money movement’ from Visa with HSBC and Hang Seng Bank (pdf link) / in full
Taiwan’s Foxconn unveils plans to invest $137M to construct a new business HQ – in Zhengzhou, China / in full
Cambodia: “Huione Guarantee operates the platform and acts as a guarantor or escrow provider for all transactions… targeted squarely at cyber scam operators.” / in full
Nexperia, semiconductor maker owned by China’s WingTech, to invest $200M in expanding capacity at main production site in Germany, despite growing scrutiny around subsidies / in full
European Union is drafting plans for customs duties on cheap goods from online retailers including Temu, Shein and AliExpress, scrapping duty-free thresholds / in full
Japan to help Philippines with 5G as alternative to Chinese tech for Indo-Pacific infrastructure, building on Palau and Cambodia initiatives, potentially later adding Indonesia and Vietnam / in full
Singapore state investment giant, Temasek, to invest up to $10BN in India over 3 years, seen in part as a response to underperformance on China investments / in full
Australia is to establish a new ‘cable connectivity & resilience centre’ for Pacific Islands nations, looking to provide tech assistance and training across the Indo-Pacific / in full

Wade K Wright: GITEX Asia Tech Voice & Ambassador

Weekly newsletters

For a one-shot round-up of each week’s technology news headlines, gathered across Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific, you should read Asia’s Tech News, Weekly, the Startup News Asia newsletter, on LinkedIn and via Substack.