5G

Has China's chip sector reached the end of the line?

While many are impressed by the release of Huawei's Mate series smartphone equipped with 7-nanometre chips, some would believe that China has reached the pinnacle of its semiconductor development. Commentator Gu Erde takes a look at China's chip sector thus far as it grapples with the US's tech blockade.

Gu Erde

10 Oct 2023

Taiwan lacks young passionate workers in semiconductor industry

Taiwan's semiconductor sector is booming, but the long hours and tough work is driving away the younger generation, who are opting for careers that provide work-life balance. How can the Taiwan government and tech enterprises attract new blood into this industry that is critical to Taiwan's economic growth?

Lee Chee Yang

07 Nov 2022

The end of the global chip shortage: Now, chips won't sell

The global semiconductor shortage seems to be over as demand for consumer electronics falls, leaving smartphone manufacturers stuck managing high inventories. However, China's wafer foundry expansion momentum has not slowed, as part of the country's core objective to develop the sector amid tightened US sanctions.

Caixin Global

28 Oct 2022

Singaporean in China: China's poor no longer beg, they livestream

Former journalist Jessie Tan muses over the phenomenon of those in need transitioning from begging on the streets to selling goods on Douyin. While the poor or disabled have been given a more dignified and effective source of income, this is just one aspect of the good that comes with social media and technology.

Jessie Tan

16 Sep 2022

China's 5G ambitions undiminished by pandemic and sanctions

While China has accelerated its push to build the infrastructure and to promote 5G among telcos and subscribers, it still faces a shortage of exciting new 5G applications that will draw in a constant stream of consumers or find wider industrial use. Amid a hostile external environment, it also faces some challenges in rolling out 5G and other advanced digital technologies through the Digital Silk Road. Nonetheless, it plans to go full steam ahead.

Erik Baark

26 Jul 2022

Metaverse: What is it and who's in control?

The phrase "metaverse" has been bandied about but what exactly is it and how far along is the project? Academic James Pang and entrepreneur Liang Xinjun explain that the implications of this development are larger than most think. The metaverse is not so much a sub-world to enter into on the side but the integration of the real and virtual worlds and economic systems, essentially creating a new world with new governance structures and norms. US and Chinese firms are, of course, racing to get a big slice of the future.

James Pang, Liang Xinjun

21 Mar 2022

Huawei digital talent programme: Another source of China's soft power in Indonesia

Huawei's digital talent programme in Indonesia is contributing to China's soft power as the latter seeks to engage Indonesia as an important node of its Belt and Road Initiative. Indonesia stands to gain from the exchange but also needs to be wary of possible cybersecurity concerns.

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, Yeta Purnama

03 Feb 2022

Why TSMC will stay rooted in Taiwan despite pressure to set up overseas chip factories

While the US and Japan would like TSMC to "spread the risk" of global tech supply chains being hit in the event of cross-strait tensions, TSMC is quite firm on keeping its advanced technologies in Taiwan while going through the motions of setting up some overseas outposts as recommended by its allies. It is well aware of its strategic value and will want to hold on to its upper hand.

Woon Wei Jong

27 Jan 2022

Metaverse: A chance to build a better world

Academic Pei Sai Fan says that one should dream big with the metaverse and not only see it as a new avenue of making money. By creating a new virtual universe from scratch, we can make good use of the blockchain-based metaverse to promote an equitable, more transparent and more inclusive rules-based international digital currency and financial system and enhance the global governance system to deal with issues facing all countries. This would require a global approach and China is well placed technologically to actively participate and lead the effort with like-minded nations in creating such a metaverse. It would be a pity if countries squandered such an opportunity to truly build a better world for all mankind.

Pei Sai Fan

26 Nov 2021

China's cloud war: Huawei leading the three-cornered fight? [Part 1]

In recent years and since the pandemic led to the surge in live streaming, e-learning and other online activities, the demand for cloud computing and related services has increased significantly. Chinese companies led by frontrunners Huawei, Tencent and Alibaba are launching into all-out competition in the cloud services sector. In particular, Huawei Cloud experienced a surge in year-on-year earnings of 168%, despite US sanctions. Huawei Cloud is also aiming to clinch the top spot in the sector, erstwhile occupied by Alibaba Cloud. Caixin journalist Zhang Erchi takes a deep dive into the issue to get a sense of who's really leading the fight. In part one of the story, he focuses on Huawei.

Caixin Global

23 Jul 2021

Didi COO and family called 'traitors': Chinese tech entrepreneurs now public enemies on social media?

If being removed from app stores is not enough, ride-hailing giant Didi is making the headlines for another debacle. COO Jean Liu; her father, Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi; and her grandfather, the late patent lawyer Liu Gushu, are being vilified on Weibo for alleged misdeeds and being "traitors to the country". Amid tense US-China relations and domestic nationalism in overdrive, will internet giants like Didi be easy targets and buckle under the pressure? Zaobao's China Desk files this report based on various Chinese media sources.

China Desk, Lianhe Zaobao

08 Jul 2021

A former Singapore journalist remembers a very different China in the 1980s

Former journalist Teo Han Wue chuckles as he recalls his first assignment in China covering an international Confucianism conference in Qufu, Confucius' hometown in Shandong. Telecommunications facilities then were a far cry from the advances in 5G or AI that China enjoys now. Even sending a facsimile was a comedy of errors.

Teo Han Wue

14 May 2021