Robotics

China’s AI-driven robotics boom faces IPO reality check

China’s strides in “embodied AI” — the integration of artificial intelligence into physical systems like robots — is built on world-class manufacturing and bold investor bets. But with IPOs looming, startups must prove their robots can generate real commercial value — not just hype.

Caixin Global

31 Jul 2026

The new AI blocs: Are China’s WAICO and America’s Pax Silica splitting the tech world?

China’s WAICO and the US-led Pax Silica represent two competing approaches to AI governance. As both gain traction, the question is whether they will create rival technological spheres or coexist within a shared global framework, says academic Hao Nan.

Hao Nan

24 Jul 2026

Michael Wee: Why Singapore’s PATEC chose Taiwan over SGX

PATEC founder Michael Wee shares why he listed his precision engineering company in Taiwan, how AI revived its hard disk drive business, and his plans for PATEC’s next phase of growth in this interview with Lianhe Zaobao associate business editor Chew Boon Leong.

Chew Boon Leong

22 Jul 2026

How China’s changing the brain-computer interface race

By taking a semi-invasive approach to developing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) — systems that link brain signals to computers — China is moving ahead of the US in commercialising BCI applications. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Sha examines this development.

Liu Sha

20 Jul 2026

AI drives markets as valuations race ahead of earnings

From Wall Street to Shanghai, stock markets are hitting record highs as investors crowd into a narrowband of AI and semiconductor giants, turning the rally into a concentrated surge rather than a broad advance. But with gains increasingly reliant on a handful of megacap companies, is the AI boom an overstretched bubble?

Caixin Global

11 May 2026

[Big read] China’s young workers pay the price of AI before reaping the gains

Jobs are not only being replaced by artificial intelligence, those seemingly secure will be restructured, with different tasks or a cut in pay. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Li Kang speaks with Chinese employees who are feeling the impact to find out what they are doing to secure their future.

Li Kang

14 Apr 2026

Who steers AI: China’s industrial state vs America’s frontier builders?

As AI ultimately is controlled by people, capital and intentions, understanding the US and China’s different approaches to AI will help to unlock the trajectory of Al development of the future, beyond the rhetoric of an AI “war” or counting who’s winning, says Danish academic Erik Baark.

Erik Baark

14 Apr 2026

[Big read] The dangers of unchecked AI on the battlefield

As AI is increasingly used in military action, how far do we go in letting AI decide who and what to strike? Is human accountability no longer applicable? Lianhe Zaobao associate foreign editor Poh Hwee Hoon tells us more.

Poh Hwee Hoon

02 Apr 2026

[Big read] Li Zexiang: The professor behind China’s drone boom and its future engineers

When DJI CEO Frank Wang’s undergraduate project failed, most would have turned him away. But Professor Li Zexiang, a leading innovator in China’s engineering education, recognised his potential and took him under his wing. Han Yong May, deputy editor-in-chief of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, sits down with Li as part of Lianhe Zaobao’s Future 365 interview series, to find out how his new engineering education system is building a new generation of engineers.

Han Yong May

17 Mar 2026

[Big read] Xiang Biao: The life we miss while chasing the future

Amid the onslaught of AI, how do we preserve our humanity? Anthropologist Xiang Biao speaks with Lianhe Zaobao associate editor and Fukan editor Woo Mun Ngan as part of Lianhe Zaobao’s Future 365 interview series, saying the best way to stay human is to focus on the present and appreciate what surrounds us.

Woo Mun Ngan

16 Mar 2026

The Buddha’s lesson for robots: Who’s real, who’s not?

The recent showcase of the ability and appearance of humanoid robots during China’s Spring Festival Gala has set off a storm of discussion on whether robots that are indiscernible from humans are welcomed or not. Academic Zhang Tiankan notes that while robots can take over menial work, it must never hold a higher status than humans.

Zhang Tiankan

06 Mar 2026

Exoskeletons offer consumer robotics a chance to find its footing

Robotic exoskeletons, or devices that can sense and adapt to users’ movements, providing synchronised assistance to help them walk or climb, are giving consumer robotics a real shot at mainstream success — but will China seize the lead in shaping the future of everyday robots?

Caixin Global

06 Mar 2026