China-US tech war

In this photo illustration, a video created by OpenAI's newly released text-to-video Sora tool plays on a monitor in Washington, DC, on 16 February 2024. (Drew Angerer/AFP)

OpenAI's Sora causing 'AI anxiety' in China

With the advent of AI text-to-video model Sora developed by OpenAI, it seems that China’s tech sector is getting nervous and looking at how to close the gap with the US, which is set to get bigger if China is unable to create its own similar technology.
AI expert Lee Kai-fu, chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures. (Photo provide by interviewee)

[Video] Future 365: Lee Kai-fu on AI — Painting humanity’s future

In the first of Lianhe Zaobao’s Future 365 interview series, Lianhe Zaobao executive editor Han Yong May speaks to chairman and CEO of Sinovation Ventures Lee Kai-fu, who gives his take on the future of AI and how he thinks it will impact our lives, given the improvements seen over the past decade.
China's cloud providers are venturing into international markets, taking on more established global players. (Adobestock)

China’s cloud giants seek profits abroad as domestic margins dwindle

Chinese cloud providers such as Tencent and Huawei are stepping up their game and entering overseas markets, in competition with global players like Amazon. How will these Chinese cloud giants do in territories like Southeast Asia and the Middle East, especially given the rise of AI and large language models?
A woman looks at a new iPhone 15 Pro and a Huawei Mate 60 Pro as Apple's new iPhone 15 officially goes on sale across China, at an Apple store in Shanghai, China, on 22 September 2023. (Aly Song/Reuters)

China-US smartphone tech war: Apple losing the Chinese market?

China’s smartphone giants have made great strides over the past decade or so, catching up with companies such as Apple in terms of sales as well as research and development. However, there is still a long way to go for China’s smartphone ecosystems to crack the global market.
An AI (artificial intelligence) sign is seen at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, on 6 July 2023. (Aly Song/Reuters)

China's ambiguous attitude towards generative AI

China put forth a draft Degree Law recently that includes harsh consequences for degree holders who use artificial intelligence tools to ghostwrite their dissertations. These aggressive measures reflect a conundrum that the country’s academia and wider community finds themselves in: how can China balance between the desire for technological progress and the fear of losing its identity and autonomy?
Pedestrians walk past an advertisement for Huawei's Mate 60 series smartphones outside a Huawei store in Shanghai, China, 8 September 2023. (Aly Song/Reuters)

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.
People involved in climate activism hold a demonstration in the Financial District of Manhattan to demand an end to fossil fuel funding by Wall Street and the American government on 18 September 2023 in New York City, US. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)

Can the US and China solve the climate crisis for us?

US-China pledges to work together on climate action have been all too familiar, throughout times of changing US administrations and tense US-China relations. Even as cajoling each power to take more action has its limits, the greater danger is a global green technology war that punishes the global south.
Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken 25 February 2022. (Florence Lo/Reuters)

ASEAN's role in the global semiconductor race

Academics Lili Yan Ing and Ivana Markus take stock of the current state of the global semiconductor race between China and the US. While ASEAN is looking to capture a part of the high-tech equipment and supply chain, it still needs to navigate the complex US-China rivalry.
China is placing greater emphasis on S&T and R&D. This picture taken on 22 September 2023 shows an employee from Chinese AR startup Rokid demonstrating an AR helmet at the company's office at the 2022 Asian Games host city Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province. (AFP)

Can a new governance model boost China's chance for innovation-driven growth?

To overcome limitations in chokepoint technologies and improve its investment in basic research, China has rolled out a series of governance changes to the science and technology (S&T) ecosystem. Researcher Qian Jiwei examines the changes which could potentially result in a centralised leadership and decentralised fund allocation mechanism. Will it work?