Chinese tech giant Alibaba plans to implement a revenue-sharing model for large commercial users of its upcoming Qwen open-source AI model, marking a shift toward monetizing its previously free AI offerings. The move follows similar licensing approaches by other AI companies and details are expected to be announced next week.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has restarted its second funding round targeting 50 billion yuan ($8 billion) at a pre-money valuation of 500 billion yuan ($74 billion), while simultaneously announcing significant price hikes for its services amid surging global demand.
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings announced the international availability of its flagship Hy3 large language model on August 5, 2026, just one month after the model's official July 6 release, making it accessible globally through its WorkBuddy, cloud, and developer platforms.
China's state broadcaster aired footage of the People's Liberation Army Air Force's intelligent strike-planning system, which uses artificial intelligence to coordinate simultaneous strikes by more than 100 tactical units with split-second precision after passing final live-fire tests.
The White House is excluding open-weight AI models from its voluntary framework to test advanced AI capabilities, even as Chinese developers dominate this category and industry leaders debate whether open models from China pose security risks or benefits. The policy shift comes amid growing concerns that China is winning the AI race through open-source releases.
China has updated its integrated-circuit layout design protection regulations, introducing stricter registration requirements and allowing punitive damages up to five times actual losses for serious infringement. The revised rules, signed by Premier Li Qiang, take effect October 15, 2026, marking the first major overhaul since 2001.
ByteDance released Seedance 2.5 generating 30-second video clips with native audio, while MiniMax launched H3 producing 15-second 2K clips with stereo audio. The near-simultaneous releases underscore China's aggressive advances in AI video generation.
Chinese social media platform RedNote (Xiaohongshu) is planning to build a major data centre facility in Inner Mongolia autonomous region valued at US $2.2 billion, reflecting China's broader push to expand AI infrastructure capabilities.
Chinese state media released footage showing a Type 052D destroyer launching a YJ-20 hypersonic anti-ship missile for the first time, signaling wider deployment of the advanced weapon across China's most numerous destroyer class. The missile is estimated to reach speeds of Mach 6-10 with extended range capabilities.
Beijing-based AI startup Moonshot AI has secured $3.5 billion in funding at a $35 billion valuation, far exceeding its initial $1-2 billion target. The round follows the company's release of its K3 model, which approached the performance of frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites in China as a World Heritage Site during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea on July 25, 2026. Tencent announced digital initiatives using AI and gaming technology to help preserve and promote the ancient porcelain tradition.
A 6-year-old girl died after receiving experimental gene-editing therapy for a non-life-threatening neurodevelopmental condition in Shanghai, with her death kept secret until uncovered by an investigation by Science and Retraction Watch. The family reportedly paid over $800,000 for the treatment.
MetaX Integrated Circuits, a Shanghai-based GPU chip designer valued at $48 billion, has confidentially filed for a secondary listing in Hong Kong, targeting an IPO by end of 2026. The company completed its Shanghai IPO in December 2025 and has seen its share price surge 685% since then.
Insilico Medicine CEO Alex Zhavoronkov told Reuters that the company typically reaches a developmental drug candidate in 13 months, with a record of nine months, by combining AI with its research operations in China. Reuters reported that China has become a major hub for next-generation medicine development, aided by lower research costs and streamlined regulation.
For the first time, two Chinese nationals have been awarded the Fields Medal, mathematics' highest honor. Hong Wang and Yu Deng were recognized for solving century-old problems, marking a milestone in China's scientific advancement.
Chinese President Xi Jinping used a major technology conference in Shanghai to advocate for international cooperation on AI development and governance, arguing that artificial intelligence should not be dominated by a single country. The speech came as US President Trump accused China of exploiting American election data.
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged international collaboration on artificial intelligence development and governance at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, arguing AI should be a 'symphony of global cooperation' rather than dominated by any single nation. The conference featured a China-led AI alliance backed by 29 countries and included announcements of AI research and training initiatives for developing nations.
China implemented new regulations on July 15, 2026, prohibiting AI chatbots from fostering emotional dependency or replacing real relationships, forcing ByteDance's Doubao and Alibaba's Qwen to shut down their personalized AI companion features used by hundreds of millions of users.
An opinion article in China's Supreme People's Procuratorate newspaper outlined a framework for prosecuting crypto money laundering, including presuming criminal intent when mixers or privacy coins are used.
A deadly fire broke out at a shoe factory in Jinjiang, Fujian province, killing 28 people in one of China's deadliest industrial blazes in recent years. President Xi Jinping has ordered a full investigation and rescue effort.
On July 9, 2026, China's National Health Commission added injectable semaglutide and 115 other drugs to its National Essential Medicines List — the first update in eight years — expanding the catalog to 794 medicines effective September 1, 2026, while domestic oral GLP-1 candidates from Hengrui and Gan & Lee advanced in clinical trials.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman publicly stated that the United States is "very much in a space race" with China, as both nations compete to land astronauts on the Moon before the end of the decade. Isaacman acknowledged China's rapid advancement and indicated the timeline is now measured in months rather than years.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba has banned its employees from using Anthropic's AI coding assistant Claude Code after an internal security audit identified potential security risks, including concerns about hidden code that could track China-linked users.
Lam Wing-kee, the Hong Kong bookseller who was abducted and detained by mainland Chinese authorities in 2015 and later publicly recounted his ordeal, has died in Taiwan at age 70. Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te expressed deep sadness at his passing.
A small aircraft crashed into Beijing's CITIC Tower, the city's tallest building at 109 stories, causing damage and evacuations. The incident raises questions about how the plane could have flown into the heavily fortified Chinese capital.
A light aircraft crashed into Beijing's tallest building, the 109-story CITIC Tower, on Friday, June 26, 2026, killing the pilot and injuring 13 people on the ground. The plane, reportedly used for pilot training, evaded strict aviation controls before slamming into the skyscraper in a busy downtown district.
China's National Medical Products Administration has approved satricabtagene autoleucel (Satri-cel, CT041, Kaileimei®), marking the first CAR-T cell therapy approved globally for treating solid tumors, specifically for CLDN18.2-positive, HER2-negative advanced gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma.
Tencent Holdings has begun testing a new AI assistant for WeChat as part of efforts to catch up with competitors in China's AI race. The integration brings AI capabilities to one of the world's largest messaging platforms with over a billion users.
DeepSeek has completed its first-ever external funding round, raising over 50 billion yuan ($7.4 billion) at a valuation exceeding $50 billion, using an unusual deal structure designed to preserve founder control. The funding marks a significant milestone in China's AI ambitions and positions DeepSeek as China's most valuable AI startup.
China's Ministry of State Security has claimed that foreign espionage agencies are deploying sea creatures fitted with tracking and monitoring devices to gather intelligence on the country's coastal waters and defenses.
Chinese AI lab Moonshot AI launched Kimi K2.7 Code, a one-trillion parameter open-weights coding model priced up to 12x cheaper than GPT-5.5 and Claude Opus 4.8, though it trails those models in performance benchmarks and lacks independent verification.
China is constructing a structure at the disputed Scarborough Shoal near the Philippines, prompting Manila to demand its removal while Beijing banned the Philippine defense chief from entry. The U.S. has deployed naval assets to monitor the situation as Chinese vessels also entered waters near Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba island.
A court in Qingdao, China sentenced a man surnamed Zhang to 10 years and nine months in prison for stealing 107 Bitcoin from victim Feng after memorizing most of the 12-word wallet recovery phrase. The ruling establishes legal precedent by treating Bitcoin as property under Chinese law.
Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is close to finalizing approximately $7 billion in funding from investors including Tencent Holdings, CATL, NetEase, and JD.com, in one of China's largest startup financings. The round would value the company at between $52-59 billion.
Shanghai-based AI company MiniMax has unveiled its M3 flagship model designed for coding agents and automated workflows, featuring a one-million-token context window. The launch enters the competitive open-source AI coding space, though the company has stopped short of a full open-source commitment.
President Donald Trump will travel to Beijing this week for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the first visit by a U.S. president to China since 2017. The high-stakes meeting comes amid trade tensions, with China signaling readiness for confrontation while also expressing interest in greater stability in bilateral relations.
Following Beijing's blocking of Meta's acquisition of Manus and signals from China's securities regulator, AI startups including Moonshot AI and StepFun are reportedly ditching offshore structures to register directly in China for future public listings.
