China

Don’t ignore Asia tech

A lot can change in 12 years. When I joined TechCrunch in 2012, I was the only writer it had based out of Asia. For several years, it often felt like I was writing to correct misperceptions I saw in m

Ex-Meta employees’ Aptos tests Hong Kong’s crypto appetite

Ever since Hong Kong legalized cryptocurrency trading last June, blockchain projects from the West have been paying more attention to the Asian financial hub. Aptos, the a16z- and Tiger Global-backed

Alibaba staffer offers a glimpse into building LLMs in China

Chinese tech companies are gathering all sorts of resources and talent to narrow their gap with OpenAI, and experiences for researchers on both sides of the Pacific Ocean can be surprisingly similar.

Spyware leak offers ‘first-of-its-kind’ look inside Chinese government hacking efforts

Over the weekend, someone posted a cache of files and documents apparently stolen from the Chinese government hacking contractor, I-Soon. This leak gives cybersecurity researchers and rival government

Backed by Chinese carmaker Great Wall, Haomo raises $14M for autonomous driving tech

After a few years of funding frenzy, autonomous driving companies in China are experiencing a slowdown in investment. Some companies are still hauling in capital, though the era of bankrolling several

China’s Moonshot AI zooms to $2.5B valuation, raising $1B for an LLM focused on long context

The race to build the next big large language model is on, and now a contender out of China has reportedly banked a major round of funding to catapult it to the front of the pack. Moonshot AI, an arti

Alibaba faces reckoning with once-vaunted ‘new retail’ strategy

In 2017, “new retail” began appearing in Alibaba’s earnings reports. Coined by the Chinese e-commerce behemoth, the term “new retail” refers to the seamless integration o

China’s generative video race heats up

On Monday, Tencent, the Chinese internet giant known for its video gaming empire and chat app WeChat, unveiled a new version of its open source video generation model DynamiCrafter on GitHub. It&#8217

Despite global frenzy, investor enthusiasm in China’s AI startups wanes

In 2023, the global frenzy around artificial intelligence, fueled by the advent of ChatGPT, swept across the world. In China, where OpenAI’s chatbot is unavailable, startups and tech incumbents

China’s XPeng is bringing its Tesla FSD equivalent to overseas owners

XPeng, Tesla’s challenger from China, has its eye on the international market and plans to use its smart driving software as a selling point. The Guangzhou-based electric vehicle upstart said at

Facing roadblocks, China’s robotaxi darlings apply the brakes

A few years ago, robotaxis were the darlings of venture capitalists in China. A cadre of audacious startups, including Deeproute.ai, WeRide.ai, Pony.ai and Momenta reeled in hundreds of millions of do

Propelled by ‘science for humanity,’ this Chinese AI startup sets sight on US

Amid rising geopolitical tensions, many Chinese tech companies find themselves recalibrating their overseas pursuits, often sidestepping any reference to their origin. One bold startup called DP Techn

Your robotaxi ride in China is monitored – with video and audio recordings

When it comes to spurring the development of cutting-edge technologies, the Chinese government is rather pragmatic in its policymaking process. In the field of autonomous driving, the country has made

China’s WeRide tests autonomous buses in Singapore, accelerates global ambition

After years of aggressive expansion at home, China’s autonomous vehicle upstarts are now setting their gaze on overseas markets. WeRide, in particular, has been on a licensing spree. On Monday,

US-China tech war escalates over EV battery dominance

Semiconductors have in recent years become a focal point in the U.S.’s efforts to impede China’s technological advancement. Now Washington has its eye on yet another red-hot tech sector wh

Deal Dive: Making the clean energy transition, well, cleaner

Nth Cycle is one of the few startups tackling the cleantech's carbon-heavy supply chain and building a cleaner infrastructure for the sector.

Vancouver’s Fantuan raises $40M to deliver real Asian food at your doorstep

For those who move abroad from China, one thing they miss dearly is the convenience of food delivery apps. Fantuan, a Vancouver-based company, has been working on replicating the experience of Chinese

As Temu shakes up global e-commerce, PDD nears overtaking Alibaba

PDD, the firm behind the fast-growing shopping app Temu, is shaking up China’s Big Tech club. On Thursday, news of Alibaba’s market cap sliding under that of PDD made headlines all over th

Nvidia taps China talent for autonomous driving endeavors

Nvidia has long been involved in the development of autonomous vehicle technologies, providing the industry with graphic processing units that can perform millions of calculations simultaneously. Now

Fate of US venture capital in China teeters on uncertainty

On a weekday afternoon at Red Rock Coffee, the café known for spotting venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, one is likely to overhear a few conversations in Mandarin. With China reopening its borde
Load More