President Donald Trump signed a proclamation imposing a 25% tariff on advanced AI semiconductors produced outside the United States that pass through the country before being exported to other nations, formalising a key component of the U.S. Department of Commerce's December decision to permit Nvidia to ship
Chinese AI laboratory DeepSeek published a research paper on 1st January 2026 introducing Manifold-Constrained Hyper-Connections (mHC), a novel architecture designed to improve AI model performance whilst minimising training costs. The paper, co-authored by DeepSeek founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng, has been cited as a potential game changer in developing AI
Meta Platforms announced on 30th of December that it has acquired Manus, a Singapore-based developer of general-purpose AI agents, in a deal valued at more than $2 billion. Manus, founded in China before relocating to Singapore, introduced its first AI agent in March this year, which can execute complex tasks
China's DeepSeek and Alibaba-backed Moonshot have released new AI models that demonstrate competitive performance against leading Western proprietary systems. DeepSeek launched V3.2 in September and V3.2-Speciale in December, whilst Moonshot introduced Kimi K2 in July and Kimi K2 Thinking in November. Both companies claim that their
In mid-September 2025, Anthropic detected suspicious activity that investigation determined to be a sophisticated espionage campaign in which a Chinese state-sponsored group manipulated Claude Code into attempting infiltration of roughly 30 global targets, including large tech companies, financial institutions, chemical manufacturing companies, and government agencies. Anthropic believes this is the
Scientists at Multiverse Computing, a Spanish firm specialising in quantum-inspired AI techniques, created DeepSeek R1 Slim, a model that's 55% smaller than the original one—and is also censorship-free. Multiverse used a complex approach borrowed from quantum physics that uses networks of high-dimensional grids to represent and manipulate
By 2025, the AI arms race between the United States and China has reached a new level, carrying not only economic but also social consequences. American companies are pouring significant capital into AI development, while China accelerates its industrial and military applications with state support. According to Tim Gordon, Partner
China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) issued a strict directive on September 17, 2025, ordering ByteDance and Alibaba to immediately terminate testing and cancel all existing orders for Nvidia's RTX Pro 6000D chips. Prior to the regulatory decision, several companies had indicated plans to order tens of thousands
Chinese commerce giant Alibaba is developing a new artificial intelligence chip specifically designed for inferencing rather than training tasks. The new semiconductor, created by the company's cloud computing division, represents a significant advancement from its previous Hanguang 800 chip released in 2019. This reflects Chinese technology firms'
China unveiled a comprehensive plan on July 26, 2025 to expand its role in artificial intelligence governance, including the creation of a global cooperation organisation, as Beijing and Washington compete for technological leadership. Chinese Premier Li Qiang warned at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai that AI innovation
China launched the first Humanoid Robot World Games in Beijing on 14 August 2025, where 280 teams from 16 countries and more than 500 robots competed in 487 events across 26 categories. Over three days, the robots took part not only in sporting contests such as running, football and table
Chinese higher education institutions have undergone a significant shift in their approach to AI technologies in education. As demonstrated by a recent Mycos Institute survey showing that AI use has become virtually universal across Chinese universities, with only 1% of faculty and students reporting never using AI tools, while nearly
