China May Become the World’s Leader in AI. But at What Cost?
The unprecedented amounts of data Chinese tech giants like Baidu and Alibaba collect is helping accelerate China’s development of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, including facial recognition, automated retail operations,...
China’s ‘Digital City’ Showcases Xi’s Grand Ambition
Transformation of rural backwater into the new Shenzhen is still some way off.
It’s Not Just Facebook: China’s Biggest Tech Company Is Getting Crushed
Tencent (TCEHY) -- the company often referred to as China's Facebook -- has lost more than $70 billion in market value over the past week.
The Battle for Digital Supremacy
“DESIGNED by Apple in California. Assembled in China”. For the past decade the words embossed on the back of iPhones have served as shorthand for the technological bargain between the world’s two biggest economies: America supplies the brains and...
Facebook, Amazon Handicapped as They Follow China Playbook
Amazon and Facebook grabbed headlines with groundbreaking moves last week: segueing into bank accounts and music, respectively. Groundbreaking, that is, for the west—such moves are business as normal in China.
China Protectionism Creates Tech Billionaires Who Protect Xi
China’s tech giants will add star power to the country’s political festivities this week, paying homage to President Xi Jinping and endorsing constitutional changes for him to remain president indefinitely.
A Social Media Tycoon Is Now China’s Richest Man
Tencent CEO Ma Huateng is the country’s highest-ranked person on the Global Rich List published Wednesday by Shanghai-based wealth research firm Hurun Report.
Chinese New Year Means a Spending Spree across East Asia
The Lunar New Year, which kicks off on Feb. 16, is East Asia’s most important holiday season.
This Week in China Tech: Xiaomi’s 460 Investments, Tencent’s Gamble and a New ‘Blockchain Academy’
China’s technology scene is always shifting, and this week we’ve seen big news coming from Xiaomi, Tencent, Wanda, Baidu, among others. Here are the some of the most interesting tech stories out of China you might not have heard about.
How WeChat Came to Rule China
China’s most popular messaging app, WeChat, has always had a close relationship with the Chinese government. The app has been subsidized by the government since its creation in 2011, and it’s an accepted reality that officials censor and monitor...
US-China Biotech Startup XtalPi Lands $15m from Google, Tencent and Sequoia
Google continues to increase its presence in China after it joined Sequoia China and Tencent in a $15 million investment for XtalPi, a U.S.-China biotech firm that uses artificial intelligence and computing to accelerate the development of new...
Google Inks a Patent Deal with Tencent as It Explores Ways to Expand in China
Alphabet‘s (GOOG, +0.31%) Google has agreed to a patent licensing deal with Tencent Holdings (TCTZF, +0.86%) as it looks for ways to expand in China where many of its products, such as app store, search engine and email service, are blocked by...
China's Social Media Giants Want Their Users to Help out with the Crushing Burden of Censorship
China’s social media giants are ramping up efforts to get their users to turn in people circulating taboo content, as the Communist Party further tightens its grip on the country’s internet.
Tech Titans Wage War in China's next Internet Revolution
As Alibaba and Tencent do battle for supremacy, companies and consumers will be caught in the crossfire
Chinese Social Media Giant Is Worth More Than Facebook
Tencent shares closed more than 2% higher in Hong Kong on Tuesday, valuing the social media and gaming giant at around $522 billion, according to FactSet. Facebook is currently worth a little over $519 billion.
China’s Tightening Grip on Tech Giants: DealBook Briefing
If the Chinese government goes through with a plan to gain board seats at some of its country’s top technology players, will that cause problems when those companies go hunting for deals overseas?
China's Two Largest Tech Companies Sign a Deal over the West's Biggest Music
Among the deals being signed that shape the way the world experiences culture, a new partnership will exert a great influence on the flow of content from the world's three remaining major record labels to an enormous and growing marketplace — as...
China’s Tightening Grip on Cyberspace
from Sinica PodcastAdam Segal returns to Sinica to comment on China’s recent cybersecurity law—where it came from, how it changed as it was being drafted, and how it may shape the flow of information in China in the future. Other issues discussed include the...
Alibaba and Tencent Are Showing How Companies Can Get around Beijing's Crackdown on Foreign Deals
The firms, among China’s most important tech giants, are overseeing the merger of two companies they back. Chinese delivery firm 58 Suyun is combining with Hong Kong logistics company GoGoVan — both have raised funds from Alibaba, and Tencent...
China Chatbot Goes Rogue: ‘Do You Love the Communist Party?’ ‘No’
Two chatbots with decidedly non-socialist characteristics were pulled from one of China’s most popular messaging apps after serving up unpatriotic answers about topics including the South China Sea and the Communist party.
In Urban China, Cash Is Rapidly Becoming Obsolete
Almost everyone in major Chinese cities is using a smartphone to pay for just about everything. At restaurants, a waiter will ask if you want to use WeChat or Alipay — the two smartphone payment options — before bringing up cash as a third,...
Kai-Fu Lee on Artificial Intelligence in China
from Sinica PodcastKai-Fu Lee is one of the most prominent figures in Chinese technology. He founded China’s noted early-stage venture capital firm Sinovation Ventures after launching...
Google Is Already Late to China’s AI Revolution
“Some of the major Chinese companies are some of the most sophisticated deep learning and data companies in the world.”
China’s Mobile Economy
China’s Mobile Economy: Opportunities in the Largest and Fastest Information Consumption Boom is a cutting-edge text that spotlights the digital transformation in China. Organized into three major areas of the digital economy within China, this ground-breaking book explores the surge in e-commerce of consumer goods, the way in which multi-screen and mobile Internet use has increased in popularity, and the cultural emphasis on the mobile Internet as a source of lifestyle- and entertainment-based content.
China’s Tencent Bought A 5 Percent Stake in Tesla
Tencent, a Chinese internet giant, is also an investor in Chinese ride-hail player Didi Chuxing.
China’s Weibo Eclipses Rival Twitter’s Market Capitalization
Shares rally on back of Chinese social platform’s ability to monetize subscriber base
Google Play and iOS Apps Demand Surges in India and China
The two leading app stores both experienced a tilt towards Asia in 2016, according to an annual study.
China Is Mad About Hollywood Remakes
Aiming to crack new frontiers in China, Hollywood studios are turning to something familiar: established American films and TV series that can be remade for Chinese audiences.
Traditional Red Envelopes Are Going Digital Thanks To China’s Largest Internet Companies
This year, Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are all offering their own version of online red envelopes.
China's Alibaba Pictures Ousts Senior Board Member After Graft Allegations
The company hasn't been able to contact the former Tencent executive since he was detained by authorities in July.
Hong Kong Is the Happiest Place in China, According to WeChat Posts
Hong Kong is home to the happiest people in Greater China, closely followed by Taiwan, according to Tencent.
The Last Days of the 6 RMB Hotel
from Tencent QQBeginning in 1981 when it opened its doors in the Chinese city of Wuxi in Jiangsu province, the Big Paddy’s Edge Inn attracted some of the city’s most colorful characters. The inn’s proprietor, Gu Qimei, charged a rock-bottom nightly fee of 6...
China’s Disruptors
In September 2014, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised $25 billion in the world’s biggest-ever initial public offering. Since then, millions of investors and managers worldwide have pondered a fundamental question: What’s really going on with the new wave of China’s disruptors?
Tencent Customers Come for the Music, Stay for the Perks
Internet giant tries to pull off something few have achieved in China: get people to pay for digital music.
N.B.A. Signs Deal With Chinese Internet Giant
The N.B.A. will receive $500 million, with $200 million more expected through a revenue-sharing arrangement between the league and Tencent, a social media powerhouse.
China Cities Crack Down on Illegal Cabs Using Car-Hailing Apps
The Chinese capital will impose fines of as much as 20,000 yuan ($3,200) each on 41 unauthorized vehicles that offered rental services via the apps, CNR said Jan. 7.
Billions of Hours Wasted: Candy Crush Comes to China
Tencent will promote King Enterainment's highly addictive game on its mobile chat application WeChat, which now has 355 million monthly active users.
A Wrinkle to Those Hot Chinese Tech IPOs
Investors, ready your wallets. In the past week, Sina Weibo, China’s massive microblogging platform with 280 million users, and...
‘Self-Media’ Pushes and Beijing Pushes Back
Michelle Song, twenty-four, studies international relations at Beijing’s prestigious Peking University and lives in a dormitory, so she doesn’t watch television regularly and doesn’t subscribe to newspapers. But this has not hampered her ability...
China Approves Pilot Plan to Set Up 3-5 Private Banks
In a step to boost financial support for cash-starved smaller firms, The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has announced its plan to maintain “prudential regulatory standards” in approving private banks.
China’s Tencent Expands Search Engine Presence With Sogou Deal
Tencent is spending $448 million to buy a 36.5 percent stake in Sogou, a local search engine owned by Chinese company Sohu.com. As part of the deal, Tencent’s own search engine, Soso, will merge with Sogou, the companies said....
Monster Zombie Spider to Crush Super Mario’s China Dreams
Can Nintendo’s Super Mario take on Tencent Holding’s giant, undead Spider? As the country ends a 13-year ban on consoles, a generation of gamers have grown used to a free online model and increasingly migrating to mobile devices.
Alibaba Duels With Tencent for Online Dominance in China
Two of China’s richest men are intensifying their rivalry over the world’s biggest Internet market. Both have made purchases and encroached on each other’s established markets in the battle for dominance of the country’s online spending. ...
Tencent Lets WeChat’s Rapid Growth Do the Talking
Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s free messaging service, WeChat, has seen its popularity grow among both individual users and businesses, even amid a dispute with the Big Three telecom operators [China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom].
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WeChat War Escalates, Becomes Showdown Between Government And Internet Users
Most Internet users believe that China’s three state-owned telecom operators are pushing for the introdction of a fee scheme to popular messaging app WeChat because their core SMS and voice business are threatened by the app....
The End of Chinese Internet Civility
from Sinica PodcastSimmering tensions between Qihoo 360 and Tencent broke into open war last week, as Tencent disabled its chat software on computers running 360 antivirus software. This move was the most aggressive yet in a serious of escalating attacks between...