Critical Themes
What happens when artificial intelligence leaves the office, the laboratory and the computer screen—and enters a neighbourhood bar? In Beijing’s Zhongguancun technology district, the answer is AGI Bar, an unusual meeting place where customers can discuss AI over drinks and access DeepSeek computing tokens through the bar’s Wi-Fi network. The venue has become a gathering … Read more
In the race to manufacture the world’s most advanced semiconductors, two photolithography technologies dominate discussions: Deep Ultraviolet (DUV) and Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV). As of August 2026, the contrast between these approaches has sharpened due to major breakthroughs on both sides. Understanding DUV vs EUV is essential for anyone following chipmaking, AI hardware demand, or geopolitical … Read more
China’s AI race has entered another high-stakes phase. On August 3, 2026, Alibaba introduced Qwen3.8-Max, its most powerful artificial intelligence model yet, intensifying competition with domestic rival Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 and global leaders such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. The launch comes amid a surge of Chinese frontier AI models, with companies racing to … Read more
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a race to build the smartest model—it has become a race over who owns intelligence itself. One technical method, AI Distillation, has suddenly become one of the world’s hottest AI topics after the United States accused a leading Chinese AI company of using the technique to copy advanced American … Read more
Artificial intelligence is no longer just a technology race—it is becoming a contest over who writes the global rules. That competition took a major turn in July 2026 when China formally launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (WAICO), a new international body designed to shape AI governance and expand access to AI technologies, particularly … Read more
China’s AI race has entered a new phase. Moonshot AI has officially unveiled Kimi K3, describing it as the world’s first open-weight AI model to reach the 3-trillion-class, with 2.8 trillion parameters, a 1-million-token context window, and native multimodal capabilities. Although Moonshot admits Kimi K3 still trails leading proprietary models such as OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Sol … Read more
Reusable rockets have transformed the economics of spaceflight. Traditionally, rockets were discarded after a single mission, making every launch expensive. Today, major space powers are developing reusable launch systems that can fly multiple times, dramatically reducing launch costs, increasing mission frequency, and supporting ambitious plans for lunar exploration, satellite deployment, and human spaceflight. The United … Read more
One machine. Five clues. Buried underground. Powerful enough to recreate earthquakes, dam failures, and geological processes that normally take centuries. All real. All 2025–2026. A household washing machine spins clothes at roughly 2g. This machine can generate forces approaching 2,000 times Earth’s gravity on multi-tonne objects. China switched it on in late 2025. Scientists say … Read more
One element. Six clues. Hidden inside your smartphone, your fighter jets, your solar panels — and now at the centre of the US-China trade war. All real. It melts in your palm. China controls 80% of global supply. In December 2024, Beijing pulled the trigger and banned its export to the United States. Defense contractors … Read more
China’s semiconductor self-reliance is no longer a slogan. It’s shipping. At its annual cloud summit in Hangzhou this week, Alibaba’s chip subsidiary T-Head unveiled the Zhenwu M890 — its most powerful artificial intelligence processor to date — claiming three times the performance of its predecessor and positioning it squarely as a domestic answer to Nvidia’s … Read more