The Ministry of Commerce has initiated a formal investigation into Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of the Singapore-based, Chinese-founded AI firm Manus, citing potential risks to national data security and technology sovereignty. Officials stated that cross-border mergers involving critical “agentic AI” capabilities must strictly comply with export control laws, signaling a potential regulatory hurdle for the deal.
BYD’s luxury subsidiary Denza has reported record sales for its flagship N9 SUV, which has been marketed heavily on its “robotic” autonomous capabilities and the proprietary e3 drive system. The vehicle, which features independent motor steering and “crab-walking” maneuverability, has become a symbol of the converging automotive and robotics supply chains in the Greater Bay Area.
The Hangzhou-based AI laboratory DeepSeek has confirmed that its latest “R1” large language model has amassed over 22 million active users within just three weeks of its release. The model, which reportedly keeps training costs significantly below international averages while matching GPT-4 class performance, has been integrated into services used by one-third of Chinese internet users.
Eight central departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, have jointly issued a directive to secure China’s supply of core AI technologies by 2027. The plan mandates the deep integration of “general-purpose large models” into the manufacturing sector and calls for the creation of 100 high-quality industrial datasets to reduce reliance on foreign algorithms.
Marking the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s strategy for the region, a high-level symposium in Chongqing has highlighted the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the country’s primary engine for high-tech industrial growth. The corridor, now home to China’s most dynamic robotics and AI clusters, is shifting focus toward “ecological priority” and coordinated digital development for the 15th Five-Year Plan.
A report by the China Center for Information Industry Development (CCID) forecasts that the domestic humanoid robotics sector will exceed 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in value by 2026. The surge is driven by “embodied intelligence” breakthroughs from companies like UBTech and Unitree, whose products are increasingly deployed in factories to replace human labor.
Fintech giant Ant Group has formally entered the robotics hardware market, deploying its “R1” humanoid robot for service roles in museums and exhibition centers. Developed by its subsidiary Ant Lingbo Technology, the robot demonstrates the company’s pivot toward “AI for the real world,” leveraging its payment ecosystem to facilitate autonomous commercial interactions.
New industrial data confirms that China installed a record-breaking 295,000 industrial robots last year, accounting for 54% of global demand. The “Robot Belt” regions of East and South China continue to dominate production, with domestic suppliers now capturing 57% of the local market, overtaking foreign competitors for the first time.
Shenzhen-based robotics firms have secured extensive contracts to deploy autonomous photovoltaic cleaning robots across 260 solar plants in the Middle East and Central Asia. The deployment highlights the successful export of “Robot Belt” technology to Belt and Road Initiative partner nations, addressing critical efficiency losses in desert-based renewable energy projects.
In a bid to address the talent shortage in advanced robotics, Tsinghua University has inaugurated a dedicated Institute for Embodied Intelligence and Robotics. The institute aims to bridge the gap between academic AI research and industrial robotic application, focusing on the “sim-to-real” transfer problems that currently bottleneck humanoid deployment.