CATL buys into AI labs and data centres as the battery giant eyes the next power demand

In the late 19th century, Standard Oil’s founders quietly bought stakes in railways to secure cheap, safe transport for their oil and a captive customer for lubricant. The same move is playing out today, with CATL buying seats at the AI table before demand explodes. Battery money meets AI On 6 October, Bloomberg reported DeepSeek’s … Read more

Wubu Infra closes record RMB 2.3 billion C round to unify China’s fragmented AI compute

Wubu Infra, a Tsinghua University spin-off, has closed a C round of RMB 2.3 billion, bringing cumulative financing to RMB 4.3 billion and setting a national record for China’s AI Infra category. Foreign media report the company is preparing an IPO. Illustrative image generated for this report: heterogeneous AI compute orchestration by Wubu Infra (Source: … Read more

China’s AI chip makers out-earn the models as non-GPU accelerators take the lead

Two shifts are accelerating in China’s AI chip market. Nvidia’s share is being eaten by domestic makers, and non-GPU accelerators are rising. IDC data for the first half of 2026 shows China’s data-centre AI accelerator shipments reached 2.008 million units, with non-GPU at 1.016 million, surpassing GPU for the first time. Nvidia still leads at … Read more

Microsoft’s Maia 300 plan signals Big Tech’s quiet break from Nvidia

On the evening of 12 October, Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella outlined the company’s latest in-house chip plan: a large-scale deployment of Azure Maia 300 in 2027. Microsoft shares rose 1.14 per cent to US$541.15 that day, pushing its market value back above US$4 trillion. The Maia case Nadella’s point is that everyone is … Read more

Quadruped robot market splits in two as industrial use grabs the margin

The quadruped robot market is splitting into two very different businesses. Two kinds of demand IDC’s Worldwide Quadruped Robot Market Share, 1H26 shows the global market passed US$400 million in the first half of 2026, up 95.4 per cent year on year, with shipments above 49,000 units, up 92.5 per cent. Education, research and home … Read more