U.S. trade panel opens patent probe into Hisense
The U.S. International Trade Commission has opened a patent-infringement investigation into Chinese electronics maker Hisense and streaming platform Roku Inc. over certain display devices and media players. The case stems from a March 2 complaint by Las Vegas-based InnoTV Labs LLC. InnoTV alleges the companies violated Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 by importing and selling products that infringe its patents. It is seeking limited exclusion and cease-and-desist orders. In addition to Roku, the investigation names six Hisense entities, including Hisense Visual Technology Co. Ltd. and Hisense USA Corp., as well as Purple Tag Media Technology operations in Shanghai, Guangdong and Mexico.
Alibaba releases Qwen 3.6-Plus AI model
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Thursday released Qwen 3.6-Plus, a new large language model it says markedly improves automated coding and AI-agent capabilities, as the company tries to regain momentum in the fast-moving artificial-intelligence race. The company is pitching the update around “agentic coding,” saying the model can break down complex programming tasks, write and test code, and troubleshoot iteratively until completion. As a native multimodal model, Qwen 3.6-Plus can also generate front-end web pages and produce code from screenshots, design drafts and text prompts.
ByteDance powers AI growth with OpenClaw partnership
ByteDance Ltd.’s cloud computing unit, Volcengine, has officially sponsored the open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw, coinciding with surging developer demand that has driven its flagship AI models to record usage levels. At an event in Wuhan on Thursday, Volcengine unveiled plans to co-build the Chinese mirror site for OpenClaw’s skill repository, ClawHub, joining a roster of official sponsors that includes OpenAI, Baidu, and Tencent. ClawHub is the largest open-source skill ecosystem, with over 43,000 skills for AI agents. The framework has sparked competition among Chinese cloud providers, with Tencent joining as a sponsor on March 16 after OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger accused the company of copying its repository. The dispute was later resolved.
Robotics startup Galaxea AI raises $291 million
Humanoid robotics company Galaxea AI has secured 2 billion yuan ($291 million) in a Series B+ funding round, bringing its valuation to more than 20 billion yuan. Nearly 20 institutional investors participated in the round, including Lens Technology Co. Ltd., which serves as Galaxea AI’s hardware supply chain and large-scale mass production partner. The fundraising comes less than two months after the startup completed a 1 billion yuan Series B round on Feb. 11, which valued it at 10 billion yuan.
