China approves first two Level 3 autonomous cars
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday granted conditional approval to Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. Ltd. and BAIC BluePark New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. to build electric cars with Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities. The permits cover a Changan electric sedan and an Arcfox electric sedan, allowing them to conduct pilot operations in designated areas after passing necessary reviews.
Chip designer MetaX to debut on Shanghai's STAR Market
MetaX Integrated Circuits (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. announced Monday that its shares will begin trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused STAR Market on Wednesday. The company priced its offering of 40.1 million shares at 104.66 yuan ($14.8) each, raising 3.899 billion yuan to fund the development of its high-performance graphics processing units.
Unigroup Guoxin Microelectronics sets up central research institute
Shenzhen-listed chipmaker Unigroup Guoxin Microelectronics Co. Ltd. announced Monday that it will establish a central research institute to focus on developing AI chips for autonomous driving, new memory devices based on two-dimensional materials and high-performance sensor chips. The company also restructured its internal management into seven departments, including a board office, to streamline operations.
GAC-backed Govy targets 2026 for flying car mass production
Govy Technology Co. Ltd., the low-altitude mobility unit of Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. Ltd. (GAC), said on Monday that it expects to mass-produce its AirCab flying car in 2026. The multi-rotor model, designed for sightseeing, has entered airworthiness certification and delivered prototypes in Beijing and Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the company’s AirJet flying car designed for intercity travel rolled off the production line in late 2024 with commercial operations targeted for 2028.
Ant Group rebrands AI health app as user base hits 15 million
Fintech giant Ant Group Co. Ltd. on Monday rebranded its AI-powered health app AQ to Ant Afu and rolled out upgrades to its consultation and service features. Ant Group said the app now has over 15 million monthly active users and answers more than 5 million health-related questions every day, with over half of its users based in third-tier cities or below.
Surge in model token use to send China’s AI market value soaring
China’s public cloud service providers are expected to see a sixteenfold increase in the use of their large model tokens in 2025, driving the value of the country's artificial intelligence (AI) market up 30% to more than 1.2 trillion yuan ($170 billion), an industry expert said. The number of large model tokens used this year may exceed two quadrillion, signaling a massive ramp-up in the adoption of generative AI technologies in China, according to an estimate made Saturday by Wei Kai, head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)’s AI Institute. Tokens are units of data processed by AI models during training and inference, enabling prediction, generation and reasoning.
Unitree Robotics launches app store for humanoids
Unitree Robotics unveiled an app store for humanoid robots on Saturday, allowing users to upload and share trained models for activities such as dancing and martial arts. The platform enables developers to download and deploy models created by others onto their robots and facilitates the sharing of datasets collected from real-world robot operations to help users train and optimize algorithms.
Foxconn to invest $507 million in new HQ
Foxconn signed an agreement on Friday to build a new headquarters in Kaohsiung, pledging an investment of NT$15.9 billion ($507 million). Expected to break ground in 2027 and complete by 2033, the 11,000-square-meter complex will house R&D centers for new-energy vehicle technology, batteries, energy storage, and AI software.
