At a packed Tencent Cloud AI conference in Beijing, Yao Shunyu, the new head of AI technology, warned that the next wave of AI isn’t about solving any problem, but about spotting the right, high‑impact challenges. He argued that real‑world value matters more than benchmark scores and that the industry is still in its infancy – far beyond just ChatGPT and CloudCode. Meanwhile, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology teamed up with dozens of telecom giants, including China Mobile, China Unicom, Vodafone and Huawei, to push two new international standards for AI‑enabled broadband. The proposals, approved at the Broadband Forum’s spring meeting, aim to create a common service framework and set requirements for AI agents on network infrastructure. In sports, NBA China partnered with Alibaba to launch “NBA Chat,” an AI assistant built on Alibaba’s Qwen model that can answer fan questions about game history, player stats and more, directly inside the NBA China app. Alibaba also announced a multi‑year AI and cloud partnership with UEFA for upcoming Champions League and Euro tournaments. On the hardware side, a joint effort by Shenzhen’s Hetao Academy, Harbin Institute of Technology and Huawei’s AI team used the Ascend 910C cluster to finish full‑parameter post‑training of a 1.6‑trillion‑parameter model, DeepSeek‑V4‑Pro, boosting its reasoning and task performance. Finally, Hengsheng Electronics unveiled its AI 6.0 ecosystem architecture, signaling another push toward integrated, industry‑wide AI solutions.
Read moreChina has finished building the world’s biggest, most advanced communications infrastructure, delivering gigabit‑speed internet to every county, 5G to every town, and broadband to villages. By the end of April the country counted 1.838 billion mobile users—1.262 billion of them on 5G—plus 253 million households with gigabit broadband, nearly 3 billion IoT devices, and 410 million internet‑TV users. Over 330 cities now enjoy 5G‑Advanced coverage, while research on 6G standards and trials is already underway. Pilot projects are testing 10‑gigabit optical links, 400 Gbps ultra‑fast fiber, and new ultra‑low‑loss cables, and satellite internet constellations are being rolled out to reach remote seas, deserts and mountains. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has green‑lit commercial satellite IoT trials and launched a 6G innovation program that aims, by 2029, to produce home‑grown 6G solutions, new business scenarios and next‑generation devices. The vision goes beyond faster speeds: holographic video calls, 3‑D digital avatars, and immersive experiences will become everyday reality. Experts say the biggest 6G breakthrough will be intelligent robots that can collaborate with cloud‑based “brains” in milliseconds, reshaping factories with flexible, autonomous production lines. In short, China’s new “space‑air‑sea‑land” network is set to turn ultra‑high‑speed connectivity into a platform for smarter homes, smarter industry, and a more connected society.
Read moreAt a high‑profile gathering, Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence researchers revealed a suite of cutting‑edge tools under the FlagOS banner. Liu Wei walked the audience through FlagQuantum, a hybrid quantum‑classical training loop that feeds classical data into parameterized quantum circuits, measures the results, converts them into classical loss values and then back‑propagates to fine‑tune gate parameters. Rather than trying to replace classical computers, FlagQuantum is positioned as a “super‑co‑processor” that plugs into existing workflows and even supports real quantum hardware via an OpenQASM interface. In a parallel demo, chief scientist Zhang Henggui showcased the BAAI Cardiac Agent – an AI‑driven digital twin of the human heart that can segment MRI scans, perform quantitative analysis and generate structured reports in just 30 seconds. Tested on 2,413 patients across multiple centers, the system achieved an AUC above 0.93 and a correlation over 0.90 with clinical reports, and it was used for the first time in an operating room at Beijing Anzhen Hospital to guide valve‑shaping surgery. Shao Ling of Beijing Xinyuan Vision introduced a visual‑intelligent agent platform for warehousing, customs and transport, highlighting how FlagOS’s operator library and memory optimizations dramatically cut multi‑chip deployment costs. A round‑table titled “Multi‑chip Computing × Intelligent Agents – Building an Open Ecosystem” featured leaders from Nankai, Sugon, Hygon and other institutions. Participants debated the differing compute needs of agent reasoning versus traditional LLMs, the pain points of multi‑chip adaptation, and the balance between open‑source and vendor stacks. Dean Li Chaoyong even urged that FlagOS be added to university curricula. Finally, the FlagOS community and the Light Consortium announced a joint innovation plan, unveiling five exhibition zones—full‑stack demos, chip ecosystem, computing platform, agent applications and developer interaction—showcasing the platform’s potential to reshape AI and quantum research in China.
Read moreShanghai is fast becoming the world’s quantum‑computing hub. After leaving a high‑pay tech job, researcher Luan Xingsheng joined a national quantum optics lab and decided to turn research into industry. Together with former Caltech scientist Lü Xudong, he launched Zhongqi Wuliang, a company that builds neutral‑atom quantum computers. Within months the team created a high‑speed verification platform, mastering optical traps and controlling thousands of atomic qubits. What sets Shanghai apart is its ultra‑fast supply chain. Precision optics and vacuum equipment are produced locally in the city or nearby Suzhou, allowing parts to be delivered the same day—far quicker than the six‑month lead times typical in the United States. This industrial muscle, combined with a thriving ecosystem of universities, investors, and government support, lets startups move from prototype to product at breakneck speed. The city now hosts over 40 quantum firms and has attracted hundreds of millions of yuan in funding. Companies such as Turing Quantum and Taiyi Liangsheng have raised near‑billion‑yuan capital this year alone, backed by national venture funds and state‑owned investors. With strong demand from finance, energy, logistics and biotech, Shanghai is poised to be the first place where quantum computers solve real‑world business problems, putting it at the forefront of the global race.
Read moreDuring a week‑long science and technology showcase, China Energy Engineering Group’s North China Electric Power Design Institute highlighted a suite of cutting‑edge projects that are reshaping the nation’s power landscape. The institute’s work helped launch the world’s first ±800 kV ultra‑high‑voltage DC line linking Yunnan and Guangdong, as well as China’s inaugural 1000 kV AC demonstration line, laying a solid backbone for long‑distance, low‑loss electricity transfer. A major focus was green hydrogen: the team developed off‑grid wind‑solar hydrogen systems and water‑electrolysis plants, creating the country’s first large‑scale industrial wind‑hydrogen project in Hebei and a 10‑ton‑per‑day demo in Inner Mongolia. Their standards now fill a critical gap in the industry. In traditional energy, the institute rolled out advanced coal‑power upgrades—such as a million‑kilowatt lignite unit that runs without fresh water and a 30‑year life‑extension retrofit for an existing plant—showcasing how old‑fashioned power can become cleaner and more efficient. Other highlights include a deep‑underground physics lab, a new subsynchronous oscillation filter for grid stability, a digital platform that plans and coordinates massive wind‑solar farms, and the first integrated source‑grid‑load‑storage system powering a data‑center hub. All these innovations aim to meet China’s “dual‑carbon” goals and secure a high‑quality, low‑carbon energy future.
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