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☆ ByteDance to wind down Nuverse in full retreat from gaming -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The ByteDance logo is seen at the company's office building in Shanghai, China, July 4, 2023. The Chinese technology firm has no plan to return to the $185 billion global video games market, said the people, who declined to be identified as the information is not public. Casual gaming brand Ohayoo, whose games feature on Douyin - TikTok's sister app in China - will not be affected, neither will casual games that run on TikTok, one of the people said. ByteDance's 2019 creation of Nuverse was widely seen as a major push into global gaming and a strategic element of its competition with domestic rival Tencent Holdings (0700.HK), the world's biggest gaming company. Nuverse came into focus again in 2021 when ByteDance formalised its status as one of its six business units under a broader structural overhaul.

Persons: Aly, Will, ByteDance, Pico, Nuverse, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Moonton Technology, Tencent Holdings, HK, C4games, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG

☆ China's Realme hits 200 million shipment milestone, to launch premium phones
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A man looks at his mobile phone next to a logo of Realme during its X50 5G product launch event in Beijing, China January 7, 2020. Realme, owned by Chinese consumer hardware giant BBK Electronics which also owns the Oppo and Vivo brands, said it had reached the 200 million mark in the second quarter. In total, just 14 companies globally which have shipped over 200 million phones to date. "We came into existence when there were over 700 smartphone brands in the world," said Xu Qi, Realme's chief marketing officer. Xiaomi (1810.HK) has recently released the Xiaomi 14 Pro which also runs on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Persons: Jason Lee, Realme, Xu Qi, Xu, Josh Ye, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Research, Huawei, Samsung, Apple, Counterpoint Research, HK, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, HONG KONG

The drop, potentially its biggest one-day fall in more than a year, wiped about $20 billion off the Chinese tech giant's market value. It was the first market reaction in Asia since the stunning strategy reversal was announced late on Thursday. "The cancellation of a full spin-off of AliCloud is a negative surprise," said Nomura analyst Shi Jialong in a note. The company said it will press ahead with a listing of Alibaba's logistics arm, Cainiao, which applied for a Hong Kong initial public offering in September. Reporting By Donny Kwok and Josh Ye in Hong Kong, Casey Hall and Gu Li in Shanghai; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree and Brenda Goh; Editing by Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Aly, Group's, Nomura, Shi Jialong, Alibaba, Jack Ma, Kenneth Fong, Joseph Tsai, Bo Pei, Eddie Wu, Donny Kwok, Josh Ye, Casey Hall, Gu Li, Anne Marie Roantree, Brenda Goh, Muralikumar Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Hong, Tencent Holdings, HK, UBS, Tiger Research, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, SHANGHAI, HK, Hong Kong, Asia, AliCloud, Washington, U.S, Hangzhou, Alibaba

☆ Reaction to Alibaba's scrapping of cloud unit spin-off
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

3D printed clouds and figurines are seen in front of the Alibaba Cloud service logo in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. Alibaba said its decision to shelve the spin-off was due to uncertainties fuelled by U.S. curbs on exports to China of chips used in artificial intelligence applications. Following are what people are saying about the decision:LI CHENGDONG, BEIJING-BASED TECH AND E-COMMERCE ANALYST:"I believe scrapping the cloud unit's IPO reflects a new development strategy implemented by the new leadership. In short, I think prior decisions to restructure and IPO certain business units will have to be reassessed based on prevailing market conditions. The international business is one of the few Alibaba units that’s growing fast, which puts it in a better position to explore external funding."

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Alibaba, LI, Daniel Zhang, Zhang, BRIAN WONG, CHARLIE CHAI, Eddie Wu, SERN LING, Casey, Josh Ye, Yelin, Anne Marie Roantree, Muralikumar Anantharaman Organizations: REUTERS, China's, HK, Cloud Intelligence, Casey Hall, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hong Kong, China, BEIJING, AliCloud, Alibaba, Shanghai, Yelin Mo, Beijing

Alibaba Group's Hong Kong shares closed down 10%, their biggest single-day drop in more than a year. Some analysts said keeping the cloud unit could assist Alibaba's AI push. But (it) also points to the increasing importance of retaining the cloud unit given the surging demand for AI computing in China," said US Tiger Research analyst Bo Pei. Alibaba reported second-quarter revenue of 224.79 billion yuan ($31.01 billion), in line with the 224.32 billion expected by analysts, LSEG data showed. The company also said it will press ahead with a listing of Alibaba's logistics arm, Cainiao, which applied for a Hong Kong initial public offering in September.

Persons: Group's, Jon Withaar, Alibaba, Joseph Tsai, Aly, Jack Ma, Kenneth Fong, Bo Pei, Eddie Wu, Daniel Zhang, Vey, Sern Ling, Donny Kwok, Josh Ye, Casey Hall, Gu Li, Yelin, Ankur Banerjee, Anne Marie Roantree, Brenda Goh, Muralikumar Anantharaman Organizations: HK, Pictet Asset Management, Tencent Holdings, Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, UBS, Tiger Research, Union Bancaire, Hong, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, China, Hong Kong, Asia, U.S, Singapore, Washington, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Alibaba, Union, Yelin Mo, Beijing

☆ ByteDance testing content paywall on TikTok's sister app Douyin -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Chinese internet giant has recently started to allow some content creators with more than 100,000 followers to put part of their videos behind a paywall on Douyin, TikTok's sister app in China, the person said, declining to be named as the feature was still undergoing testing. The paywall is the latest in a long list of features ByteDance has implemented to monetize its Douyin app, which now has more than 800 million users. Local media outlet Sina showed screenshots of a notification window on Douyin informing content creators that ByteDance is entitled to 30% of their earnings as commission. Content creators get to set their own prices for their videos without ByteDance interference, according to Sina. Another Chinese media Jiupai News reported that some content creators have started to charge 12 yuan ($1.6) for a 44-minute long video on the platform.

Persons: Florence Lo, ByteDance, Bytedance, Douyin, Josh Ye, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Jiupai, Reuters, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, China, Douyin, Sina

☆ Lenovo posts another revenue decline as PC demand remains slow
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In May, Lenovo reported 14% revenue decline for the year through March, its first annual fall since 2019, following a pandemic-induced boom for electronics manufacturers. Worldwide PC shipments fell 7% in the second quarter of 2023, showed data from researcher Canalys. To help lift PC sales, Lenovo aims to release its first "AI PC" - or PC that can make use of artificial intelligence (AI) without the internet - in the second half of next year, said Chairman Yang Yuanqing. An employee gestures next to a Lenovo logo at Lenovo Tech World in Beijing, China November 15, 2019. Overall net income attributable to shareholders in the second fiscal quarter fell 60% to $249 million versus analysts' $235 million estimate.

Persons: Canalys, Yang Yuanqing, Yang, Jason Lee, it's, Josh Ye, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Lenovo Group, HK, LSEG, Lenovo, PC, Reuters, Lenovo Tech, REUTERS, Nvidia, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Beijing, China, U.S, Hong Kong

☆ Tencent logs robust revenue growth as games, advertising sales shine
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A Tencent sign is seen at the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, October 20, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Nov 15 (Reuters) - China's Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said third-quarter revenue climbed 10%, as its games business staged a robust recovery from a regulatory crackdown on the country's tech sector and online advertising sales surged. In August, the video games sector raked in combined revenue of 29.2 billion yuan, the highest level in at least 20 months, according to CNG, a government-backed industry data firm. Tencent's online advertising business reported a 20% jump in revenue thanks to strong demand for advertising in its video content. Net profit declined 9% to 36.1 billion yuan from a year ago when the company had a strong quarter after divesting stakes in portfolio companies such as Sea.

Persons: Aly, Tencent, Josh Ye, Miyoung Kim, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: World Internet Conference, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Riot Games, Thomson Locations: Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, HONG KONG

☆ Tencent to seek domestic AI training chip supplies after latest US curbs
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"We will have to figure out ways to make the usage of our AI chips more efficient," he said, "And we will also try to look for domestic source for these training chips." Lau's comments come as Chinese companies with AI ambitions are scrambling to cope with the United States' ever-expanding AI chip export restrictions to China. But now a growing number of Chinese tech firms are turning to homegrown chipmakers like Huawei Technologies [RIC:RIC:HWT.UL] for AI chip supply. As such, the new chip curbs will not affect the development of Tencent's AI capability in the near term. The Nvidia H800 chips were AI chips Nvidia developed specifically for China late last year in response to an earlier US curb on AI chips to China.

Persons: Aly, Martin Lau, Baidu, Lau, Tencent, We'll, Josh Ye, Toby Chopra, Jane Merriman Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Nvidia, Huawei Technologies, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, United States

☆ Exclusive: China's Bytedance is talking to likely buyers about gaming unit Moonton's sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shanghai-based Moonton, which has developed the popular mobile game “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang”, was acquired by ByteDance in 2021. At the time, it was seen as ByteDance’s biggest commitment to become a major player in the $187 billion global video games market. ByteDance's foray into video games has proven to be rocky so far. Founded in 2014, Moonton found success with multiplayer online battle arena game "Mobile Legends". Last year, ByteDance disbanded its Shanghai-based game development unit 101 Studio.

Persons: Aly, ByteDance, Moonton, Pico, Josh Ye, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Kim Coghill Organizations: REUTERS, ByteDance, Companies, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, Saudi, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong

☆ Tencent says has Nvidia AI chip stockpile but seeking to buy domestic
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Tencent has enough Nvidia chips to continue development of its "Hunyuan" AI model "for at least a couple more generations", so the curbs will not affect near-term AI capability, Lau said. "We will have to figure out ways to make the usage of our AI chips more efficient," he said. "And we will also try to look for domestic sources for these training chips." "We feel that the chip ban does actually affect our ability to resell (use of) these AI chips through our cloud services," he said. Nvidia plans to market new China-bound AI chips, with an announcement on Nov. 16 at the earliest, industry newsletter SemiAnalysis reported last week.

Persons: Aly, Martin Lau, Lau, We'll, SemiAnalysis, Josh Ye, Jane Merriman, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Nvidia, Huawei Technologies, Reuters, Baidu, Huawei, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, U.S

☆ China's e-commerce platforms not doing enough on climate -Greenpeace
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of e-commerce app Pinduoduo is displayed next to mobile phones displaying the app, in this illustration picture taken October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSINGAPORE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - China's top e-commerce platforms have made insufficient effort to steer consumers onto a more sustainable path that would help protect the environment and combat climate change, environment group Greenpeace said on Thursday. "But overall, China's e-commerce giants still don't do enough to leverage their platforms towards sustainability." In a report ranking the environmental record of six of China's e-commerce giants, Greenpeace said the discount online shopping platform Pinduoduo (PDD.O) performed the worst, making "no progress whatsoever" on climate and environmental protection. Pinduoduo was given a negative score on Greenpeace's list after failing to draw up strategies on issues like climate change, waste, dangerous chemicals and biodiversity.

Persons: Florence Lo, Tang Damin, Pinduoduo, Douyin, Bytedance, Alibaba, David Stanway, Sophie Yu, Josh Ye, Casey Hall, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Greenpeace, HK, Thomson Locations: Rights SINGAPORE, Beijing

The price valued the company at $223.5 billion, about 26% lower than a valuation a year earlier, the Reuters report said. Last year, ByteDance was valued at $300 billion in a buyback program offered to its non-U.S. employees. The latest $160 price is higher than the $155 price set in an earlier April buyback, the person added. A ByteDance spokesperson confirmed the share buyback plan for employees outside the U.S., saying it aimed to provide liquidity options for staff through such programs. Buybacks allow employees to cash in shares without waiting for the company to list on the stock market.

Persons: Aly, ByteDance, Brenda Goh, Josh YE, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Rights SHANGHAI, HONG KONG, United States, U.S, Hong Kong

☆ Exclusive: Baidu placed AI chip order from Huawei in shift away from Nvidia -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Baidu ordered 1,600 of Huawei Technologies' 910B Ascend AI chips - which the Chinese firm developed as an alternative to Nvidia's A100 chip - for 200 servers, the source said, adding that by October, Huawei had delivered more 60% of the order, or about 1,000 chips, to Baidu. Baidu, alongside Chinese peers such as Tencent (0700.HK) and Alibaba (9988.HK), is known to be a long-time client of Nvidia. Baidu was not previously known to be a AI chip customer of Huawei. Huawei's website says it has since 2020 collaborated with Baidu to make its AI platform compatible with Huawei hardware. Baidu has developed its own line of Kunlun AI chips, which the company says supports large-scale AI computing, but the company has mainly relied on Nvidia's A100 chip to train its LLM.

Persons: Aly, Baidu, Ernie, Yelin Mo, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Josh Ye, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Baidu, Artificial Intelligence, REUTERS, Rights, HK, Huawei, U.S ., Nvidia, Huawei Technologies, U.S, HUAWEI, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Rights BEIJING, SHANGHAI, U.S, Beijing, Hong Kong

☆ China's ByteDance to overhaul VR arm Pico as global demand declines -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The ByteDance logo is seen at the company's office in Shanghai, China July 4, 2023. The meeting did not specify how many jobs would be cut as a result, but the three people said "hundreds" of Pico staff were expected to be affected globally. In China, it has become the leading VR producer by total shipments and globally it trails only Meta. But two of the people said ByteDance had pared back efforts to develop Pico as a brand in recent months as the outlook dimmed. ByteDance said last month it remained committed to the VR industry in the long term following media reports that it planned to gradually wind down Pico.

Persons: Aly, Pico, ByteDance, Josh Ye, Jamie Freed Organizations: REUTERS, Pico, Reuters, VR, Meta, IDC, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Pico, HONG KONG

☆ How Huawei plans to rival Nvidia in the AI chip business
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Better known globally for its telecoms and smartphones businesses, Huawei has for the past four years been building an AI chip line. Here is what we know about its Ascend AI chip series, and its main product to rival Nvidia's A100 chip, the 910B. WHY AND HOW DID HUAWEI ENTER THE AI CHIP BUSINESS? Baidu ordered 1,600 of Huawei 910B chips for 200 servers in August, one source told Reuters. Analysts have estimated China's AI chip market to be worth $7 billion and grabbing market share from Nvidia could mark a win for Huawei against the United States.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, Nvidia, CANN, Liu Qingfeng, iFlyTek, Jiang Tao, Baidu, Meng Wanzhou, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh Organizations: Huawei Technologies, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Nvidia, Huawei, Baidu, HK, HUAWEI, Reuters, Analysts, CHINA, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, HONG KONG, China, United States

☆ Alibaba upgrades AI model Tongyi Qianwen, releases industry-specific models
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Alibaba Cloud logo is displayed near a screen showing the website of its Tongyi Qianwen AI chatbot, in this illustration picture taken June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsHONG KONG, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Chinese technology giant Alibaba (9988.HK) said on Tuesday it has updated its artificial intelligence (AI) model Tongyi Qianwen and released a suite of industry-specific AI models amid an intensifying AI race among tech companies. It also said it has launched eight AI models for the entertainment, finance, healthcare and legal industries. The GPT-3 AI model from Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI contained 175 billion parameters in 2020 and Meta Platform's (META.O) Llama 2 model had 70 billion parameters in 2023. At the conference, Chairman Joe Tsai also said about half of large-language AI models in the China now run on Alibaba Cloud.

Persons: Florence Lo, Tencent, OpenAI, Joe Tsai, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Jacqueline Wong, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, HK, Microsoft, Meta, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Hangzhou, China

☆ Shares in China's iFlyTek tumble after reports AI-powered device criticised Mao
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An iFlytek company sign is seen at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo (AWE) in Shanghai, China March 23, 2021. It has proposed the compilation of a blacklist of sources that cannot be used to train Chinese AI models. IFlyTek on Tuesday revealed its latest Spark AI model which the company says can rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT in most key areas. Liu said iFlytek’s model could compete with OpenAI’s GPT-4 early next year. The company also said that it is working with Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) on an AI model training platform which uses Huawei’s flagship AI chips.

Persons: Aly, Mao Zedong, Baijiahao, Mao, iFlyTek, Liu Qingfeng, OpenAI’s, Liu, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Appliance, Electronics, REUTERS, Reuters, Communist Party, Huawei Technologies, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, iFlytek

☆ ByteDance says committed to VR business Pico after report of it shutting brand
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The statement came after Chinese research firm EqualOcean published a report saying that ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming told Pico's management team ByteDance would gradually give up on the Pico business. Pico is under normal operation and the company will continue to invest in the extended reality (XR) business over the long term," ByteDance said in a statement shared with Reuters. The Pico headsets are often seen as ByteDance's answer to the popular Quest headsets developed by Meta Platforms Inc (META.O). Pico has the biggest market share for VR headsets in China, accounting for over 58% of the market, as Meta's Quest devices have yet to enter the country officially. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Pico has increased its headset shipments last year while Meta's headset shipments declined.

Persons: Aly, ByteDance, EqualOcean, Zhang Yiming, Pico's, Pico, Bytedance, Josh Ye, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, XR, Meta Platforms Inc, Street Journal, IDC, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, HONG KONG, Pico

☆ Analysis: US chip curbs give Huawei a chance to fill the Nvidia void in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Huawei's Ascend AI chips are comparable to Nvidia's in terms of raw computing power, analysts and some AI firms such as China's iFlyTek (002230.SZ) say, but they still lag behind in performance. "This U.S. move, in my opinion, is actually giving Huawei's Ascend chips a huge gift," Jiang said in a post on his social media Weibo account. Huawei and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Huawei's partners in China so far include iFlyTek, a leading Chinese AI software company which is using the Ascend 910 to train its AI models. Other partners include state-owned software firms Tsinghua Tongfang and Digital China.

Persons: Benoit Tessier, Jiang Yifan, Jiang, CANN, Woz Ahmed, Ahmed, Meng Wanzhou, IFlyTek, Jiang Tao, Charlie Chai, 86Research, Xi Jinping, Chai, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh Organizations: Huawei Technologies, Viva Technology, Porte de, REUTERS, Nvidia, Huawei, Securities, Tsinghua, Digital, Thomson Locations: Porte, Paris, France, HONG KONG, China, United States, U.S, Digital China

☆ Beijing takes 'golden share' in a Tencent subsidiary, records show
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A man rides an electric bike past the Tencent headquarters in Nanshan district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China September 2, 2022. Tencent, the world's largest video game company and the operator of the WeChat messaging platform, declined to comment. Shenzhen Yayue Technology, whose business involves information technology and internet services, was previously 100% owned by a Tencent subsidiary before the stake change took place on Wednesday, according to Qichacha. The Financial Times first reported Beijing's plan to acquire a golden share in a Tencent subsidiary earlier this year. In the case of ByteDance, the Chinese government took a board seat in Beijing ByteDance Technology with its 1% stake.

Persons: David Kirton, Ma, Josh Ye, Brenda Goh Organizations: REUTERS, Tencent Holdings, HK, Shenzhen Yayue Technology, Oc, China Internet Investment Fund, Alibaba, Reuters, Financial Times, Beijing ByteDance Technology, Thomson Locations: Nanshan district, Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, HONG KONG, Shenzhen Yayue, TikTok, Beijing

Washington on Tuesday said it plans to halt shipments to China of more advanced artificial intelligence chips designed by Nvidia and others. It also restricted a broader swathe of advanced chips and chipmaking tools to a greater number of countries including Iran and Russia, and blacklisted Chinese chip designers Moore Threads and Biren. China's CSI Semiconductor Index (.CSI931865) dropped 1.4% on Wednesday following the announcement, while the STAR Chip Index (.STARCHIP) lost 1.2%. AI stocks were further hit after the U.S. announced further controls on Nvidia chip exports to China, UBS wrote in a note to clients. Moore Threads said it was communicating with all parties involved and evaluating the impact.

Persons: Janet Yellen, Mark Schiefelbein, Biden, Moore, Yang Wang, Charlie Chai, Xi Jinping, Biren, Shen Yiming, Bernadette Baum, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Treasury, Rights, Washington, Nvidia, CSI Semiconductor, U.S, UBS, Biren, Thomson Locations: United States, Diaoyutai, Beijing, China, Rights SHANGHAI, BEIJING, U.S, Iran, Russia

☆ Chinese AI startup Baichuan raises $300 mln from Alibaba, Tencent, others
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG/BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup Baichuan has raised $300 million from investors including Chinese tech giants Alibaba (9988.HK) and Tencent (0700.HK), it said on Tuesday. The company said on its WeChat account that the round followed an early $50 million angel round. China's craze over generative AI has triggered a flurry of product and fundraising announcements from startups and tech giants, as the industry races to find a homegrown rival to Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT. Shunwei Capital, a venture capital firm chaired by Xiaomi's chief executive Lei Jun, participated in the capital raise, according to a source familiar with the matter. Baidu (9888.HK) on Tuesday unveiled the newest version of its generative AI model, Ernie 4.0, saying its capabilities were on par with OpenAI's pioneering GPT-4 model, but analysts cautioned the launch lacked major highlights versus the previous version.

Persons: Wang Xiaochuan, Baichuan, Lei Jun, Shunwei, Ernie, Josh Ye, Roxanne Liu, Jason Neely, Emelia Organizations: HK, Microsoft, Shunwei, Baidu, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, BEIJING, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ China targets 50% growth in computing power in race against U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The MIIT revealed in August that China’s computing power has reached 197 EFLOPS this year, up from 180 EFLOPS in 2022. The ministry said it ranks China as second behind the United States, but did not elaborate on the scale of the U.S. computing power it referenced. According to the plan, China aims to build out more data centres across the country to facilitate businesses' access to computing power. Expansive but less populated provinces in China such as southwestern Guizhou have long been tasked to establish massive data centres to power the country’s internet. For example, Apple (AAPL.O) has set up data centres in Guizhou with a local partner to serve its users in the country.

Persons: Florence Lo, Josh Ye, Sonali Paul Organizations: REUTERS, Ministry of Industry, Information Technology, Google, supercomputing, Apple, Thomson Locations: China, U.S, HONG KONG, Beijing, United States, Guizhou

☆ Apple enforces new check on apps in China as Beijing tightens oversight
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

People line up while waiting at an Apple Store as Apple's new iPhone 15 officially goes on sale across China, in Shanghai, China September 22, 2023. Apple began last Friday requiring app developers to submit the "internet content provider (ICP) filing" when they publish new apps on its App Store, it said on its website for developers. Chinese regulators last week released names of the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed app filings, but Apple's App Store was not among those on the list. In a post on X, Jinyu Meng, an independent developer, said, "If my apps can't be launched in China without app filing, I will take down my apps [there]." Under the new rule, apps without proper filings will be punished after the grace period that will end in March next year, while newly developed apps need to comply with the rule from September.

Persons: Aly, Apple, Rich Bishop, AppInChina, Jinyu Meng, Josh Ye, Miyoung Kim, Jamie Freed Organizations: Apple, REUTERS, Tencent, HK, Huawei, Twitter, COVID, Reuters, Thomson Locations: China, Shanghai, HONG KONG, U.S, Americas, Europe, Beijing

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