Chinese artificial intelligence companies Z.ai and MiniMax could remain loss-making through 2030 even as their revenues surge, underscoring the enormous cost of competing at the technological frontier, according to Macquarie Group’s head of Asia internet and software research Ellie Jiang. One reason cited was the expense required for the computing power to train and run frontier AI models. Jiang told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday that China’s compute crunch was two to three times more...

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek is embarking on what it calls an “unprecedented” hiring spree to overhaul back end systems severely strained by booming user demand and compute-heavy AI agents. Cui Tianyi, a former quantitative trading expert who joined DeepSeek in March to lead its Harness team, said in a social media post on Monday evening that the Hangzhou-based company was seeking to recruit around 150 senior back end engineers. According to Cui, the push was driven by rapid...

Huawei Technologies’ latest flagship mobile processor is serving as a high-stakes test of whether the company can bypass US technology sanctions by layering circuits on top of each other to boost performance, according to analysts. The Shenzhen-based firm on Monday launched the Kirin 9050 Pro, the first commercial chip employing its LogicFolding architecture. The new strategy aims to squeeze greater computing power out of semiconductor designs without relying solely on the circuit-shrinking...

Tencent Holdings’ pivot from a core shareholder to a major creditor in Bilibili offers a clear window into how China’s Big Tech players are rebalancing portfolio risk while funding expensive artificial intelligence initiatives. The shift, executed through Bilibili’s proposed US$700 million convertible bond package announced on Friday, allows Tencent to lock in capital flexibility without severing ties with one of China’s largest online video platforms, according to analysts. Here is a look at...