Global venture capital has rebounded on the AI boom after the pandemic freeze, with total investment in the first half of 2026 already topping full-year 2025. But the recovery is coming with a warning sign: capital is becoming highly concentrated in AI, while China is pouring money into robotics and drawing scrutiny from the US.
Samsung Electronics' latest move to scale back its smartphone retail network in China marks another milestone in a years-long restructuring. The shift has steadily reduced the company's footprint across manufacturing and consumer businesses, highlighting how changing market dynamics have reshaped the Korean technology giant's China strategy.
South Korea's planned KRW500 billion(US$349,398) research and development initiative for silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductors is struggling to move beyond the planning stage because the government has not secured a major anchor company to drive demand and support commercialization, according to ETNews.
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said humanoid robots have become a key symbol of the country's emerging manufacturing sector, claiming that 8 of every 10 humanoid and quadruped robots sold globally are produced by Chinese companies. The remarks came at a July 31 press briefing and also highlighted progress in IC design, semiconductor equipment, wafer fabrication, and packaging and testing.
Intel China has completed day-0 adaptation for MiniMax H3, the latest multimodal generative model from Chinese AI startup MiniMax, following its earlier support for the DeepSeek model family. The move underscores Intel's push to capture local AI deployment opportunities in China's growing open-source model ecosystem.
China has revised its regulations on the protection of integrated circuit (IC) layout designs, introducing stricter registration requirements, stronger enforcement measures and clearer commercialization rules as Beijing steps up efforts to strengthen its domestic semiconductor industry amid ongoing US technology restrictions.
TSMC has announced that Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), its subsidiary in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, has resumed normal operations following production disruptions caused by the recent Kumamoto earthquake.
Japan's effort to localize lunar transportation is gaining momentum as the government and private sector seek to reduce reliance on overseas launch services and establish a domestically supported lunar logistics system.
China's leading humanoid robot maker Unitree Technology expects first-half 2026 revenue to reach roughly CNY1.1 billion (US$155.8 million), an increase of 35.6% to 45.4% year on year, as demand for embodied AI continues to grow and the company expands its business scale.
