On September 24, Qualcomm staged its annual Snapdragon Summit across Beijing and Hawaii. With US–China trade tensions flaring again under President Donald Trump's second term, the company, earning nearly half its revenue from Chinese customers, moved its China venue from Sanya back to Beijing, signaling the market's elevated strategic weight and influence across the supply chain

In the humanoid robot competition, the US and China stand out as the two leading forces. Jonathan Hurst, co-founder of US-based humanoid robotics startup Agility Robotics, recently shared his views on the rapid advancements of Chinese humanoid robots

A serious vulnerability in the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Wi-Fi configuration interface of several Unitree robots could allow attackers to gain root-level control, researchers disclosed on September 20, 2025. The exploit, dubbed UniPwn, affects Unitree's Go2 and B2 quadrupeds, as well as G1 and H1 humanoids. Because the flaw operates over wireless connections, it is "wormable," meaning an infected robot could automatically compromise others within BLE range, creating a self-propagating robot botnet

Drones have become a key technology for the development of both national security and civilian applications. However, South Korea's current drone industry heavily relies on China for materials, components, and airframes. Calls for technological independence and the establishment of a comprehensive local ecosystem are rising in line with the global trend of getting rid of China's influence in drone development

Frank Meng, Chairman of Qualcomm China, believes that in the long run, two emerging categories have the potential to rival, or even eclipse, smartphones in market scale: robots and a wide range of wearable devices, including smart glasses. Meng predicted while speaking to Chinese media outlets Yicai and National Business Daily at the Snapdragon Summit on September 24

Qualcomm China chairman Frank Meng introduced the "AI Acceleration Initiative" at a Beijing event on September 24, aiming to enhance collaboration across China's industrial ecosystem and accelerate large-scale adoption of edge AI technologies. The initiative was unveiled during Qualcomm's Snapdragon China conference, which included participation from major smartphone and automotive companies via video

Samsung Electronics is expected to confirm by late September 2025 that its 12-layer fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM3E) has cleared customer validation, South Korean media reported. The announcement would end Samsung's earlier silence and signal to the market that its technology is keeping pace with competitors

On September 22, DeepSeek released the upgraded DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus model through its API platform and quickly made it open source. The update fixed user-reported issues, but once again, the highly anticipated DeepSeek-R2 reasoning model failed to appear

At Huawei Connect 2025, Huawei rolled out its Ascend 950, 960, and 970 AI chips with a three-year roadmap, headlined by the Ascend 950's new "P/D separation" design. The architecture splits large language model (LLM) inference into distinct tasks, making it the standout highlight of the launch

China is fast-tracking the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), broadening its ecosystem from core infrastructure to commercial applications and positioning it as a global platform, not just a domestic project

Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said in his September 25 keynote livestream that the company will invest at least CNY50 billion (US$7.01 billion) over the next decade in self-developed chips, prioritizing smartphone SoCs. He called semiconductors central to Xiaomi's path toward becoming a global technology leader and a cornerstone of its long-term growth

SK Hynix is reportedly set to begin producing GDDR7 memory on its sixth-generation 1c DRAM node, a 10nm-class technology. Likely customers include long-standing partners Tesla and Nvidia. The company plans to match production to product launch schedules, with a mass ramp-up of 1c GDDR7 targeted for 2026

The global race to build the future of technology just got dramatically more expensive. TSMC is reportedly planning a staggering 50% price increase for its next-generation 2nm chips. The move is squeezing top American clients like Qualcomm, Broadcom, and AMD, and opening the door for rival Samsung to launch a strategic counter-offensive with deeply discounted wafers

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on September 25, 2025, that it has launched a trade and investment barrier investigation into Mexico's proposed plan to raise tariffs on imports from non-free trade partners, including China. The move follows a proposal published in Mexico's Congress Gazette on September 9, 2025, which outlined adjustments to multiple import taxes