What’s in a name? Why Trump wants to rebrand AI as ‘super intelligence’
US President Donald Trump wants to retire one of the technology sector’s most recognisable acronyms, arguing that the term “artificial intelligence”, or AI, is no longer fit for purpose. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order directing US federal agencies to replace “artificial intelligence” and “AI” with “super intelligence” and “SI” in official communications and non-statutory documents. He also instructed the White House science adviser to draft a new federal definition. The move...
China stockpiles ASML lithography tools, spurring US calls for complete export ban
Chinese semiconductor plants amassed hundreds of immersion lithography machines worth billions of dollars in recent years, according to former US officials, who urged Washington and its allies to shut down further exports. Chinese-owned fabs had acquired an estimated 343 immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography systems by early 2026, said a report published in late September by the Centre for Technology & Statecraft (CTS), a Washington research group established in August. Co-authored by...
China’s AI compute ambitions demand innovation
China has set a five-year goal for the expansion of intelligent computing capacity to drive artificial intelligence (AI) that calls for a more than fourfold increase on what was in place at the end of June this year. To reach the 2030 target while being blocked by the United States from importing the most advanced Western-made AI chips will require innovation, adaptation and the application and coordination of vast resources. Judging by the 177 per cent increase in capacity achieved in the year...
Hong Kong users caught off guard as Anthropic tightens VPN access to Claude
US artificial intelligence company Anthropic appears to have stepped up enforcement of geographical restrictions on its Claude models in Hong Kong, with local users reporting abrupt account suspensions after accessing the service through virtual private networks (VPNs). A wave of complaints surfaced on social media platforms X and Reddit on Thursday, as users who had operated accounts for months using VPNs found them suddenly disabled. One Hong Kong-based user posted on the “r/claude” subreddit...
From stock losses to bond bets: 5 figures investors are watching in China
A sell-off in technology stocks pushed mainland Chinese equities to their lowest level in more than a year, even as Beijing stepped up support for the economy with a key interest rate cut. At the same time, Chinese government bonds attracted fresh interest as US Treasury yields climbed to a new high. Here are some figures that have captured market attention this week. China’s CSI 300 Index hits 13-month low Mainland China’s CSI 300 Index dropped 2.2 per cent on Monday to its lowest level since...
DeepSeek effect? How China’s quant funds thrive amid tight regulatory scrutiny
China’s quantitative investing sector has added 18 new members to the ranks of funds managing more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in assets this year, underlining the industry’s ability to generate competitive returns despite a tight regulatory environment. The firms were among 159 Chinese hedge funds overseeing more than 10 billion yuan each, according to financial news agency Cailian Press. Their growth has been fuelled by technology-driven momentum in the world’s second-largest stock...
China leads drone patent volume but US matches quality as start-ups drive innovation: study
Chinese and US firms are “neck-and-neck” in the quality battle for the next generation of drone patents, despite China having a lead in volume, a study published on Thursday shows. Chinese companies accounted for 44 per cent of the world’s drone patent filings in 2024, against 17 per cent for American firms, according to a report published by LexisNexis. Measured by value, however, US drone patents were on a par with China’s, leaving the two countries roughly even in total global patent asset...
Huawei steps up Tau chip roll-out, with Mate XT 2 on track for 1 million sales
Huawei Technologies is making rapid progress in rolling out a new breed of advanced chip based on its self-developed Tau Scaling Law, with the Chinese company set to adopt the processors across the newly released Mate 90 smartphone series. The roll-out marks another step forward in the Chinese tech giant’s push to overcome stringent US export curbs, which has seen Huawei rewire its smartphone business to run on home-grown technology. Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Huawei consumer...
Anthropic raises alarm over elite hacking ability of Chinese firm Z.ai’s GLM-5.3
The US artificial intelligence giant Anthropic has warned of the potential danger posed by Chinese firm Z.ai’s GLM-5.3, with the open-weight model showing a troubling mix of powerful hacking abilities but weak safety constraints. GLM-5.3 almost matches Anthropic’s most advanced model in terms of its cyber capabilities, but has far weaker safeguards, meaning there is greater potential for the model to be co-opted by bad actors, according to the San Francisco-based firm. In a report released on...
Trump relies on AI giants to self-police after ruling out China deal
Subscribers: The Daily Pulse won’t be published on October 1, which is China’s National Day. We will resume publication on Friday, October 2. US President Donald Trump has again ruled out collaborating with China on artificial intelligence (AI), arguing that it would undermine American leadership in the technology. Cooperation would let China “immediately gain access to things that we know that they don’t know”, Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “We’re leading now over China and everyone else,...