Geopolitics & Trade
China is pushing patrols into new waters near Taiwan and making that presence routine, The Diplomat reports, while deploying research vessels that can also conduct military reconnaissance.
Taiwan Strait risk is becoming a standing condition, not an event. Stress-test any sole-sourced Taiwanese part for a slow squeeze.
Geopolitics & Trade
The US-China AI race has moved to using models to write code, design experiments and develop training techniques for stronger models. The stated end goal is recursive self-improvement: AI systems that can train themselves.
If the race compresses model cycles, the export-control line moves faster too. Expect AI-tool access rules to keep shifting.
Supply Chains & Critical Minerals
Huawei says its Ascend 960DT AI training chip, claimed to double performance, will be ready in Q1 2027, nine months earlier than planned, as it expands its ecosystem under China's self-sufficiency push. The performance claim is Huawei's own.
A domestic AI compute stack is arriving on a faster clock. Assume Chinese competitors will not stay compute-constrained for long.
Industrial Policy & Regulation
Beijing and Chinese tech firms are building AI into chip-design (EDA) tools to cut reliance on foreign software. Empyrean, China's largest EDA maker, says it is speeding up design with AI-optimised algorithms and agentic tools.
EDA was one of the tightest US chokepoints. An AI-assisted domestic toolchain narrows it, and so does the lead time on Chinese chips.
Robotics & Embodied AI
Unitree has launched the G1+, an upgraded G1 humanoid with changes across motion, perception, interaction and endurance, including two added neck degrees of freedom. The standard model lists at RMB 95,000 in China; EDU pricing is on request.
Chinese humanoid makers are iterating on a yearly cadence at list prices a pilot budget can absorb. Track them as suppliers as well as competitors.
Robotics & Embodied AI
Blue Insect Embodied, a Xi'an Jiaotong University tech-transfer company, launched the Mantis Standard humanoid from RMB 9,800. Chassis, arms, waist and head are standard quick-swap modules. Specs: 22 degrees of freedom, 7 kg single-arm payload.
At this price a humanoid is a lab and training tool, not a line worker. Modular designs are where low-cost Chinese entrants are aiming.
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