China would not let Meta keep Manus. Users have until 24 August to save their work
China would not let Meta keep Manus. Users have until 24 August to save their work

Manus is leaving Meta. The Chinese agent startup told users this week that it will “soon return to operating as an independent company”. That is not a change of heart. Beijing refused to let the acquisition stand, and Meta chose not to fight it. The un…

The man who built Qwen has a new lab, and the Shanghai government is an investor
The man who built Qwen has a new lab, and the Shanghai government is an investor

The researcher who led Alibaba’s Qwen models has started his own company. Junyang Lin announced Pragmatik Labs on X on Tuesday evening, five months after walking out of Alibaba. The lab is based in Shanghai and works on what Lin calls next-generation a…

China bets on AI weather forecasting as extreme storms close in
China bets on AI weather forecasting as extreme storms close in

As Typhoon Dolphin bore down on China’s coast this week, the country’s bet on artificial intelligence to read the skies looked less like a research curiosity and more like national infrastructure. Extreme weather is intensifying, the cost of getting a …

Oil giant rips out gas pumps for BYD’s 1,500 kW EV chargers
Oil giant rips out gas pumps for BYD’s 1,500 kW EV chargers

Sinopec, China’s biggest fuel retailer, just gutted one of its Shanghai gas stations and swapped the pumps for BYD’s 1,500 kW flash chargers.
And this wasn’t a case of bolting a couple of chargers onto the edge of the forecourt. Sinopec pulled the unde…

Amkor weighs a $1bn-plus stake sale in its China chip unit
Amkor weighs a $1bn-plus stake sale in its China chip unit

Amkor Technology, one of the world’s largest outsourced chip assembly and testing firms, is weighing a sale of a stake in its China operations, a deal that could value the unit at between $1bn and $1.5bn, according to Bloomberg. The Arizona-based compa…

Shein’s IPO is being pitched at under $30 billion. Four years ago it was worth $100 billion.
Shein’s IPO is being pitched at under $30 billion. Four years ago it was worth $100 billion.

Shein’s advisers are pitching the fast-fashion giant to investors at a valuation below $30 billion for its Hong Kong IPO, a roughly 70% drop from the $100 billion-plus valuation it hit in a 2022 private fundraising. Internally, Shein set a target of $3…

The FCC wants to ban DJI drones it already approved. LiDAR and thermal cameras are now “military-grade.”
The FCC wants to ban DJI drones it already approved. LiDAR and thermal cameras are now “military-grade.”

The FCC is considering banning DJI drones that it already approved for sale in the United States. The proposal would expand the agency’s existing drone restrictions to target specific capabilities: LiDAR sensing, thermal imaging, aerosol-dispersing sys…

Survey Sunday: this is how Chinese EVs will make it to America
Survey Sunday: this is how Chinese EVs will make it to America

For the last few weeks, we’ve been running a sidebar survey how (or if) Electrek readers think the first Chinese electric cars will make it onto US roads. After receiving more than 3,000 responses, here’s what you told us.

Pony.ai to put 100,000 autonomous electric trucks on the road by 2030 [video]
Pony.ai to put 100,000 autonomous electric trucks on the road by 2030 [video]

Chinese autonomy experts Pony.ai are planning to put 1,000 autonomous electric commercial trucks to work by 2027, but it’s the company’s plans to put 100,000 self-driving trucks on the road by 2030 that’s making headlines.

Volkswagen’s new electric era begins with reveal of ID. ERA 5X SUV
Volkswagen’s new electric era begins with reveal of ID. ERA 5X SUV

Revealed in a new filing from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the new VW ID. ERA 5X electric SUV is the first pure BEV on the brand’s new Compact Main Platform (CMP) platform.