China Innovation Watch

China Innovation Watch

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How AI and Elderly Demographics Created China’s Most Profitable Micro-Drama Tier
Budget productions return 70% profitability. Premium content gambles on binary outcomes.
Zhipu and MiniMax burn $10 for every $1 in revenue
Two Chinese AI companies going public reveal stark differences in monetization, offering first hard data on what works in the world’s most competitive…
Manus AI: from $500M to $2B in 8 months
Singapore-based Manus reached $100M ARR faster than any startup in history. Its 80M virtual computers powered by multi-agent AI reshape global tech…
Chinese internet companies face global expansion inflection point
$18.6B gaming exports and 46% short drama share face regulatory barriers. Next three years determine durability or temporary arbitrage.
US startups adopt Chinese AI models for performance and cost gains
Airbnb has shifted heavily to Alibaba's Qwen over OpenAI, while 80% of American AI startups now deploy Chinese AI models including DeepSeek and Kimi.
How Chinese consumer priorities shift in 2025
Accenture data reveals 86% now prioritize health monitoring while brand loyalty collapses and domestic products capture 43% of beauty market as Chinese…
China’s AI hardware playbook: measurable gains, record campaigns
Snapmaker, Rokid, and Anker secure record crowdfunding with quantified performance gains. Tool-changing tech and open platforms drive validation…
Two opposing AI strategies in China
Alibaba’s trillion-parameter Qwen3-Max battles DeepSeek’s 50% cost cuts as competing strategies reshape market dynamics
iFlytek’s AI tutor doubled revenue in six months
Inside the strategy that turned Spark X1 into a commercial win, blending advanced reasoning models, education-focused AI, and 2,000 retail centers to…
Huawei leads as ai phones surge
Q2 shipments dip, but AI phones, foldables, and premium segments fuel China’s next smartphone growth wave.
Chinese humanoids gain edge in retail, logistics
VLA-powered humanoids and vertical data moats are driving hundreds of commercial deployments, cutting costs and reshaping service work.
Tencent rides AI surge to double-digit profit growth
AI-driven games and marketing push Tencent’s Q2 revenue to RMB184.5 billion, with international gaming up 35% YoY.
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