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GLM-Image is said to bethe first open-source, industrial-grade discrete auto-regressive image generation model, combining a nine-billion-parameter aut…

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Despite market focus on Trump and the tech boom, Asian currencies may find support from a weaker dollar.

Investors get ready for 2026 with gold and AI rally strength in focus

Decoding China&#039;s tech and business pulse

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China’s tech ecosystem serves as a driving force behind the world’s second largest economy, influencing global digital markets.

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Deals in brief: Pyxis hits first close of SGD 18 million round, BBVA leads Olea’s Series A funding, latest China investments, and more

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GLM-Image is said to bethe first open-source, industrial-grade discrete auto-regressive image generation model, combining a nine-billion-parameter auto-regressive module with a seven-billion-parameter diffusion decoder. Developed by Z.ai (Zhipu AI) in partnership with <a href="/company/huawei">Huawei</a> and built on GLM-4-9B-0414 and CogView4, the model reportedly excels in text rendering, semantic accuracy, and complex image-to-image tasks.

Longi Green Energy shares fell after the Chinese solar manufacturer warned of another annual loss in 2025, projecting a deficit of RMB 6.0–6.5 billion. The figure narrows from 2024’s RMB 8.6 billion loss, driven by continued cost pressures and weak panel prices. Analysts expect a gradual recovery from 2026 as competition and overcapacity ease.

EHang has appointed founding team member Shuai Feng as CTO, effective January 14. Feng, who helped develop core <a href="/industry/evtol">eVTOL</a> models such as the EH216-S and VT35, succeeds founder Huazhi Hu in leading the company’s technology strategy.

Global humanoid robot installations reached 16,000 units in 2025, with China accounting for over 80%. Shanghai-based <a href="/company/agibot">Agibot</a> led global OEMs with a 31% share, followed by Unitree, UBTech, Leju, and <a href="/company/tesla">Tesla</a>. Cumulative installations are projected to surpass 100,000 units by 2027, driven by demand from logistics, manufacturing, and automotive sectors.

WeRide said its global robotaxi fleet reached 1,023 vehicles as of January 12. With fully driverless operations already underway in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi, the company said it aims to deploy tens of thousands of robotaxis worldwide by 2030.

Ford Motor is in talks with <a href="/company/byd">BYD</a> to supply batteries for hybrid vehicles, people familiar with the discussions said. The potential deal, still under negotiation, comes as Ford pivots from <a href="/industry/ev">EVs</a> toward hybrid cars and seeks new battery suppliers. BYD, one of China’s top automakers and battery producers, has been expanding its global capacity across Asia, Europe, and Brazil.

Robot Era and SF Technology have formed a partnership to develop and deploy embodied robots across logistics operations. By leveraging Robot Era’s ERA-42 model and its humanoid robots L7 and M7, the collaboration seeks to enhance automation flexibility, establish industry standards, and drive large-scale adoption of advanced robotics in supply chain management.

<a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba</a> has integrated its Qwen app with Taobao, Alipay, Fliggy, and AutoNavi to enable more than 400 <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a>-powered services, letting users shop, make payments, book trips, and access government services through natural language commands. The company said the update marks Qwen’s transition from conversational AI to a task-oriented assistant.

<a href="/company/kuaishou">Kuaishou</a> said its video generation platform Kling AI generated over USD 20 million in revenue in December 2025, lifting its annualized run rate to USD 240 million. Achieved less than two years after launch, the milestone reflects growing adoption among creators and enterprise users in marketing, <a href="/industry/e-commerce">e-commerce</a>, and content production.

<a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba’s</a> Qwen app has reportedly surpassed 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch, though the company has not confirmed the figure. Framed as an <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> assistant that can both converse and complete tasks, Qwen marks Alibaba’s strategic shift toward the consumer AI market after years of focusing on enterprise solutions.

<a href="/company/minimax">MiniMax</a> has introduced OctoCodingBench, a benchmark designed to evaluate how well coding agents follow process-level instructions. The study found that while many models can pass output tests, they may disregard rules such as naming conventions and user preferences. Several open-source models surpassed closed-source counterparts in overall rule compliance.

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The automaker plans to launch seven new models and accelerate deployment of its Turing chip this year.

Xpeng targets 600,000 deliveries in 2026 as it expands hybrid and AI-driven lineup

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Homegrown players join Pernod Ricard and Diageo as sales surge, with export potential still unclear.

In China's whisky boom, local distillers take aim at big shots

In China&#8217;s whisky boom, local distillers take aim at big shots

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iFlytek drives voice recognition and natural language processing AI, enhancing smart assistants, language learning, and enterprise solutions.

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The framework outlines a B2A2C model in which brands reach consumers through agent-based AI systems.

Z.ai and Huawei present GLM-Image

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