This report is from this week’s The Tech Download newsletter. Like what you see? You can subscribe here. Earlier this week, Clément Delangue, the CEO of startup Hugging Face — which was recently on the receiving end of a rogue cyber attack by OpenAI’s models — made the somewhat controversial claim that China was winning the…
Some of America’s biggest technology companies are pushing Washington to make open artificial intelligence a national priority as China continues to build its lead in the space. Their message exposes a gap in U.S. policy: America has a chip strategy for AI. Now it needs an open-model strategy. Supporters say open models can lower costs,…
Google’s display at APEC Digital Weeks in Chengdu on July 23, 2026 did not focus on Gemini. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC BEIJING — The artificial intelligence race between the U.S. and China is heating up in the world’s largest continent: Asia. “The American strategy is to stop China from becoming the leading AI supplier for…
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 21: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appears during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump announced an investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and took questions on a range of topics including his presidential pardons…
Fred Hu, chairman and chief executive officer of Primavera Capital Group, during the Hong Kong Fintech Week in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images China’s biggest weakness in its rivalry with the United States isn’t AI, semiconductors or tariffs. It’s finance, according to one of the…
Tencent’s Chief AI Scientist Yao Shunyu (R) discusses the tech outlook with Tencent CNBC | Evelyn Cheng BEIJING — A former OpenAI researcher is now chief AI scientist for Tencent in China, and wants to build artificial general intelligence. It’s a sign of a shift in the U.S.-China tech race. AI with human-level or above…
China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held a press conference on May 23, 2026, at the end of the APEC trade ministers’ meeting in Suzhou, China. CNBC | Evelyn Cheng SUZHOU, China — Just over a week after the U.S. and Chinese presidents met in Beijing, the world’s two largest economies are sending different messages about…
U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping could hinge on two key tech flashpoints — critical minerals and market access for American companies. The much-anticipated bilateral meeting between the two countries that were locked in a tariff standoff just a year ago began on Thursday, with warm words exchanged between the two…
Manus was hailed by Chinese state media as the “next DeepSeek” soon after its launch in March 2025, months before the startup relocated to Singapore. Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images BEIJING — China’s decision to block U.S. tech giant Meta‘s $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus is being seen…
China’s state planner on Monday called for Meta to unwind its $2 billion acquisition of Manus, a Singaporean AI startup with Chinese roots. The decision to prohibit foreign investment in Manus was made in accordance with laws and regulations, the National Development and Reform Commission said in a brief statement. It added that it has…