BYD says its cast aluminum frame is lighter, tougher, and safer than steel
BYD says its cast aluminum frame is lighter, tougher, and safer than steel

If you’re from Pittsburgh, you may want to sit down for this one: global EV sales leader BYD claims the aluminum frame that underpins its new Yangwang U8L SUV passes a brutal, 12 ton lift test – despite weighing over 100 lbs. less than a comparable ste…

Tencent is letting PayPal users pay through WeChat’s merchant network, solving China’s tourist payment problem
Tencent is letting PayPal users pay through WeChat’s merchant network, solving China’s tourist payment problem

Tencent has announced that PayPal users will be able to make cashless payments in China by scanning QR codes through WeChat Pay’s merchant network. The integration, which will be available to US-based PayPal users first with more markets to follow, con…

US export controls are pushing China’s AI chip industry away from GPUs and toward custom silicon
US export controls are pushing China’s AI chip industry away from GPUs and toward custom silicon

China’s AI chip industry is no longer trying to build an Nvidia clone. Under sustained US export controls that block access to the most powerful general-purpose GPUs, the country’s largest technology companies are pivoting toward application-specific i…

China has approved the world’s first invasive brain-computer chip—here’s what’s next

One day last October, sitting in the courtyard of his house in China’s Henan province, Dong Hui decided to see if he could hold a pen to write.  Dong, 39, had sustained spinal cord injuries in a car accident six years earlier that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Slowly but determinedly, he wrote…

China formalises tougher outbound-investment rules after the Meta-Manus blockade
China formalises tougher outbound-investment rules after the Meta-Manus blockade

Beijing’s new framework codifies the technology-tracing approach the NDRC used to unwind Meta’s $2bn Manus acquisition, making cross-border AI deals materially harder. China has formalised a tougher framework for outbound-investment review, codifying t…

China just told its tech giants to stop fighting on price and start investing in AI
China just told its tech giants to stop fighting on price and start investing in AI

A top-level Communist Party publication has signaled a shift in how Beijing intends to govern its largest internet platforms. A draft commentary set to appear in the Qiushi journal on Monday says the focus will be on balancing support for growth with e…

Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ fraud lawsuit gets first hearing in China — 10 owners seek $583K
Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ fraud lawsuit gets first hearing in China — 10 owners seek $583K

A Beijing court held its first hearing in a consumer fraud lawsuit against Tesla over its “Full Self-Driving” software, with 10 owners seeking more than 3.95 million yuan ($583,000) in damages.

The case, which we first covered when it was filed last…

BYD has built China’s first 4nm driving chip, and it’s putting LiDAR on a $10,000 car
BYD has built China’s first 4nm driving chip, and it’s putting LiDAR on a $10,000 car

BYD has unveiled the Xuanji A3, which it calls China’s first automotive-grade 4-nanometre chip for self-driving vehicles. CEO Wang Chuanfu announced the chip at an event at BYD’s Shenzhen headquarters on 28 May, saying it delivers the lowest power cons…

JD.com’s founder vows to protect 900,000 jobs from AI. His warehouse strategy says otherwise.
JD.com’s founder vows to protect 900,000 jobs from AI. His warehouse strategy says otherwise.

Liu Qiangdong’s pledge to safeguard JD.com’s workforce from automation sits uncomfortably with his own ‘unmanned era’ vision and a flagship warehouse already running on four employees. Liu Qiangdong, the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, vowe…

Robotaxi has the wrong kind of momentum, but wind, and solar are doing GREAT
Robotaxi has the wrong kind of momentum, but wind, and solar are doing GREAT

On today’s momentous episode of Quick Charge, we are all about momentum, with solid-state EV batteries gaining ground in China as wind and solar continuing to grow in the US while Tesla’s self-driving Robotaxi fleet, well – doesn’t.

more…