Chinese companies accelerate expansion in future industries

HANGZHOU - Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek launched its Open Source Week initiative and released its first code repository, FlashMLA, on Monday to share their "small but sincere progress with full transparency."

FlashMLA is an optimization tool that makes large language models faster and more efficient, especially for high-performance AI tasks. It accelerates the decoding process, improving response time and throughput, crucial for real-time tasks such as chatbots and text generation.

Previously, DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, announced that it would release five code repositories in succession, sharing their research progress with the global developer community in a completely transparent manner.

On the same day, Alibaba Group announced that it will invest more than 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) in building cloud and AI hardware infrastructure in the next three years, capitalizing on the rapid growth of the AI industry.

The explosive AI growth has far exceeded expectations while the booming domestic science and technology industry has shown huge potential, said Eddie Wu, Alibaba Group's CEO. "Alibaba will spare no effort to accelerate the construction of cloud and AI hardware infrastructure to promote the development of the whole industry."

Chinese companies have rapidly expanded in emerging sectors like AI, demonstrating impressive growth and strategic foresight. Many tech firms are now making their mark on the global stage.

Earlier in 2025, the overseas business team of Hangzhou Lingban Technology Co Ltd, attended the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the United States, introducing their groundbreaking AI-powered smart eyewear, Rokid Glasses, which garnered significant attention in global markets.

On the frontier of robotics, Unitree Robotics released its wheeled-limbed robotic dog performing a series of complex maneuvers. DEEP Robotics has recently deployed its X30 robotic dogs in a cable tunnel in Singapore to carry out inspection duties, becoming China's first robotic device used in an overseas power system.

A total of 37 Chinese firms were included in Morgan Stanley's "Humanoid 100" list of global companies poised to benefit from the rise of humanoid robots. Morgan Stanley highlighted China's remarkable progress in humanoid robotics, noting that many startups are set to benefit from a mature supply chain, application opportunities, and strong policy support.

The Chinese government is placing significant emphasis on future industries like AI and humanoid robotics, which, while still in early stages, are seen as strategically important, disruptive, and full of innovation potential.

Roughly one year ago, seven Chinese government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, issued guidelines to promote the development of future industries.

The guideline called for efforts to develop signature products, enrich application scenarios, and optimize industrial supporting systems for future industries, particularly targeting six key fields including manufacturing, information, materials, energy, space, and health.

According to the Global Innovation Index 2024 released by World Intellectual Property Organization, China ranked 11th in global innovation, making it one of the fastest-growing economies in terms of innovation since 2010.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2024, China's total spending on research and development (R&D) amounted to 3.61 trillion yuan, securing its position as the world's second-largest spender on R&D.

China is also highly active in investment, particularly in emerging sectors like high-end manufacturing, new energy, and new materials. In Zhejiang, the construction of 150 major projects set to begin in the first quarter of 2025, with 55 focusing on new quality productive forces.

"China has the technological accumulation, human capital, and policy support necessary to cultivate tech giants. Emerging sectors such as AI applications, semiconductor manufacturing, and high-end equipment are expected to produce a new wave of innovative companies," said Wu Xinkun, chief strategy analyst at Haitong Securities.