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Tencent Cloud has launched a 40‑day nationwide program offering free on‑site installation and configuration of its "Lobster" AI and cloud products across 17 Chinese cities. The campaign aims to accelerate enterprise adoption and build customer relationships, but it arrives amid regulatory warnings and ecosystem disputes over security and intellectual property.

An IoT security testing technology developed in China, TRAIS‑P TEST, has been adopted as an ISO/IEC international standard, a step that strengthens China’s influence in global technical norms. The standard could ease market access for Chinese vendors and testing labs while sharpening debates about technological governance and supply‑chain trust.

Didi has denied circulating reports that it approved a three‑year operating extension for cars older than eight years. The correction highlights tensions between drivers' economic pressures, safety regulations set by local transport authorities, and the risks of rapid misinformation on social platforms.

Shanghai’s Appliance & Electronics World Expo introduced an “Oriental Hub” with visa‑free entry for invited foreigners and duty‑free handling for exhibits, turning a consumer fair into an efficient international marketplace for Chinese hard tech. The policy enabled overseas buyers to inspect and negotiate on AI chips, edge compute, optical interconnects and robotics on the spot, accelerating commercial engagement while signalling China’s push to export integrated technology solutions.

Huawei has declared its all‑scenario ecosystem has entered a “full‑chain” era, aiming to bind people, cars and homes into an integrated platform built on HarmonyOS. The move signals a strategic shift toward deeper partner integration and vertical coordination, with implications for competitors, automakers and data governance.

At AWE 2026 Hisense unveiled new AI housekeeper and compact companion robot prototypes, saying consumer deployment is imminent. Leveraging its display and appliance business, the company aims to move robotics from commercial settings into homes, but faces technical, pricing and privacy challenges before wide adoption.

Devendra Chaplot, a founding member of Thinking Machines Lab, has joined Elon Musk’s xAI as the company continues to recruit researchers to pursue its stated goal of building “superintelligence.” The hire highlights xAI’s ongoing talent‑acquisition drive and raises questions about both the pace of capability development and the governance challenges such ambition entails.

Li Auto reported substantial year‑on‑year profit and revenue declines for 2025 and has set a more modest growth target of just above 20% for 2026. CEO Li Xiang has launched operational changes — a partner store model, network rationalisation and AI initiatives — and emphasises 2026 as a year of repair and strategic repositioning rather than aggressive scale‑up.

Tencent’s new SkillHub has been criticised by OpenClaw’s founder for allegedly copying the open project’s skill store, a dispute that highlights tensions between large platforms and independent open-source maintainers. Tencent says SkillHub is a localised mirror labelled with its source and points to contributions from its engineers while rolling out a broader product push around the OpenClaw “lobster” ecosystem.

Elon Musk has acknowledged that xAI was poorly built and must be reconstructed after the majority of its founding team departed. The departures have disrupted flagship projects, intensified technical clashes with Tesla’s AI approach, and heightened legal and investor scrutiny following Tesla’s $2 billion investment and SpaceX’s purchase of xAI stakes.

The People’s Bank of China will inject 500 billion yuan into the banking system on March 16 via a six‑month buyout reverse‑repo, using a fixed‑quantity, multi‑price rate tender. The move supplies durable liquidity without cutting policy rates, signalling targeted accommodation to stabilise money markets and support credit supply.

China’s food‑delivery subsidy war is squeezing restaurant margins: platforms run aggressive promotions to retain users while shifting costs onto merchants through fees, required discounts and business‑manager interventions. The dynamic is forcing many eateries to raise prices or opt out of promotions, prompting regulatory scrutiny and raising questions about the sustainability of current platform strategies.

Chinese shoppers and consumer complaints reveal a widespread mismatch between high‑quality samples shown in livestreams and the cheaper goods actually delivered, a practice dubbed “A/B” goods. The problem stems from livestream marketing tactics, fragmented supply chains and weak last‑mile quality control, and presents legal, reputational and regulatory risks for sellers and platforms.

U.S. equity markets closed lower as technology names led declines while gold miners plunged amid a firmer dollar and rising oil prices. The session reflected sector rotation and macro uncertainty, with investors weighing the implications of commodity strength and higher real yields on earnings and valuations.

Kweichow Moutai’s finance chief Jiang Yan is under disciplinary investigation, the latest in a string of probes that have ensnared successive top executives at the company. The pattern exposes deep governance challenges tied to Moutai’s quota-driven, high-value market and signals continued central and provincial scrutiny of state-linked corporate elites.

Chinese automakers' increasingly common 'lifetime' warranties are being routinely limited or denied through narrow contract terms, service requirements, and administrative loopholes. The practice exposes gaps in regulation and enforcement, undermines consumer trust, and poses reputational and financial risks to manufacturers as vehicles age and failures increase.

China has introduced stricter national standards for disposable sanitary products that tighten size tolerances, update absorbency tests, close safety gaps on chemicals, and mandate process controls. The rules accelerate factory automation and testing, favour large brands and domestic equipment makers, and are likely to prompt consolidation and higher‑quality — and higher‑priced — products over the coming years.

TA Associates is marketing Gong Cha with a possible valuation near $2 billion, which would net the firm about $1.7 billion after a 2019 purchase of roughly $288 million. The brand’s global franchising success contrasts with sharp setbacks in mainland China, illustrating both the upside of high‑frequency beverage models for private equity and the brand risks that come from loose licensing and weak trademark protection.

A recent surge in gold jewellery prices in China has spawned a lucrative but fragile daigou (proxy buyer) market. While experienced resellers have made substantial short‑term gains by exploiting store promotions and scarcity, the trade is exposed to fraud, leverage risks and collapsing margins as competition intensifies.

Iran’s IRGC says it launched a major round of strikes, claiming the USS Abraham Lincoln was rendered combat‑ineffective, while the newly installed supreme leader, Mujtaba Khamenei, used a televised address to vow revenge, threaten closure of the Strait of Hormuz and press Gulf states to expel U.S. forces. The competing claims and muted U.S. confirmation point to a campaign that blends military action, psychological operations and proxy warfare, raising the risk of prolonged regional disruption and oil‑market shocks.