How China will push ahead with AI under the new 5-year plan – Winston Ma

 

Winston Ma

AI was a keyword in China’s 15th five-year plan, running from 2026 to 2030. “These are kind of concrete examples that big tech companies are taking actions to try to engage everyday people with advanced AI,” said Winston Ma, author of “The Digital War” and adjunct professor in the global AI-digital economy at Bastille Post.

The Bastille Post:

Signs of the AI push are already visible in the private sector. During the country’s recent Spring Festival holiday which marked celebrations for the Chinese New Year, major companies distributed traditional red packets — or lucky money coupons — through AI-driven apps, a consumer-level case study of how policy is meeting practice.

“These are kind of concrete examples that big tech companies are taking actions to try to engage everyday people with advanced AI,” said Winston Ma, author of “The Digital War” and adjunct professor in the global AI-digital economy.

Ma believes that wider adoption of AI among consumers will also generate vast amounts of data, fueling improvements in AI products and services.

“You have more than a billion internet users that are integrated by the same language, same culture, and the same mobile payment. So, every day there is tremendous amount of data accumulated at the digital platforms. So, the next step is to better utilize the data, organize the data, and put the data into work by AI to generate value,” he said.

That value is increasingly visible in intelligent products, most notably robots. At the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas back in January, Chinese firms dominated the exhibition floor with machines and high-tech robots of every shape and size, performing not only acrobatic displays but also practical tasks that underscored their commercial potential…

“There will be a huge range of embodied AI. But overall, China has the advantage of the manufacturing process developed here in the “Made in China” expansion the last three decades. Essentially, Chinese manufacturing power can be combined with Chinese open source models to develop a huge industry, relating to industry robots as well as humanoids,” Ma said.

Ma noted that this year’s “two sessions” could extend the technology agenda “Beyond AI,” encompassing quantum computing and biomedicine to lay the groundwork for next-generation industries.

More in the Bastille Post.

Winston Ma is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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US-Iran war unlikely to derail Xi-Trump meeting – Arthur Kroeber

 

Arthur Kroeber

China protested against the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, but economist Arthur Kroeber, author of China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know®  does not think this major upheaval will derail the planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, he says at CNBC.

Arthur Kroeber is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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What Western companies get wrong on China’s AI strategy – Sharon Gai

 

Sharon Gai

Western companies systematically misread the AI strategy of China, says former Alibaba executive Sharon Gai in Computer Weekly. “The practical takeaway is not that Western companies should replicate China’s model. The regulatory, cultural, and political contexts are too different for direct imitation. But there are strategic lessons worth absorbing,” she writes.

Sharon Gai:

The practical takeaway is not that Western companies should replicate China’s model. The regulatory, cultural, and political contexts are too different for direct imitation. But there are strategic lessons worth absorbing.

First, stop treating AI deployment as something that happens after the model is “ready.” The companies gaining the most ground, in China and increasingly elsewhere, are the ones deploying imperfect AI in controlled but real environments, learning from live data, and iterating rapidly. Waiting for perfection is a luxury that the pace of competition no longer affords.

Second, invest in the integration layer. The model is only as valuable as the ecosystem it connects to. Western organisations that focus exclusively on procuring the best model while neglecting the workflows, data pipelines, and cultural changes needed to make that model useful will find themselves outpaced by competitors who build tighter loops between AI and operations.

Third, develop genuine China literacy within your strategy teams. Too many Western companies rely on surface-level reporting or outdated assumptions about Chinese technology. The executives who will navigate the next decade of AI competition successfully are those who invest in understanding what is actually happening on the ground, not what fits the familiar narrative.

The AI race is not a single sprint with one finish line. It is a complex, multi-front contest where different strategies can win in different domains. Western companies that continue to misread China’s approach are not just underestimating a competitor. They are misunderstanding the game itself.

More at Computer Weekly.

Sharon Gai is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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The year of the fire horse explained – Zhang Lijia

 

Zhang Lijia

Is 2026, the year of the fire horse, going to bring dramatic change, as people in China say? Journalist Zhang Lijia, author of “Socialism Is Great!”: A Worker’s Memoir of the New China, dives into the meaning of the year of the fire horse. Happening once every 60 years, the previous year of the fire horse was 1966, marking the start of the Cultural Revolution, says Zhang Lijia at the China Decode.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

 Are you looking for more experts on cultural change at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

Despite anxiety, 10% wealthy Chinese will spend on holidays – Shaun Rein

 

Shaun Rein

While most Chinese consumers still worry about their future, the top 10 percent wealthy had a surprisingly good 2025 and will be around spending during the Chinese New Year, says Shanghai-based business analyst Shaun Rein at CNBC.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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About Zhou Qunfei, China’s second richest woman – Ashley Dudarenok

 

Ashley Dudarenok

Hong Kong-based marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok looks at China’s second-richest woman, according to the 2025 Hurun rich list. “Zhou’s story rebukes the notion that success is the product of privilege or pedigree. She is living proof that it is possible to rise from the depths of poverty to the highest echelons of wealth and influence,” writes Ashley Dudarenok at the Jing Daily.

Jing Daily:

In the pantheon of Chinese billionaires, there are tech titans, real estate moguls, and brand builders. And then there is Zhou Qunfei, a woman whose story is so raw, so improbable, it feels like a modern-day fairytale. The 55-year-old founder of Lens Technology is the second richest woman in China, with a staggering US$15 billion (110 billion RMB) fortune, according to the 2025 Hurun Rich List.

Her wealth surged 75% ($6.8 billion) from 2024 to 2025 following Lens Technology’s Hong Kong IPO in July 2025. But what makes her story truly remarkable is not merely her wealth but her ability to build a global empire from the ground up. Her journey demonstrates how foresight, relentless discipline, and hands-on leadership can turn a small workshop into an international industry powerhouse…

Zhou’s story rebukes the notion that success is the product of privilege or pedigree. She is living proof that it is possible to rise from the depths of poverty to the highest echelons of wealth and influence. Her empire was not built on a single brilliant idea or disruptive technology, but on the simple, unglamorous work of making things, perfecting a craft, and an unwavering refusal to give up.

She is the “touchscreen queen,” a true industry titan forged in the fires of adversity. She offers a powerful reminder that in the end, the most valuable asset a leader can possess is not a brilliant mind or a charismatic personality but an unbreakable spirit.

More in the Jing Daily.

Ashley Dudarenok is a speaker at the China Speaker Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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How China’s AI industry gains at the Hong Kong stock market – Winston Ma

 

Winston ma

Chinese chipmaker Montage Technology soared 64% on its Hong Kong IPO debut. Financial analyst Winston Ma, an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and former head of North America for CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund, explains how US efforts to curtail Chinese semiconductor and AI firms helped them in the current boost, he tells Bloomberg. “The strong lineup of global cornerstone buyers suggests that Chinese AI-related IPOs are attracting institutional investors back to the HKEX market again,” he says.

Bloomberg:

Winston Ma, an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law and former head of North America for CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund, said US sanctions limiting China’s access to advanced chips such as Nvidia’s were accelerating capital and policy support for China’s domestic semiconductor value chain, including “middleware” chip designers such as Montage.

“The strong lineup of global cornerstone buyers suggests that Chinese AI-related IPOs are attracting institutional investors back to the HKEX market again,” he said, referring to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

“Montage’s Hong Kong debut underscores how China’s AI chip ecosystem is moving ‘up the stack’ from basic components towards specialised chips that connect processors and memory inside data centres,” he added.

Montage’s listing also comes as Hong Kong logged its strongest start to a year since 2021, with IPOs and second listings raising about US$5.5 billion in January, the most since US$7.6 billion was raised in January 2021, LSEG data showed.

More at Bloomberg.

Winston Ma is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

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Why Temu is no longer having a winning retail concept – Ashley Dudarenok

 

Ashley Dudarenok

For a few years, China’s international retailer Temu – together with Shein – seemed to have a winning retail concept. But those days are over, says Hong-Kong-based marketing expert Ashley Dudarenok in The Rest of the World. Temu is running into barriers all over the world.

The Rest of the World:

Temu’s unique business model — cheap goods delivered from China straight to buyers at factory-direct prices with free shipping — has brought the company under fire. The regulatory pushback marks a turning point for one of China’s most aggressive global exporters.

“Temu’s original ‘China-to-door’ model was a brilliant, but ultimately fragile, strategy built on regulatory arbitrage,” Ashley Dudarenok, founder of China research and digital transformation firm ChoZan, told Rest of World. “That era is coming to a close. The model is now undergoing a forced, rapid evolution into a localized cross-border hybrid. Its survival depends entirely on how quickly it can execute this complex transition while navigating a minefield of regulatory and financial pressures.”

More in the Rest of the World.

Ashley Dudarenok is a marketing expert at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.

Are you looking for more marketing experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.