China Unicom boosts computing power investment in 2025 amid AI rush
China's spending spree on
artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is rapidly accelerating, with
China Unicom , one of the country's 'big three' state-owned telecommunications network operators, budgeting a 28 per cent increase in capital expenditures for computing power in 2025.
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The aggressive spending approach comes as China's Big Tech companies have also unveiled ambitious AI investment plans.
Alibaba Group Holding , owner of the Post, recently said it had earmarked at least US$52 billion for building AI and cloud computing infrastructure over the next three years, marking the largest computing power project by a private Chinese company.
As state-owned infrastructure operators, private enterprises and local governments unite in increasing AI infrastructure investments, China's total AI spending could rival or even surpass the
headline-grabbing Stargate Project – a joint venture between US start-up OpenAI and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank that includes a pledged investment of US$500 billion over the next four years.
China Unicom on Tuesday reported a 17 per cent decline in overall capital expenditures in 2024. However, spending on computing power, including data centres, rose 19 per cent, underscoring the company's commitment to AI.
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Amid a surge in AI adoption following the launch of open-sourced models from Chinese start-up DeepSeek, China Unicom is budgeting a 28 per cent increase in capital expenses for computing power this year. To ensure steady funding for critical projects, the company has also allocated a 'special budget' for key AI infrastructure initiatives.
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Asia Times
an hour ago
- Asia Times
Australia's trade would be fatally exposed in a US-China war
If war breaks out between the United States and China someday, one of the major concerns for Australia is the impact on its trade. Our trade routes are long and exposed. Every year, thousands of merchant ships — bulk carriers, tankers, container ships and other types — visit Australian ports to deliver imported goods and pick up exports for delivery at distant ports. When a cargo ship of petroleum leaves the Persian Gulf for refining in East Asia, then sails for Australia, the total trip is approximately 20,000 kilometers. The ship passes through lonely stretches of sea and numerous choke points, such as the Strait of Malacca in Southeast Asia, often within range of missiles and other weapons. Such attacks could come from Chinese ships in the event of a war, or as we've seen in the Middle East with the Houthi rebels, they could also come from militants seeking to disrupt global shipping. Australia's current defense strategy cites the security of our 'sea lines of communication and maritime trade' as a priority. The aim is to prevent an adversary from cutting off critical supplies to our continent in a war. To achieve this, the government has embarked on the lengthy process of expanding the Royal Australian Navy surface and sub-surface fleet, including the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. As I explain in my forthcoming book, The Big Fix: Rebuilding Australia's National Security, the problem with the government's maritime plan is that it is built on a deeply flawed foundation and cannot deliver what it promises. Defense documents insist on a need for the Australian Defense Force to be able to project naval power far from Australia's shores in order to protect the nation's trade. The presence of these warships would ostensibly deter attacks on our vital shipping. However, those who developed the maritime plan do not appear to have considered whether the merchant ships delivering this trade would continue to sail to Australia in the event of a war — presumably with China. The reality is that Australia's A$1.2 trillion (US$778 billion) of exports and imports are carried in ships owned by non-Australian companies, flying foreign flags and largely crewed by citizens of other countries. Decisions about whether to continue sailing to Australia during a conflict would be made in overseas boardrooms and capitals. The Australian government has no leverage to force the owners of these ships to continue to service our continent. Australia's national interests may well not be the paramount concern. Nor does the Australian government have the option to turn to Australian-flagged vessels. Australia's shipping list contains only a handful of domestically owned and flagged cargo ships available in case of war. In fact, the biggest vessel (by length) that the government could take into service is the Spirit of Tasmania IV ferry. If all goes according to schedule, at some point in the 2040s, Australia will have at most 26 surface warships and perhaps eight nuclear-powered submarines, the navy hopes to acquire through the AUKUS deal. Australia is expected to acquire three Virginia-class submarines from the US under the AUKUS deal. Photo: Colin Murty / AAP via The Conversation Due to training and maintenance requirements, the total number of vessels available at any one time would be more on the order of ten. In other words, the government's future maritime plan, costing hundreds of billions of dollars, may result in just ten available ships at any given time to protect the nation's trade over thousands of kilometers. Fortunately, Australia has other options for safeguarding its trade that don't necessitate the building of warships. Our first investment in security should be diplomatic. The government should prioritise its investment in diplomacy across the region to promote security, including trade security. Regional countries are best placed to secure the waterways around Australia, particularly from the most likely future threat: Houthi-like militants. The Australian government should also modernize its shipping regulations and include in the budget provisions for war-risk insurance. Such insurance could compensate owners for the potential loss of ships and cargoes as an inducement for them to sail to and from Australia during war. The government must also encourage greater investment in our national resilience. Currently, the biggest risk during a conflict is an interruption to the nation's liquid fuel supply. We must greatly expand our onshore reserves of fossil fuels in the short term, while initiating a nation-building project to electrify the economy in the long term. Electrification would eliminate a considerable vulnerability to national security. Additionally, the government should identify and subsidize vital industries, such as fertilizers and certain medicines, which are essential to the continued functioning of our society in the event of a war. This would reduce our reliance on imports of critical materials. Lastly, Australian industries, with the government's assistance, should further diversify their trading partners to reduce over-dependence on one or two main destinations. Trade is undoubtedly important to Australia and the government is correct to protect it. But it is also true that not all security problems are best answered by the military. This is particularly important since the size of our planned fleet is obviously insufficient for the enormous task it will face. Either Australia invests in impossibly large numbers of warships or it takes a different path. The art of war requires a balance between the desired ends and the means to achieve them. This simple statement underpins the formation of all good strategy, which a state ignores at its peril. Unfortunately, in the case of the nation's maritime plan, the ends and means are seriously out of whack. Instead of setting itself up for failure, the government needs to put aside its ineffectual maritime plan and choose the means that do align with the ends. Only then will it be possible to protect Australia's trade. Albert Palazzo is adjunct professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNSW Canberra, UNSW Sydney This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
HKFP
an hour ago
- HKFP
China ‘firmly rejects' US accusation of violating tariff deal
China said Monday it 'firmly rejects' US claims that it had violated a sweeping tariffs deal, as tensions between the two economic superpowers showed signs of ratcheting back up. Beijing and Washington last month agreed to slash staggeringly high tariffs on each other for 90 days after talks between top officials in Geneva. But top Washington officials last week accused China of violating the deal, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying Beijing was 'slow-rolling' the agreement in comments to 'Fox News Sunday'. China hit back Monday, saying Washington 'has made bogus charges and unreasonably accused China of violating the consensus, which is seriously contrary to the facts'. 'China firmly rejects these unreasonable accusations,' its commerce ministry said in a statement. US President Donald Trump said last week that China had 'totally violated' the deal, without providing details. Beijing's commerce ministry said it 'has been firm in safeguarding its rights and interests, and sincere in implementing the consensus'. It fired back that Washington 'has successively introduced a number of discriminatory restrictive measures against China' since the Geneva talks. The ministry cited export controls on artificial intelligence chips, curbs on the sale of chip design software and the revocation of Chinese student visas in the United States. 'We urge the US to meet China halfway, immediately correct its wrongful actions, and jointly uphold the consensus from the Geneva trade talks,' the ministry said. If not, 'China will continue to resolutely take strong measures to uphold its legitimate rights and interests,' it added. Trump-Xi talks? US officials have said they are frustrated by what they see as Chinese foot-dragging on approving export licences for rare earths and other elements needed to make cars and chips. But Washington's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent looked to ease the pressure on Sunday, saying the two sides could arrange a call between their respective heads of state to resolve their differences. 'I'm confident… this will be ironed out' in a call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Bessent said on CBS's 'Face the Nation'. He added, however, that China was 'withholding some of the products that they agreed to release', including rare earths. On when a Trump-Xi call could take place, Bessent said: 'I believe we will see something very soon.' China has been less forthcoming, and the commerce ministry's statement on Monday did not mention any planned conversations between the two leaders. The Geneva deal was 'an important consensus reached by the two sides on the principle of mutual respect and equality, and its results were hard-won', the ministry said. It warned Washington against 'going its own way and continuing to harm China's interests'. Global stocks finished mixed on Friday after Trump made his social media post accusing Beijing. The Hong Kong stock exchange was down around 2 percent shortly after opening on Monday.
Asia Times
2 hours ago
- Asia Times
UK-Japan charting a joint nuclear fusion future
TOKYO – Tokamak Energy, the UK's leading nuclear fusion technology developer, has become part of Japan's energy innovation strategy. After several years of building relations with Japanese government agencies, corporations and academic and scientific institutions, Tokamak Energy established a subsidiary in Tokyo in February and won a 'green transformation' award from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in April. Tokamak Energy was founded in 2009 as a spin-off from the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Of the approximately ten fusion technology developers in the UK, it is widely regarded as the one closest to commercialization, although that appears to be at least a decade away. Tokamak Energy has been shortlisted for the role of engineering partner in the UK Government's STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) initiative, which aims to build a fusion energy pilot plant in Nottinghamshire. In 2019, Tokamak Energy established a subsidiary in the US. As part of the US Department of Energy's Milestone Based Fusion Development Program, it is designing a spherical tokamak-based fusion pilot plant with the goal of demonstrating net energy output in the 2030s. Tokamak Energy also works with General Atomics, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Sandia national laboratories and the University of Illinois. Tokamak Energy's most prominent Japanese partners are wire and cable manufacturer Furukawa Electric, component producer and system integrator Kyoto Fusioneering, trading company Sumitomo Corporation and the University of Tokyo. Tokamak Energy is also part of Japan's FAST (Fusion by Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) fusion power development project, which brings together industrial and academic experts from Japan, the UK, the US and Canada. Tokamak Energy specializes in two technologies: the compact spherical tokamak fusion reactor and the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that make it work. A tokamak is a machine that confines a deuterium-tritium plasma using magnetic fields to force them together. In the 1980s, Alan Sykes, the UK physicist who was one of Tokamak Energy's founders, demonstrated that a compact spherical design was more efficient, stable and cost-effective than the older donut-shaped design. A spherical design is now the global standard. Sykes was the principal designer of the ST40 spherical tokamak. Tokamak is a Russian word, an acronym derived from the phrase 'toroidal chamber with magnetic coil.' The concept was formulated by Russian (Soviet) physicists Oleg Lavrentiev, Andrei Sakharov and Igor Tamm in 1950 and 1951. Tokamak technology has since spread around the world, with the UK, US and Japan racing China, the EU, Russia, India and South Korea to commercialize fusion energy. In January 2023, Tokamak Energy signed an agreement with Furukawa Electric and its US subsidiary SuperPower, under which the Japanese will supply several hundred kilometers of HTS tape for the magnets in Tokamak's fusion pilot plant. 'HTS magnets,' the three companies state, 'are an essential enabler for the low cost, commercial operation and global deployment of spherical tokamak devices. They are essential for confining the fuel, which reaches temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius. Tokamak Energy and Furukawa Electric Group are, respectively, leaders in the fields of HTS magnet design and superconducting wire development.' In November 2024, Furukawa announced that it had invested about 10 million pounds (US$13.5 million) in Tokamak Energy, becoming its first strategic investor in Japan. This was part of a 100 million pound Series C funding round co-led by East X Ventures, a London-based firm that 'invests in early-stage, science-led companies with high-growth, world-scale potential,' and Lingotto Investment Management, a Netherlands-owned fund also based in London. The funding will support the expansion of its HTS magnetics business and ongoing work on the company's fusion pilot plant. Tokamak Energy has also raised capital from other private investors as well as the UK and US governments. Kyoto Fusioneering supplies gyrotrons to Tokamak Energy and other private and public sector clients in Japan and overseas. Spun out of Kyoto University in October 2019, it was Japan's first fusion energy startup. 'The gyrotron,' the company explains, 'is a high-power, high-frequency oscillation heating device primarily used for plasma ignition, electron heating, and plasma instability suppression. Kyoto Fusioneering has commercialized the gyrotron by consolidating technologies accumulated by national institutions, academia, and manufacturers, including the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) and the University of Tsukuba.' Sumitomo Corporation has a collaboration agreement with Tokamak Energy aimed at establishing a fusion energy supply chain and the realization of commercial fusion power plants. It is also investigating potential applications of Tokamak Energy's technology in other industrial sectors. Tokamak Energy's Plasma Physics senior technical advisor, Yuichi Takase, is a former professor of physics and complexity science and engineering at the University of Tokyo. In May, Tokamak Energy CEO Warwick Matthews and Director of Strategic Partnerships Ross Morgan visited Japan to meet with government officials, industrial companies and investors. In an interview at their office in Tokyo, they told Asia Times that the level of trust with the Japanese is very high and that the time and effort put into building relationships should enable them to navigate the long-term collaboration required for commercializing fusion energy. Matthews joined Tokamak Energy in January 2023 after a 24-year career at Rolls Royce. Morgan, who has led the effort to establish the company's subsidiary in Japan, began his career in 1996 at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, the UK's national fusion laboratory. On May 20 of this year, the Nikkei business newspaper reported that the Japanese government plans to revise its Fusion Energy Innovation Strategy to include a roadmap toward conducting the world's first test of a fusion energy pilot plant in the 2030s. The strategy, which then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet approved in June 2023, identifies fusion energy as 'the next-generation energy source that can solve both energy problems and global environmental problems at the same time,' while ensuring Japan's energy security. Fusion energy, it notes, has the following advantages: (1) Carbon neutrality (no carbon dioxide emitted), (2) Abundant fuel [hydrogen isotopes deuterium, found in seawater, and tritium, which can be produced from lithium], (3) Inherently safe (nuclear reaction stops when the fuel or power supply is cut off), and (4) Environmental preservation (low level of radioactive waste that can be processed with existing technology). Fusion technology is of particular importance for a country with no significant reserves of fossil fuels, 'as energy hegemony will shift from those countries possessing energy resources to those possessing the technology, it will become vital to ensure energy security.' With that in mind, Sanae Takaichi, then-Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, emphasized the need to create business opportunities by 'industrializing fusion energy.' Which is exactly what Tokamak and its Japanese partners are doing. Tokamak Energy's HTS magnetics business is organized as a separate division within the company called TE Magnetics, which aims to be the leading supplier of HTS technology not only for fusion energy, but for other applications including efficient power transmission within data centers, renewable energy, propulsion on land, in water, air and space, medicine and scientific research. The idea is to develop a commercial business that pays its own way while fusion energy is still under development. Tokamak Energy has 'spent more than ten years and over $50 million developing ultra-high field HTS technology that is robust, quench-safe, tunable, scalable and cost-effective.' Watch a presentation here by Principal Magnet Engineer Greg Brittles on the subject of 'What is 'quench' and how do we protect our HTS magnets against it?' Not surprisingly, this has helped the company raise capital. Commenting on the recent funding round, James Anderson, managing partner & CIO of Lingotto Innovation Strategy, said: 'We think the company is developing and scaling impressively and particularly admire its global reach in high-temperature superconducting magnet technology.' Furukawa Electric made low-temperature (near absolute zero) superconductivity a target of its R&D efforts in 1963 and succeeded in producing a composite fine multifilament conductor in 1970. In 1986, it turned to high-temperature superconductivity (HTS), making advances in cable composition and manufacturing processes until, in 2011, electric power from a thermal power plant could be transmitted over a single superconducting cable. Superconducting wire supplied by Furukawa Electric was used in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) near Geneva, where Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), the European Organization for Nuclear Research, discovered the elementary Higgs boson particle in 2012. HTS wires and cables conduct electricity with zero resistance at temperatures that are manageable. They are compact and feature both large transmission capacity and low transmission loss. According to Furukawa, HTS cable can 'reduce transmission loss by up to 77% compared to conventional cables using copper or aluminum.' In 2015, Furukawa joined a project supported by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NED) to develop a superconducting flywheel power storage system that was connected to a large-scale solar power plant in Yamanashi Prefecture. Today, Furukawa sees opportunities for the commercial application of HTS technology in electric power transmission, transformers, power storage devices, electrical generators, smart grids, electric vehicles, ship propulsion and Maglev trains. Obviously, as Tokamak Energy CEO Mathews pointed out, this is 'not just a science project.' In 2022, Tokamak Energy's ST40 spherical tokamak set a world record plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, which is the lower limit for the practical generation of fusion energy. Above this temperature, deuterium and tritium can be forced to combine, producing helium and neutrons and releasing a large amount of energy. In 2024, Tokamak Energy announced an ST40 upgrade in collaboration with the US Department of Energy and the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Tokamak Energy's participation in Japan's FAST project makes this a trilateral endeavor. Follow this writer on X: @ScottFo83517667
