Latest news with #WencyChen
South China Morning Post
31-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Microsoft shutters AI lab in Shanghai, signalling a broader pullback from China
Microsoft has closed its IoT & AI Insider Lab in Shanghai's Zhangjiang hi-tech zone, marking the latest sign of the US tech giant's retreat from China amid rising geopolitical tensions. Advertisement The Shanghai lab, meant to help with domestic development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, closed earlier this year, according to people who work in the Zhangjiang AI Island area. The lab was dark and unoccupied during a recent visit by the South China Morning Post, with the logo removed and office equipment cleared out. The area houses the offices of several Big Tech firms, including German chipmaker Infineon Technologies and Chinese internet search giant Baidu . Other offices include US-sanctioned facial recognition firm CloudWalk Technology, data service provider Winner Technology and aeroplane manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China. Nearby workers said the office closed in either January or February. Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Microsoft's now-closed IoT & AI Insider Lab seen in Shanghai on March 31. The tech giant opened the facility in 2019. Photo: Wency Chen Opened in May 2019, Microsoft's IoT & AI Insider Lab was touted as a flagship collaboration between the global tech giant and Zhangjiang, the innovation hub of Shanghai's Pudong district, where numerous domestic and international semiconductor and AI companies have set up shop. The lab covered roughly 2,800 square meters.
South China Morning Post
10-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's new Silicon Valley? DeepSeek boosts Hangzhou's tech standing
Wency Chen in Shanghai and Ann Cao in Shanghai Published: 8:00am, 10 Feb 2025 Updated: 10:14am, 10 Feb 2025 Hangzhou, the capital of China's southeastern Zhejiang province, is rapidly gaining recognition as a leading technology hub in the country with the rise of local start-ups known as the 'Six Little Dragons'. Among the hottest of the start-ups right now is DeepSeek , which captured global attention this year for its cost-efficient artificial intelligence (AI) models. The others include robotics firms Unitree and Deep Robotics, video game studio Game Science, brain-machine interface innovator BrainCo, and 3D interior design software developer Manycore. Authorities in Hangzhou, perhaps best known as the home of tech giant and Post parent company Alibaba Group Holding , acknowledged the group of start-ups in a New Year's message to the local business community last month. 'It's an honour to be dubbed as one of the 'Six Little Dragons',' Deep Robotics product manager Zheng Dongxin said in an interview on Thursday. Last December, Deep Robotics' quadruped robot was adopted by Singapore Power Group for power tunnel inspections, making it the first Chinese four-legged robot deployed overseas for industrial use. The company has also ramped up efforts to develop humanoid robots, with a new product launch expected in the second and third quarters this year, Zheng told the Post. He credited his company's success to Hangzhou's 'atmosphere of innovation', fostered through favourable government policies such as tax incentives, industrial park development, and financial backing.
South China Morning Post
05-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
What's next for DeepSeek? AI start-up stays mum amid post-holiday plaudits
Published: 7:00pm, 5 Feb 2025 But DeepSeek's head office in Hangzhou , capital of eastern Zhejiang province, on Wednesday kept mum on the firm's potential next moves, as it declined all requests from news media, including the South China Morning Post. More security personnel were deployed outside its office building on the same day, according to one of the guards on site who declined to be identified. The property management at its building ushered all uninvited visitors to a room to turn down their requests for a visit. The entrance to DeepSeek's offices on the 12th floor of the building was locked, while a peek through its glass doors showed holiday decorations scattered on the floor. According to a source familiar with the company, DeepSeek was as surprised as others on the impact of its two new open-source models, DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 , in the global AI market. The unassuming facade of the commercial office building in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, that is home to artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek. Photo: Wency Chen
South China Morning Post
28-01-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How start-up DeepSeek emerged as the unlikely game changer in US-China AI war
Wency Chen in Shanghai , Ann Cao in Shanghai and Ben Jiang in Beijing Published: 7:00am, 29 Jan 2025 The Hangzhou -based firm over the past several weeks released two powerful new AI models, DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 , that were built at a fraction of the cost and computing power that major tech companies muster to build large language models (LLMs) – the technology underpinning generative AI services like ChatGPT . On social media , the AI community expressed admiration for how DeepSeek's two open-source models either surpassed or matched the performance of rival products across a range of industry benchmark tests, in spite of tightened US restrictions on China's access to advanced semiconductors and related technologies. In a post on X , OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said: 'DeepSeek's R1 is an impressive model, particularly around what they're able to deliver for the price.' The AI industry's buzz over DeepSeek appeared to reach a crescendo on Monday when news spread that its namesake chatbot, integrated with the R1 reasoning model, claimed the top spot among free-to-use apps on Apple 's App Stores in the US and China. Here is what we know so far about the company and the discernible reasons for its success: DeepSeek founder and chief executive Liang Wenfeng speaks at a recent meeting in Beijing hosted by Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Photo: CCTV A visionary leader
