‘Punches above its weight’: compact AI model from China’s StepFun outshines larger rivals

South China Morning Post - Feb 3, 2026

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up StepFun has unveiled a lightweight AI model that it says punches above its weight, rivalling larger systems from domestic competitors including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI as competition intensifies in the country’s AI sector. The Shanghai-based AI lab said on Monday its latest Step 3.5 Flash model was designed to deliver advanced reasoning and agentic capabilities while maintaining efficiency. Despite its relatively modest size of about 196 billion...

Read full article
More News
ZTE up 7% after AI pivot, computing surge drive massive increase in third-quarter profit

ZTE up 7% after AI pivot, computing surge drive massive increase in third-quarter profit

Shares in ZTE rose more than 7 per cent in Hong Kong on Tuesday after the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker posted a nearly fivefold jump in third-quarter profit, driven by rapid expansion in its computing infrastructure and overseas operations. Net profit attributable to shareholders reached 1.31 billion yuan (US$196.3 million) for the three months ended September 30, up 395 per cent from a year earlier, according to an exchange filing released on Monday evening. Revenue climbed 34 per...

Alibaba Cloud founder on how AI can unlock human potential

Alibaba Cloud founder on how AI can unlock human potential

Long before artificial intelligence became the next big thing in the tech industry, Wang Jian was crafting the foundational infrastructure that would eventually power it. In 2008, he joined Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – as chief architect and founded Alibaba Cloud in 2009, convincing the company’s leadership to invest heavily in building a cloud computing infrastructure from scratch. Today, Wang’s purview has expanded considerably. As an academician at the...

China shoots ahead on AI video models

China shoots ahead on AI video models

While few dispute that China is narrowing the gap with the United States in developing artificial intelligence (AI) models, there is one area where Chinese firms are already the undisputed leaders: video. China has seen a proliferation of advanced generative AI video models – systems trained on visual data to generate or edit video content based on user inputs such as text prompts, images and audio. The country’s vast short-video ecosystems and looser copyright rules have helped give Chinese...

Why cloud computing pioneer Wang Jian thinks space is the next AI frontier

Why cloud computing pioneer Wang Jian thinks space is the next AI frontier

Long before artificial intelligence became the next big thing in the tech industry, Wang Jian was crafting the foundational infrastructure that would eventually power it. In 2008, he joined Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – as chief architect and founded Alibaba Cloud in 2009, convincing the company’s leadership to invest heavily in building a cloud computing infrastructure from scratch. Today, Wang’s purview has expanded considerably. As an academician at the...

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang brings ‘sovereign AI’ push to Kazakhstan, shrugs off bubble fears

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang brings ‘sovereign AI’ push to Kazakhstan, shrugs off bubble fears

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is pitching the concept of “sovereign AI” in Kazakhstan – part of his global crusade urging nations to build domestic computing infrastructure using the firm’s chips – as the energy-rich nation emerges as a US-China battleground for artificial intelligence. Speaking at a fireside chat in Astana on Friday with Kazakh AI and digital development minister Zhaslan Madiyev, Huang said AI was reshaping every industry in a transformation that “affects every single person and...

China’s humanoid robots hunt for work in South Korea as Seoul bets on physical AI

China’s humanoid robots hunt for work in South Korea as Seoul bets on physical AI

This article was first published by The Korea Times in a partnership with the South China Morning Post. Chinese humanoid robot makers are accelerating efforts to gain a foothold in South Korea, moving beyond dance performances and showroom displays to factory trials and commercial deployments, as Seoul ramps up investment in physical artificial intelligence. A growing number of Chinese robotics companies – including Hong Kong-listed UBTech Robotics, start-up Anyverse Dynamics, Shanghai-based...

Unitree developing AI system to let humanoid robots improve themselves

Unitree developing AI system to let humanoid robots improve themselves

Unitree Robotics is developing a “self-evolving” feedback loop designed to allow humanoid robots to write code, run simulations and improve their real-world performance independently, founder Wang Xingxing said, in a move that mirrors a broader push towards “self-improving” artificial intelligence. Speaking on Thursday at a physical AI conference hosted by Unitree in Hangzhou, Wang unveiled the project, dubbed “Unitree Rehearsal”, which he called the company’s most important initiative of the...

China’s Unitree unveils ‘guardian’ robot that can disarm attackers, lift cars

China’s Unitree unveils ‘guardian’ robot that can disarm attackers, lift cars

A knife-wielding intruder is confronted. A car is lifted to free a trapped victim. A pedestrian is pulled from the path of an oncoming vehicle. The scenes described are not from a Hollywood blockbuster, but a promotional clip for a new “guardian” robot created by the Chinese technology firm Unitree Robotics. The footage for the H2-X model, released on Wednesday, underscores a wider shift in strategy by the Hangzhou-based firm, as it focuses on finding practical, real-world uses for its athletic...

Meta to pay New Mexico a historic US$25 billion in Cambridge Analytica Facebook case

Meta to pay New Mexico a historic US$25 billion in Cambridge Analytica Facebook case

Meta Platforms was ordered to pay a groundbreaking US$25 billion civil penalty to the state of New Mexico in a consumer deception case spurred by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The fine issued by state court Judge Francis Mathew is among the largest verdicts issued in US legal history. The award comes after a jury in Santa Fe determined that Meta had violated the state’s consumer protection over 43 million times based on widely viewed deceptive statements made by the company and its top...

Tesla signs deal to integrate Alipay into its cars as China competition heats up

Tesla signs deal to integrate Alipay into its cars as China competition heats up

Tesla has agreed a deal to integrate Chinese fintech giant Ant Group’s Alipay digital payment software into its vehicles in China, as Elon Musk’s firm steps up efforts to offer localised smart features amid intense competition in the Chinese market. The agreement, signed on Tuesday, will see Tesla roll out an Alipay-powered smart parking service across its Chinese fleet, according to the fintech firm. Neither side revealed a launch date or which car models would receive the feature, though...

Washington’s DeepSeek ban may deter US firms from adopting Chinese AI models: experts

Washington’s DeepSeek ban may deter US firms from adopting Chinese AI models: experts

The US government’s latest ban on Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek could have a chilling effect on the wider American business community and deter companies from adopting low-cost Chinese AI models, industry experts say. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ordered federal civilian agencies to remove DeepSeek products and third-party services built on the Chinese AI model from their IT systems, according to a directive signed in July and published on Monday. The...

Nvidia CEO to deliver keynote speech in Berlin as his firm faces investor scrutiny over AI

Nvidia CEO to deliver keynote speech in Berlin as his firm faces investor scrutiny over AI

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to take the stage in Berlin on Wednesday, as the world’s most valuable company faces heightened investor scrutiny over whether the massive artificial intelligence spending boom – the engine behind the chipmaker’s meteoric growth – can deliver long-term returns. The conference agenda focuses on sovereign AI, industrial automation and operational infrastructure – key sectors where Nvidia hopes to drive demand beyond the handful of US tech giants currently dominating...

Recommended
About Us

Daily World Web took the initiative to utilize the development in cloud and AI technology to create a free, instantaneous and borderless flow of news, the way it should be.

Quick Links
PressAdvertiseContactTermsPrivacy Policy
News
Copyright © 2015 - 2026 Daily World Web. All Rights Reserved.