Huawei targets 1.4-nanometer chip performance by 2031
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. expects to match the performance of industry-leading 1.4-nanometer chips by 2031 using a novel design architecture, signaling a major step in bypassing U.S. curbs on its access to advanced manufacturing tools. He Tingbo, president of the company’s semiconductor division, unveiled the Tau (τ) Scaling Law at an international symposium on Monday. The new theoretical framework focuses on minimizing signal transmission time across vertically stacked chip layers rather than shrinking the physical size of transistors. Under the new approach, Huawei’s upcoming Kirin processors, due this autumn, will feature “LogicFolding” technology. By vertically stacking digital, analog, and memory circuits, the method shortens transmission paths and reduces resistance, allowing chips to operate more efficiently on older manufacturing nodes.
DeepSeek cuts flagship AI model prices by 75%
Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek has permanently cut the application programming interface (API) price of its flagship DeepSeek-V4-Pro model by 75%, escalating competition with both domestic and overseas rivals. The company said on May 22 that a temporary promotional discount for developers would become its standard pricing tier. The move lowers the cache-miss input cost for the V4-Pro model to 3 yuan ($0.44) per million tokens, less than one-tenth of the roughly $5 charged for OpenAI’s GPT-5.5 and well below the $0.95 charged by Chinese rival Kimi. The aggressive pricing move comes as DeepSeek pursues its first external funding round at a reported valuation of 300 billion yuan, highlighting the growing capital demands of the global AI race as companies compete for computing power, engineering talent and developer adoption.
Unitree fast-tracks Shanghai IPO
Chinese humanoid robotics startup Unitree Robotics is fast-tracking its initial public offering on Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR Market, seeking a valuation of roughly 42 billion yuan ($6.2 billion). The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s listing committee will review Unitree’s application on June 1, just 73 days after formally accepting it on March 20, according to an exchange filing on Monday. The accelerated timeline underscores the Chinese capital market’s strong appetite for AI hardware and positions Unitree to potentially become the first pure-play humanoid robot company listed on the A-share market. Chinese embodied AI startups secured 218 investments totaling more than 57.7 billion yuan in the first five months of 2026, already surpassing the total investment amount for all of 2025, according to IT Juzi data cited by Xinhua News Agency.
Tianji Intelligent raises 1 billion yuan
Industrial robot company Guangdong Tianji Intelligent System Co. Ltd. announced the completion of its Series B and B+ funding rounds, raising 1 billion yuan ($147 million) and achieving a valuation of nearly 10 billion yuan. The rounds were co-led by Hillhouse Investment and Meituan, with participation from Tencent Holdings Ltd., Gaorong Ventures and GGV Capital.
