Seedance AI Film Engine 🎬 3D Print In 0.6s 🖨️ China Tests Lunar Capsule 🌙

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2026-02-16 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to China Insights Weekly. Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• China supplies over 70% of key drug ingredients, pipelines surge

• Chinese TV brands near 60% share in Japan, price gap widens

• Singapore investment flips east, Chinese firms overtake US

• Humanoid cargo drone completes maiden flight, 1.5-ton hybrid range

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🚀 Headlines

ByteDance launch of Seedance 2.0 AI video model goes viral turns heads with Hollywood-style video creation (link)

ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0, launched on February 11, 2026, marks a major step forward in AI video generation. Positioned as an end-to-end “AI filmmaking engine,” it produces cinematic, multi-shot videos from text, images, audio, and reference clips with synchronized sound and visuals in a single workflow. The model offers detailed control over camera movement, lighting, and visual effects while maintaining physical accuracy and scene consistency. Unlike earlier text-to-video tools, Seedance 2.0 generates audio and visuals natively, removing the need for separate dubbing or post-production. The launch quickly went viral in China and drew strong industry attention, with potential to significantly reduce production costs in advertising, gaming, and film.

China supplies over 70% of world’s essential pharmaceutical ingredients, developing 1000s of new innovative drugs (link)

China’s biotechnology sector has become a global manufacturing powerhouse, supplying 70 to 95 percent of the world’s essential pharmaceutical ingredients, including ibuprofen and paracetamol. In 2024, Chinese firms developed more than 1,250 new drugs, surpassing the EU and approaching the US total of about 1,440. They also conducted roughly 20 percent of global commercial clinical trials, up from 9 percent in 2018. Patent Cooperation Treaty filings rose from 119 in 2010 to over 1,900 in 2023. At the same time, policy shifts are reshaping the landscape. A September 2025 State Council directive favors domestic procurement, while the December 2024 US Biosecure Act restricts federal funding recipients from working with certain Chinese biotech firms. Despite its scale and regulatory speed, China still relies on international collaboration for basic research, with nearly 40 percent of cell therapy trials between 2021 and 2023 targeting known molecules rather than novel discoveries.

China’s technology influence on display at Winter Olympics, Chinese TV brands to capture 60% in Japan market (link, link)

Chinese technology firms are showcasing their capabilities at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics (February 6–22), with 2,900+ athletes from 92 countries competing across 116 events. Alibaba Group partnered with the International Olympic Committee to deploy the first AI assistant in Winter Olympics history, built on its Qwen model, enabling multilingual services for national team members and "bullet-time" slow-motion broadcasting via multimodal fusion algorithms. TCL Technology supplied hundreds of HDTVs, digital signage, and LED displays for venues, broadcast centers, and the Olympic Village, while operating a product exhibition at Piazza Duca d'Aosta from February 5. Midea Group’s Clivet brand provided smart HVAC solutions for the 16,000-seat Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena, and Shenzhen-based Ledman Optoelectronic installed a 272-inch 8K Micro LED screen for China Central Television’s broadcast operations.

Chinese television brands are projected to capture approximately 60% of Japan’s domestic TV market. In 2025, Hisense and TCL already held roughly 50% combined market share, with REGZA ranking first individually. The share will climb to 60% once Sony’s TV brand transitions to a joint venture led by TCL. Price disparities remain substantial: a 43-inch 4K LCD TV from TCL retails for approximately ¥50,000 (USD 320), compared to roughly ¥100,000 (USD 640) for an equivalent Sony model. Japanese manufacturers continue to rely on external suppliers for critical components such as LCD panels, contributing to the competitive gap with Chinese brands that have leveraged integrated supply chains and cost efficiency to dominate the premium and mid-range segments of the world’s third-largest economy.

40% of Chinese population is now enrolled in KFC’s loyalty program (link)

Yum China Holdings reported its KFC and Pizza Hut loyalty programs now exceed 590 million members—representing over 40% of China’s population—making it the world’s largest restaurant loyalty program. Membership grew 13% year-over-year, with 55% of total sales flowing through digital channels and 265 million active users (defined as engagement within the past year). The Shanghai-based operator of 18,000+ stores, including roughly 13,000 KFC locations, noted that 80-90% of sales at its upscale KPRO brand come from existing KFC loyalty members. The company’s AI ordering assistant, which completed nationwide rollout in January, has already served 2 million members. China’s loyalty program market reached nearly USD 20 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit USD 33 billion by 2029, driven by mobile-first consumer behavior and tiered membership benefits, including free delivery and queue prioritization unavailable in Western markets.

Chinese companies overtake US in Singapore investment (link)

Chinese companies overtook the US as Singapore’s largest source of fixed-asset investment in 2025, capturing 20.6% of commitments versus 17.3% by American firms—a dramatic reversal from 2024, when the US held 55.5% and China just 2.5%. According to the Singapore Economic Development Board, China also accounted for over half of total business expenditure in 2025, up from 15% the previous year. The surge reflects a "Singapore washing" trend where Chinese firms—including ByteDance, WuXi Biologics (USD 1.4 billion R&D hub), and Haid Group—relocate global headquarters to the city-state to bypass geopolitical scrutiny and access global markets.