Unitree Open-Sources Robotics 🦾 Huawei’s AI Chip Cluster 🚀 Anta Expands Southeast Asia 🏅

2025-09-22 | subscribe | homepage

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

• China enters UN’s top 10 innovators for the first time, replacing Germany

• Hello’s robotaxi debut targets 50,000 vehicles worldwide by 2027

• Yuan rises in global trade, with cross-border QR payments rolling out internationally

• World’s largest clean power line begins construction, a $7.5B project linking Tibet to the Greater Bay Area

🚀 Headlines

China replaces Germany in top 10 of UN's most innovative nations (link)

China has entered the top 10 of the United Nations' Global Innovation Index for the first time, replacing Germany. The index ranks 139 economies based on 78 indicators, with Switzerland remaining in first place, followed by Sweden and the United States. China's rapid rise is attributed to heavy investment in research and development, contributing to a quarter of international patent applications in 2024. The US, Japan, and Germany, which together account for 40% of total applications, all saw slight declines. Global R&D growth is projected to slow to 2.3% this year from 2.9% last year, the lowest since 2010. The top 10 countries also include South Korea, Singapore, Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

Chinese tech giant Huawei unveiled the world’s most powerful AI chip cluster that surpasses Nvidia 6 times (link)

Huawei announced new computing systems for AI, featuring its in-house Ascend chips, aiming to compete with Nvidia. The company plans to launch the "Atlas 950 SuperCluster" next year, with over 500,000 Ascend chips. The more advanced Atlas 960, set for 2027, will support 15,488 chips per node and over 1 million in a full supercluster. Huawei claims its Atlas 950 supernode will deliver 6.7 times more computing power than Nvidia's NVL144 system and 1.3 times the power of Elon Musk's xAI Colossus supercomputer. This move underscores China's push for self-reliance in chip technology amid U.S. sanctions. Huawei has already deployed over 300 Atlas 900 A3 supernodes to customers in various industries.

Chinese sportswear brand Anta to open 1,000 Southeast Asia stores (link)

Chinese sportswear giant Anta plans to open 1,000 stores in Southeast Asia over the next three years, aiming to expand its global presence. The company’s retail sales in the region nearly doubled year-on-year in the first half of 2025. Anta’s multi-brand portfolio includes Fila, Descente, Kolon Sport, and Amer Sports, with Fila generating nearly 14.2 billion yuan (USD 1.99 billion) in revenue in the first half of 2025, accounting for over a third of the group’s sales. Amer Sports, which owns brands like Arc'teryx, Salomon, and Wilson, reported USD 1.24 billion in Q2 2025 revenue, up 23% year-on-year. Anta’s Southeast Asia division, established in 2023 with Singapore as its headquarters, employs over 3,000 people, 96% of whom are local.

Ant-backed Hellobike debuts first robotaxi, eyes 50,000+ units globally by 2027 (link)

Alibaba affiliate company, Ant Group-backed Hello, one of China's largest bike-sharing firms, has unveiled its first robotaxi, Hello Robot 1 (HR1), with plans to deploy over 50,000 units globally by 2027. The level-four autonomous vehicle was introduced at the 2025 Inclusion Conference in Shanghai. Hello aims to begin mass production of HR1 next year, with a pilot program already underway in Zhuzhou, Hunan province. The company plans to expand to over 10 cities with a fleet of 10,000 vehicles. Hello signed strategic cooperation agreements with key partners, including Venucia, Alibaba Cloud, Horizon Robotics, and Hesai Technology to advance the commercialization of robotaxi technologies. The company is also developing an AI agent for drivers that integrates smart cockpit, vehicle manual, and travel assistant functions.