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China AI Robotics Semiconductor Telecom Intelligence Briefing 2026-07-18
Saturday, July 18, 2026
1. WAIC 2026 opened on July 17, with Xi Jinping delivering the keynote address for the first time in the event's history. Twenty-nine countries signed the founding agreement for WAICO, with headquarters to be established in Shanghai. Global AI governance is splitting in two as major Western countries stay out.
2. The official release of DeepSeek V4 has arrived, introducing China's first time-of-day API pricing model. V4-Pro has 1.6 trillion parameters in total, with 49B activated, and a 1 million-token context window. Legacy APIs will be retired on July 24.
3. CXMT is confirmed to list on the STAR Market on July 27, with retail subscription demand exceeding allocation by 243 times. The offering size is 57.9 billion to 66.6 billion yuan (USD 8.5 billion to USD 9.8 billion), making it the largest semiconductor IPO in the history of China's A-share market.
4. The KOSPI plunged 6.37% on July 16. The Bank of Korea raised the base rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%, the first hike in three and a half years. Samsung Electronics fell 8.2%, and SK Hynix dropped 11.5%. The market was closed on July 17 for Constitution Day.
5. The Measures for the Administration of AI Anthropomorphic Services took effect on July 15, leading to the shutdown of AI companion services from Doubao, Tongyi Tianwen, and Yuanbao. Deletion of user data affecting hundreds of millions of people has begun.
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■ WAIC 2026 Opens with More Than 300 World Premieres and 261 Large Models on Display
The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) opened in Shanghai on July 17. With exhibition space of 100,000 square meters, it is the largest in the event's history. A total of 1,100 companies brought more than 3,000 exhibits. The exhibition includes 108 chip products, 261 large models, and 208 embodied intelligence terminals.
More than 300 products are making their world debut. Representative examples include the MiniMax M3 multimodal model, with a 1 million-token context window and computer-use capability; Nubia's world-first AI agent smartphone, running ByteDance's Doubao OS; and Sugon's Chinese-made 100,000-core AI supercluster, "Zhuguang 8000."
The sharp increase from last year in both model count and chip variety shows that China is rapidly building a technology stack separate from the United States. Any Korean AI company seeking to enter China now has to calculate compatibility with Chinese-made model and chip ecosystems as a separate issue.
(Source: CGTN 2026-07-17, Global Times 2026-07-17, Pandaily 2026-07-17)
■ [Follow-up] Official Release of DeepSeek V4, China's First Time-of-Day API Pricing Model
The official version of DeepSeek V4 was released in mid-July. V4-Pro has 1.6 trillion parameters in total, with 49B activated. V4-Flash has 284B in total, with 13B activated. Both support a 1 million-token context window. Inference compute demand is 27% of V3.
For the first time among Chinese large models, peak and off-peak pricing has been introduced. During peak periods, 9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., prices are doubled. The existing deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner endpoints will be retired on July 24.
Pricing by time slot, like electricity tariffs, signals that Chinese AI infrastructure has entered large-scale commercial operation. It is also a calculation aimed at distributing peak server load.
(Source: TechNode 2026-06-30, IT之家, DeepSeek API Docs)
■ [Follow-up] Seedance 2.5 API Officially Launched on BytePlus on July 16
ByteDance's video generation model Seedance 2.5 was released as a public API on BytePlus cloud on July 16. A single call can generate a seamless native 30-second video, and up to 50 reference inputs can be provided across images, videos, and audio. A 30-second native video from a single commercial-model call is a world first.
Hollywood studios continue to oppose it in public while using it in private, and copyright issues remain unresolved.
(Source: TechTimes 2026-07-16, we0.ai 2026-07-16)
■ [Follow-up] China's Ministry of Commerce Reviews Possible Restrictions on Overseas Access to Advanced AI Models, Policy Not Finalized
The Ministry of Commerce is discussing possible restrictions on overseas access to advanced AI models, including open-weight models from Alibaba, ByteDance, and Zhipu AI. An academic panel has proposed a three-tier governance framework, basic filing, security review, and domestic-use-only designation, but nothing has been finalized.
This is being read as a mirror-image response to U.S. export controls on AI chips. If implemented, it would shake the global open-source AI ecosystem. Chinese models now account for 48% of the top downloads on Hugging Face.
(Source: Fortune 2026-07-08, Reuters, Time 2026-07-07)
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Robotics, Humanoids, and Embodied Intelligence
■ WAIC 2026 Hosts the Largest-Ever Embodied Intelligence Exhibition, with More Than 200 Companies and a Live Manufacturing Line in Operation
At this year's WAIC, embodied intelligence, AI with a physical body, rose alongside intelligent computing as one of the conference's two central pillars. More than 200 companies are participating, and a new-energy vehicle manufacturing line operated by humanoid robots was installed inside the exhibition hall. It demonstrates five production steps in real time, from battery module assembly to installation of interior speakers.
JD has built what it says is the world's largest embodied intelligence data collection center, accumulating more than 10 million hours of data over two years. The Shanghai municipal government has established China's first heterogeneous humanoid robot training ground. The industry is moving from trade-show demonstrations to real factory operation. Investment in embodied intelligence in the second quarter reached 47.09 billion yuan (USD 6.95 billion), more than double the previous quarter and more than six times the level a year earlier.
(Source: 新浪财经 2026-07-17, 36氪 2026-07-17, 163.com 2026-07-17)
■ [Follow-up] Unitree STAR Market IPO Nears, with Listing Expected in Late July
Unitree Robotics has completed underwriting and pricing for its 4.2 billion yuan (USD 619 million) STAR Market IPO, making a late-July listing highly likely. The review was completed in 73 days, the shortest on record for the STAR Market. The company posted 2025 fiscal-year revenue of 1.699 billion yuan and net profit of 278 million yuan, and is expected to reach a valuation of 40 billion yuan (USD 5.9 billion).
TechTimes pointed to overseas sales risk under China's National Intelligence Law, described as the spy law. The concern is that cameras and sensors mounted on robots could be treated as data collection tools.
(Source: Caixin Global 2026-07-03, TechTimes 2026-07-16, CNBC 2026-07-13)
■ [Follow-up] LimX Dynamics Completes USD 200 Million Pre-IPO Round, Pursues Hong Kong Listing
LimX Dynamics has completed a USD 200 million pre-IPO round, fixing its valuation at 15 billion yuan (USD 2.2 billion), and is undergoing confidential review for a Hong Kong listing. Reaching an IPO in just four years from founding shows the rush of Chinese humanoid robot startups toward public markets. The company supplies robot components to Luna, under Hyundai Motor in Korea, linking it directly to the Korean robotics ecosystem.
(Source: CNBC 2026-07-13, Caixin Global)
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AI Semiconductors and Computing Infrastructure
■ [Follow-up] CXMT Confirms July 27 STAR Market Listing, 243x Oversubscription, Largest Semiconductor IPO in A-Share History
Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) will list on the Shanghai STAR Market on July 27. The offering price is 8.66 yuan per share, with an offering size of 57.9 billion yuan (USD 8.55 billion), rising to as much as 66.6 billion yuan (USD 9.8 billion) if the greenshoe option is exercised. Retail subscription demand reached 243.93 times allocation, and the allotment rate was 0.47%.
CXMT is the world's fourth-largest DRAM maker, with a 7.7% market share in 2025. It is the largest semiconductor IPO in the history of China's A-share market since SMIC in 2020, and reports said first-half net profit exceeded 50 billion yuan.
A Financial Times report that Apple is conducting technical validation for CXMT DRAM in devices sold in China adds to the picture, increasing long-term pressure on Korean memory makers. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix retain an edge in HBM and DDR5, but in commodity DRAM they are likely to face direct price competition from CXMT soon.
(Source: Bloomberg 2026-07-14, Yahoo Finance, CryptoBriefing)
■ [Follow-up] Huawei Publicly Displays Atlas 950 SuperPod Hardware for the First Time at WAIC
Huawei publicly displayed the Atlas 950 SuperPod in hardware form for the first time at WAIC 2026. Using its self-developed UnifiedBus 2.0 all-optical interconnect, the system links up to 8,192 Ascend 950DT chips at high speed, with a 64-card, single-cabinet unit as the base building block. Its equivalent compute scale exceeds 500,000 cards.
The 950DT is scheduled for cloud deployment in the fourth quarter, followed by entry into Korea through SK Shieldus as general distributor. Per-card compute performance is 2.87 times that of Nvidia's H20, and it is the only Chinese chip with native FP4 support.
(Source: DigiTimes 2026-07-14, TrendForce 2026-07-02, Pandaily 2026-07-17)
■ [Follow-up] Guangdong Shaoguan's 11,520-Card Full-Stack Chinese Intelligent Computing Cluster Now in Operation
A fully Chinese-built intelligent computing cluster using 11,520 Ascend chips is now operating in Shaoguan, Guangdong Province. The cluster has a compute scale of 9,000P, required investment of 5.5 billion yuan, and was built in 90 days. It is operated by China Telecom. As a live example of a large-scale cluster built entirely with Chinese chips, it marks a milestone in China's drive for computing self-reliance.
(Source: 新浪科技 2026-07-10, 中新网)
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Telecom, Networks, and Edge AI
■ [Follow-up] China's Big Three Telecom Operators Highlight AI Token Subscription Plans at MWC Shanghai
A central topic at MWC Shanghai 2026 was the AI token subscription products of China's three major telecom operators. China Telecom is piloting six pricing tiers, from 9.9 yuan per month (USD 1.4, 10 million tokens) to 299 yuan per month (USD 41.5, 150 million tokens). By the fourth quarter, it is targeting 200 million consumer subscription accounts and 5 million enterprise accounts.
The shift from a byte, or traffic, economy to a token economy fundamentally redefines the telecom business model. If tokens are layered onto a subscriber base of 1.4 billion people, Chinese AI model usage could surge. This immediately becomes a benchmark case for Korean telecom operators such as KT, SKT, and LG U+.
(Source: TechNode 2026-05-18, Developing Telecoms, TelecomTV, KAD)
■ [Follow-up] Eight-Ministry Industrial Internet Roadmap Targets 50,000 Private 5G Networks by 2030
(Source: SDxCentral, SCMP)
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Policy, Regulation, and National Strategy
■ Xi Jinping's WAIC 2026 Keynote, WAICO Founded by 29 Countries, Global AI Governance Splits in Two
President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote address at the WAIC opening ceremony on July 17, the first such address in the conference's nine-year history. Saying that "a single string cannot make music, and a single tree cannot make a forest," he stressed international cooperation, encouraged open source, and pledged AI training for 5,000 people from developing countries.
The day before, on July 16, twenty-nine countries signed the founding agreement of the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO). Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attended, and the headquarters will be in Shanghai. Founding member states include Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Russia, Pakistan, Belarus, Cuba, Venezuela, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Laos, while major Western countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, and Australia were absent.
With the U.S.-led "Pax Silica" of 35 countries and the China-led WAICO of 29 countries now coexisting, global AI governance has in effect split into two blocs. Xi's direct involvement itself signals that AI has been elevated to a head-of-state-level national strategy. Korea has not yet formally joined either camp, which raises the pressure of choice as it continues doing semiconductor and telecom business with both sides.
(Source: CGTN 2026-07-17, Al Jazeera 2026-07-17, CNBC 2026-07-17, Caixin Global 2026-07-17, China Government Network)
■ [Follow-up] Measures for Administration of AI Anthropomorphic Services Take Effect on July 15, Triggering Deletion of Data Affecting Hundreds of Millions
The Interim Measures for the Administration of AI Anthropomorphic Interaction Services took effect on July 15. The regulation was jointly issued by five departments, including the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). AI companion agent services from ByteDance's Doubao, with 345 million monthly active users, Alibaba's Tongyi Tianwen, and Tencent's Yuanbao have been fully shut down.
In Shanghai alone, 14,000 AI agents were deleted. Doubao users may access their data in read-only mode until October 15, but Tongyi Tianwen users have no recovery path. The rules allow AI agents that substitute for work tasks, but prohibit AI that acts as an emotional companion. Anthropomorphic AI services directed at minors are completely banned.
(Source: CAC 2026-04-10, TechTimes 2026-07-15, TechNode)
■ [Follow-up] China's June Exports Jump 27% Year on Year, Integrated Circuit Exports Surge 96.1%
(Source: ABC News, Fortune, BNN Bloomberg)
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■ KOSPI Falls 6.37% on July 16, Market Closed on July 17 for Constitution Day, Bank of Korea Raises Rates for First Time in Three and a Half Years
The KOSPI fell 6.37% on July 16. Semiconductor heavyweights led the drop, with Samsung Electronics down 8.23% to 256,500 won and SK Hynix down 11.53% to 1,842,000 won. The KOSDAQ also fell 4.53%. The immediate trigger was the Bank of Korea's 25 basis point increase in the base rate, from 2.50% to 2.75%, the first hike in three years and six months. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and profit-taking in semiconductors overlapped.
July 17 was the restored Constitution Day public holiday this year, so the Korean stock market was closed, and the next trading day is Monday, July 20. Since late June, the KOSPI has repeatedly swung between sharp declines and rebounds, and volatility is being magnified by the concentrated structure in which Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together account for about 50% of KOSPI market capitalization.
(Source: Sunday Guardian Live, AJU Press, TradingKey, IBTimes)
■ Report Says Samsung Electronics Reviewing U.S. ADR Listing, Later Denied by Company
On July 14, Bloomberg reported that Samsung Electronics was in the early stages of reviewing a U.S. ADR listing, encouraged by the success of SK Hynix's Nasdaq ADR listing, worth USD 26.5 billion and the largest ever by a foreign company. After the stock jumped more than 7%, a Samsung Electronics spokesperson denied it, saying the company was not considering an ADR issuance.
SK Hynix ADR, ticker SKHY, surged 13% to 14% in its first day of Nasdaq trading on July 10, and GraniteShares listed a 2x leveraged ETF, SKUU, and an inverse ETF, SKDD, on July 14. The successful Nasdaq listing materially improved global capital access for Korea's semiconductor industry, but it also leaves concern that U.S. leveraged derivatives may amplify volatility in Korean underlying shares.
(Source: Bloomberg, Investing.com, US News, Yahoo Finance, Korea JoongAng Daily)
■ [Follow-up] U.S.-China AI Governance Split, WAICO versus Pax Silica, Raises Pressure on Korea to Choose
The founding of WAICO has made the split in U.S.-China AI governance official. The U.S.-led Pax Silica has 35 countries, while the China-led WAICO has 29. On the eve of WAIC, People's Daily ran an editorial opposing an "AI iron curtain," yet the Ministry of Commerce is reviewing restrictions on overseas access to China's own advanced AI models. Both sides are building walls while saying they oppose walls.
Korea supplies semiconductors to the United States and memory and displays to China. With Huawei's Ascend 950 set to enter Korea in the fourth quarter, judgments by Korean companies are becoming harder as they navigate between compliance with U.S. export controls and access to the Chinese market.
(Source: Bloomberg, Brookings, Fortune, Al Jazeera)
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Attorney Kim Kyung-jin's Commentary
The fact that Xi Jinping personally stepped onto the WAIC stage runs through today's entire briefing. It is the first time in the conference's nine-year history. By raising AI to an agenda handled at the level of the country's top leader, China is signaling that it sees AI both as a growth engine and as a tool for reshaping international order.
The founding of WAICO by 29 countries carries more symbolic force than binding force. With major Western countries absent, its immediate influence over technical standards or data governance is limited. But it opens a path for Global South countries to import China's AI ecosystem as a package, model, chip, and telecom equipment together. Indonesia, Brazil, and Malaysia signed because they are real demand-side users of Chinese AI infrastructure.
For Korea, the most immediate combination is the CXMT listing and the KOSPI plunge. CXMT drew 243 times oversubscription, showing that China's capital market is deploying large-scale capital into memory self-sufficiency, while in the same week the Bank of Korea's rate hike shook the KOSPI. Samsung and SK Hynix will hold on for now through their HBM advantage, but in commodity DRAM, price competition with CXMT will become serious within two to three years.
The telecom sector's shift to a token economy is an experiment Korean telecom operators should study. Pricing at USD 1.4 a month for 10 million tokens could materially accelerate consumer AI adoption.
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https://english.news.cn/20260717/893fe11097db460ea31b98f131e34ef0/c.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/17/chinas-xi-jinping-launches-new-ai-alliance-what-is-it
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/17/x-china-ai-summit-risks-security.html
https://technode.com/2026/06/30/deepseek-to-launch-v4-in-mid-july-with-new-peak-time-api-pricing/
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/cxmts-shanghai-ipo-more-200-114816593.html
https://pandaily.com/waic-2026-top-10-highlights-chinese-chips-jul2026
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/13/chinese-humanoid-startups-ipo-limx-unitree.html
https://www.ajupress.com/view/20260716162741140
https://www.cac.gov.cn/2026-04/10/c_1777558395078289.htm
https://abcnews.com/Technology/wireStory/chinas-june-exports-surge-27-year-earlier-ai-134735945
https://fortune.com/2026/07/08/china-mulls-limiting-foreign-access-advanced-ai-models/
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