THE COLUMN
China AI Decoded
Explained · Evidence · Context
A running column for readers outside China. Each piece takes one question about how the industry actually works — who funds it, what gets built, what the numbers measure — and answers it with named sources, dated facts and an explicit account of what remains unknown.
40 articles
- China's Banks Are Underwriting AI Firms on Their Token Bills — 2026-10-28
- China Added a Job-Loss Check to AI Project Approvals — 2026-10-28
- China Built a State Company to Sell AI Its Raw Material — 2026-10-27
- China's AI-for-Science Push Is Public Infrastructure, Not a Better Model — 2026-10-27
- China's Robotaxi Export Is an Operating Model, Not a Car — 2026-10-24
- Data Can Leave China — Unless a Ministry Has Called It Important — 2026-10-24
- Two Prices for the Same Kind of Chinese Model Lab — 2026-10-23
- China Proposed an Export-Control List for Its Own AI Models. Read the Exemptions. — 2026-10-23
- China Put AI on the School Timetable. The Teacher Is the Real Test — 2026-10-22
- An AI-Designed Drug Reached Phase III. Read the Endpoint, Not the Model — 2026-10-22
- China Approved the Self-Driving Car Before It Wrote the Liability Rule — 2026-10-20
- China Is Issuing Certificates for Data. Here's What They Actually Prove — 2026-10-20
- The Compute Voucher: How Chinese Provinces Subsidise AI Demand — 2026-10-20
- The Listing Is the Funding Round: How China Pays for AI Chip Design — 2026-10-20
- Why China Gives Away Its Near-Best Models — 2026-10-19
- 140 Trillion Tokens a Day: The Price War China Already Ended — 2026-10-19
- China's Robots Are Being Designed for Its Grandparents — 2026-10-19
- China Put 'Embodied-Intelligence Robot Technician' on Its Official Job List — 2026-10-19
- Why Beijing Regulates the Algorithm but Not the Ambition — 2026-10-19
- How to Read a Chinese Model Card Without Being Misled — 2026-10-19
- Beyond the Fab: China's Slow Build in Packaging and EDA — 2026-10-19
- The Microdrama Pipeline Is China's Most Successful AI Export — 2026-10-19
- Who Pays for China's AI Boom? Follow the Local Government Money — 2026-10-19
- The Factory Floor Is Where China's AI Case Gets Real — 2026-10-19
- China's Chips Are Built to Serve, Not to Train — 2026-10-19
- Humanoids Went to Work in China First. That's the Whole Strategy — 2026-10-19
- How to Read China's AI Numbers Without Being Fooled — 2026-10-19
- The Real Chip Shortage Is Memory — 2026-10-19
- The Grey Market That Keeps China's AI Running — 2026-10-19
- China's AI Is Going Abroad Differently: Capability, Not Products — 2026-10-19
- The Hidden Industry Behind China's Robots: People Paid to Teach Them — 2026-10-19
- The Distillation Debate: What Can Actually Be Shown — 2026-10-19
- The Consumer Detour in Chinese Neurotech — 2026-10-19
- China Is Building AI Like a Power Grid. Most of the 7 Trillion Yuan Goes Elsewhere — 2026-10-19
- China's AI Builders Spent RMB 131.8 Billion in a Quarter. The Depreciation Hasn't Arrived Yet — 2026-10-19
- What China's BCI Approval Actually Proved — 2026-10-19
- Huawei Has Half of China's AI Chip Market — and About 1% of Nvidia's Compute — 2026-10-19
- China Writes the Rule Before It Writes the Law — 2026-10-19
- China's 'AI Plus' Is Not a Slogan. Here's What It Actually Changes — 2026-10-19
- AI Is Already in Chinese Hospitals. The Bill Is the Experiment — 2026-10-19