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China
Intelligence for Better Decision Making
China Accelerates AI Integration with Nationwide Data Initiatives and Sector Reforms
Jan. 2, 2026 | Technology & InnovationChina is accelerating efforts to integrate artificial intelligence across its economy and regulatory framework.
**China’s “AI Plus” initiative drives a national push to embed AI deeply into six key sectors by 2027 and to achieve widespread adoption of AI-driven applications by 2030.**
This initiative aligns with a broader strategy to establish the data infrastructure, systems, and markets required for high-quality, AI-driven economic growth.
**By 2025, the National Data Administration and 26 other ministries have coordinated the creation of more than 100,000 high-quality datasets totaling over 890 petabytes.**
These efforts included selecting 72 leading organizations to pilot dataset construction in science, education, and embodied intelligence, completing 140 critical dataset tasks that now serve as foundational resources for AI development.
**That same year, the National Data Administration reinforced five core elements—systems, infrastructure, scenarios, markets, and industries—to improve data-driven problem solving.**
Reforms advanced the market-oriented allocation of data elements, accelerating the commercialization and valorization of data assets, while international cooperation in the data sector yielded positive outcomes.
**Under the “East Data, West Computing” project, China consolidated 80 percent of its smart computing resources into eight major hubs.**
A nationwide monitoring and scheduling system began overseeing 857,000 petaflops of computing capacity and allocating 96,000 petaflops for use. At the same time, a unified public data resource registration platform reached full provincial coverage, logging over 130,000 distinct data items.
**The digital economy posted robust growth in 2024 and 2025, with China leading the world in invention patents granted within core digital industries.**
Digital consumption and trade expanded steadily, and the digital economy’s value-added output is projected to reach 49 trillion yuan in 2025—around 35 percent of GDP—while the share contributed by core digital industries continues to rise.
**In 2025 the National Data Administration also spearheaded standardization efforts, issuing 48 national standards and technical documents on data infrastructure and products and publishing four new international standards on metadata and data quality.**
It launched standard validation pilots, formed six industry application groups, and conducted data annotation trials in seven cities, generating over 85 petabytes of annotated data to support the development of 260 AI models.
**Looking ahead to 2026, designated the “Year of Data Element Value Release,” China plans to enhance data flows, optimize resource allocation, boost market activity, and nurture a thriving ecosystem.**
The government will focus on ensuring data availability, usability, security, and seamless integration into economic value-creation processes to drive further economic and social progress through AI and digital innovation.
MiniMax Drives AI IPO Surge Amid Growing Competition Among Chinese Startups
Jan. 2, 2026 | CompetitivenessChinese AI startups are making significant strides as they pursue public listings and fresh capital.
**MiniMax Group has filed for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to raise between HK$3.8 billion and HK$4.19 billion (approximately USD 490 million to USD 538 million) by selling 25.4 million shares at HK$151 to HK$165 each.**
This pricing implies a market valuation between HK$50.4 billion and HK$54.4 billion (around USD 6.5 billion to USD 7.0 billion). China International Capital Corp and UBS sponsor the offering, while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley coordinate the IPO.
**Founded in early 2022 by former SenseTime executive Yan Junjie, MiniMax develops multimodal AI models that process text, audio, images, video and music.**
Its flagship large language model powers the Hailuo AI app, the Talkie chatbot, the Xingye virtual character generator and open platforms for enterprise and developer integration. By September 2025, the company had reached over 212 million users worldwide.
**In the first nine months of 2025, MiniMax nearly tripled revenue year-on-year to USD 53.4 million, with more than 70 percent coming from international markets.**
Despite this growth and expanding user engagement, the company remains unprofitable. It reported net losses of USD 269 million in 2023, USD 465 million in 2024 and USD 512 million as of September 30, 2025. Under non-IFRS measures, adjusted net losses totaled USD 186 million for the nine-month period ended September 2025.
**MiniMax plans to invest about 90 percent of the IPO proceeds in research and development over the next five years, allocating the remaining 10 percent to working capital and general corporate purposes.**
Fourteen cornerstone investors, including Aspex Management, Eastspring Investments, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Alibaba Group Holding and E Fund Management, have committed around HK$2.7 billion in subscriptions.
**This public offering reflects growing investor interest in China’s domestic AI sector, driven by the success of local generative AI services such as DeepSeek.**
It also coincides with a similar listing attempt by Zhipu Huazhang Technology, illustrating the intense competition among Chinese AI firms to capitalize on rising market demand.
Monitored Intelligence for China - Jan. 2, 2026
News
Media
533
Government
Releases
49
City/State
Releases
38
Embassy
Releases
7
Foreign
Service
Advisories
0
Service
Advisories
0
Academic/
Think
Tank
29
Think
Tank
29
Podcasts
0
Videos
0
Social
Media
0
Business
Releases
2
Erudite Risk takes an all risks approach to intelligence reporting. We categorize key intelligence into one of 40 different risk intelligence categories.
The goal is to provide intelligence that allows decision makers to avoid being blindsided by what they may have missed, while informing them to make better decisions as well.
Risk Categories Reported on Today
Risk Category
Items Reported On
Geopolitical Conflict and Disputes
27
Regulation
33
Political Scandal or Corruption
5
IP Protection
8
Epidemics and Pandemics
1
Shifting Geopolitical Alliances
11
Crime
2
North Korea
1
Privacy
4
Climate Change
5
South China Sea
2
Cyber Attacks and Data Loss
1
Corporate Corruption or Fraud
1
Extreme Weather Events
1
Erudite Risk also includes operations categories so you can monitor the environment for better decision making. Everything is tied together--what happens in risk affects operations and what happens in the market impacts risk profiles.
We categorize key intelligence into one of 30 different operations intelligence categories.
Different roles and functions within the organization can monitor different key issue areas. HR may monitor employment, wages, regulations, labor and management relations, etc., while P&L leaders may monitor overall developing trends.
Operations Categories Reported on Today
Operations Category
Items Reported On
Political Policy Resistance
7
Real Estate
6
Economic Growth
34
Trade Issues and Numbers
8
Bizdev-Partnering
10
Taxes
2
Tech Development/Adoption
23
Operating Results
8
Demographics
2
Legal Exposure
1
Politics and Elections
7
Asset Price Change
11
IP Protection
3
Energy Prices
3
Initiative
3
Mergers & Acquisitions
1
Supply Chain Issues
1
Financial System Problems
1
工业企业利润延续增长态势
Industrial Enterprise Profits Continue to Grow
Guangming Daily | Local Language | News | Jan. 2, 2026 | UndeterminedOperating Results
From January to November 2025, industrial enterprises above designated size in China achieved total profits of 6,626.86 billion yuan, continuing a growth trend that has strengthened over the past four months. Manufacturing reported 5,031.79 billion yuan in profits, up 5.0% year-on-year, while the electricity, heat, gas, and water production sectors grew 8.4%. The mining industry's profits decreased by 27.2%, although the rate of decline narrowed slightly compared to previous months.
New industrial momentum has been a significant contributor to profit growth, particularly in equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing. Equipment manufacturing profits rose 7.7%, led by strong performance in railway, shipbuilding, aviation, aerospace, electronics, and automobile sectors. High-tech manufacturing profits increased by 10.0%, outpacing the overall industrial growth rate primarily due to advances driven by the "Artificial Intelligence +" initiative. Notable gains were seen in electronic-industry-specific equipment, semiconductor device manufacturing, aerospace, and smart consumer device sectors.
Operating revenue for industrial enterprises above designated size totaled 125.34 trillion yuan, a 1.6% increase year-on-year. Total assets and owners’ equity also grew by 4.8% and 4.5%, respectively. Indicators reflect steady qualitative and quantitative improvements in industrial production, supported by proactive government policies, technological innovations, and ongoing transformation efforts.
Looking ahead, the industrial economy is expected to face structural adjustment pressures and uncertainties in the international environment. Authorities emphasize the need to consolidate profitability recovery, promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system to ensure sustained and healthy industrial development through 2025 and beyond.
浅述方法权利要求中步骤间的时序或关联的重要性
Kangxin Partners PC | English | AcademicThink | Jan. 2, 2026 | UndeterminedIP Protection
在方法权利要求的审查过程中，技术特征常被划分为多个孤立步骤进行比对，然而往往忽视了步骤间的时序性和关联性。该文以一宗涉及“PPPoE拨号用户名和密码错误故障提示方法及装置”的专利侵权案件为例，详细阐述了因忽视步骤间关系导致的一审判决认定错误。涉案专利权利要求1涉及的步骤包括发送认证数据包、根据认证结果设置或清除错误标识，以及周期性检测并显示用户名密码错误提示。
一审法院和鉴定专家组对该专利权利要求进行了细粒度的技术特征拆分，并据此认定被控产品具有与专利权利要求相同的技术特征，从而判定侵权。然而，二审法院指出这种拆分割裂了技术特征间的内在链式逻辑，尤其是步骤C中的一系列判断和操作应视为一个整体技术单元，不能简单拆分。二审法院重新整合权利要求的技术特征后，认定被控产品不具备步骤C中“每隔M秒执行判断并显示错误提示”的关键技术特征，最终推翻一审判决，判定无侵权。
基于此案例，笔者强调方法权利要求中步骤间的时序性和关联性是专利技术贡献的“骨架”，非形式性的“皮肉”。方法专利往往体现为动态的步骤链条，拆分技术特征时应保持整体判断流程的完整性，避免人为割裂导致保护范围误判。答复审查意见或无效争议时，应重视并突出步骤间的时序性和关联性，必要时通过绘制顺序依赖图、强调步骤间的嵌套和循环关系，以及引用相关司法判例支持整体链式逻辑的审查，维护专利权的合理有效保护。
Shanghai enacts new regulations to boost cruise economy
Xinhua | English | News | Jan. 2, 2026 | Regulation
Shanghai has enacted new regulations to promote the cruise economy, with a 27-article framework passed by the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress. These regulations will come into effect on March 1, 2026, aiming to support high-quality growth in the city's cruise industry.
Key measures include piloting "cruises to nowhere," allowing international ships to depart from and return to Shanghai without docking at any ports, operating within approved waters. The city will also enhance port services by accelerating the installation of shore power systems and encouraging home-port cruise ships to use this energy mode. Support for green fuels and new energy technologies is also emphasized.
The regulations focus on improving the competitiveness of the cruise industry by fostering port-city integration, promoting cultural, tourism, commercial, sports, and exhibition activities around waterfront areas and ports. Between 2006 and 2025, Shanghai hosted over 3,500 cruise ships and more than 18 million passengers, capturing over 60 percent of China's cruise market. Currently, Shanghai houses Asia's largest and the world's fourth-busiest cruise home port.
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