AI to everything in China's:
From the Editor
This is the week in which China’s automaker Geely, backed by investments from Mercedes-Benz, aims to become the world’s largest robotics manufacturer.
It is the week in which China deploys artificial intelligence in nuclear reactors that, in turn, supply power to its data centers.
And it is the week of a mega IPO in Hong Kong, in which the biotech company Insilico raises 294 million U.S. dollars for its AI platform.
Another week in which China’s industry is being redefined, bit by bit, by AI. No more and no less.
➤ AI + Mobility
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In the Era of Artificial Intelligence, Cars Will Eventually Morph into Robots on Wheels, says Geely
The Chinese carmaker is positioning AFARI, a Mercedes-Benz-backed subsidiary, at the heart of its “AI + vehicle + robot” strategy
The convergence of artificial intelligence and the automobile has triggered a major restructuring at the Chinese carmaker Geely.
Several business units related to intelligent driving, previously spread across the vast Geely Holding Group, have been consolidated under a single roof. They are now part of the new subsidiary AFARI (Qianli Intelligent Driving) in Chongqing, the news portal IT Home reported in late December.
Only a few days earlier, on December 24, Mercedes-Benz had completed a major investment in AFARI. The German luxury carmaker, through its Mercedes-Benz (Shanghai) Digital Technology Co., paid 1.34 billion yuan (US$191 million) to acquire a 3 per cent stake in AFARI. The new brand, with the word "far" inserted between the letters A and I, is intended to serve as the Geely Group’s core platform for intelligent driving technologies, robotics, and other forms of embodied intelligence. Mercedes-Benz, via its significant investment, will gain access to this know-how.
The major group-wide restructuring has pulled together a team of nearly 3,000 engineers who had previously worked at Zeekr, the recently dissolved company Yixing Robotics, and other subsidiaries.
This consolidated team is now tasked with developing "foundational technologies for Geely's new AI + vehicle + robot ecosystem", a spokesperson at AFARI said.
Why this matters
Geely aims to apply its autonomous-driving AI technologies beyond vehicles and establish robotics as an additional, strategic business alongside its automotive operations.
For more complete insights on how a vision centred around embodied AI is transforming one of China's biggest carmakers, please read this week's "AI in mobility" deep dive: ➤➤➤Read more.
Geely has the potential to transform from an automaker into China’s - and even the world’s - largest robotics company.
➤ AI + Manufacturing
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China’s Nonferrous Metals Industry Scales Up Industrial AI with Kun’an 2.0
Chinalco and the industry association expand their sector large model from 18 to 52 application scenarios, spanning mining, smelting, materials R&D, and supply chains
CCTV Documentary: Data + AI: A New Journey for Aluminum Industry. Source: CCTV
A large model built for China's nonferrous metals industry has been updated and released together with 52 vertical application scenarios. The "Kun'an 2.0 Large Model" was released at a launch ceremony in Beijing on December 26, 2025.
China’s leading aluminium producer, Chinalco, and the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association jointly announced the initial version a year earlier, calling it the "nonferrous metals industry's first general-purpose large model". The number of application scenarios has now been extended from 18 to 52, China Metallurgical News reported.
The deployment of artificial intelligence covers a wide range of processes, from materials R&D to exploration and mining, for example through a model for precise orebody positioning, to aluminium smelting and other operations all the way to supply chain management.
Why this matters
The new release highlights how fast Chinalco and other players in China are moving quickly to apply artificial intelligence in real production scenarios through vertical industry large models. The association's attempts to make use cases available for the whole industry will be worth watching.➤➤➤Read more.
➤ AI + Electronics
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GPU AI Superclusters are China's New Answer to US Chip Boycotts
The first AI supercluster combining 10,000 GPUs has been presented by supercomputer maker Sugon
Sugon debuts scaleX, China's first physical 10,000-accelerator AI supercluster. Source: Sugon
The first China-made 10,000-GPU AI supercluster has been presented as a fully operational system by Sugon, a Beijing-based maker of supercomputers. As infrastructure for artificial intelligence, the hardware rivals comparable products from Nvidia and Huawei, Chinese trade media report.
The supercluster, named scaleX, is designed for complex tasks such as trillion-parameter models and AI for science, a company spokesperson said at its launch event in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, on December 18, 2025.
Why this matters
While U.S. chip restrictions prevent Chinese AI companies from purchasing Nvidia’s most advanced chips, domestic manufacturers have embarked on an alternative strategy. They interconnect thousands of locally made chips with high-speed links, achieving similar system-level output.➤➤➤Read more.
➤ AI + Healthcare
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Is Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery finally taking off?
Investors are pouring money into Insilico, while China launches an open AI drug discovery platform
Drug discovery with artificial intelligence has entered a period of rapid growth in China.
Evidence for this includes this year’s largest biotech IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where the AI biopharma company InSilico Medicine raised US$294 million, as well as the launch of a new AI drug discovery platform backed by the Chinese government and the Gates Foundation.
Insilico Medicine Lists on Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Dec.30, 2025. Photo: Insilico Medicine
Shares of the AI-driven biopharmaceutical company Insilico Medicine, which leverages a proprietary AI platform for an internal drug pipeline, rose 25 percent on their first trading day, reports Pandaily.
Shortly before that blockbuster IPO, the ‘AI Kongming’ drug-discovery platform was launched by the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) in Beijing.
Although officially designated as a nonprofit, GHDDI is heavily government-backed, while also drawing support from the Gates Foundation and inviting global academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies and others to join.
The open platform covers the entire early-stage drug-development process, from target structure analysis, AI-driven molecule generation, and drug design, to activity evaluation and druggability optimization, reported Tai Meiti (TMT Post).
The primary aim of the platform is to address "urgent global health needs neglected by the market" such as tuberculosis, malaria and viral diseases, its Director Ding Sheng told Chinese media.
Why this matters
China is becoming a preferred place to run AI-assisted drug discovery, because capital and institutional support are rising while clinical execution can be faster than in many other markets.➤➤➤Read more.
➤ AI + Energy
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When the Atom Meets the Algorithm
China deploys artificial intelligence in nuclear reactors that in turn power the country's Data Centres
China is moving fast to integrate artificial intelligence with nuclear energy. Liu Jing, vice chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority, confirmed this industrial policy goal in a keynote speech at the first international symposium dedicated to this topic, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna earlier this month.
Beijing is "promoting the extensive and in-depth integration of AI with the entire nuclear industry chain", the Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted Liu from his speech.
On the ground in China, as well as in official government documents, there is currently a two-way relationship emerging between the two technologies. One track is the deployment of algorithms and large models in nuclear power plants, used together with digital twins to simulate accidents or enhance maintenance.
The second track of this symbiotic relationship is a growing recognition that nuclear energy with its stable, continuous power output curve is very useful to power China's data centres, especially new types of small modular reactors (SMRs) that Chinese engineers have developed and are currently preparing for operation.
Why this matters
This integration lies at the intersection of two global megatrends, the quest to mitigate climate change with emission-free energy sources and the worldwide deployment of AI.
Find out more in this week's deep dive on "AI + Energy" about how China is advancing along both fronts, how it has started to use AI for nuclear safety, and which small reactors it plans to deploy for data centres here:➤➤➤Read On.
