Chinese authorities stopped the sale of ABB Robotics, owned by a Swiss conglomerate, to SoftBank of Japan amid wider scrutiny of global transactions that could affect Beijing’s technology ambitions.
In Malaysia, U.S. and Chinese tech giants are pouring billions into vast data centers, straining local resources and testing the limits of Washington’s restrictions on advanced chips.
Using sensors developed for self-driving cars, a Chinese start-up claims it can track and destroy tiny flying targets while avoiding people, pets and reflective surfaces.
The move will block shipments from BGI, a major Chinese firm that U.S. officials allege is associated with forced labor and the abuse of minority groups.
BGI exhibit in Beijing last year. The Trump administration added the company, a major Chinese genomics company that U.S. officials have long eyed with suspicion, to a trade blacklist aimed at barring products made with forced labor in China.
The Communist Party uses a “national team” of state-owned investment funds to stem the market rout. But this time, investors are not sure it will work.
Germany’s Neura is one of the companies at the forefront of efforts to use artificial intelligence in robotics, and crucial to whether Europe can close the gap with China.
Volvo’s chief executive, Hakan Samuelsson, last April. “Nobody will be successful with the old recipe” for selling cars in China, he said Friday. “Those times are gone.”