# Weekly Dose of China Tech [08.17.2026] > Source: > Published: 2026-08-17 15:38:41+00:00 # Weekly Dose of China Tech [08.17.2026] ### Humanoid Technicians, China AI Video Industry, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Chinese Apple Intelligence, and More **Hi friends,** **Welcome back to Weekly Dose of China Tech! Here is a roundup of the latest news and our newest articles.** **First, we explore the rise of independent “robot doctors”, a unique repair industry growing alongside China’s humanoid boom. We also dive into China’s AI video ecosystem, which has become a lucrative money making machine.** **Finally, this week’s news highlights how tech sectors across the country are adapting to market realities, from ByteDance navigating Doubao’s new ad model to Apple training a custom Chinese LLM with Alibaba.** **Dive in below for the full breakdown!** **This Week Features...** **Robot Maintenance Is the Newest Job Market in China** It’s not difficult to know that China has been mass producing humanoid robots. As the largest manufacturer in the world, China has shipped almost 20,000 humanoids in 2025 for academic research and public events. However, since robotics is still a burgeoning industry, meltdowns and malfunctions are not so infrequent. Thus, giving rise to these “robot doctors.” These independent technicians can fix your robots faster with a much lower price. However, there are major problems existing in this emerging industry: One, custom components are hard to come by. The robot doctors often have to salvage components from donor robots since schematics of a Unitree robot are usually not available on the open market. Two, 42% of the humanoid market is occupied by research institutions. They generally prefer official manufacturer servicing. Three, relatively speaking, humanoids are durable and few in number, so repair demand is quite low. So, there are enough issues to go around, but that doesn’t mean this industry isn’t expanding and thriving. Some resort to drone repair and robot rental services, while others pivoted to selling courses to teach other technicians. If you want to learn more about this unique industry in China, click the link below and read the full article. **Why China Is Winning the AI Video Race** While OpenAI is struggling to turn Sora into a profitable machine, China’s video generation models have matured into an exploding business with breakthrough models like Seedance 2.5 and MiniMax’s H3. Even if one argues about China’s inability to stack compute and produce bleeding-edge LLMs (albeit the chatter of such rhetoric has been diminishing), there is no denying that China’s video generation industry has become a self-sustaining ecosystem. The models don’t stand on their own. They’re paired with Douyin (China’s TikTok), microdrama platforms, and other editing softwares. This swift change from new technology to lucrative production line has taken shape in the last two to three years. But, money game aside, these models could become something more. In fact, many companies maintain that their ultimate goal is to build truly advanced models that could process complicated spatial and visual data, subsequently supporting the next gen of robotics and autonomous systems. If you want to learn more about the future of AI video generation, click the following link to read the full article. **The News…** **(I) DeepSeek V4 Pro Release, Hiked Prices, & Harness Testing Results** DeepSeek has officially launched V4 Pro, delivering notable benchmark gains over its preview version alongside a steep price hike that brings its flagship rates closer to major rivals. Beyond the raw model updates, hands-on testing of DeepSeek Harness reveals a remarkably flexible environment that goes far beyond a typical coding assistant. By supporting on-the-fly model switching, vision analysis, and dynamic temporal and spatial composability, Harness allows developers to seamlessly add or adjust tools without breaking the system, effectively building a stable platform tailored for endless modifications. **(II) BYD’s Expansion in Japan** BYD’s Japan-specific RACCO K-Car has received more than 1,000 orders just two weeks after launching on July 28, according to BYD Auto Japan. What stands out is which version buyers are choosing. According to BYD, around 80% of orders are for the top-end RACCO 300 Premium, priced at ¥2.497 million (about $16,800). The 300 Plus accounts for 14%, while the entry-level RACCO 200, at ¥2.145 million (about $14,400), represents just 6%. That suggests RACCO’s appeal may not simply be its low price. The 300 Premium offers a 320-km WLTC range from its 35.84-kWh Blade Battery, compared with 210 km for the entry model. BYD’s data also offers an interesting glimpse into how the car is being used. 37.5% of buyers are adding RACCO to their existing vehicles, while 35.7% are replacing another car. Meanwhile, 55.4% already have EV charging equipment at home. That fits the traditional K-Car use case in Japan: compact dimensions, easy parking, and practicality for urban and residential driving. RACCO also adopts the popular Super Tall body style and dual power sliding doors. BYD is targeting 10,000 orders by the end of 2026. For a Chinese EV maker trying to break into one of the world’s most established K-Car markets, the first 1,000 orders may be more significant than the number itself. **(III) Tencent H1 2026 Revenue** Tencent reported H1 2026 revenue of $56.1 billion, up 10%, and gross profit of $32.1 billion, up 12%. But free cash flow turned negative at -$1.9 billion, largely because of AI infrastructure spending for Hunyuan, WorkBuddy and cloud customers. Excluding prepayments for computing capacity, FCF would have been $5.3 billion. President Martin Lau said Tencent is trying to build a large, profitable, cash-generating AI-native business: use computing resources first for models and applications, then rent out excess capacity through Tencent Cloud. In a worst-case scenario, he said, Tencent could still recover its infrastructure costs through cloud leasing. **(IV) SMIC Can’t Keep Up with Chip Orders** SMIC is running out of capacity for AI-related chip orders — and is raising prices. Q2 revenue topped $3 billion, while wafer shipments rose 14.4% QoQ and average selling prices increased 5.7%. Management said demand for AI-related logic, BCD and optical-module chips remains supply-constrained as Chinese internet companies sharply raise hardware spending. SMIC has already implemented new Q3 pricing and expects shipments to keep rising, with utilization staying near 95%. **(V) Apple Reveals Using Custom Chinese Model for Apple Intelligence** Apple briefly revealed that it is not simply plugging an existing Chinese AI model into Apple Intelligence before retracting the statement. According to Reuters, the company has trained a custom, China-specific large language model with support from Alibaba Group—a major shift from its initial plan to rely directly on third-party models like Qwen. Developing a dedicated model gives Apple greater control over its user experience while ensuring compliance with local regulatory requirements. Apple Intelligence is expected to launch in China in the coming months.