Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• NVIDIA unveils next-gen chips and AI supercomputer, while AMD CEO is on strategic China visit to fortify local AI alliance;
• HK simplifies entry for invited ASEAN visitors.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

The global AI computing power race is reaching fever pitch, as a semiconductor showdown of epic proportions unfolds.

At its annual developer conference GTC2025 today, NVIDIA unveiled its GPU product roadmap with CEO Jensen Huang revealing the US chip giant has scheduled to release its new AI factory platform BlackwellUltra in the second half, next-gen GPU VeraRubin next year, and the Feynman architecture in 2028.

It also unveiled the DGX personal AI supercomputer series, powered by the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform and enabling AI developers to prototype, fine-tune, and inference the latest generation of reasoning AI models, on desktops.

On Tuesday, ahead of Huang’s keynote address, "Queen of AI Semiconductors" Lisa Su made a bold move in Beijing. Su revealed that AMD had immediately embraced and supported DeepSeek, with AMD engineers intensively optimizing the model.

AMD is pouring resources into China’s AI market, showcasing its capabilities with the AI Max+ 395 processor. In a stunning demonstration, the company deployed the DeepSeek large model on a lightweight laptop in just 6 seconds, achieving a token generation speed of 12 tokens per second.

While Huang grapples with NVIDIA’s stock volatility caused by DeepSeek’s rising influence, Su’s 4,000-strong engineering team is accelerating innovation across five major AI hubs in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Partnering with over 100 allies including Baichuan Intelligence, Founder Group, and DingTalk, AMD has formed the "China AI Application Innovation Alliance," aiming to embed AI into every AI PC terminal.

These two chip titans are charting divergent paths. Huang built NVIDIA’s dominance through the CUDA software ecosystem, while Su is leveraging open-source software, ecosystem alliances, and scenario-based innovation to carve out AMD’s niche after closing the hardware gap.

The ultimate winner remains uncertain, but in the deep waters of AI chips, ecosystem dominance will be key. And China stands as the indispensable mainstage for this century-defining battle.

GBA express

• Hong Kong launched a special admission scheme on Tuesday for guests from 10 ASEAN nations. Eligible participants, such as those who have been invited to important events in the SAR, can receive multiple-entry visas with extended periods of stay for two or more months and gain access to courtesy channels or e-channels at control points.
• CSOP Asset Management Ltd will launch Hong Kong’s first batch of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded fund products tracking single stocks overseas in a bid to tap local retail investors with riskier appetites. The Hong Kong-based asset manager will release nine products that use derivatives to offer two times the daily returns of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Nvidia Corp, Tesla Inc, MicroStrategy Inc and Coinbase Global Inc, and two times inverse the daily performance of the latter four, the firm said.
• Tencent has started helping Shenzhen Third People's Hospital create targeted health check-up plans through artificial intelligence. The smart concierge service gathers health information from patients such as age, medical history, lifestyle habits, and work environment, and recommends targeted check-up plans for them.

Industry and company news

• Xiaomi’s shares advanced today after the Chinese tech giant reported its “strongest annual report ever,” founder and CEO Lei Jun said after it released its latest financial statement. Xiaomi’s annual net profit soared 35 percent to 23.6 billion yuan, with revenue climbing 35 percent to record 365.9 billion yuan. Xiaomi’s R&D expenses surged 26 percent to 24.1 billion yuan last year. Meanwhile, Xiaomi raised its annual EV sales target for this year to 350,000 units from 300,000. It is reportedly expanding a second EV plant in Beijing.
• Tencent on Tuesday unveiled a suite of new artificial intelligence tools capable of converting text and images into 3D visuals in the latest example of growing Chinese momentum in the field of generative AI. Tencent released five open-source models based on its Hunyuan3D-2.0 technology, it announced in a statement, including so-called "turbo" versions it said can generate 3D visuals within 30 seconds while maintaining high precision and quality.
• China's Zeekr Group said on Tuesday it would start selling an SUV equipped with technology that will allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel. The Zeekr 9X SUV will have L3-ready autonomous driving capabilities, supported by the company's G-Pilot artificial intelligence-powered smart driving system, it said.
• The average number of daily visitors to China’s Super Computing Network has topped 3 million, according to the national platform. The platform is linked to over 20 super and intelligent computing centers across 14 Chinese provinces, integrating more than 240 open-source LLMs.
• The Shanghai Stock Exchange supported 424 eligible firms in issuing 510.5 billion yuan worth of sci-tech innovation corporate bonds last year, up 68 percent from the year before, the bourse said.
• Seventy-two percent of chief executive officers from Chinese mainland companies surveyed by UK accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said they are optimistic about their business growth prospects in the next three years. The figure is much higher than the global average of 53 percent.
• Twenty-eight main cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou, are slated to nearly triple their supply of new housing this month compared with last month as developers capitalize on rebounding demand. The cities are likely to add 7.1 million square meters of new homes this month, according to the findings of a survey by real estate data provider CRIC. 

Asia-Pacific highlights

• Indonesia's TransNusa Airlines has announced that it will officially open a direct flight route linking Guangzhou to Bali starting on April 14, providing a new "cloud express" service for passengers from the two countries. According to the schedule, the flight will operate four times a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, using an Airbus A320, with a flight time of about five hours.
• Digital travel platform Agoda highlights in a survey that hotels across Asia should embrace the travel trends of Asian Gen Z to secure future success. The survey identified five travel habits of Gen Z aged 18-27: relying on social media for inspiration, embracing spontaneity, traveling in pairs, prioritizing budget-friendly trips, and a shared passion for wanderlust.

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

Presented by SFC

(作者：李莹亮 编辑：李艳霞）