28 December 2025

The Tech Review 2025: China sees breakthroughs in AI and robotics

Guo Meiping

The year 2025 has been defined by a wave of transformative advances in China's artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics sectors, marking a decisive shift from laboratory research toward deep industrial integration and real-world application.

The year opened with a major shake-up in the foundational AI model landscape. DeepSeek, a company specializing in large language models, released a next-generation model that emphasized stronger reasoning and coding abilities rather than sheer parameter scale, while sharply reducing its application programming interface (API) costs. Widely described as a "game-changer," the move sparked global developer interest in usability and affordability, accelerating the rise of AI-native applications.

Momentum continued with growing public fascination around embodied AI, where intelligence is embedded in physical form. On January 16, humanoid robots developed by Unitree Robotics performed a highly synchronized dance at the China Media Group Spring Festival Gala. Showcasing dynamic balance, precise control, and swarm coordination, the performance reached hundreds of millions of viewers and became a cultural moment that brought advanced robotics into the public imagination.

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