Welcome to China Business News, NEO’s weekly roundup of top business developments as reported by news outlets in China and the region.
This week’s highlights:
- On June 14th, officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the advanced results of PRC’s hi-tech progress. China has built the world’s largest and most technologically advanced network infrastructure. The number of 4G base stations account for over half of the total in the world. The number of 5G base stations has also reached 1.165 million. There are 400 million mobile phone users, and the same number of 5G users. Mobile communication technology has progressed from “3G breakthrough” and “4G synchronization” to “5G leadership”. The number of 5G standards patents climbed to 38.2%. Key Chinese technologies, such as optical communication equipment, optical module devices, optical fiber and cable, have reached an international advanced level. Innovative applications are expanding from the consumer to the production field, forming the world’s largest and most active digital service market. The annual transaction scale of mobile payments has reached 527 trillion RMB. New economic forms have created over 20 million flexible jobs, and the total number of 5G industry applications has exceeded 20,000. (First Financial)
- Since the beginning of the year, the metaverse concept has been heating up. As one of the best forms of hardware for accessing the virtual world, the augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) market has also seen a period of rapid development. According to the latest data from IDC’s Quarterly Tracking Report for their AR/VR Headset, the market for headsets in Asia Pacific (including Japan and China) grew 60.8% in 2021, with shipments reaching 2.19 million units. Meanwhile, IDC’s latest forecast data show that IT-related spending in China’s AR/VR market totalled approximately $2.13 billion in 2021 and should increase to $13.08 billion by 2026, making it the second largest market in the world. The accelerated development of the AR/VR industry has attracted major internet giants. In August last year, Byte Jump acquired the VR hardware and software startup Pico for 9 billion RMB. At the end of March this year, Alibaba led the C+ round of financing for consumer AR glasses maker Nreal. 4K Garden, a leading company in the UHD industry, has also increased its investment in VR business this year. Recently, 4K Garden announced its in-depth cooperation with Akiyay Qiyou VR in the field of “VR+Ultra HD”, one of the core consumer areas of VR content. (The 21st Century Economy)
- On June 15th, Huawei shared the latest business, tech, and ecology news from Kunpeng, Ascend and Euler at its Partner & Developer Conference. The company highlighted a series of important achievements: the simultaneous publication of the Euler OS commercial release of nine partners; the official internet launch of China’s Smart Computing Network; the launch of a large-scale model of a full technological process enabling system; the creation of a large-scale model of a new AI industrialization; and the release of a new architecture for industry digital intelligence transformation, which is intended to accelerate industry upgrade. At present, Kunpeng and Ascend’s partners have exceeded 4,500. They have created over 12,000 industry solutions; the number of Kunpeng and Rising’s developers has exceeded 2 million. The “Smart Base” industry-education integration base project, has involved 3 thousand teachers in its work, and more than 300,000 students. 1,500 courses are being opened as part of the programme. (The Observer Net)