Tech Trends: Single-disk data center storage

Chinese researchers claim in the journal Nature that they can store 1.6 petabit on a single disk. State-owned enterprises are also moving towards artificial intelligence. China will make payments easier for foreigners. Electric vehicle sales declined during the first quarter. Follow the “Actions against China” and company news sections.

A Chinese research team has discovered a way to store 1.6 petabit via optical data storage (ODS) used in digital video discs (DVD), they wrote in their article. nature. . This is 24 times the amount of data on the most advanced hard drive. They use 100 layers on both sides of the thin disc. In data storage, 1,024 gigabytes equal 1 terabyte and 1,024 terabytes equal 1 petabyte, while 1,024 petabytes equal 1 exabyte. It therefore becomes possible to build an exabit-level data center in a room by stacking 1,000 nanodisks on top of each other at the petabit level. This could lead to significant energy savings because energy consumption in Chinese data centers reaches 270 billion kilowatt hours per year, or three times as much as China's hydroelectric power. Three Gorges DamPower plants: Disks can last 50 to 100 years, while data on a hard drive must be placed on a new device every 10 years. SCMP

Also artificial intelligence by state-owned companies

* State-owned enterprises are also fully committed to AI to transform the industry. Chinese communications Xingchen has a large language model with 100 billion parameters used daily by 10,000 customers. Xingchen has been open source since January and has already found 1 million users. China Mobile Asia's largest smart computer center will open this year. State Holding Company Sasak On February 19, it called on state-owned enterprises to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. The committee also pledged to accelerate the construction of a new group of smart computing centers and make better use of the platform role for joint innovation between state-owned enterprises. State-owned enterprises in the committee invested 2.18 trillion yuan in strategic emerging industries last year, an increase of 32 percent. GT

*21st Century Business Herald Reports that Guangzhou Internet Court He issued a ruling in which, for the first time, a company was found guilty of creating its own version of itself via artificial intelligence without permission Ultraman belonging to the complainant. The court ultimately ruled that the defendant must compensate the plaintiff for economic losses of 10,000 yuan. GT

*Alibaba.com It is at the forefront of a $1 billion financing round for Moonshot AI, one of the best beginners in the field of artificial intelligence. The chatbot Kimi went public last November, and since then it has been a platform for developers to build AI applications on top of the model. With the new capital, Moonshot is valued at $2.5 billion. Hey ho

*Cloud computing unit Alibaba.com It has reduced the prices of more than 100 essential products by up to 55%. By lowering the price threshold, it wants to attract more companies and developers as demand increases due to AI projects. Alibaba Cloud It currently serves 80% of technology companies on the mainland, including half of the companies involved in AI Large Language Model (LLM) development. competitor JD.com Reply to Wcom.eChat It will also lower cloud prices. SCMP

Facilitating payments for foreigners

The government issued a document making it easier for foreigners and the elderly to pay. 86% of payments in China are made via mobile devices, and markets do not always accept cash or bank cards. Alipay And WeChat Payment Now allowing foreign users to use their international credit cards e.g visa And MasterCard Credit Card To be linked to their platforms, which greatly simplifies payment processes. the National Bank It also asked them to increase transaction limits for foreigners using mobile payments, increasing the daily limit from $1,000 to $5,000 and the annual limit from $10,000 to $50,000. Efforts will also be made to simplify the identity verification process and give foreign visitors easier access to various processes such as linking cards. China Daily

Electric car sales decline

*Lee Otto It expects to sell 21% to 24% fewer cars during the first quarter compared to last year. the New Sales fell 19% in February and 44% in January. bee Exping These numbers were minus 44% in February and minus 59% in January. also Tesla 47% fewer cars would have been sold in China in January. Last year, electric car sales increased by 37%. Fitch Ratings An increase of only 20% is expected this year. Automakers are lowering their prices to maintain market share. SCMP

* New He has it with the branch Forseven From the Abu Dhabi Government Fund CYVN It entered into an agreement allowing it to use the knowledge and technology in research, development, manufacturing and distribution New Learn about the stock market in Hong Kong. .New It receives a licensing fee plus set royalties based on future sales of Forseven. previously taken CYVN 7% share New. SCMP

* Volkswagen Group He has with Exping It has reached an agreement to jointly develop two medium-sized battery-powered vehicles by 2026. The cooperation will reduce development time by 30%. Volkswagen “By cooperating with Xpeng, we not only accelerate development time, but also increase efficiency and improve cost structure,” he said. China Daily

Actions against China

.* The United States found something new in Chinese cars that fuels the technology war. Simply put, American concerns boil down to the fact that if an American driver overtook a Chinese car, Beijing would be in the best position to do so. The National Security Agency You will be aware of the pattern immediately. He. She Department of Commerce It will conduct a 60-day investigation into the privacy risks of Chinese cars in the United States. This could lead to higher tariffs, which have already reached 25% per Chinese car since Trump. GT, Technode
*corer Subordinate Council of the European Union He has a suggestion Due diligence guidance on corporate sustainability It was not accepted because too few member states were in favour. Although it does not mention China by name, the directive aims to require EU companies with more than 500 employees and global net sales of 150 million euros to conduct detailed audits of their suppliers and partners to verify that they do not use forced labour. the European Union Chamber of Commerce In May 2022, the rules described the rules as unbalanced, disproportionate and ambiguous obligations for all entrepreneurs that exceed their control and capabilities. GT
*Taiwan plans to tighten chip exports to the mainland by expanding the scope of banned items to include optical masks and some advanced materials. In December, the island banned the export of 12 types of chip machines that can produce chips with a resolution of 14 nanometers or less. Wuxi Microelectronics Dis Chinese owned Microelectronics Resources A factory that can make photomasks to produce 28-90 nm chips is being built and will be put into use in the first semester. SMIC And Wuxi Zhongwei Upgrade their photo mask factories. foot

Company news

*it is in Which has applied to go public in the United States, and plans to offer its shares on the London Stock Exchange if the application is rejected. An IPO is not being considered in Hong Kong. The UK government is keen on this IPO. American hawk Marco Rubio has done just that second Chairman Gary Gensler more openness it is in Requested. Especially the truth of it it is in He contacts the authorities in Beijing about the IPO, which troubles him foot

*the Baidu Profits fell 48% to 2.6 billion yuan last quarter. Baidu's investments increased as R&D costs rose 11% to 6.3 billion yuan in the latest quarter. Its AI service ERNIE Bot 4 attracted 26,000 business customers in December, while its free version ERNIE Bot 3.5 has 100 million customers. Technode