Baidu is Apple/Samsung's China AI partner | MOFCOM: helium ban stays

Your morning brief on Chinese technology.

Bottom Line Up Front

Baidu joins Apple and Samsung as an on-device AI partner in China after the Cyberspace Administration of China cleared seven generative AI services on July 15, with Baidu's Ernie model powering image and text search plus Siri upgrades for Apple and Circle to Search, a note assistant, and Bixby integration for Samsung. MOFCOM maintains the helium export ban that took effect July 10, with spokesperson He Yadong saying adjustments will follow supply and demand shifts, while separately confirming that Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Dutch counterpart Sjoerdsma agreed to support consultations on the Nexperia dispute. Korean prosecutors raided Montage, Renesas, and Rambus on July 15 over suspected price collusion in memory interface chips, a segment where the three vendors together held 93.4% of the 2024 global market and Montage led with 36.8%, with mobile phones seized from some representatives and Montage stating operations remain normal.

On July 15, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which licenses generative AI services, cleared seven on-device generative AI services for mobile phones in China. The list includes Apple Intelligence and Samsung Galaxy AI. Sources tell Sina Tech that Baidu, the Chinese search company behind the Ernie large language model, is the AI partner for both. Alibaba previously confirmed its Qwen model is being integrated into Apple Intelligence on China-market iOS, iPadOS, macOS and visionOS devices. For Apple, Baidu is building AI powered image and text search and upgrading the China version of Siri. For Samsung, Baidu's Ernie powers Galaxy AI features including Circle to Search and a note assistant, and integrates into Bixby, Samsung's voice assistant.

Read at Sina Tech ↗·Read at Sina Tech ↗

MOFCOM keeps temporary helium export ban, says Nexperia talks with the Netherlands continue

At the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) press briefing on July 16, spokesperson He Yadong said Beijing will adjust its temporary helium export ban based on supply and demand shifts at home and abroad. MOFCOM and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the ban to secure domestic supply, and it took effect July 10. Helium is used in chip fabrication and cryogenic systems. He said the measure complies with China's Foreign Trade Law and WTO rules. On Nexperia, the Chinese-owned Netherlands-based chipmaker at the center of a bilateral dispute, He said Commerce Minister Wang Wentao co-chaired the 18th China-Netherlands Joint Economic and Trade Committee with Dutch counterpart Sjoerdsma on July 7th. Both sides agreed to create a favorable environment for the companies to resolve the dispute through consultation.

Read at Gelonghui ↗·Read at People's Daily Onlinestate media ↗

Korean prosecutors raid Montage, Renesas, and Rambus over suspected memory interface chip collusion

On July 15, prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office raided the Korean offices of Montage Technology, Renesas Electronics, and Rambus. The investigation targets suspected price collusion on memory interface chips, the small components that route data between a computer's main processor and its memory. Montage is China's memory interface chip leader. Renesas is Japanese, and Rambus is American. Frost & Sullivan data puts the top three vendors' combined 2024 share at 93.4% of the global memory interface chip market. Montage led with 36.8%. Prosecutors seized mobile phones from some company representatives during the raid, per Seoul Shinmun. Montage's board secretary office told National Business Daily on July 16 that the company is looking into the situation and that operations remain normal.

Read at Wallstreetcn ↗·Read at Seoul Shinmun ↗

Jiangsu issues 15 measures to support Chinese firms' overseas patent filings

On July 16, Jiangsu's provincial government held a press conference explaining new implementation opinions on strengthening overseas patent deployment. Overseas patent deployment means filing and defending patents in the foreign markets a Chinese company sells into or manufactures in. The 15 measures cover five areas: industrial innovation and quality, enterprise guidance, professional services, international cooperation and talent, and coordination. The province will select roughly 80 enterprises a year for what it calls "patent micro-navigation," a customized process tying technology development plans to overseas patent filings. Jiangsu will also establish an "outbound enterprise" priority list with one-enterprise-one-policy tracking, targeting at least 200 enterprises per year.

Read at Jiemian News ↗

AI & FOUNDATION MODELS

Xiaomi commits 60 billion yuan to AI over three years as on-device MiMo model clears CAC filing

Xiaomi said it will invest 60 billion yuan (about $8.3 billion) in AI over the next three years, with 16 billion yuan (about $2.2 billion) planned for 2026 alone. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which licenses generative AI services, cleared Xiaomi's on-device MiMo model among seven services on July 15. Xiaomi's filing sits in the same batch as Apple Intelligence. The company says its MiMo model matrix now spans large language, multimodal, and voice models. Xiaomi names AI, chips, and operating systems as its three long-term technology tracks.

Read at Sina Techstate media ↗

Tsinghua-incubated ModelBest to put MiniCPM on-device models on Samsung flagships

ModelBest, a Chinese AI startup incubated from Tsinghua University's Natural Language Processing lab, has reached a partnership with Samsung. Its MiniCPM series of on-device models will be deployed on multiple Samsung flagship phones. On-device models are small enough to run on the phone itself rather than in a cloud data center. ModelBest was founded in August 2022 in Beijing. The startup raised more than 5 billion yuan (about $690 million) in the first half of 2026, at a valuation above 20 billion yuan (about $2.8 billion), per PEDaily.

Read at Sina Tech ↗·Read at PEDaily ↗

III

ROBOTICS & AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS

Huawei's Yinwang unit forecasts large-scale L3 rollout in 2027 and Robotaxi pilots in 2028

On July 16, Huawei SVP and Yinwang CEO Jin Yuzhi laid out a 2026-2028 timeline for L3 and L4 autonomous driving in China. L3 automated driving handles the drive under set conditions with a human ready to take over. L4 drives itself within a defined area without a human backup. Jin projected 2027 will bring large-scale L3 commercialization plus L4 Robotaxi pilots in select cities. He said 2028 targets include commercial Robotaxi launches and large-scale urban low-speed L4 rollout. MIIT, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, put out draft mandatory national standards for L3 and L4 systems for public comment on June 16. The draft requires automated driving to meet a safety level at least equivalent to a "competent and attentive driver."

Read at ITHome ↗