East Voice Daily | July 15, 2026

东声 East Voice — Physix Frontier’s China AI column for global readers

东声西达，中国视角。

Editor’s Note

China’s AI ecosystem is hitting multiple inflection points this week. The 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC) opens in Shanghai on July 17 with President Xi delivering the keynote — a signal of AI’s elevation to national strategic priority. Meanwhile, China’s model API call volume now exceeds the US by 4.36x, with Tencent Hy3 topping global rankings. The new AI anthropomorphization regulations take effect today, forcing major platforms to pull agent features. And Unitree Robotics’ IPO has cleared regulatory approval in just 104 days — a record for the STAR Market. Here are 35 stories across five tracks.

AI Foundation Models

1. China’s Model API Calls Exceed US by 4.36x for 11 Consecutive Weeks

Summary: Global model calls hit 54.6 trillion tokens last week; Chinese models accounted for 27.58 trillion, led by Tencent Hy3 (6.13T) and Xiaomi MiMo-V2.5 (5.95T).

Source: Toutiao / OpenRouter

Editor’s Take: Chinese models aren’t just cheaper — they’re now the default choice for developers worldwide. The migration from US to Chinese models has gone from 4.5% to 46% in one year.

2. Tencent Hy3 Official Release Tops OpenRouter

Summary: Tencent’s Hy3 production model features 295B total / 21B active parameters with MoE architecture and 256K context, released under Apache 2.0.

Source: i黑马 / 36氪

Editor’s Take: Free-tier strategy + competitive performance = developer mass adoption. Tencent’s first flagship model under Yao Shunyu’s leadership is a statement of intent.

3. Zhipu AI Launches “Touch High” Two-Year Research Plan

Summary: Founder Tang Jie’s internal memo outlines four pillars: long-horizon tasks, autonomous agent systems, self-training, and safety governance. GLM-5.2 with 1M context to go MIT license.

Source: 36氪

Editor’s Take: Zhipu is betting on AGI fundamentals over short-term monetization — a bold move in a market pressuring for revenue.

4. Meituan Releases LongCat-2.0: First Trillion-Parameter Model on Fully Domestic Chips

Summary: Meituan’s MoE model (1.6T params, 48B active, 1M native context) runs entirely on domestic hardware — 50,000 domestic GPU cluster.

Source: i黑马

Editor’s Take: The “domestic chips + domestic models” closed loop is accelerating. This is a milestone for China’s AI supply chain independence.

5. WAIC 2026: Shanghai Hosts the World’s Largest AI Event

Summary: The 9th WAIC features 100,000+ sqm exhibition, 1,100+ companies, 3,000+ products, 300+ global debuts, and 140+ forums across four venues.

Source: Xinhua / China View

Editor’s Take: WAIC has evolved from a tech expo into a diplomatic platform — with 12 ministries, 10+ international organizations, and Turing Award winners attending.

6. MiniMax M3 Multimodal Model to Debut at WAIC

Summary: MiniMax will showcase its M3 multimodal foundation model alongside Huawei Atlas 950 super node and the world’s first agentic AI phone.

Source: Xinhua

Editor’s Take: MiniMax’s $16B HKD fundraise + zero-salary CEO pledge signals extreme conviction in the model race.

7. New AI Anthropomorphization Rules Take Effect Today

Summary: Five ministries’ interim rules on AI anthropomorphization services ban emotional dependency induction, virtual companion services for minors, and emotional manipulation.

Source: i黑马

Editor’s Take: Doubao, Qwen, and Yuanbao all pulled agent features ahead of the deadline. China is drawing the line between AI assistants and AI friends.

AI Software

8. StepFun Launches World’s First Agent-Native Operating System

Summary: Step AOS breaks through memory, decision-making, and action barriers for AI agents, alongside the StepX Neo — the first LLM-native smartphone.

Source: 36氪

Editor’s Take: From agent frameworks to agent OS — StepFun is building the mobile infrastructure layer for the agentic era.

9. Kunlun Wanwei’s Tiangong AI Revenue Hits $800M ARR

Summary: Tiangong 3.2 upgrade introduces Skywork Tags, allowing AI agents to connect directly to Slack, Feishu, and DingTalk.

Source: 36氪

Editor’s Take: AI short drama ($700M ARR) driving the revenue engine — content-first monetization is a distinctly Chinese AI playbook.

10. 01.AI Releases “C-Suite AI” Product Matrix

Summary: Three products targeting CEO, Sales VP, and Investment Officer decision-making scenarios — covering operational quality, revenue certainty, and capital management.

Source: 36氪

Editor’s Take: Moving AI from general chat to executive decision support is a smart vertical play.

11. Alibaba Bans Claude Internally, Switches to Homegrown Qoder

Summary: Alibaba has fully prohibited Claude and other overseas AI tools internally, migrating to its proprietary coding tool Qoder (formerly Tongyi Lingma) with 5M+ global users.

Source: 36氪 / Reuters

Editor’s Take: Internal tool bans signal deepening tech decoupling. China’s AI ecosystem is becoming self-sufficient at the enterprise level.

12. Enterprise AI Agent Coverage Reaches 38% in China

Summary: Gartner reports enterprise intelligent agent technology adoption hit 38% in 2026, with 72% of surveyed enterprises demanding automated workflow orchestration.

Source: Gartner / 搜狐

Editor’s Take: The shift from “AI as tool” to “AI as decision engine” is reshaping enterprise software architecture across China.

13. Tuersis and CloudWalk Face Q1 Revenue Pressure

Summary: Tuersis Q1 revenue dropped 47.65% YoY; CloudWalk fell 37.61% — both citing extended approval cycles and delayed client payments.

Source: 36氪

Editor’s Take: Government and enterprise AI clients are tightening budgets — a warning that B2B AI cash flows remain lumpy.

14. AI Agent Market Projected to Hit $236B by 2034

Summary: Precedence Research data shows the global agent market at $7.92B in 2025, growing at 45.8% CAGR. China’s enterprise agent market entering deep-water phase.

Source: Gartner / Precedence Research

Editor’s Take: Pay-per-performance models are emerging — forcing AI vendors to shift from “hype” to “value creation.”

Humanoid Robots

15. Unitree