Tech China Post #50

Google China is starting a Google AI Lab, leveraging existing Google China employees who work in China for international services that Google provides. While Google products are mostly inaccessible in China, Google still has campuses in China and actively recruits university graduates. Google China Lab will focus on AI projects, and the lab employees will collaborate with the rest of the Google AI research efforts. Google’s effort is another signal that China is not only building and funding AI companies but also cultivating a hotbed of future AI talents given its large population of university graduates focused on math and science. (link)

H&M has announced an expanded partnership with Alibaba in an effort to grow in China. H&M’s sale has been sluggish in its major markets, and China has been a bright spot. With China rapidly becoming one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world and with Alibaba increasingly working with international brands to expand its dominance in China and Asia, the move is strategic. (link)

Andrew Ng, co-founder of Cousera, is starting a new company called landing.ai. The first strategic partner of landing.ai is Foxconn, one of the major manufacturers of parts for Apple. Ng and his new company hope to work with Foxconn to pilot AI and robotics projects in manufacturing. (link)

Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb, is seeing China as one of the largest Airbnb markets by 2020. Airbnb already has 3 offices in China and is expanding. Airbnb is not without competition in China. Xiaozhu and Tujia are well-funded and established local competitors. (link)