Evelyn Cheng

CNBC's China Connection newsletter: New AI players think global from day one Chinese startups rush to launch AI tools for overseas markets.

Cheaper. Faster. Global from day 1.

China's AI pivot is happening quietly, but aggressively -- even if DeepSeek's new model isn't out yet.

Get my snapshot of what founders here in China are building, before it really ramps up in your home market.
www.cnbc.com/2026/03/04/c...

Khamenei's death raises questions about Trump's China trip U.S. President Donald Trump has been scheduled to visit China at the end of March, following tense trade relations with Beijing.

“I think the risk [of the trip falling apart] is on the U.S. side more than the Chinese side,” said a foreign business executive tracking meeting preparations very closely, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

www.cnbc.com/2026/03/02/k...

Khamenei's death raises questions about Trump's China trip U.S. President Donald Trump has been scheduled to visit China at the end of March, following tense trade relations with Beijing.

Khamenei’s death raises questions about Trump’s China trip

www.cnbc.com/2026/03/02/k...

Nvidia still hasn't sold its U.S.-approved China AI chips — and it’s worried local AI rivals could take over The U.S. chipmaker has yet to confirm shipments to China despite Washington easing restrictions on exports of advanced chips.

Nvidia still hasn’t sold its U.S.-approved China AI chips — and it’s worried local AI rivals could take over

www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/n...

China holiday spending sends a strong signal on consumer stimulus plans China's nine-day Lunar New Year holiday showed consumers were eager to travel, while remaining price-conscious.

I'm starting to understand what "prioritizing consumption" really means in China.

Full story here:
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/c...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: What's at stake in the countdown to the Trump-Xi meeting Beijing has a lot on its plate in the next few weeks ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's planned China visit.

Is China pivoting its global trade strategy?

A senior member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences tells me that Beijing isn't chasing a maximum trade surplus, and may require changes in China's international relations.

Get the full analysis here:

www.cnbc.com/2026/02/25/c...

Trump makes little mention of China in the longest State of the Union speech U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing from March 31 to April 2, after a year of heightened trade tensions between the two countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump just gave the longest State of the Union speech in American history

Why didn't he directly name China?

Here's why:
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/25/t...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Inside China’s push to feed 1.4 billion people without U.S. crops China's food security ambitions are already bearing fruit in domestic produce.

Over the last few years in China, it’s gotten easier to buy food straight from the farm.

The economics boil down to a few key differences at the heart of the U.S.-China trade story.

This week in CNBC's The China Connection newsletter:
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/11/c...

China's Luckin Coffee opens first high-end store as it takes on Starbucks The Chinese coffee upstart is expanding from budget drinks into the premium market with a new flagship store.

China's coffee wars are far from over.

Luckin Coffee just opened its first store with premium drinks -- in the tech hub of Shenzhen, on the border of Hong Kong.

The pressure's on for Starbucks in China, just as it's closing its 60% stake sale to Boyu Capital.

www.cnbc.com/2026/02/08/c...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: For Chinese businesses, it's not about which AI is the smartest While U.S.-China AI competition has focused on intelligence, businesses in China have a different benchmark for choosing AI tools.

Who wins the AI race also depends on who can afford it

This week in the China Connection newsletter:
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/04/c...

EXCLUSIVE

“We don’t think it has to be that the U.S. leads and China follows” in terms of tech innovation, LimX founder Will Zhang said in an exclusive interview.

To get ahead on these market signals every week, sign up here: www.cnbc.com/newsletter/c...

The China Connection Newsletter

The race for the U.S. humanoid robot market just got hotter

Elon Musk just said Tesla is ending Model S/X car production -- to use the California factory to build Optimus humanoid robots

But Chinese humanoid robot startup LimX Dynamics told me it's already in talks with U.S. business partners.

Is AI video just 'slop' or a future new biz model?

PixVerse co-founder Jaden Xie weighs in:

cnbc.com/2026/01/13/a...

How much do AI and robotics leadership mean for China's economy -- as it battles a property slump and trade tensions?

Rhodium Group breaks down the numbers

www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/c...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: What's next after a 10-year 'experiment' with U.S.-China competition For someone who's witnessed the ups and downs of U.S.-China tensions since the 1990s, AmCham China's new chair is strikingly optimistic about 2026.

What’s next after a 10-year ‘experiment’ with U.S.-China competition？

Spoke with James Zimmerman as he kicks of 2026 as chair of AmCham China

More details in this week's China newsletter:

www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/c...

China decries U.S. action in Venezuela — even as it guards billions at stake China's immediate priority in the wake of the U.S. attack on Venezuela is to protect economic interests, analysts said.

Catch up on what's at stake for China in the U.S. attack on Venezuela

www.cnbc.com/2026/01/05/c...

China EVs in 2026 look less like a boom and more like a survival test as global expansion ramps up Analysts predict China's electric car market will see growth slow significantly in the year ahead.

China EV sales are slipping, giving a few leaders more of the market

www.cnbc.com/2025/12/30/c...

China to crack down on AI chatbots around suicide, gambling The proposed rules come as Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot startups Minimax and Z.ai have this month filed for Hong Kong IPOs.

China to crack down on AI chatbots around suicide, gambling

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Foreign investors warm to China’s cheaper AI valuations despite fears of a U.S. bubble For all the worries about a bubble in U.S. AI spending, capital flows into China's tech sector is far less, pushing startups to do more with less.

Why more global investors are looking more at China’s ‘cheap’ AI opportunities as bubble fears grow in the U.S.

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/26/c...

Chinese consumer brands flood into Africa as old investment model fades and exports jump 28% Chinese firms are shifting from big infrastructure to consumer goods in Africa, driven by demand, adventurous entrepreneurs and pressure to produce locally.

Chinese consumer brands are finding a new market in Africa

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/c...

A U.S.-China trade truce means more localized technology. How to play it As the U.S. and China settle into an uneasy one-year truce, the takeaway for investors is that each country will double-down on homegrown tech, analysts said.

How to play tech localization in China

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/a...

Took a ride in one: www.cnbc.com/video/2025/1...

‘Robotaxi has reached a tipping point’: Baidu, Nvidia leaders see momentum as competition rises Global tech executives in recent weeks have proclaimed the robotaxi industry is finally near an inflection point.

Tech execs from $NVDA to $BIDU say robotaxis are near an inflection point

You can see it in the pace of approvals and rollout pushes across the US, China, Middle East and Europe this year

The question now is which company can scale first:

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/20/g...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Xpeng attempts a global transformation What a trip to Chinese electric car company Xpeng's new headquarters shows about how the automaker's international ambitions.

Chinese electric car company Xpeng attempts a global transformation
www.cnbc.com/2025/11/12/c...

Chinese EV maker Xpeng to launch robotaxis, humanoid robots with self-developed AI chips Chinese electric car company Xpeng is following in Tesla's footsteps by moving into robotaxis and humanoid robots.

“The tech is happening faster than we anticipated,” says Brian Gu, co-president of Chinese EV company Xpeng.

It's so fast, that about 18 months after Gu spoke skeptically about the robotaxi business, Xpeng is about to launch and test its own robotaxis next year.

www.cnbc.com/2025/11/05/c...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Losing the Chinese shopper could soon have global consequences Apple and other Western brands are still trying hard to reach Chinese shoppers as the Singles Day promotional period gets under way.

Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China last week just before the Singles Day shopping period kicked off. The company is trying new things with Chinese social media and livestreaming.

This week's China newsletter looks at what Western consumer giants have at stake: www.cnbc.com/2025/10/22/l...

Chesky Says OpenAI Tools Not Ready for ChatGPT Tie-Up With Airbnb App Airbnb Inc. Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky said he didn’t integrate his company’s online travel app with OpenAI’s ChatGPT because the startup’s connective tools aren’t “quite ready” yet.

Airbnb CEO

“We’re relying a lot on Alibaba’s Qwen model. It’s very good. It’s also fast and cheap."

“We use OpenAI’s latest models, but we typically don’t use them that much in production because there are faster and cheaper models.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

On the latest episode of China Field Notes, @chinaecon.csis.org expert Scott Kennedy speaks with @chengevelyn.bsky.social, who has been reporting on China’s economy in Beijing since 2018, about the challenges of being a Western reporter in China and more.

Listen: www.csis.org/podcasts/chi...

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: Chinese AI companies are already making money The AI industry in China is shifting its focus from cash-burning large language models to business applications.

Robots are getting better at customer service

AI model engineers are now looking for AI application jobs

More on how Chinese companies are already making money in AI www.cnbc.com/2025/07/30/c...