Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus on Thursday registered its China-facing AI assistant and was featured for the first time in a state media broadcast, highlighting Beijing's strategy of boosting domestic AI firms that have received overseas recognition.

DeepSeek has rapidly emerged as a notable player in the global AI landscape in recent months, releasing a series of models that compete with Western counterparts while offering lower operational costs. The company launched its V3 model in December, followed by the release of its R1 model in January.

Jack Ma-backed Ant Group Co. used Chinese-made semiconductors to develop techniques for training AI models that would cut costs by 20%, according to people familiar with the matter.

China's Ant Group has been able to use Chinese-chips made by Alibaba and Huawei to create methods that cut AI training costs by 20 per cent.