Hangzhou's New Eight Steeds: Deep-Tech Bets Shift from Viral Hype to Quiet Innovation

Hangzhou's tech ecosystem is pivoting from consumer-facing viral products (Unitree robots, DeepSeek AI) to a new cohort of eight deep-tech firms focused on smart glasses, inference GPUs, compute-in-memory chips, and space computing. The shift signals a maturation of China's tech innovation toward foundational technologies, though the lack of viral attention may reflect a more sober investment climate. This matters as it indicates where China's next wave of technological competitiveness may emerge, potentially affecting global supply chains and tech leadership.