📰 Latest News

Apple COO Sabih Khan visited Shenzhen on March 17 to inspect a bonded-zone application research lab and key suppliers including Sunwoda and Foxconn, highlighting the company’s operational reliance on China. The trip underlines how onshore testing, automation and digital twins compress product-development cycles even as Apple pursues supply‑chain diversification.

Li Auto’s sales and revenue plunged in late 2025 as discounts on legacy range-extended models and the rise of cheaper, better-equipped competitors cut into prices and margins. Management is pursuing a two-track response—commercial restructuring at retail and heavy investment in AI and self-developed chips—but these are long-term remedies that may not resolve immediate demand and margin pressures. The firm’s ample cash buffer provides breathing room, but turning AI spending into near-term competitive advantage will be critical to avoid further share loss in China’s cut‑throat NEV market.

ChiNext rallied nearly 0.9% at mid‑day as compute‑hardware and storage‑chip stocks soared, even as the Shanghai Composite fell and market turnover shrank to RMB 1.24 trillion. The rally was narrow and tech‑led, highlighting a rotation into AI‑related infrastructure names amid low overall liquidity.

Yanghe Co. has become the honour sponsor of the 2026 Suqian Marathon, offering runners free samples, limited-edition bottles for personal-best performances and complimentary distillery tours. The sponsorship illustrates a broader trend of Chinese liquor brands using sports and experiential marketing to reach younger consumers and boost regional tourism, while also carrying reputational and regulatory sensitivities.

Bilibili recorded its first annual profit in 2025 with RMB 30.35 billion in revenue, but gains were driven mainly by cost cuts and an advertising upswing. The company faces moderation shortfalls, falling mid-tier creator incomes and a reliance on a small number of hit games, raising questions about the sustainability of its business model.

Yushi Technology founder Wang Xingxing says humanoid robots have made rapid progress in mobility and shipment volumes, with lighter, cheaper models driving adoption and public-facing demonstrations like kung-fu performances gaining global attention. However, core AI generalisation for robots — an ‘‘embodied ChatGPT’’ that reliably follows language instructions in novel environments — is still likely two to three years away, and industrial use remains in pilot stages.

Microsoft has consolidated its Copilot development teams and appointed Jacob Andreou to lead product development while Mustafa Suleyman shifts to focus on building in‑house AI models. The reorganisation aims to simplify a cluttered Copilot lineup, clarify pricing for enterprise customers, and accelerate Microsoft’s push to develop proprietary foundational models alongside its OpenAI partnership.

China has indicted former NDRC deputy director Xu Xianping on charges of taking especially large bribes. The case, investigated by the National Supervisory Commission, was handed to prosecutors and filed with the Chifeng Intermediate People’s Court, underscoring Beijing's sustained anti-corruption drive and its sensitivity around officials who oversaw economic planning.

Tencent upgraded its QClaw AI assistant to connect directly to WeChat via a mini‑program, enabling desktop file transfers, scheduled tasks, and prebuilt skills. The update lowers technical barriers to agent use and signals a move from limited testing to broader availability, while raising security and regulatory questions.

Germany’s new data-centre expansion strategy aims to double general compute and quadruple AI-specific compute by 2030 versus 2025 levels. The plan is designed to secure industrial competitiveness and digital sovereignty, but its success depends on chip supply, energy capacity and coordinated public‑private investment.

China’s recent guidance that newly converted construction land should, in principle, not be used for commercial real-estate prompted alarmist headlines. The rule clarifies an existing administrative distinction: it restricts incremental land quotas so they serve infrastructure and public needs, while prompting developers and local governments to prioritise urban renewal and activation of existing stock rather than suburban sprawl.

An uptick in Middle East conflict has disrupted Chinese exporters through halted orders, surging raw-material prices and cancelled trade fairs. Firms are responding with stockpiling, market pivots and price renegotiations even as Beijing both cuts export rebates on some goods and rolls out trade-facilitation measures.

U.S. strikes destroyed fortified Iranian coastal missile launch sites near the Strait of Hormuz while Iran confirmed the death of security chief Ali Larijani in an overnight airstrike that Israel says it carried out. The military action, hardline Iranian rhetoric and wary responses from NATO and Europe mark a sharp escalation with clear implications for shipping, oil markets and allied cohesion.

Yingke, the world’s largest law firm by lawyers, faces a reputational and legal crisis after financing guarantees tied to its former global chair, Mei Xiangrong, collapsed. Investigations are under way in Shanghai amid reports that investors — many elderly — were sold high‑yield contracts leveraging the firm’s brand, and Mei has turned himself in to police.

Yu Donglai has converted about ¥3.8 billion of his retail chain’s assets into employee share capital, granting staff equity, dividend rights and profit‑linked bonuses while retaining a one‑vote veto as an adviser. The plan embeds a decision committee dominated by grassroots representatives and aims to preserve stability, align incentives and avoid a public listing. Observers see the move as a defensive, governance‑driven response to succession, social expectations on wealth distribution and a shifting regulatory environment.

Missile and drone strikes on Dubai since early March have shattered investor confidence and precipitated a sharp collapse in property transactions and market indices. The attacks expose the emirate’s vulnerability: a small, wealthy expatriate class holds a large share of assets, and rapid capital flight could hit Dubai’s broader economy and reshuffle global luxury markets.

Markets expect the Fed to keep rates at 3.50–3.75% at its next meeting, but attention has turned to the dot plot and updated forecasts as an oil‑price shock from the Iran conflict raises the risk of renewed inflation. How Jerome Powell frames the trade‑off between growth and inflation will determine whether markets read the meeting as a postponement of easing or a signal that policy will stay tighter for longer.

Beijing has launched a performance‑based pilot scheme that offers up to Rmb1.6 billion per city cluster to scale hydrogen use, with national aims to cut hydrogen prices to Rmb25/kg on average by 2030 and to grow fuel-cell vehicle numbers to 100,000. Industry sees the policy as welcome but says cutting electricity costs and validating new electrolyser technologies are essential to make green hydrogen competitive.

Xiwang Food, China’s leading corn-oil brand, faces a judicial auction of 200 million shares held by indebted parent Xiwang Group on March 30–31, 2026. The forced sale follows years of aggressive diversification, heavy losses and creditor actions that have left the group’s other listed units collapsed, while the food business still retains a strong market position despite mounting impairments.

The US plans to issue more individual licences to allow foreign firms to operate in Venezuela’s oil sector, aiming to raise crude production and cool a price surge linked to conflict around Iran. The move is targeted rather than a full sanctions lift, balancing the need for additional supply with continued political leverage over Caracas.