The Communications Authority approved the operator’s application to shut down its 2G network on 23 June 2026.

The company said less than 2.3 per cent of its total mobile customer base remain on its 2G network. It has started notifying affected customers to upgrade their SIM cards and, where applicable, their handsets, the operator stated.

In April, it was the first in Hong Kong to turn off its 3G service, which accounted for just 0.25 per cent of its total mobile user base.

Data from GSMA Intelligence showed the operator was the largest in Hong Kong with 8.5 million mobile connections at end-September, behind Hutchison Telephone, under the 3 Hong Kong brand, with 5.5 million, HKT with 4.8 million and SmarTone with 2.9 million.

Just over half of China Mobile HK’s mobile users are on 4G plans, with the remainder on 5G.

HKT received approval to shut down its 2G network in November 2024. SmarTone stopped its 2G offering in October 2022, while 3 Hong Kong dropped the service in September 2021.

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In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump said the US would allow the sale of the chips to China and other countries under conditions which allow for “continued strong national security”.

President Trump added Chinese President Xi Jinping responded positively to the move.

The policy does not include Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell and Rubin chips, but also covers AMD, Intel and other US chipmakers.

It requires checks by the Department of Commerce to ensure national security.

The move could keep China-based companies more reliant on US technology standards instead of using domestic AI chips from vendors including Huawei.

Opening sales of its more advanced chip creates huge upside for Nvidia, which excluded sales of its H20 chips to China in recent financial outlooks.

The H200 chip offers significantly more memory bandwidth than the H20, enabling faster data processing for AI applications. However, it is less capable than Nvidia’s flagship Blackwell chips.

Nvidia reconfigured the H200 for China following US export controls on AI chips introduced in October 2023 during President Joe Biden’s term.

The decision by President Trump is similar to deals Nvidia and AMD reached with the US government in August to restart sales of H20 chips to China.

In September, a regulator in China reportedly ordered domestic technology companies to stop buying Nvidia AI chips to support local alternatives.

Reuters reported the prospective compromise follows a recent truce in the US-China trade and tech war, brokered by President Trump and President Xi.

The news agency also reported US senator Elizabeth Warren opposes selling the H200 chips to China.

On 3 December, Warner criticised Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for lobbying President Trump to approve the sale of advanced AI chips to China.

“This risks turbocharging China’s bid for technological and military dominance and undermining US economic and national security,” Reuters reported the senator as saying.

Additional reporting by Joseph Waring

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The financial news platform added the IPO could be completed by early 2027.

A recent CNY2 billion ($283 million) fundraising round which included an investment from a China Mobile fund valued Kunlunxin at CNY21 billion, Mktnews.com stated.

Baidu did not comment on the report.

The subsidiary makes AI chips for data centre servers and forecasts revenue of CNY8 billion in 2026, up from a target of CNY3.5 billion this year.

In October, investment bank Macquarie valued Kunlunxin at an eye-watering $28 billion.

The potential listing comes as chipmakers in China gear up to develop domestic alternatives to imported AI chips as the government pressures companies to avoid Nvidia GPUs.

With the US expanding restrictions on advanced AI chip exports to China, the country is working to reduce its reliance on imports.

Last week, China-based AI computing GPU maker Moore Threads Technology raised more than $1.1 billion in an IPO on the Shanghai stock market. Its shares rocketed this week.

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Tokyo Electron failed to take necessary steps to prevent the alleged theft by an employee referred to as Chen who was indicted in August, Reuters reported prosecutors as stating.

Prosecutors reportedly stated the company’s unit in Taiwan had a legal duty to supervise Chen and “should bear corporate criminal liability”.

The unit could be fined up to TWD120 million ($3.8 million).

In August, Taiwanese prosecutors charged three staff for allegedly attempting to access TSMC’s confidential 2nm development and production data.

Chen is a former TSMC employee who joined Tokyo Electron and was one of those indicted.

Meanwhile, TSMC is taking legal action against a former senior executive suspected of stealing trade secrets when he retired and moved to a job at rival Intel.

Intel denies TSMC’s claims.

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The Quark AI Glasses, named after its Quark AI assistant, are offered in two models. The G1 is priced at CNY1,899 ($269) and the flagship S1 with dual micro-OLED displays for info overlays and weighing 51g going for CNY3,799.

The G1 weighs 40g, shares the S1 model’s core hardware, but doesn’t include the displays.

In a post of X, the company said glasses are its first self-developed smart eyewear, first unveiled in July.

The lenses act as screens, with a camera built into the frame.

Qwen is Alibaba’s version of ChatGPT.

Alibaba moves into the competitive VR headset segment, with the global market dominated by Meta, Google and Apple. The leaders in China are TCL-RayNeo, Xiaomi and Xreal.

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The reports indicate the two-year trial was announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) during the fifth China 5G + Industrial Internet conference, a three-day event which closed on 23 November.

Companies which meet government criteria can apply to offer commercial services within current legal and regulatory frameworks.

Yicai Global stated China hopes to advance its aerospace economy by boosting the variety of satellite communications equipment, along with ascertaining the business case for the remote IoT option.

An expert told the outlet there may be benefits for agricultural and emergency services, and predicted the trial would attract more investment in all aspects of the satellite sector.

Tech in Asia added maritime, aquaculture, logistics and energy to the list of sectors the trial could benefit.

The outlet noted the satellite IoT trial is commencing three months after the MIIT released details of likely rules and regulations covering the sector to encourage growth by simplifying requirements to enter the market.

Global Times noted the government is also keen to ensure security and hopes to spur an economy based on low-altitude communications.

Yicai Global reported most satellite IoT runs on low Earth orbit birds, with key domestic names including China Unicom among the companies operating constellations in the range.

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Lo Wei-jen, previously TSMC’s SVP for corporate strategy development, allegedly transferred data on the contract chipmaker’s 2nm process when he re-joined Intel in October, the Taiwan-based news service stated.

He worked for Intel before moving to TSMC in 2004.

Local media reported Lo left TSMC with more than 80 boxes of documents, which raised suspicions.

TSMC plans to take legal action depending on the outcome of the investigation.

In August, the company fired several staff and started legal action after they allegedly attempted to access confidential 2nm development and production data.

It is barred from exporting 7nm and more advanced chips to customers in China.

The contract chipmaker is a major supplier for Apple and Nvidia and plans to start mass production later this year using its most advanced 2nm process technology.

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On an earnings call, Xiaomi CFO Lu Weibing forecast cost pressures would increase in 2026 on smartphones, tablets and notebooks.

He added higher costs are part of a longer cycle spurred by increased demand for high bandwidth memory, with the company planning to “mitigate the hike by increasing product prices and optimising product structures”.

Smartphone revenue slipped 3.2 per cent year-on-year to CNY46 billion ($6.5 billion), with shipments mostly flat at 43.3 million units.

Overall smartphone ASP dropped 3.6 per cent to CNY1,063, but the figure increased in the domestic market due a higher contribution from premium devices.

Net profit in the period surged 130 per cent to CNY12.3 billion, with total revenue increasing 22.3 per cent to CNY113.1 billion.

The company’s IoT and lifestyle products business increased 5.6 per cent to CNY27.6 billion; internet service revenue grew 10.8 per cent to CNY9.4 billion.

Its EV business achieved positive quarterly income from operations for the first time, with revenue tripling to CNY29 billion.

R&D spending in the quarter rose 52.1 per cent to CNY9.1 billion, with the full-year outlay forecast to hit CNY30 billion, a 20 per cent increase. Capex in the first three quarters increased 87 per cent to CNY13 billion.

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The research outfit said the 25 per cent market share is a milestone hit only in 2022, when Apple had fewer rivals in the premium segment. Sales of iPhones increased 37 per cent year-on-year in October. A year earlier it had a 19 per cent share.

Senior analyst Ivan Lam noted Apple’s new iPhone 17 series accounted for more than 80 per cent of unit sales, suggesting “we’re likely to see growth amplified as rising ASPs push the top-line higher”.

Amid a trade war with China spurred by increased US tariffs and trade sanctions, Apple’s fiscal Q4 (ending 27 September) sales in China dipped 4 per cent to $14.4 billion.

Overall smartphone sales in the mainland last month grew 8 per cent, with second place Xiaomi and third ranked Vivo recording 7 per cent and 4 per cent growth, respectively, while Huawei booked a 19 per cent decline. Its share dropped to 13 per cent from 17 per cent a year earlier.

Oppo’s sales rose 19 per cent, boosting its share by 1 percentage point to 13 per cent and propelling it ahead of Honor into fifth place.

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Co-CEO Zhao Haijun noted in its earnings call the tight supply, driven by surging demand for memory in AI data centres, has led to more cautious purchasing by customers in the mobile phone sector. He expressed concern the shortage will continue next year, leading handset customers to be more conservative in finalising their production plans.

Despite wafer capacity in the quarter increasing 15.6 per cent year-on-year to top 1 million units, Zhao said its production capacity is still limited and shipment volumes can’t meet customer needs.

The utilisation rate of its production capacity is 95.8 per cent, up from 90.4 per cent a year earlier.

While forecasting revenue in the current quarter to remain flat or increase by up to 2 per cent, Zhao expects full-year revenue to reach $9 billion, up from just over $8 billion in 2024.

Net profit in Q3 grew 28.9 per cent year-on-year to $191.8 million, while revenue was up 9.7 per cent to $2.3 billion.

China accounted for 86.2 per cent of total revenue, little changed from a year earlier. Sales to smartphone clients made up 21.5 per cent of total revenue, down from 24.9 per cent.

Capex for the first three quarters rose to $5.7 billion from $4.3 billion in the same period in 2024.

The company, a maker of analog and logic chips, is barred from importing the most advanced chipmaking machinery from ASML in the Netherlands, due to US, Dutch and Japanese sanctions.

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In its earnings call, president Martin Lau stated its GPU resources are “sufficient for internal use”, with improvements in its Hunyuan model and resources ongoing.

“Tencent is not behind in AI capabilities, with continuous enhancements expected to maintain competitiveness,” the executive added.

Hunyuan is the company’s AI framework designed to power large language models and multimodal systems.

Lau did acknowledge a chip shortage, however, is slowing growth in its cloud business.

Chair and CEO Pony Ma highlighted strategic AI investments have improved ad targeting, game engagement and efficiency in coding.

Net profit in the quarter grew 18 per cent year-on-year to CNY70.6 billion ($9.9 billion), with revenue increasing 15 per cent to CNY192.9 billion.

International games revenue surged 43 per cent to CNY20.8 billion, while domestic games rose 15 per cent to CNY42.8 billion. Social networks revenue was up 5 per cent to CNY32.3 billion. All three are part of Tencent’s value-added services unit, which grew 16 per cent to CNY95.9 billion.

Marketing services improved 21 per cent to CNY36.2 billion. Fintech and business services, which includes its cloud unit, increased 10 per cent to CNY58.2 billion despite supply constraints in sourcing GPUs, Tencent said.

Combined monthly active users (MAUs) of messaging service WeChat and Chinese version Weixin inched up 2 per cent to 1.4 billion. MAUs on its QQ mobile messaging platform again fell, down 8 per cent to 517 million.

R&D expenses increased 28 per cent to CNY22.8 billion; capex was up 24 per cent to CNY15 billion.

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In an earnings call, Foxconn chair Young Lei said he is “very optimistic” about the AI market in 2026, expecting closer collaboration with major customers, expanding into more diverse AI solutions and securing more orders.

Regarding the traditional ICT industry, he is cautiously optimistic, noting in addition to stable business, there is potential demand for upgrades and new product development.

The company raised its full-year 2025 outlook for smart consumer electronics products to flat from a previous guidance for a slight decline. It forecasts shipments of next-generation AI servers to continue double-digit growth in the current quarter.

Liu expects “significant growth momentum” in both categories quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

He suggested at its annual tech day in Taipei next week it will make an announcement with OpenAI, without sharing details.

Net profit in the July to September period climbed 17 per cent year-on-year to TWD57.7 billion ($1.9 billion).

In early October, it reported revenue in the quarter increased 11 per cent to TWD2.1 trillion.

The cloud and networking product business accounted for 42 per cent of total revenue compared with 31.7 per cent a year earlier, while smart consumer electronics products’ share dropped to 37 per cent 44.8 per cent.

The Taiwan-headquartered company is a major supplier for Apple and Nvidia.

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The chipmaker reported October sales rose 16.9 per cent year-on-year to TWD367.5 billion ($11.9 billion), down from 40 per cent growth the previous month.

Sales in the first ten months were up 33.8 per cent to TWD3.1 trillion.

Last month, it forecast revenue in the current quarter to increase by at least 22 per cent year-on-year.

The contract chip maker is a major a supplier to Nvidia and Apple.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, during a visit to the company’s facilities in Taiwan, reportedly called for about 50 per cent more 3nm chip capacity to keep up with soaring demand for its latest Blackwell chips. The increase would boost Nvidia’s supply to about 160,000 wafers per month, the Economic Daily News reported.

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The research outfit’s data showed sales dropped 2.7 per cent year-on-year in the July to September period, but noted a government subsidy programme continued to support ASPs.

Vivo led with an 18.5 per cent share after sales fell 5.9 per cent. Huawei was second with a steady 16.4 per cent share, despite a 2.6 per cent fall.

Third-place Xiaomi and fourth-ranked Oppo were the only vendors to book sales growth at 1.1 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively, and boost their shares.

Honor’s sales declined 8.1 per cent, with its share slipping to 14.4 per cent from 15.3 per cent a year earlier, dropping below Oppo, which was fifth in Q3 2024.

Apple ranked sixth, with sale decreasing 2 per cent, and its market share stable at 13.6 per cent.

Data from IDC showed smartphone shipments in Q2 fell 4 per cent to 69 million units.

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Net profit in the nine-month period sank 32.7 per cent year-on-year to CNY5.3 billion ($746.6 million), impacted by a 30 per cent jump in operating costs to CNY69.8 billion.

Operating revenue grew 11.6 per cent to CNY100.5 billion, with a 130 per cent increase in sales in its government-enterprise segment more than offsetting pressure on its carrier networks business. The vendor highlighted a softening of infrastructure investment in China, driven by a continued slowdown in 5G spending.

The company said its consumer business maintained stable growth.

Revenue from computing-related businesses rose 180 per cent and accounted for 25 per cent of total sales. Within this segment, server and storage sales jumped by 250 per cent, while data centre revenue rose 120 per cent.

ZTE did not break down full sales data for its business units in its Q3 earnings report. The company typically provides a broader view in its full-year and interim reports.

The company earmarked CNY17.8 billion, or 18 per cent of total revenue, to R&D during the period.

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China Mobile added 70 million 5G network subscribers year-on-year to end-September with 622 million.

Both China Telecom and China Unicom switched in March to disclosing network subscribers (from the much higher ‘package subscriber’ figures), making year-on-year comparisons impossible. From the beginning of the year to end-September, China Telecom’s 5G network users increased by 26.3 million to 292.4 million, while China Unicom’s rose by 21.5 million to 225.2 million.

Despite not including Q4 2024 figures for the two, the three operators signed up a combined total of 117.8 million new 5G network subscribers over the past 12 months.

China Broadnet, which introduced 5G in 2022, hasn’t released Q3 numbers. It ended June with 33.7 million, after adding 8.5 million from end-September 2024, data from China’s National Radio and Television Administration showed.

Q3 earnings
China Telecom and China Unicom registered 5 per cent net profit growth to CNY30.8 billion ($4.3 billion) and CNY20 billion, respectively, while the market leader’s was up 4 per cent to CNY115.5 billion.

Operating revenue across the board was flat.

China Mobile was the only operator to disclose mobile ARPU, which slipped 3 per cent to CNY48. Its average monthly data usage increased 8.1 per cent to 17GB. Service revenue was flat at CNY683.1 billion; product sales declined 1.7 per cent to CNY111.5 billion.

China Unicom now reports only integrated package ARPU, which it said remained above CNY100. Both service revenue and product sales were stable at CNY261.6 billion and CNY31.3 billion, respectively.

China Telecom’s 5G penetration reached 70 per cent, with average consumption per month up 11.4 per cent to 22.3GB.

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The new version, coming four months after it was sent to developers for testing, supports NFC connectivity with iPhones, iPads and Macs, allowing users to transfer data between devices without an internet connection.

Chair of Huawei’s consumer business group Richard Yu (pictured) noted at the launch conference the OS has been “comprehensively upgraded in terms of application ecology and user experience”.

The HarmonyOS 6 public beta will power more than 90 Huawei devices, he added.

Third parties have developed more than 80 AI agents through HarmonyOS 6’s agent development framework.

The company said HarmonyOS 5, released in October 2024, has an installed base of more than 23 million devices.

Data from Counterpoint Research showed in China HarmonyOS held a 17 per cent market share in Q2, compared with 66 per cent for Android and 16 per cent for Apple’s iOS.

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In its Q3 earnings call, chair and CEO C.C. Wei stated given strong AI-related demand, it is preparing to upgrade its facilities in Arizona faster than previously planned.

He added it is close to securing a second plot of land near existing plants to support the expansion and provide more flexibility in response to “the very strong multiyear AI-related demand”.

Revenue in the current quarter is expected to reach between $32.2 billion and $33.4 billion, up from $26.4 billion in the same period of 2024.

Net profit in the July to September period jumped 39.1 per cent year-on-year to TWD452.3 billion ($14.7 billion).

Last week, it reported revenue grew 30.3 per cent to TWD989.9 billion.

Even with limited opportunity from China for now, CFO Wendell Huang said given the positive AI outlook, the company is confident it can achieve 40 per cent annual growth in AI accelerator revenue.

The chipmaker narrowed its 2025 capex guidance from between $38 billion and $42 billion to a range of $40 billion and $42 billion. The outlay in 2024 was $30 billion.

Shipments of 3nm chips accounted for 23 per cent of total wafer revenue, up from 20 per cent a year earlier, while 5nm product made up 37 per cent, compared with 32 per cent in Q3 2024.

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In a statement, the company said the Honor Robot Phone represents a significant milestone in its Alpha plan, a five-year, $10 billion AI push unveiled in March. The vendor noted the device can integrate AI-powered intelligence, robotic functionality and advanced imaging capabilities.

It will release more details on the device at MWC 2026 in Barcelona in February.

The Magic 8 flagship series features a new AI button, designed to provide a more convenient user experience by making the Yoyo assistant instantly accessible. Users can customise the button to
enable one-touch access to specific functions.

Both the Magic 8 and Magic 8 Pro can support up to 1TB of onboard storage and run on MagicOS 10 based on Android 16. The Pro has 7,200mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the standard model has a 7,000mAh battery.

The Magic 8 Pro features a 6.7-inch OLED display and is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. It measures 161.2mm by 75mm by 8.4mm and weighs 213g.

Honor said the premium model introduces the industry’s most advanced AI telephoto system, featuring a 200MP “ultra night” telephoto camera with a 1/1.4- inch sensor. The setup improves light intake, delivering clearer details even at long distances, the statement claimed.

The Magic 8 with a 12+256GB configuration is priced at CNY4,499 ($631); the Magic 8 Pro with the same set-up is CNY5,699.

The series will be introduced to international markets later this year.

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Cook, on his second trip to China this year, posted on Weibo he is excited to announce the iPhone Air will be available in the mainland with orders opening on Friday (17 October).

The devices requires the use of eSIM technology and does not have the capability for a physical alternative.

Apple unveiled the iPhone Air, along with other products, in mid-September but was forced to delay the launch in China as operators required approval from authorities to use eSIMs.

China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom recently secured clearance from regulators to start trials of eSIM services.

In another post, Cook noted more than 90 per cent of its manufacturing in the country is now powered by renewable energy.

On his trip, the executive met with Kasing Lung, the Hong Kong-born artist who created the popular toy character Labubu, in Shanghai.

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Revenue grew 30.3 per cent year-on-year to TWD989.9 billion ($32.4 billion) in Q3, with the figure in September up 31.4 per cent to TWD331 billion.

Sales in the first nine months rose 36.4 per cent to TWD2.8 trillion.

The contract chip maker is a major a supplier to US-based Nvidia and Apple.

TSMC reported its figures three days after Taiwan-headquartered Foxconn booked record sales in Q3, rising 11 per cent to TWD2.1 trillion.

The contract manufacturer said the increase was driven by strong growth in cloud infrastructure, which includes AI products.

Both companies benefitted from rising demand for AI and high-performance computing infrastructure and chips.

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The major Apple and Nvidia supplier expects AI server shipments to continue “to ramp up in the fourth quarter”.

Revenue in the July to September period increased 11 per cent year-on-year to TWD2.1 trillion ($68.9 billion). In addition to strong growth in cloud products, Foxconn said its components and other products recorded “significant growth”.

The company noted its computing products and smart consumer electronics units registered sales declines in Q3, impacted by the appreciation of the Taiwan dollar against the US dollar.

Sales over the first nine months of 2025 grew 16.3 per cent to TWD5.5 trillion.

Q1 and Q2 revenue rose 24 per cent and 16 per cent to TWD1.6 billion and TWD1.8 trillion, respectively.

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Speaking at a developer conference in Hangzhou, Wu reportedly said demand for AI infrastructure and the speed of industry development “far exceeded our anticipation”.

The pending hike comes after the e-commerce giant tripled capex to $10 billion in 2024.

Reuters reported the company plans to open data centres in Brazil, France and Netherlands, and will add facilities in Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Dubai over the coming year. Nearly half of its 27 data centres are in China.

On its fiscal Q1 2026 (ending 30 June) earnings call, Wu explained the transformative impact of AI on all industries “represents the most significant opportunity in the technology sector over the next decade”. He said Alibaba has the world’s fourth largest and Asia’s leading cloud infrastructure.

Cloud revenue grew 26 per cent year-on-year to CNY33.4 billion, with AI-related product sales maintaining a triple-digit growth for an eighth consecutive quarter.

Alibaba officially released its new Qwen3-Max large language model at the event, offering 1 trillion parameters.

The company announced plans to raise $3.2 billion earlier this month, with funding cloud infrastructure a key focus.

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In his opening keynote, Xu unveiled the Atlas 950 SuperPoD supporting more than 8,000 Ascend GPUs and scheduled for launch in Q4 next year. It will feature 128 computing racks and cover about 1,000 sq metres.

The announcement is the first time the company has shared its long-term chip plans and comes after years of remaining silent on key technology developments.

He compared the development with Nvidia’s next upgrade, scheduled to come out in H2 next year. The Atlas 950 will deliver 6.7 times greater computing power and 15 times more memory capacity, reaching 1152TB.

In Q4 2027, Huawei will ship the Atlas 960 SuperPod fitted with up to 15,488 Ascend 960 chips. The system will have a computing power of 30 exaflops and memory capacity of 4,460TB.

Xu stated the two systems will lead the world in key metrics and remain the world’s most powerful super nodes for many years to come. He added Huawei believes the impact goes beyond AI, as the technology can bring significant value to general purpose computing on the demand side in China.

Huawei has been subject to sanctions from the west, blocking its access to the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing process nodes, he noted. “We need to put together less advanced chips and form them into a super pod, which can work as one computer.”

Power in numbers
He acknowledged at the chip level, the performance of an individual AI Huawei chip is not as good as Nvidia’s, “but at a super pod level, we can deliver the most powerful systems in the market”.

Speaking a day after a Chinese regulator reportedly ordered domestic technology companies to stop buying Nvidia AI chips, Xu reminded the audience of a forecast he made last year at the event that China will continue to lag behind in semiconductor manufacturing for “a very long time”.

Over the next three years, Huawei will release three new series of Ascend chips: the 950 series, including the 950PR and the 950DT, the 960 and the 970.

Within the 950 line-up, the Ascent 950PR is optimised for the prefilled stage of inference and for recommendation, and will be available in the first quarter of 2026 in two form factors. The 950DT, with interconnected bandwidth reaching 2Tb/s, will ship in Q4 2026.

The Ascend 960 will have twice the computing power, memory bandwidth and memory capacity of its predecessor and will be available in Q4 2027.

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The Financial Times reported the Cyberspace Administration of China told companies, including TikTok parent ByteDance and Alibaba, not to purchase Nvidia’s RTX Pro 6000D which it explained is a chip designed for use there.  

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC his company “probably contributed more to the China market than most countries have” during a press conference in London.

“And I’m disappointed with what I see,” Huang said, according to CNBC. “But they have larger agendas to work out between China and the United States, and I’m understanding of that.”

He told the news site Nvidia has guided financial analysts not to include China revenue in financial forecasts.

Nvidia has been in the middle of a tug of war between the administration of US President Donald Trump and the government in China.

Nvidia reconfigured its high-end offerings for China following US export controls on AI chips introduced in October 2023 during President Joe Biden’s administration due to national security concerns. The H20 GPU was the top performing chip prior to export restrictions.

In July the chipmaker received assurances from US authorities it could resume selling the H20 GPU chip.

In August, Chinese authorities warned domestic companies to avoid buying Nvidia’s AI chips. However, Nvidia and AMD reached an agreement with the US government shortly after to restart sales of their AI chips to China.

Earlier this week, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation also found Nvidia violated the country’s anti-monopoly law for its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies in 2020.

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H1 shipments surged 36 per cent year-on-year to 33.9 million units, led by an 80 per cent increase in the basic band category. In H2 2024, shipments grew 33 per cent.

Basic watch and smartwatch shipments rose 28 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

Canalys research analyst Claire Qin noted the government’s subsidy policies reduced purchasing barriers for price-sensitive consumers and motivated buyers to consider higher-priced basic watches and smartwatches.

Huawei remained on top with shipments rising 28.9 per cent to 12.1 million units, but its share dipped by 2 percentage points to 35.7 per cent. Xiaomi’s shipments doubled to 10.9 million and its share jumped to 32.2 per cent from 21.8 per cent in H1 2024.

Third place XTC’s share fell to 7.6 per cent, though shipments increased 14.3 per cent to 2.6 million.

Apple maintained fourth place, with a 5.7 per cent share and shipments up 16.6 per cent to 1.9 million. Vivo moved into fifth with shipments surging nearly 400 per cent to 700,000 and taking a 2 per cent market share.

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Wang, who joined the company in 2016, was let go for serious discipline infractions, Xiaomi announced in an internal email, the newspaper wrote.

Local financial platform Futubull reported he was dismissed for allegedly providing pricing strategies for the company’s electric vehicles and supply chain costs to three external agencies in exchange for consulting fees.

While Wang posted on Weibo “I made some mistakes and I accept the due consequences”, other local media reported him saying he did not steal company secrets and did not receive money, calling the accusation “outrageous”.

He was promoted to his latest position at the end of 2024 and also served as product director for the company’s smartphone sub-brand Redmi since 2020.

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TSMC’s market share rose to 70.2 per cent from 62.3 per cent a year earlier, fuelled by a 45.2 per cent increase in sales to $30.2 billion. Samsung’s share fell to 7.3 per cent from 11.5 per cent, with revenue up 21.5 per cent nearly $3.2 billion.

China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International’s share slipped to 5.1 per cent from 5.7 per cent. Revenue grew 16.3 per cent to $2.2 billion.

Total revenue in the sector in the April to June period increased 30.3 per cent year-on-year to $41.7 billion. The top-ten players accounted for 97 per cent of revenue.

TrendForced said the growth was driven by China’s consumer subsidy programme spurring early stocking, along with expected demand for new smartphones, notebooks, PCs and servers launching in the second half.

The research outfit forecast seasonal demand for new products to drive order momentum, with advanced nodes benefitting from strong demand for flagship chips, while mature nodes will be supported by peripheral IC orders.

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Under sn expanded agreement, Alibaba will support Bosch’s global technology infrastructure by enabling advanced cloud-based operations and AI-driven innovation across core business units.

The partnership forms part of Bosch’s broader hyperscaler strategy and will support cloud-based transformation across its corporate operations, home appliances and commercial vehicle units, aiming to enhance operational efficiency and enable smarter business processes.

The pair revealed plans to explore deploying Bosch’s intelligent driving systems on Alibaba Cloud’s AI infrastructure, with a focus on enhancing smart cockpit solutions and automated driving capabilities. This would potentially include evaluating Alibaba’s Qwen-based multimodal AI models to enable more intuitive in-vehicle interactions. The duo also plan to explore using Qwen’s visual language model to develop next-generation automated driving solutions with improved scene recognition.

On the e-commerce front, Bosch plans to expand its presence in Southeast Asia, Spain, and Latin America through Alibaba’s platforms including Lazada, Miravia and AliExpress. In China, Bosch will launch new product categories backed by Alibaba’s consumer data insights as well as target a broader consumer base through enhanced digital marketing efforts.

The pair’s e-commerce partnership began in 2017 through Alibaba’s Tmall platform, where Bosch built a footprint across home appliances, power tools and automotive aftermarket products.

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Bloomberg reported government officials told the chipmaker its validated end-user (VEU) authorisation for its Nanjing, China site will be revoked on 31 December.   

“While we are evaluating the situation and taking appropriate measures, including communicating with the US government, we remain fully committed to ensuring the uninterrupted operation of TSMC Nanjing,” TSMC said in a statement to Bloomberg.

Last week the US government took similar measures against Intel, SK Hynix and Samsung for making chips in China by revoking their authorisations to receive manufacturing equipment there. The news agency noted waivers for those companies will expire in about four months.

Bloomberg noted TSMC’s manufacturing footprint in China is relatively small compared to Samsung and SK Hynix.

The news agency explained the move from blanket authorisations for chipmakers to individual approvals could lead to uncertainty over when the permits are actually granted.  

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