China's Week, October 9/13
Dutch seize Chinese chip maker; Tsinghua's CS leads the world; Industrial profits up 20%; ASEAN Power Grid 50% complete; US Consul in HK warned.
Science and Technology
First full-featured, 2D flash chip integrates ultrafast 2D flash memory with mature CMOS technology, opening a new high-speed era.
The drive for a indigenous chip supply chains push EU suppliers out of a key market and..Chinese OEMs are gaining downstream, in EVs.
Tsinghua’s computer science department tops global rankings, ahead of Carnegie Mellon, Shanghai Jiao Tong, Zhejiang, and Peking University.
Alibaba’s Qwen AI models top rankings with 5 in top 10. DeepSeek’s new, experimental model.
Robotic dogs testing lunar lava tubes, tunnels, to protect astronauts and bases from radiation, micrometeorites, and extreme temperatures.
CAS delivered world’s largest toroidal field magnet coil box, 21.5m tall, 400tons. Largest, most powerful core component in any nuclear fusion device..
Economy, Trade and Finance
Dutch government seizes China’s Nexperia semiconductor company for ‘serious governance shortcomings’. Officials call it a ‘highly exceptional’ intervention that sent shockwaves through Asian markets.
Russia, India Begin Yuan-Based Oil Settlements Amid Global Currency Shift.
China now pays BHP in RMB as dollar’s share of trade continues falling.
Record $20B clean tech exports: EVs up 26%, batteries 23%, grid technology 22%, wind 16% (though technology prices have fallen sharply) in August.
Argentina tightens sorghum standards for sales to China, straining US relations. Cargoes below new levels no longer qualify for export certification.
BYD heavy e-truck sales up 87% . BYD, Sany dominate global freight e-truck market where only 1% of heavy-duty trucks are electric, vs. 22% in China.
China’s external financial assets exceed $11 trillion for the first time, driven by persistent current account surplus and foreign investment inflows.
Exports up 7% YoY in H1, to $1.7 trillion, $457B surplus; foreign investment, $37B; gold reserves rose for the 11th month to 74 million oz. @ $4,000/oz.
Industrial profits jumped 20% YoY in August, led by technology, brokerage and renewable energy stocks.
Great Podcast: China’s Influence in Pharmaceutical Supply Chains: A Conversation with Dr. Yanzhong Huang.
New EV export license enhances product quality, user experience, after-sales service and national brand reputation.
China is NOT the world’s second-largest economy. China’s PPP GDP is two to three
times that of the US. The entire premise that an American Goliath was going to push around a Chinese David had it completely backwards.
Society and Environment
China is a climate champion: How the world’s largest emitter is leading global decarbonization.
145,000 battery swaps in 24 hours: Nio smashes single-day record with 3,500 swap stations nationwide. Launching 5G stations next year.
Giant Panda National Park, 8,000 sq. m. (21,000 ha.), bigger than Massachusetts, home to 80% of all wild pandas and 8,000 other species of flora and fauna.
Governance & Diplomacy
The ASEAN Power Grid strengthens energy security. Half the 18 planned interconnections completed. Needs $100 billion by 2045 to build transmission lines.
Warning to US Consul in HK: “1. don’t meet with anti-China forces. 2. instigate, assist, abet or fund any activities that undermine HK stability, or 3. interfere with national security cases and to make a clean break with anti-China forces”.
Lancang-Mekong route launches in Yunnan, from Jinghong Port downstream to Thailand’s Chiang Saen Port.
Kenya saves $215M/pa, swaps US$5 billion railway loans for ¥ loan..
14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Range Objectives for 2035. Full text.
Defense
China’s global missile shield monitors, tracks 1,000 missiles launched anywhere. Uses data from satellites, radar, optical sensors, platforms on land, sea, air, and space.
NATO’s artillery shell problem: don’t make TNT, needs Chinese cotton. A 155-mm shell needs 10kg of TNT @ $45/kg = $450/shell. Russia fires 10,000/day.
China produces rockets like cars, using final assembly pull mass production for consistent quality, lower costs, and rapid scaling of rockets and satellites.
In 1954, a breakthrough came: the Type 314A medium-range warning radar, China’s first domestically designed system. Engineers at the 14th Research Institute had no technical drawings or access to foreign samples..
AI submarine detection reduces chance of survival to 5%. Processes data from sonar buoys, underwater sensors, OPM data, radar readings, and environmental factors like currents, water temperature and salinity.
Beijing’s bounty notice for 18 Taiwanese PsyOps officers: shows National ID Number and photos of all the 18 officers. Unraveling Taiwan’s PsyOps Shield?