Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
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The Wall Street Journal
- Xiaomi Quarterly Profit Falls Amid Rising Memory Costs — Xiaomi reported a slump in quarterly net profit, caught between soaring memory-chip prices and subdued consumption in one of the world’s largest consumer markets.
- China Isn’t Rushing Taiwan—It’s Squeezing It Slowly — Plus, without mechanisms to make any war catastrophic for Beijing, one expert warns, failure to deter it in the Taiwan Strait could plunge the world into chaos.
- Super Micro’s Fate Lies in Nvidia’s Hands — The troubled maker of artificial-intelligence servers needs chip allocations, but Nvidia doesn’t need more scrutiny over China.
- Xi Jinping’s Morality Crackdown Has a New Victim: The Global Wine Trade — Reduced demand from China is forcing vineyard owners from Bordeaux to Australia to rip up vines and leave grapes to rot in the fields.
- The Chinese Billionaire Who Says America’s EV Market Is Doomed Without Him — Robin Zeng of CATL can’t build a factory in America, but Ford and GM rely on its technology.
- Opinion: The EU Trips Itself Up in the AI Race — Its overregulation threatens the Continent’s economy and security—and the West’s prospects against China. By Andy Puzder and Jacob Helberg.
The Financial Times
- US must suspend Nvidia AI chip exports to China, senators say — Lawmakers call for commerce department to suspend licences that let company send advanced semiconductors to south-east Asia.
- China’s leaders hunt for strategic gains from US quagmire in Iran — Beijing hopes Washington’s redeployment of forces from Asia will further tip regional balance of power.
The New York Times
- China Eases Planned Increase to Gas Prices for 300 Million Drivers — In China, where half of new cars are electric vehicles or hybrids, a vast population still depends on gas. The government stepped in on Monday to “mitigate” the pain of surging costs.
Caixin
- China Probes Senior NFRA Official in Anti-Graft Push — Zhou Liang, a vice minister at the agency, oversaw state-owned banks and policy lenders before the investigation.
- DJI Sues Insta360 as Rivalry Escalates From Products to Patents — Lawsuit escalates a rivalry between the two Chinese hardware makers as they encroach on each other’s core markets.
- Beijing Summons Tech Giants to Curb Cutthroat Competition — Regulators flag practices such as stripping merchants of pricing power and misleading consumers, part of a wider campaign to rein in business practices that authorities see as harmful to the industry as a whole.
South China Morning Post
- US panel credits China’s AI edge to open-source models, manufacturing dominance — American Congressional commission concludes China’s open ecosystem has seen performance gaps narrowed with top Western large language models.
- US faces critical shortage of China expertise within a decade, report warns — Ageing cadre and a weak pipeline risk eroding US-China policy, business insight and national security preparedness as prowess dwindles.
- Opinion: When it comes to the Persian Gulf, China’s top priority is economics — Beijing’s refusal to pick sides between Iran and other Gulf states affirms its strategic positioning rather than a desire to shift paradigms. By Chenjie Song.
Nikkei Asia
- China taps rocket, satellite startups to catch up to SpaceX — Government open to working with private sector on launches, communications.
- Alibaba, China internet giants eye $84bn in AI investment for 2027 — Companies expand autonomous agents, but investors fear profits won’t keep pace.
- Opinion: China’s OpenClaw ‘lobster craze’ shows AI adoption outpaces West — Diverging attitudes toward risk & regulation are reshaping global AI race. By Lizzi C. Lee.
Bloomberg
- Battery Metal Curbs Sting Chinese Miners Who Spent Big in Africa — African export restrictions on crucial battery metals are dealing a blow to Chinese companies that have spent billions of dollars developing mines there to dominate supplies.
- China’s $1.6 Trillion Fund Rekindles Ties With US Money Managers — The talks are a sign that sovereign funds have become a critical lever in geopolitical statecraft, with their investments signaling economic and political cooperation.
- Xi Renews Push to Develop New High-Tech City Outside Beijing — President Xi Jinping called for greater efforts to develop his flagship metropolis near Beijing, renewing a sense of urgency to populate the city closely tied to his legacy.
Reuters
- China is mapping the ocean floor as it prepares for submarine warfare with the U.S. — Some of the surveying is for mineral deposits and fishing grounds, but the data the ships collect has a military application.
- ZYT readies AI that can outdrive its own CEO on Shenzhen streets — ZYT, a spin-off from Chinese drone maker DJI, will demonstrate what it calls a “mobility foundation model” at the Beijing auto show in April.
- Improving China ties does not mean being anti-US, Taiwan opposition leader says — Taiwan’s survival depends on stable relations with China, the leader of Taiwan’s largest opposition party said on Monday.
Other Publications
- The Economist: ByteDance is swallowing the internet—in China and beyond — Can anything stop its stunning rise?
- Foreign Affairs: China Is Squeezing Southeast Asia — As Imbalances Grow, a Backlash Is Brewing.
- CFR: Time For the IMF to Stop Blaming the Victim — The IMF standard analysis of imbalances puts too much blame on Europe and way too little on China.
