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☆ China's exports seen cooling further in December on weak global demand, COVID woes: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Imports are expected to have fallen at a slower pace at 9.8% over December, after a fall of 10.6% in November. With many of China's trade partners on the verge of going into recession, external demand is cooling, only adding to the pressure Chinese policymakers are under to stem the economic fallout of the spread of COVID. "The trade outlook could be a top threat to China's growth ambition next year," said analysts at Citi in a note. "We are concerned about the external demand amid global recession risks... our base case is a modest decline of exports in 2023E," they added. Reporting by Joe Cash; polling by Veronica Khongwir and Susobhan Sarkar; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

From its original epicentre in the north, including the capital Beijing, COVID-19 infections are spreading throughout the country and cases are impeding workforces in manufacturing belts, including the Yangtze River Delta, near Shanghai. With mass testing halted after China abruptly dropped its zero-COVID policy this month, official data no longer reliably captures new case numbers. Some estimates, however, predict the wave currently sweeping the country could infect up to 60% of China's 1.4 billion-strong population. LOGISTICS LOGJAMLeading automobile chipmaker, Renesas Electronics Corp (6723.T) suspended production at its Beijing plant last Friday due to COVID-19 infections, but said it would re-open Tuesday. For now, however, that impact is being limited in part by economic hardships elsewhere in the world denting demand for products from China.

☆ U.S. Places Top Chinese Memory Chip Maker on Export Blacklist
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Asa Fitch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. is ratcheting up restrictions aimed at holding back the development of China’s semiconductor industry. The U.S. said it would add China’s most advanced memory-chip manufacturer to an export blacklist on Thursday, ratcheting up restrictions aimed at holding back the development of the country’s semiconductor industry. The addition of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. to the Commerce Department’s so-called entity list could further disrupt the company’s business following an earlier round of restrictions in October that led chip-manufacturing equipment companies to pull out staff based at its facilities and pause their activities there. The blacklisting is due to take effect Friday, the Commerce Department said in a statement.

☆ U.S. slaps restrictions on Chinese chipmaker and other companies over national security worries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Biden administration said Thursday it was "severely" restricting dozens of mostly Chinese organizations, including at least one chipmaker, over their efforts to use advanced technologies to help modernize China's military. The Bureau's latest action comes more than two months after the Biden administration imposed new curbs on China's access to advanced semiconductors. "I've long sounded the alarm on the grave national security and economic threats behind YMTC and other CCP-backed technology companies, like CXMT and SMIC," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement Thursday morning. "YMTC poses an immediate threat to our national security, so the Biden Administration needed to act swiftly to prevent YMTC from gaining even an inch of a military or economic advantage," Schumer said. Four more were added due to "their significant risk of becoming involved in activities that could have a negative impact" on U.S. national security of foreign policy, according to the release.

☆ U.S., UK export controls hit China's access to Arm's chip designs -FT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cannot buy some of the most advanced chip designs after the SoftBank-owned (9984.T) British chip tech firm Arm Ltd determined that U.S. and Britain would not approve licences to export technology to China, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. This is the first known time that Arm has decided it could not export its most cutting-edge designs to China, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The British chip tech firm concluded that the United States and Britain would not approve the sale of its latest Neoverse V series because the performance was too high, the report added. Arm launched its next generation of data center chip technology called Neoverse V2 earlier this year to meet the explosive growth of data from 5G and internet-connected gadgets. Reporting by Rhea Binoy in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. to add over 30 Chinese companies to trade blacklist -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Biden administration plans to place Chinese chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) and 35 other Chinese firms on a trade blacklist that would prevent them from buying certain American components, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. The U.S Department of Commerce will add the Chinese companies to a so-called Entity List as early as this week, the report said, citing a person familiar with the matter. Once a company is added to the entity list, its U.S. suppliers must seek a special license to ship even low-tech items to it. Dozens of other Chinese entities, including YMTC, were "at risk" of being added to a trade blacklist as soon as Dec. 6, a U.S. Commerce Department official said in prepared remarks seen by Reuters last month. In October, 31 entities, including YMTC, were added to a list of companies that U.S. officials have been unable to inspect, ratcheting up tensions with Beijing.

☆ Apple is going to keep cozying up to the Chinese government, no matter how much it says it's investing in America, India, and other countries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Emilia David | Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Apple, which enjoys about 50% market share in the US and many other countries, still has room to run in China. Apple willing to play ball with China's governmentWhile pursuing the Chinese consumer, Apple has made concessions to the Chinese government. But in China, it offloaded iCloud servers to a Chinese state-owned company to comply with Chinese regulations. Popal said Huawei was the first Chinese brand to shake off the perception that Chinese phones were cheap. But with hundreds of millions of potential customers left to convert to iPhone users in China, Apple will absorb the hits.

☆ Late Chinese leader Jiang Zemin's ashes are scattered at mouth of Yangtze River
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The ashes of late Chinese leader Jiang Zemin were scattered into the sea at the mouth of the Yangtze River on Sunday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. After arriving in Shanghai, the ashes were taken by hearse to the Wusong military port. Then Jiang's relatives escorted the ashes aboard the Yangzhou, a Chinese People's Liberation Army warship which was named after Jiang's hometown Yangzhou, Xinhua said. At the mouth of the Yangtze River, Jiang's widow Wang Yeping and other relatives, as well as Cai Qi, a senior Communist Party member, slowly scattered Jiang's ashes and colourful flower petals to the river and sea, it said. "Comrade Jiang Zemin devoted his life unreservedly to the motherland and the people," Xinhua said.

☆ In China's Wuhan, a shadow of reserve and resentment even as COVID lockdowns ease
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Martin Quin Pollard | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"We know the country is reopening but we ourselves haven't let down our guard," said one Wuhan cornershop owner. "This has never happened before, not even at the start of the outbreak in 2020," said one Wuhan pharmacist surnamed Liu. Health authorities in Wuhan reported 229 new COVID cases on Thursday, while health authorities in Beijing reported more than 16,000 cases nationwide on the same day. REUTERS/Martin Pollard 1 2 3 4By November, as frustration towards the zero-COVID policies mounted, some Wuhan residents like Sam Yuen, a teacher, joined protests demanding an end to the lockdowns, alongside thousands of others in cities across China. City authorities put the official death toll at 3,869 in April 2020.

☆ Obituary: China's Jiang Zemin confounded doubters, mended U.S. ties
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/5] A security guard stands next to a portrait of China's former President Jiang Zemin at an exhibition to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Beijing, China, July 7, 2011. Under Jiang, China weathered the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and won the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. "Jiang Zemin was more ready to be natural, even though sometimes it could be perceived as vulgar, not very sophisticated." At celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic in 1999, floats carried giant portraits of Mao, Deng and Jiang past Tiananmen Square. Jiang, like Mao, wore his trousers well above his waist and brushed his hair straight back.

Farmers in both are fighting a losing battle to save the soil that produces our food. By contrast, there's not enough water in the vast Yangtze basin, which produces a third of China's crops. Soil erosion could lead to a 10% loss in global crop production by 2050, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Similarly, other measures such as digging thousands of new wells and encouraging farmers to switch crops to boost yields have limited impact. Options include not tilling soil to reduce erosion, and planting off-season cover crops to prevent erosion and nutrient loss.

☆ Climate woes bad and getting worse faster, UN weather report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Earth's warming weather and rising seas are getting worse and doing so faster than before, the World Meteorological Organization warned Sunday in a somber note as world leaders started gathering for international climate negotiations. "The latest State of the Global Climate report is a chronicle of climate chaos," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "The melting (of ice) game we have lost and also the sea level rate," WMO chief Petteri Taalas told The Associated Press. The data on sea level and average temperatures are nothing compared to how climate change has hit people in extreme weather. The rate of warming the last 15 years is 67% faster than since 1971, the report said.

☆ US curbs on China's microchip industry could throttle Xi Jinping's tech ambitions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

One dramatic, and potentially disruptive aspect of the rules is the ban on American citizens and legal residents working with Chinese chip firms. The ban could lead to a mass resignation of top executives and core research staff working at Chinese chip firms, which will hit the industry hard, Dong from Georgetown University said. So far it’s not clear exactly how many American workers there are in China’s domestic chip industry. At Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment China (AMEC), one of the country’s largest semiconductor equipment manufacturers, at least seven executives, including founder and chairman Gerald Yin, hold US citizenship, the latest company documents show. But some Western suppliers have already started preparing to halt sales to China in response to the US export curbs.

☆ An embarrassing defeat 73 years ago is a preview of the problems China would face in an attack on Taiwan today
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The Chinese Communist troops who stormed Kinmen island in October 1949 expected a quick victory. The planChinese Communist troops take prisoners at bayonet point after heavy fighting in Shanghai on May 21, 1949. Kinmen Island, 59 square miles in size and home to some 40,000 people, was essential to this plan. A model of a soldier in a bunker near the Hujingtou Battle Museum in Little Kinmen, Taiwan in April 2018. By day's end, the PLA troops who had retreated to the beaches had also surrendered.

☆ World’s best spicy foods: 20 dishes to try
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Terry Ward | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

When it comes to the world’s best spicy dishes, we have some of the world’s hottest peppers to thank, along with incredible layers of flavor and a long, spice-loving human history. Peppers – a headliner for heat – are rated on the Scoville Heat Units scale, which measures capsaicin and other active components of chile peppers. And it’s the perky red pepper of the same name that brings the spiciness to this complex, layered and delicious dish. “The peperoncino (red chile pepper) is what makes this sauce ‘angry’ (arrabbiata) or spicy,” Chris MacLean of Italy-based Open Tuesday Wines said via email. FomaA/Adobe StockThe fiery Ethiopian spice blend called berbere – aromatic with chile peppers, basil, cardamom, garlic and ginger – is instrumental to the flavor chorus that’s doro wat, Ethiopia’s much-loved spicy chicken stew.

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☆ Beyond Catastrophe: A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | Photographs Devin Oktar Yalkin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

Beyond Catastrophe A New Climate Reality Is Coming Into View By David Wallace-WellsYou can never really see the future, only imagine it, then try to make sense of the new world when it arrives. (A United Nations report released this week ahead of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, confirmed that range.) A little lower is possible, with much more concerted action; a little higher, too, with slower action and bad climate luck. There were climate-change skeptics in some very conspicuous positions of global power. New emissions peaks are expected both this year and next, which means that more damage is being done to the future climate of the planet right now than at any previous point in history.

☆ China chip imports drop 12.4% year-on-year in September - govt data
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - China's chip imports fell 12.4 percent in September, according to official customs data published on Monday, continuing a decline amid tensions with the United States and an ongoing chip shortage. The country imported 47.6 billion chip units during the month, compared with 54.3 billion units in September 2021, according to the data, which had been due for release earlier this month but was delayed due to the Communist Party Congress. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterIn the first nine months of 2021, China imported 417.1 billion units of chips, down 12.8 percent year-on-year. Chip imports to China surged in 2021, as tensions between the U.S. and China over technology policy escalated and a global chip shortage caused many companies in China to stockpile supplies. Separate data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that domestic chip output in September fell 16.4% year-on-year to 26.1 billion units.

☆ China's YMTC asks core U.S. employees to leave due to chip export restrictions, Financial Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 24 (Reuters) - Chinese chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) Ltd has asked its U.S. employees in core tech positions to leave, as the company rushes to comply with the new U.S export restrictions, Financial Times reported on Monday. It was unclear how many U.S. citizens and green card holders would be forced to leave YMTC, Financial Times reported, quoting four people close to the company. The paper said several employees in China had already left the company. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Li Qiang, who oversaw Shanghai's grinding two-month COVID-19 lockdown this year as party boss of China's commercial hub, is on track to become China's next premier after President Xi Jinping unveiled a new governing body packed with loyalists. Current Premier Li Keqiang, a more reform-minded voice, will step down in March after the maximum two terms. "We have not seen Li Qiang introduce any market-oriented reforms," said Lam. In 2015, Li accompanied Xi on a visit to the United States to meet then-President Barack Obama. In Seattle with Xi, Li gave a speech calling for more cooperation between Zhejiang and U.S. firms.

☆ China's YMTC denies report it took part in meetings on chip curbs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Flags of United States and China displayed on phone screens in this multiple exposure illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on May 15, 2022. Chinese chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies (YMTC) denied a media report that it had participated in emergency meetings convened by China's industry ministry to discuss the impact of U.S. sanctions. The company in a statement late on Thursday described the report as "false and sinister," adding that the report had damaged its corporate image and would have serious adverse effects on the semiconductor industry environment at home and abroad. Bloomberg News reported that YMTC, along with a number of other Chinese chip companies, met with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to discuss the impact of recent sanctions from Washington on China's chip industry. According to the Bloomberg report, many of the participants at the meetings argued that the U.S. curbs spell doom for their industry, as well as China's ambitions to untether its economy from American technology.

☆ China holds emergency talks with chip firms after U.S. curbs -Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 20 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology convened a series of emergency meetings over the past week with leading semiconductor companies, seeking to assess the damage from the U.S. chip restrictions, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The ministry summoned executives from firms including Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) and supercomputer specialist Dawning Information Industry Co (603019.SS) to attend closed-door meetings, the report said. YMTC, Dawning and the industry ministry did not immediately reply to Reuters' requests for comment. On Sunday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for his country to "win the battle" in core technologies in his full work report as he kicked off the once-every-five-years Communist Party Congress. Experts have said the work report could signal an overhaul in Beijing's approach to advancing its tech industry, with more state-led spending and intervention to counter U.S. pressures.

☆ Apple freezes plans to use China's YMTC chips - Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. tech giant Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has put on hold plans to use memory chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) in its products, after Washington imposed tighter export controls against Chinese technology companies, the Nikkei reported on Monday. Apple had originally planned to start using state-funded YMTC's NAND flash memory chips as early as this year, Nikkei said, citing people familiar with the matter. The chips were initially planned to be used only for iPhones sold in the Chinese market. It was considering eventually purchasing up to 40% of the chips needed for all iPhones from YMTC, the newspaper said. Apple did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, while YMTC declined to comment.

☆ Apple freezes plan to use China's YMTC chips - Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has put on hold plans to use memory chips from China's Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC) in its products, the Nikkei reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Xi's call to win tech race points to new wave of Chinese state-led spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Josh Horwitz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The term "technology" was referred to 40 times, up from 17 times in the report from the 2017 congress. Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING, said Xi's remarks addressed "the urgent need for talent and promoting self-sufficiency in technological advancement". "As such research spending on semiconductor technology should increase. On Monday, shares in Chinese information technology companies (.CSIINT) rose more than 1%, while semiconductor stocks (.CSIH30184) rose 0.7%. Venture capital (VC) has been allowed to invest in Chinese chip companies, with such firms receiving over $30 billion in VC cash between 2020-2021, according to Chinese investment research firm CVInfo.

☆ Analysis: China faces its "Sputnik" moment as US export curbs deal a blow to its chip ambitions
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The measures are set to undermine China's efforts to develop its own chip industry aimed at reducing its reliance on foreign-made chips. These are the questions," says Marco Mezger, a consultant in Taiwan who tracks the global memory chip sector. Washington is also scrambling to tackle unintended consequences of its new export curbs, people familiar with the matter said. Hours before the new restriction took effect, South Korea's SK Hynix (000660.KS) said it got U.S. authorization to receive goods for its chip production facilities in China without additional licensing imposed by the new rules. Yet business at toolmaking firms servicing Chinese customers has already slowed dramatically, leaving their staff with little work to do but creating an opening for Chinese equipment makers seeking to catch up with western rivals, sources said.

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