Daily Buzz: 10 December 2025

Chinese Premier Urges Reform of Global Economy

Chinese Premier Li Qiang hosted a meeting in Beijing with the heads of 10 global institutions, telling them that persistent tariff threats this year have upended global supply chains and investment decisions with "destructive consequences." He urged greater coordinated action to strengthen reform of global economic governance, stressing that a fair, rules-based system is essential as a counter-weight to further fragmentation. Li didn't mention US President Donald Trump, whose tariff policies have ruptured traditional global trade flows. He also said artificial intelligence is becoming a pivotal factor in the global economy. Li was addressing the so-called "1+10 Dialogue" forum that included the leaders of the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, World Bank, the International Labor Organization, the Bank of International Settlements and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Fighting Intensifies Along Thai-Cambodian Border

Fighting along the disputed Thai-Cambodian border intensified on Tuesday, derailing a ceasefire agreement reached in October. Up to 12 deaths and scores of injuries have been reported, and thousands of people living along the border have been evacuated. Each side blames the other for the renewed attacks. The two neighbors are disputing a century-old border line drawn up originally by the French.

Whither Plans for Peace in Ukraine?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruled out any surrender of territory to Russia, thwarting pressure from US President Donald Trump for a speedy deal to conclude the nearly four-year war. He said Kiev is preparing a revised peace plan to present to the US. The Kremlin has said it won't agree to any plan unless Ukraine cedes a vast swathe of territory in the eastern part of the country that its forces now occupy or aim to occupy. Trump, meanwhile, said Ukraine is the underdog in the war and suggested he might abandon support for Kiev if it doesn't "play ball." He called Europe, Ukraine's axis of allies, "decaying" and its leaders "real stupid."

Australia Age Restriction on Social Media Access Begins

Australian children under 16 years of age lose access to 10 social media platforms, including TikTok, X and Facebook, today as the world's first ban of its kind comes into effect. The Australian government enacted the ban amid fears that many young people are being hurt by a cesspool of harmful online content laxly controlled by big tech companies. The onus is on social media platforms to vet users for age or face steep fines. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese likened the social media age restriction to the legal drinking age. "Our society recognizes the benefits to the individual and the community of such an approach," he said. "The fact that teenagers occasionally find a way to have a drink doesn't diminish the value of having a clear national standard." Other countries are closely watching the Australian experiment to see if such a deeply embedded lifestyle trend can really be controlled.

Top Business

China Chipmakers Undaunted by US Green Light for Nvidia

China welcomed the US decision to allow Nvidia to sell its H200 chips to China, though export of the company's most advanced Blackwell chips will still be banned, but changes in US policy aren't thwarting plans by Chinese chipmakers to continue their efforts to close the gap with Nvidia. Beijing-based Cambricon Technologies reportedly plans to more than triple its production of AI chips in 2026, including its advanced Siyuan 590 and 690 chips. Domestic rival Huawei is preparing to double output of its AI chips over the next year, and newly listed Moore Threads has its own ambitions to carve out a slice of the market. It's not clear how much domestic uptake there will be for Nvidia's H200 chips amid a government campaign to become self-reliant in semiconductors. Alibaba, ByteDance and other big Chinese technology companies are increasing their demand for advanced chips for AI development.

China's ZQ-3 Rocket Debuts

LandSpace, one of China's leading private space companies, completed the maiden flight of its ZQ-3 reusable carrier rocket, marking a major milestone for the country's commercial launch sector. The 66-meter-tall rocket, built largely from stainless steel and powered by methane, represents China's first attempt to place a reusable rocket into orbit. The ZQ-3 is tailored for large-scale satellite-constellation deployment, with liftoff thrust exceeding 750 tons. LandSpace executives said the rocket was developed from project approval to first flight in just 28 months.

Google Unveils Project Aura Smart Glasses

Google unveiled details of Project Aura, its first extended reality AI smart glasses that run on the Android XR system. Jointly developed with Beijing-based augmented reality company Xreal, the glasses combine the practicality of every-day glasses with immersive digital experiences. They are scheduled to hit the market next year. The Xreal team in Shanghai designed and mass-produced the X-Prism optical system and developed the in-house X1S spatial computing chip that powers tracking and other AI tasks The broader supply-chain network includes ecosystem partners Longcheer and Luxshare Precision. Shares of Paris- and Milan-based EssilorLuxottica, which makes rival Ray-Ban smart-glasses in partnership with Meta, closed 5.7 percent lower in Europe following Google's announcement.

SpaceX Said to Pursue World's Largest IPO

Elon Musk's SpaceX is making plans for an initial public offering to raise "significantly more" than US$30 billion, Bloomberg News reported. That would make it the world's biggest stock market share sale, surpassing the US$29 billion raised in Saudi Aramco's IPO in 2019. SpaceX is aiming for a share sale in the latter half of 2026.

Economy & Markets

Tencent Exits Financial Role in Warner Bros Takeover Battle

Chinese social media and gaming giant Tencent pulled out of a financing group for the proposed takeover of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount Skydance, amid concerns that involvement of a Chinese company could trigger unwanted US regulatory scrutiny, the South China Morning Post reported. Tencent had pledged US$1 billion to Paramount's US$108.4 billion hostile cash offer, launched this week to rival the US$72 billion equity bid from Netflix. Financing for the Paramount bid includes Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's Affinity investment firm and Saudi and Qatari sovereign wealth funds.

MetaX IPO Heavily Oversubscribed, Outpacing Moore Threads

The retail portion of MetaX Integrated Circuits' initial public offering in Shanghai is nearly 3,000 times oversubscribed, following the recent dazzling debut of Moore Threads on the STAR market and signaling continued investor frenzy for AI-related companies. Shanghai-based MetaX, which manufactures graphics processing unit chips, attracted 5.2 million retail investors for its online subscription, compared with Moore Threads' 4.8 million retail investors. MetaX, another of China's so-called "Nvidia killers," plans to raise 4.2 billion yuan (US$594 million) through its IPO.

China Passenger Car Sales Drop for a Second Month

China retail sales of passenger vehicles in November fell for a second month, dropping 8.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 million units, on weaker consumer spending and a rollback of some vehicle subsidies, the China Passenger Car Association reported. That compared with a 0.8 percent decline in October. Sales of internal combustion vehicle plunged 22 percent in the latest month, while sales of new energy vehicles rose 4.2 percent to 1.3 million units. BYD remained the best-selling carmaker in November, with 307,000 autos sold directly to customers, followed by Geely Automobile, FAW-Volkswagen, Chery Automobile, and Changan Automobile. Though domestic sales dropped, auto production and exports of automobiles set new records in November.

Yicai Economist Poll Sees Subdued Growth

A poll of leading economists by Yicai predicts softening economic growth in December. The

Yicai Chief Economists Confidence Index for December came in at 50, straddling the dividing line between optimism and pessimism and dropping from 50.3 in November. The economists also predicted that consumer prices likely rose 0.7 percent in November, rising from 0.2 percent in October, while producer price probably fell 2.1 percent. Inflation data is due out today.

Corporate

Samsung Launches TriFold Phone in China

Samsung began China preorders for its new Galaxy Z TriFold smartphone, due to be officially released on December 19, entering a market segment dominated by Huawei's Mate XTs line. The new Samsung 16GB+512GB model is priced at 19,999 yuan, and the 16GB+1TB model costs 21,999 version. The Z TriFold unfolds into a 10-inch display, offering screen real estate equivalent to three standard smartphone panels.

China State Shipbuilding Secures Biggest Contract

China State Shipbuilding, the world's largest shipbuilding group, signed a 50 billion yuan (US$7 billion) contract with Cosco Shipping to deliver 87 vessels, including container ships, tankers, bulk carriers and multipurpose vessels. It is the largest-ever single contract for a domestic shipbuilder. Cosco Shipping is the biggest trans-ocean transportation provider in China.

AgiBot Turns Out 5,000th Robot

AgiBot said it has passed the milestone of 5,000 general-purpose intelligent robots manufactured at its Shanghai facility. It was only earlier this year that the company reported production of its 1,000th robot. AgiBot is a leading player in China's robotics industry, where few companies have approached the 1,000 production level. The company's humanoid robots are mostly used in eight sectors such as entertainment, guided tours, smart manufacturing, logistics and research.