Daily Buzz: 11 June 2026

Top News

US, Iran Launch Fresh Strikes for Second Day, Testing Fragile Truce

The US and Iran traded attacks on Wednesday for a second day, testing a fragile two-month ceasefire. US President Donald Trump vowed to "hit them hard" after Iran stuck US military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan a day earlier. Those strikes were in retaliation for US attacks earlier in the week, triggered by Washington's accusation that Iran downed a US army helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. In Lebanon, Israel continued aerial assaults on the southern coastal city of Tyre despite a ceasefire. The heightened tensions amid no sign of a peace settlement in the four-month conflict sent global oil prices higher. Benchmark Brent crude futures rose in early Asian trading, priced at US$95.40 a barrel.

China to Hasten AI, Telecom Integration

China's unveiled plans to accelerate the integration of AI with telecommunications infrastructure and services, with an initial framework to be completed by 2028. Under the plan, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has set 30 targets for telecom operators related to global levels of smart operations and services. It also calls for expanding computing infrastructure, with low-latency metropolitan computing networks covering at least 75 percent of users within a one-millisecond response radius. To strengthen AI deployment, authorities will support edge computing capabilities across 5G, optical and industrial networks. The policy also highlights research and development of high-speed optoelectronic chips, optical switching devices and co-packaged optics.

Anthropic Unveils Claude Fable 5

Anthropic has launched Claude Fable 5, a new member of its Mythos-class model family, positioning it as the company's most capable general-purpose AI system to date. According to Anthropic, which recently filed an application for an initial public offering in New York, the model outperforms all of its previously released public models and ranks among the leaders across major AI benchmarks. The company said Fable 5 delivers strong gains in software engineering, scientific research, visual understanding and other knowledge-intensive tasks, with the model's advantages becoming more pronounced as tasks grow longer and more complex. The launch comes as competition among leading AI developers intensifies, with firms racing to improve coding, reasoning and research capabilities.

Top News

BYD Chairman Predicts Carmaker to Become World's Biggest

The chairman of BYD, China's largest electric carmaker, told the company's annual general meeting that he expects the company to become the world's largest vehicle maker within five years. BYD is currently the biggest global manufacturer of electric cars, but in terms of all car types, it ranks 11th, two spots down from Chinese rival Geely, according to the automotive Focus2Move website. The top three 2026 three automakers in the world are Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai-Kia, it said. BYD Chairman Wang Chuanfu emphasized the carmaker's focus on increasing production of its second-generation fast-charging Blade Battery, attempting reassure investors following a 45 percent drop in its Hong Kong shares in the past year and slowing mainland sales, Reuters reported. He also cited BYD's 65 percent surge in export sales in the first five months of this year. The company is poised to start assembling cars at its new plant in Hungary in the fourth quarter of this year.

China Unicom Warns of Telecom Disruptions from US Ruling

China Unicom warned that a Trump administration proposal to prohibit American telecom carriers from interconnecting with Chinese telecom ​firms deemed national security risks could cause severe disruption to the global communications network, Reuters reported. The warning came in a filing by Unicom's US unit with US Federal Communications Commission, seeking to overturn its designation as a security risk. "Chinese-funded telecommunications operators collectively serve as the primary ⁠gateways for communications traffic flowing between the US and China," Unicom said. "A blanket prohibition on interconnection would fundamentally fracture a critical segment ​of the global communications network."

TSMC Posts 30 Percent Monthly Revenue Gain

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said revenue in May rose 30 percent from a year earlier to NT$417 billion (US$13.2 billion) on escalating demand from the AI industry. For the first five months of 2026, sales totaled NT$2 trillion. The company reports monthly revenue but not profit. The company, which supplies chips to Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Apple, has not ruled out price rises this year.

Alibaba Launches AI College Advisor

Alibaba's Qwen AI platform has launched a free AI agent to help Chinese students through the process of finding a suitable university and applying for admission. More than 10 million high school students take the annual college entrance examination every year. Under the new service, students can submit pertinent information, such as exam subjects and scores, then receive personalized recommendations covering universities, majors and application strategies. The company said the tool draws on eight years of educational data accumulated by Quark. It can generate customized reports featuring dozens of application combinations that can be directly used in the admissions filing process. The data base covers nearly 3,000 universities.

Economy & Markets

China's Consumer, Producer Prices Rise on Fallout of Iran War

China's consumer prices in May consumer prices rose 1.2 from a year earlier, with gasoline prices at the pump surging 23.5 percent on the Iran war oil-price spike. Producer prices in the month jumped 3.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. The Middle East conflict has ended a long period of wholesale deflation as blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and disrupted supply chains feed into higher prices for energy, oil derivatives and other commodities vital in production. Factory purchasing prices for fuel and power climbed 10 percent in May, and non-ferrous metals rose 22 percent. Rising commodity prices aside, Dong Lijuan, chief statistician at the statistics bureau, said in a statement that burgeoning demand for AI computing power is also a factor pushing up prices of non-ferrous metals, electrical machinery and computer hardware.

US Consumer Prices Rise Above 4 Percent, Trump 'Loves' Inflation

US consumer prices last month rose 4.2 percent from a year earlier to a three-year high as the impact of the Iran war drove costs higher. Food prices increased 0.2 percent, airfares rose 2.7 percent and housing costs were up 3.4 percent. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 2.9 percent. Americans were paying more for gasoline, food and other daily items. Asked about high prices, US President Donald Trump said, "I love the inflation" and indicated prices will ease when the war in Iran ends. Investors are now betting that the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady this month, despite urging from Trump to lower them.

Wall Street Markets Slump on Iran War, Tech Stocks Down

New York stocks sold off on Wednesday as the US resumed attacks on Iran and oil prices rose. Technology stocks continued a selloff that began a week ago. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped nearly 2 percent and the broader S&P 500 index shed 1.6 percent. An index of semiconductors fell 3.6 percent, with shares of Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom down for the fourth trading day in five. Some investors are selling down holdings to make room in their portfolios for shares in this week's US$75 billion initial public offering by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Oracle reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, but its shares dropped after the company announced plans to raise an additional US$20 billion in debt and equity financing for AI buildup. Benchmark Brent crude futures rose to US$95 a barrel.

Rents Rise in Chinese Metropolises

Rents in China's four biggest cities in May increased by an average 0.2 percent, the third straight month of gains, on an influx of younger workers, according to China Index Academy. Average monthly rents in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen rose, but leases in Guangzhou fell. Shanghai led gainers with a 0.5 percent gain per square meter. China's rental home market has generally been sluggish over the past five years, Yicai reported, but rents in first-tier cities have shown strong resilience.

China Economists' Survey Shows Caution on Growth

The Yicai Chief Economists Confidence Index slipped to 49.9 in June from 50.4 a month earlier on caution about economic growth. A reading above 50 indicates optimism about China's economic outlook; a reading below 50 signals pessimism The survey of 14 chief economists predicted that monetary policy settings will remain broadly stable, with little likelihood of reductions to either the loan prime rate or the reserve requirement ratio. The survey also found economists expecting growth in both exports and imports to slow.

China Begins Work on World's Largest LNG Carrier

China began construction of world's largest liquefied natural gas carrier, with cargo capacity of 271,000 cubic meters, a 57 percent increase over standard carriers. China holds 30 percent of the global liquefied natural gas carrier market.

Corporate

Xpeng Chief to Lead Pivot to Robotics

Xpeng Chief Executive He Xiaopeng announced he will personally lead the Chinese carmaker's new robotics business, with mass production of its first Iron-brand humanoid robot expected by the end of the year. "The robot industry is becoming increasingly hot and competitive, and we have clearly seen the direction, but it still requires more arduous implementation ​and extremely high decision-making ability," Peng said in an internal letter cited by Reuters. His announcement followed the departure this month of Shi Xiaoxin, a key official in robot development. Peng has said he expects humanoid robots to become a major driver of revenue. Xpeng's first-quarter revenue fell 18 percent and its net loss widened, after the company posted its first break-even quarter in the last three months of 2025.

Biwin Storage Signs US$1.8 Billion Chip Purchase Deal

China's Biwin Storage Technology, a chip-storage module supplier, signed a US$1.8 billion deal to buy NAND flash chips over the next two years, but didn't identify the seller. The Shenzhen-based company, which is listed in Shanghai, said the purchase will be equal to about 4.5 percent of the flash chips it bought last year, rising to 15 by 2027. The chips are used in AI servers.

CATL Signs Second Major Deal for Battery Electrolytes

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world's largest battery maker, signed its second deal for lithium battery electrolytes in two days. Under the latest agreement, Yongtai Technology will provide CATL with 70,000 tons of lithium battery electrolytes this year, 150,000 tons next year and 250,000 tons in 2027. No value for the second deal was disclosed, but Yicai estimated it to be about 12.7 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion). A day earlier, CATL signed a three-year deal with Capchem Technology for 300,000 tons of lithium battery electrolytes.

Meituan Launches AI Browser Tabbit

E-commerce giant Meituan launched the first iteration of its AI browser Tabbit after 100 days of beta testing. Tabbit can automatically execute complex tasks across different software and web pages after users input their needs, Yicai reported.

WuXi AppTech Announces Share Buyback

Shanghai-based WuXi AppTech, a Chinese provider of contract research, development and manufacturing services for the pharmaceutical industry, said its board has approved the buyback of 6.4 million shares, or 0.2 percent of issued capital, in a repurchase valued at up to 1 billion yuan (US$150 million) over the next 12 months.

AT&S Boosts Chongqing Capacity Amid AI Surge

AT&S, the Austria-based manufacturer of high-end integrated circuit substrates and printed circuit boards, is expanding capacity at its Chongqing facility. The expansion is driven by growing demand for advanced AI computing power. The upgrade costs in the high double-digit, million-euro range, the company said in Shanghai.

Swire to Reduce Stake in Cathay Pacific

Swire Pacific announced the issuance of HK$4.7 billion (US$600 million) of one-year convertible bonds, which will can exchanged for shares in its subsidiary Cathay Pacific Airways. If fully exercised, Swire would reduce its stake in Cathay to 39.2 percent from 45.1 percent, remaining the flagship carrier's largest single shareholder. Swire said the proceeds would be used for general working capital.