Daily Buzz: 15 September 2026

In Major Industry Restructuring, GAC to Acquire Stake in FAW Joint Venture

In a major consolidation in China's auto industry, Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) announced it plans to acquire a stake in a FAW Group joint venture with an overseas carmaker through a share and cash deal. It didn't name the foreign partner in a stock exchange filing, but Economic Daily identified it as Toyota, which has separate joint ventures with both Chinese companies. If completed, the deal would effectively consolidate Toyota's two joint ventures in China and make FAW the second-largest shareholder in GAC. Economic Daily said Toyota would hold 50 percent of the merged venture, with each of the Chinese mainland companies holding 25 percent. Dealer networks would be fully integrated under ⁠the new company, allowing it to sell and service all Toyota models in China.

GAC stressed that the agreement is preliminary and that no definitive transaction documents have been signed. The proposed deal remains subject to internal decision-making procedures and regulatory approvals. It comes after Shao Ji, deputy director of industry development at the National Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference last week that Beijing will support reforms at large corporate groups to advance mergers and restructuring.

Both FAW and GAC are navigating financial and operational headwinds in the highly competitive domestic auto market. GAC Group, headquartered in Guangzhou, sold 14 percent fewer vehicles last year, and its first half loss widened to 4.5 billion yuan (US$670 million). State-owned FAW, based in Changchun, suffered a 13 percent drop in 2025 production, with new energy vehicles comprising only 13 percent of its product mix. It signed an investment agreement with electric car startup Leapmotor late last year to bolster its competitiveness.

China Hits Back at Anthropic Call for AI Slowdown, Terming It a 'Cold War' Tactic

Global Times, a media outlet under the Chinese Communist Party's flagship People's Daily, said in an editorial that the call by Anthropic Chief Executive Dario Amodei for a slowdown in frontier AI development is just a ruse to curb China's rapid growth in advanced technology. "This 'silent AI Cold War' is hypocritical and short-sighted," the newspaper said. The editorial backed the official government's stance on the issue. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Monday told reporters that "narratives of threat, confrontation, and malicious competition serve only to disrupt the process of global AI governance and are not in anyone's interest." Amodei told US news network CBS that the competition between US and Chinese AI companies is a big stumbling block in trying to establish a "speed limit" on the rate of AI development. US President Donald Trump on Monday, lashed out again at calls for greater regulation over AI, calling safety warnings "a hoax" and blaming the outburst on people who want to "kill the golden goose." He earlier said his only concern is losing the AI race to China.

Iran Claims It Destroyed Advanced US Drone

Iran said it destroyed an advanced American drone over the Strait of Hormuz as the war between Tehran and Washington showed no signs of abating. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard said its "new advanced aerospace defense system" intercepted and destroyed an advanced MQ-1 drone. US President Donald Trump said this weekend that the US will continue its campaign against Iran and could take control of its oil, likening the situation to Washington's earlier takeover of Venezuelan oil industry. A meeting in Oman between Gulf countries and Iran to discuss possible arrangements for reopening the strait, a vital waterway for global oil and gas flows, was postponed due to a lack of consensus. Global benchmark Brent crude futures closed New York trading at US$105.68 a barrel.

Separately, the Trump administration said it is imposing additional sanctions on one of Russia's largest lenders, VTB Bank, as part of its economic program to strangle foreign support to Iran, The US Treasury Department accuses the bank of helping Tehran to evade sanctions. VTB has 1,000 global branches, including in Iran and China. The bank was earlier sanctioned for its role in helping finance the war against Ukraine.

Top Business

Asian AI-Related Stocks Drop Amid Warnings About Technology Risks

Asian stocks linked to AI slumped on Monday amid the contentious global debate about the risks of frontier super-intelligence development, with Elon Musk and the heads of Anthropic, OpenAI saying the pace of progress should be slowed. That came after an Anthropic researcher quit and warned that AI could exterminate the human race if allowed to develop unchecked. Across Asian markets, AI chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing fell 1.2 percent in Taipei, South Korea's Samsung Electronics lost 4.1 percent, and Japan's Kioxia was down 6.4 percent. In China, the Nasdaq-style Shanghai STAR Market 50 index and the tech-heavy ChiNext index in Shenzhen closed lower. Among Chinese AI companies, memory chipmaker CXMT dropped nearly 4 percent and Semiconductor Manufacturing International fell 2.8 percent in Shanghai. In Hong Kong trading, Alibaba slipped 1.5 percent, Zhongji Innolight plummeted 8.6 percent and MiniMax plunged 6.5 percent. However, the Hang Seng tech index managed a gain of 0.45 percent at the close.

Optical Equipment Maker Ligent Tech Begins IPO in Hong Kong

Chinese optical communications equipment maker Ligent Technologies began taking subscriptions for its initial public offering in Hong Kong, after pricing its shares to raise HK$5.67 billion (US$723 million). The Qingdao-based company said it is selling 172 million shares at HK$32.96 each. Ligent, controlled by Chinese appliance and electronics maker Hisense Group, said share trading will begin on September 22. The company has received US$340 million from cornerstone investors that include minority shareholder Primavera Investment Fund and GigaDevice, Amlogic Hong Kong, Mirae Asset Securities HK and Barings. Ligent makes optical transceivers, optical chips and network terminals used in data centers, cloud computing and telecommunications networks.

Kioxia Weighs US$10 Billion US Listing

Japan's Kioxia Holdings, the world's second-largest maker of NAND flash memory chips, is considering raising at least US$10 billion through a US listing, potentially as early as next year, according to Bloomberg News. The Tokyo-based company has held talks with Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase on an IPO, though discussions are preliminary. The listing would follow a record-breaking US IPO by South Korea's SK Hynix in July, which raised US$26.5 billion – the largest IPO ever by a foreign company. Kioxia, formerly Toshiba's memory unit, has seen its Tokyo-listed shares surge nearly 400 percent this year, valuing the company at roughly US$180 billion.

Economy & Markets

AI Investment by China Companies Forecast at US$90 Billion This Year

Investment in artificial intelligence by Chinese companies is forecast to reach about 600 billion yuan (US$90 billion) this year, according to a new report from the China Telecom Research Institute. China's consumption of tokens in 2026 is forecast to reach 100 quadrillion and surpass 35 quintillion by 2030, the report said. Tokens are the units that AI models use to process text and are used to determine user billing credits. A quadrillion is equal to one thousand trillion.

China's Credit Growth Slows as Households Pare Borrowing

Chinese banks extended 60 billion yuan (US$9 billion) in new loans last month, bouncing back from a 340-billion-yuan contraction in July but below market forecasts. The People's Bank of China reported that outstanding yuan loans in August grew 4.9 percent from a year earlier. In the first eight months of the year, new loans fell to 10.44 trillion yuan from 13.46 trillion yuan a year earlier. Households reduced short-term borrowing by 1.05 trillion yuan, adding just 18.8 billion yuan in long-term loans. Companies borrowed 11.26 trillion yuan. Outstanding total social financing -- a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the real economy -- rose 7.2 percent in August from a year earlier to 464.8 trillion yuan, down from a 7.4 percent gain in July. M2 broad money supply last month increased 7.5 percent.

US Treasury Yields Rise Amid Expectations of a Fed Rate Increase

The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond neared the key psychological level of 5 percent on Monday, ahead of this week's meeting of the Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to raise interest rates amid accelerating inflation and resurgent oil prices. The yield briefly hit 5.014 percent in intraday trading, its highest level since October 2023. The yield on 2-year notes, which typically move in tandem with Fed interest rate expectations, rose 0.54 basis points to 4.649 percent. US President Donald Trump strenuously opposes any rate hikes.

China Orders Big Firms to Pay Small Suppliers Within 60 Days

China unveiled a policy on Monday to tackle the chronic problem of large companies delaying payments to small suppliers. Central state-owned companies will be required to take the lead in paying suppliers in cash rather than promissory notes. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is pressing big companies to cap payment due dates at 60 days, noting that the timing of payments by major automakers have improved but still fall short of suppliers' expectations. On the funding side, banks will be directed to lend to big firms to replace their accounts payable.

South Korea Stock Exchange Begins Extended Trading

South Korea's main stock exchange began after-hours trading on Monday as a first step toward introducing 24-hour trading. The period of afterhours trading is 4pm to 8pm. Stock exchanges around the world have started or are contemplating longer trading hours to attract more investors across the world's time zones.

China's Earthquake Authority in Talks With Apple on iPhone Warning Access

China's earthquake authority said it is in talks with Apple to bring official earthquake early-warning alerts to iPhones. In the meantime, iPhone users can receive the official alerts through a WeChat mini-program. The administration has already partnered with more than 30 companies including Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, to deliver warnings via phones, dedicated terminals, radio, TV and electronic whiteboards.

Corporate

Hyrox Race Controversy Erupts Days After Founders Regain Control

At Hyrox's Beijing Elite race on September 12, an Australian athlete was allowed to continue competing after she suffered diarrhea and soiled herself but went on to win the race. After a wave of criticism, Hyrox co-founder Moritz Fürste apologized and said the brand is working to make immediate rule changes. The controversy came after an ownership change in the high-profile fitness-racing brand. Founders Fürste and Christian Toetzke announced they had taken back majority control of Hyrox in a consortium with consumer private equity firm L Catterton and fund WndrCo. The change ended indirect ownership of the event by China's Dalian Wanda Group.

Konka to Exit Shenzhen Stock Exchange After 34 Years as TV Giant

Konka Group, once a giant in China's color TV industry, said it is voluntarily delisting from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange after years of losses. The first Sino-foreign electronics joint venture, which listed in 1992, has lost more than 20 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) since 2022. Controlling shareholder China Resources is offering a cash-out at 2.48 yuan per share. If most small investors take it, China Resources could end up owning up to 90 percent of a privately held Konka.

Pony.ai Introduces New Robotruck

Chinese self-driving technology firm Pony.ai unveiled a new self-driving heavy-goods vehicle at a trade fair in Germany and said it is talking to European governments and potential customers about road tests on the continent, Reuters reported. The electric truck was jointly developed with Chinese Guangzhou Automobile Group. Pony.ai already has a couple hundred robotrucks operating routes in China -- some fully driverless; others with human safety drivers. The company said its robotruck unit will launch in markets ⁠in Europe and the Middle East over the next two years. Separately, BYD, China's largest maker of electric vehicles, said it plans to launch its first heavy-duty truck in Europe next year and ultimately manufacture trucks on the continent.

Unitree Robotics Unveils New G1 Humanoid Model

Unitree Robotics launched the G1+ upgraded version of its G1 humanoid robot on Monday. New features improve motion performance, perception and interaction, and intelligent experience. The G1+ weighs about 35 kilograms, with maximum arm load of around 3 kilograms and about two hours of battery endurance. The company said the model is priced at 95,000 yuan (HK$111,000).

Tesla to Showcase Cybercab in China, Beginning This Week

Tesla announced it will showcase its Cybercab at China Central Place in Beijing and HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai from September 17- 27, after starting an Asia tour in Hong Kong last week. The two-passenger electric robotaxi has no steering wheel or pedals. Tesla said earlier the appearances in China were not for commercial purposes. Separately, Tesla will unveil its Roadster model on October 1, nearly a decade after announcing it is developing a next-generation version of its original sports car. It's expected to be a limited-edition version, equipped with cold-gas thrusters developed in collaboration with SpaceX, Information website said. Tesla operates a mega factory in Shanghai.

Meituan Launches Drone Food Delivery Services in Shanghai

E-commerce giant Meituan launched a drone food delivery service in Shanghai's West Bund area, its second low-altitude aerial delivery service in China. The service boasts delivery times as fast as 10 minutes after an order is taken. Meituan entered the drone delivery business in 2017 and began its first commercial operation in Shenzhen in May. Nearly 20 food and beverage chains, including McDonald's, Amoy Teas and MStand, have joined the drone delivery platform in Shanghai, and the number is expected to double by the end of the year.

Australia, New Zealand Recall Shein Contact-Lens Product, Sending Shares Lower

Australia and New Zealand issued recalls on a contact-lens product sold by Chinese online retailer Shein. The two countries said the product lenses tested positive for a bacterial contaminant that could cause eye infections. Shein shares, recently listed in Hong Kong, closed down 9 percent Monday.