Daily Buzz: 24 August 2026

Alibaba Announces US$10 Billion Share Placement to Fund AI

Alibaba Group said it will issue HK$80 billion (US$10 billion) of new shares and use the entire proceeds to "extend the company's global AI leadership" by investing in its full-stack capabilities, including enhanced AI infrastructure. The new shares will be priced at HK$112.70 each, a 3.6 percent discount to Friday's closing price. Last week the tech giant announced a 45 percent jump in June quarter revenue from AI and cloud businesses, the fastest growth in 22 quarters. Capital expenditure expanded 75 per cent from a year earlier to 67.7 billion yuan (US$10.1 billion). The company earlier said it plans to spend 380 billion yuan on AI infrastructure. On an earnings call, chief executive Wu Yongming said the company's computing investments would break even within three years.

Sinopec Profit Rises Despite Falling Demand for Fuel

China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec), Asia's largest oil refiner, reported second-quarter net profit rose 5 percent from a year earlier to 8.6 billion yuan (US$1.3 billion), as stronger refining margins helped offset weakening domestic fuel demand. Revenue rose 8.3 percent to 729.9 billion yuan. For the first half, net profit increased 19.3 percent to 25.6 billion yuan, while revenue rose 2 percent to 1.4 trillion yuan. The earnings improvement was driven largely by refining and upstream operations. Refining operating profit surged 382 percent to 17 billion yuan, with margins increasing 44percent on improved profitability of jet fuel, naphtha and other products. Exploration and production operating profit rose 21.5 percent to 28.7 billion yuan.

Sinopec's retail fuel business, however, remained under pressure on high gasoline prices and an accelerating consumer shift to electric vehicles. Domestic refined-product sales fell 9.2 percent, while marketing and distribution operating profit dropped 28.6 percent to 5.7 billion yuan. The company said gasoline usage on the Chinese mainland in the first half fell 7.9 percent and diesel dropped 11.5 percent.

China Mission to Explore Lunar Polar Ice Postponed

The anticipated launch of China's robotic Chang'e-7 mission, designed to explore the moon's south pole for water ice in a landmark mission "cannot take place during the planned window this year," according to a statement from the China Manned Space Engineering Office shared by Chinese state media. The mission had been expected to lift off as soon as Sunday evening, or Monday morning Beijing time. The precise reason for the delay was not immediately clear. State media said only that the "lunar probe does not meet launch conditions" and the "assessment was conducted following the principle of prudence, reliability and absolute mission success." It's not clear how soon China may be able to attempt to get the mission off the ground.

Aptly Named Chinese Robot Beats Human Record in 100-Meter Sprint

A Chinese humanoid robot named Lightning finished a 100-meter trial race in just 9.32 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing this weekend, beating the human world record, Chinese media reported. It crossed the finish line 0.26 second faster than the world record of 9.58 record set by Jamaican sprint legend Usain Bolt in 2009. At the event, another Chinese robot named Tiangong Ultra also beat Bolt's record with a 9.38-second finish.

The races were part of 51 athletic events at the five-day 2026 World Robot Conference in the Chinese capital, which showcased automatons manufactured by companies in the world's biggest robot-making nation. A robot horse and rider, and dancing humanoids were among big crowd pleasers. In a speech to the conference, Wang Xingxing, founder of leading humanoid robot maker Unitree, said robots are not yet as efficient as humans and take time to learn new skills, creating a bottleneck for the industry. Unitree became the first humanoid robot maker to list on the Chinese mainland last week, with its shares closing up 460 percent on the opening day of trading.

US to Release Details of 'Economic D-Day' Against Iran

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will hold a press conference today to announce sanctions against Iran that the Trump administration has labeled an historic economic isolation of a single country. In an opinion piece for the Financial Times, Bessent wrote, "At dawn begins an economic D-Day – the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary," saying it will collapse the Tehran regime. The Trump administration will demand that countries around the world stop doing business with Iran. Tehran warned that any country signing up to the US sanctions will face repercussions.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian criticized the threat of new US measures, stating that "sanctions and pressure will not help resolve the issue." He repeated Beijing ongoing call for all parties to "take responsible measures and resolve the problem through political and diplomatic means." Global Brent crude futures resumed trading in New York on Sunday evening, priced at US$93.76 a barrel.

Death Toll Mounts in Russian-Ukraine War

Ukrainian drones killed at least 10 in a wave of strikes on Russia that included a hit on a warehouse owned by online retailer Ozon. The strike is the first on Ozon, after weeks of drone attacks on its larger rival Wildberries as part of a wider campaign against economic infrastructure that Kiev says underpins the Russian war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the effectiveness of Ukrainian attacks, while praising the success of Moscow military offensives. Meanwhile, the death toll from a Russian drone attack on a busy Ukrainian shopping center in Kryvyi Rih on Friday rose to 16, with about 130 injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as "despicable." He also said Russia is likely to mobilize another 300,000 troops later this year.

Top Business

Walmart China Sales Hit US$15 Billion in H1

Walmart's China business posted strong growth in the first half of 2026, with net sales reaching about US$15 billion, driven by rapid expansion of Sam's Club and online retail. The company's China unit recorded second-quarter sales of US$7 billion, up 20.7 percent year on year, significantly outpacing Walmart's global sales growth of 5.9 percent. Sam's Club remained the main growth driver in China. The membership-based retailer added 11 stores over the past 12 months, including four openings in the second quarter, bringing its total Chinese mainland store count to 67. Walmart's digital retail operations also continued to expand, with e-commerce sales in China rising 26 percent year on year and accounting for 55 percent of total sales.

Nvidia Reportedly Poised to Raise Prices 15 Percent

Nvidia plans to hike prices more than 15 percent for some of its largest customers, Bloomberg News reported. The chipmaking giant is poised to increase the cost of servers containing its AI chips, including Vera Rubin and Grace Blackwell series. The higher prices are expected to hit customers on systems shipped next year. The increases reflect the surging costs of memory chip used in AI server systems. Nvidia will report second-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

AI Becomes New Brand Gatekeeper

Nearly 80 percent of Chinese consumers now consult AI tools before making purchase decisions, reshaping how brands compete for attention, according to a new report from Fudan University's Center for Communication and State Governance Research. It found that AI assistants such as Doubao, Qwen and DeepSeek are becoming a new entry point for consumers seeking product information, price comparisons and recommendations. Unlike traditional search engines, AI platforms directly generate answers that can influence consumer choices, forcing companies to rethink brand management when they may no longer know how AI models describe their products or which sources are used. Analysts said future brand competition will shift from widening consumer exposure to being selected and recommended by AI systems, requiring companies to build more structured and reliable digital information systems.

Economy & Markets

Shein Seeks US$1.8 Billion in Hong Kong IPO

Shein, a Chinese global online discount clothing retailer, said it is seeking to raise up to HK$13.8 billion (US$1.8 billion) in an initial public offering in Hong Kong. The company said in an exchange filing today that it will sell about 280 million shares with a price range of HK$47.60 to HK$49.50. The final price will be announced on August 31, with trading to start on September 1. The company, which originated in China and still sources the bulk of its goods there, is now based in Singapore. It said it will use the proceeds from the share sale for enhancing technology, lift brand awareness and strengthen global markets. In the filing, the company said it turned to a US$99 million loss in the first quarter from a year-earlier profit of US$395 million, reflecting the loss of duty-free delivery of small parcels in the US and Europe. Revenue in the three months rose 1 percent to US$9.1 billion. The company said had 281 million global customers in the year ended March 31, with its two biggest markets in the US and Europe, offering 2 million apparel styles.

US, Canada Enter Trade War as Tariff Talks Collapse

US-Canadian tariff talks collapsed, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney refusing to bow to what he called pressure from Washington. "They asked too much and they offered too little," Carney said. The failure in negotiations in the simmering tense relations between the two neighbors means that 50 percent tariffs on US$20 billion of imports from Canada, first declared by President Donald Trump, came into immediate effect. They are added to other tariffs already imposed on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and lumber. Carney said Canada will match US tariffs "dollar for dollar" beginning on September 8. They include levies on imports of US dairy products, appliances and electronics.

Corporate

China Trade-In Subsidies Fuel Surge in Sales of Consumer Goods

Chinese subsidies for consumers who trade in old products for new ones – a key policy initiative to shore up demand – have led to sales of 1.3 trillion yuan (US$196 billion) so far this year, benefiting nearly 178 million purchases, CCTV reported. The government has allocated 187.5 billion yuan to the program. It covers purchases that include consumer electronics, appliances and automobiles.

BYD Increases Its Share of Italian Auto Market

The number of BYD passenger cars registered in Italy in the first seven months of the year tripled from a year earlier to 33,973, taking the Shenzhen-based automaker's share of the Italian market to 3.2 percent from 1.2 percent, Xinhua news agency reported. China's largest electric-car maker reports earnings later this week.

China Approves Geely Unit for Satellite Internet of Things Trials

China has approved Geespace, the satellite technology unit of automaker Geely, to conduct commercial trials of satellite Internet of Things services. Geespace focuses on building and operating low-Earth orbit communications constellations that connect vehicles, equipment, and other devices in remote areas beyond the reach of terrestrial mobile networks. The company deployed 64 satellites between 2022 and 2025, achieving full coverage of real-time communications signals everywhere on Earth except the poles. It is the second private company to receive such a permit, after Beijing-based Guodian Gaoke Technology.