Daily Buzz: 25 August 2026

XPeng Posts Near Tripled Loss, Nails US$900 Million Robotics Investment

Xpeng, a leading Chinese maker of new energy vehicles, said its second-quarter net loss widened to 1.3 billion yuan (US$200 million) from 480 million yuan a year earlier. Revenue rose 8 percent to about 20 billion yuan. For the first half, XPeng's net loss totaled 3 billion yuan, widening from 1.1 billion yuan a year earlier. Six-month revenue doubled to 32.8 billion yuan. The company delivered 165,977 units of vehicles in the first half, down nearly 16 percent from a year earlier. Despite the wider bottom-line loss, XPeng said its second-quarter gross margin improved to 20.7 percent, up 3.4 percentage points from a year earlier, supported by higher revenues from technical research and development services, and sales of parts and accessories. However, the vehicle margin for the quarter fell to 12.1 percent from 14.3 percent, which the management attributed to a transition in product generation.

Xpeng separately announced it has secured US$600 million in funding from outside investors, including Alibaba and Tencent, for its robotics unit Dogotix, alongside its own investment of US$200 million and US$100 million from company executives, the South China Morning Post reported. The aggregate US$900 million investment raises the value of the subsidiary to US$6.3 billion. Xpeng said it's the biggest single private-equity fundraiser to date involving a Chinese robotics maker. Xpeng, like rival Tesla, has expanded into robotics. The company earlier announced it would produce over 1,000 humanoid robots a month by the end of 2026.

US Targets Nations That Trade with Iran in Latest War Strategy

The Trump administration unveiled what it dubbed "Operation Economic Outcast" against Iran on Monday to try to force an end to the six-month war with a financial attack instead of an arms offensive. The plan includes secondary sanctions on countries, including China, Russia, Turkey and India, that have economic ties with Iran. "We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe," US Treasury Scott Bessent said. The plan, which the administration calls the toughest in history, doesn't impose new sanctions immediately. Rather, the US will start sending notices to individual countries to "shut down activities we have identified," Bessent said. Asked about Chinese banks in particular at a Monday press briefing, he said, "We want to make clear here today that no one is above the reach of US sanctions." Tehran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US plan. Oil prices slipped slightly on the news. Global Brent crude futures closed New York trading at about US$92 a barrel.

Before the new sanctions were announced, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday that situation in the Middle East has again reached a critical juncture and urged parties involved to return to dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible. He made the remarks in a meeting ⁠with Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in Beijing, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement. Wang said "the old script of recurring conflict should not be repeated" and the top priority is to de-escalate the situation.

Top Business

PDD Net Profit Falls, Reinvestments Offset Revenue Growth

PDD Holdings, a Chinese online retailing giant that owns the Temu and Pinduoduo discount platforms, posted an 8 percent increase in revenue for the second quarter to 112.4 billion yuan (US$16.6 billion), driven primarily by an expansion in transaction services. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders declined 11.6 percent from a year earlier to 27.2 billion yuan. Transaction services revenue rose 13 percent and online marketing services grew 3.5 percent. Operating expenses expanded 13 percent to 37 billion yuan, reflecting a 27 percent surge in research and development outlays and a 9 percent increase in sales and marketing. The company's net income was further squeezed by a 7.4-billion-yuan net loss under non-operating items. Operating cash flow showed 18.6 percent growth to 25.7 billion yuan. The company said it will continue allocating capital toward merchant support, platform trust and compliance initiatives to adapt to evolving global trade regulations.

Biwin Storage Earnings Soar on AI Demand

Biwin Storage Technology, a Shanghai-listed maker of Chinese flash memory and solid-state storage, reported first-half revenue of 15.6 billion yuan (US$2.3 billion), up 298 percent from a year earlier. Net profit attributable to shareholders swung to 7.2 billion yuan from a year-earlier loss. A surge in AI glasses and other edge devices drove storage product revenue to 2.86 billion, a jump of 433.5 percent. The Shenzhen-based company reported gross margin increased from 21.4 percent last year to 55 percent. Operating cash flow was negative at 6.3 billion yuan. The company listed in Shanghai in 2022 and has submitted an application for an IPO in Hong Kong.

Leapmotor Q2 Profit Rebounds to Drive Strong Half-Year Earnings

Hangzhou-based auto startup Leapmotor posted second-quarter net profit of 600 million yuan (US$88.4 million) and revenue of 27.3 billion yuan, rebounding from a first-quarter loss to drive a positive first-half bottom line. For the first half, the company recorded profit attributable to shareholders of 210 million yuan, up about 600 percent from a year earlier. Revenue rose 57 percent year to 38 billion yuan, driven by higher deliveries of vehicles and spare parts. Gross margin for the second quarter was 12.6 percent, an increase of 3.2 percentage points from the first quarter. However, first-half gross margin dropped 2.4 percentage points to 11.7 percent, which management attributed to rising raw material costs and changes in product mix. Vehicle deliveries for the first half jumped 61 percent to 356,487 units, bolstered by a 373 percent surge in exports. The company's international expansion, supported by localized assembly partnerships with Stellantis in Europe, Southeast Asia and South America, contributed to 27 percent of first-half sales volume.

Economy & Markets

Yangtze Memory Gets Green Light on Shanghai IPO

Chinese flash-memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies said its initial public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market has been given the go-ahead by regulators. The company said it is seeking to raise up to 33 billion yuan (US$4.9 billion), aiming to cash in on the AI-driven boom in demand. Yangtze Memory plans to issue up to 2.4 billion shares in an IPO that would rank third-largest on the Nasdaq-style Chinese mainland board after CXMT's recent debut and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp's 2020 share sale. Yangtze Memory makes NAND flash chips that store data in products ranging from smartphones to AI data centers. It ranks first in China and third in the world in terms of sales value and shipments, competing globally with Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology. It reported first-quarter revenue of 47 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 33 billion yuan.

Tencent-Backed Enflame Launches US$830 Million IPO

Enflame Technology, one of China's prominent developers of graphics processing units, launched its IPO on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market, aiming to raise 6 billion yuan (US$830 million) with the issue of 43 million shares to finance AI chip research and development. Led by former AMD executive Zhao Lidong, the cloud AI chipmaker is widely known as one of the "Four Little Dragons" of China's printed circuit-board sector. Its largest shareholder is Tencent. Enflame projects first-half 2026 revenue will increase by up to 289 percent from a year earlier, after 2025 financial results that included 990 million yuan in revenue and a net loss of 1.2 billion yuan. According to the prospectus, the company anticipates reaching an operational break-even point this year.

Too Stingy? Investors Sour on Samsung Plan to Share Profits

Samsung Electronics' plan to return up to 110 trillion won (US$79 billion) to its 8 million shareholders this year – the largest return of its kind in South Korean history – disappointed investors expecting a bigger slice of the company's windfall profits from AI chip demand. The highly profitable chipmaker, one of the world's largest, said it would pay out 30 trillion won in cash dividends in the third quarter, 13-fold more than the second-quarter dividend. "Big capital returns, slightly below expectations," Morgan Stanley said in a report. However, many investors were also expecting a share buyback plan, which would boost the value of existing shares. Rival SK Hynix last week announced a 40-trillion buyback and cancellation of shares. Samsung shares plunged 8.7 percent on Monday.

Mech-Minded Robotics Joins Wave of Industry IPOs

China's Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies, seeking to ride investor enthusiasm for the sector, began taking subscriptions on Monday for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, hoping to raise about US$300 million through the sale of up to 27.5 million shares. The Hebei Province-based company, which makes industrial 3D cameras and AI-powered software enabling robots to perceived their surroundings and make intelligent decisions, joins a wave of successful listings this year by Chinese robot companies. Mech-Minded reported an adjusted net loss of 109 million yuan (US$16 million) last year and said in its stock exchange filing that it expects losses to continue because of heavy spending on research and development. The firm generated about 50 per cent of last year's revenue from overseas clients.

Corporate

Apple Supplier Luxshare's Profit Surges on Strong Demand

Electronics components maker Luxshare Precision's first-half net profit rose 18 percent from a year earlier to 7.8 billion yuan (US$1.15 billion). Revenue surged 40 percent to 174.5 billion yuan, lifted by solid performance in core businesses for consumer electronics, telecommunications, data centers and automotive electronics. Apple accounts for roughly 70 percent of the Shenzhen-based company's revenue. To diversify beyond consumer hardware, Luxshare raised its stake in German automotive cable and wiring harness specialist Leoni to 75 percent in April.

InnoCare Turns Profitable on Drug Sales, Licensing Payments

InnoCare Pharma, a Chinese developer and seller of cancer and autoimmune drugs, swung to a first-half profit as product sales grew and licensing payments lifted revenue. Revenue rose 55.5 percent to 1.1 billion yuan (US$169 million), while profit for the period reached 240 million yuan, swinging from a 35.6-million-yuan loss a year earlier. Drug sales increased 43 percent to 918.1 million yuan, driven by the drug orelabrutinib and the launches of tafasitamab and zurletrectinib, the company said. Business-collaboration revenue more than doubled to 213 million yuan, up to nearly 19 percent of the total, mainly from milestone payments under it partnership with Zenas BioPharma. That contribution bolstered profit but makes recurring drug sales a key test of its sustainability. Research and development spending rose 10.5 percent to 497 million yuan as InnoCare invests in technology platforms and clinical trials.

Kerry Properties Posts Revenue Slump, Says Chinese Mainland Market Weak

Hong Kong-based developer Kerry Properties, which has extensive residential, retail, hotel and commercial office investments on the Chinese mainland, said first-half profit revenue dropped 33 percent from a year earlier to HK$6.7 billion (US$855 million) but profit jumped 20 percent to HK$735 million. Revenue from the Chinese mainland rose 16 percent to HK$3.6 billion from HK$3.1 billion. A 9 percent drop in underlying profit was attributed to lower interest cost capitalization following the launch of Jinling Residences in Shanghai. The company's developments in Shanghai also include the Jing'an Kerry Center, Kerry Everbright City, Kerry Parkside and Park Towers, with other major projects in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenyang and Shenzhen. Gross profit from development properties slipped 6 percent, and hotel revenue was flat. Kerry said the overall residential market on the mainland remained week with transaction volumes, housing prices and government land sales declining. "Our development property sales in the Chinese mainland in the first half have been disappointingly slow," the company said in a statement. "The mainland continues to be characterized by a significant supply-demand imbalance where vacancy levels remain elevated."

Xiaomi Unveils Upgraded Chip for Smartphones

Xiaomi, the world's third largest maker of smartphones, unveiled a new version of its in-house Xring handset processor to strengthen its supply chain and reduce reliance on external chip suppliers, Reuters reported. The Xring O3 marks the latest step by the Chinese company to join rivals such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei in developing its own chips. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) will make the new chip using 3-nanometre production technology, Reuters reported. The new chip is expected to power Xiaomi's upcoming flagship folding phone. Beijing-based Xiaomi has invested more than 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in ⁠chip development so far.

Alibaba Cloud Unveils Upgraded Video-Generation Model

Alibaba Cloud launched its Wan3.0 video-generation model on Monday. The model upgrades generation duration, versatile creation, reference capabilities and real-world reproduction. It can generate 30-second videos in a single session. Parent Alibaba shares fell 8.5 percent in Hong Kong yesterday after the company finalized a HK$80 billion (US$10.2 billion) share placement to raise funds for AI development.

China's Largest Snack Franchise Posts Profit Increase

Busy Ming Group, the operator of snack retail brands Busy for You and Super Ming, reported first-half 2026 profit rose 155 percent from a year earlier to 2.2 billion yuan (US$333 million). Revenue climbed to 45 billion yuan, up 60 percent. The company runs on a discount bulk-buying model, sourcing directly from manufacturers and eliminating intermediaries to sell snacks at prices below traditional supermarkets. It mainly makes money by selling products to its franchised stores, a network that has grown to 26,405 stores across China from 21,948 at the end of 2025.

Tongcheng Travel Profit Rises Despite Softer Travel Demand

Tongcheng Travel, a Chinese online travel platform, posted second-quarter 2026 revenue of 5 billion yuan (US$730 million), up 6.8 percent from a year earlier. Adjusted net profit rose 9.8 percent to 851 million yuan. Growth was led by a 36 percent revenue gain in its core online travel agency. Revenue from hotel bookings rose 8 percent, but fell 2.3 percent in transportation bookings as higher airfares damped demand. Tongcheng recently announced the acquisition of Chinese ride-sharing and carpooling platform Dida for about HK$1.3 billion (US$166 million) to expand integrated travel services.

Dobot Revenue Doubles as Embodied AI Takes Off

Dobot, a Shenzhen-based robotics maker, reported first-half revenue doubled to 316.3 million yuan (US$46.6 million), but its net loss widened to 108 million yuan from 41 million yuan as research and development spending surged 148 percent to 101.6 million yuan. The growth story is shifting beyond traditional collaborative robots. Embodied AI robot revenue jumped more than 20-fold to 45.2 million yuan, accounting for 14 percent of total revenue. Gross margin was relatively stable at 47.4 percent, suggesting rapid expansion has not yet come at the expense of product economics.

CATL Opens Online Sales Site

Leading global battery maker Contemporary Ampere Technology (CATL) said it has opened the online website CATL Mall to sell products to small buyers. The site sells lithium iron-phosphate energy storage battery cells, battery boxes and storage containers.