Daily Buzz: 28 April 2026

Top News

China Blocks Meta's US$2 Billion Manus Takeover

China has blocked Meta's US$2 billion takeover of Chinese AI startup Manus on national security grounds. The deal has also drawn scrutiny by the US government. Manus was founded by entrepreneur Xiao Hong in 2025. After a US$75 million fundraising round led by US venture firm Benchmark last May, Manus shut its China offices two months later and moved its operations to Singapore. The relocation was aimed at enabling Manus parent Butterfly Effect to bypass US investment restrictions on Chinese AI firms, as well as Chinese rules limiting the ability of domestic AI firms to transfer their intellectual property overseas.

Manus specializes in general AI agents. China's National Development and Reform Commission ordered the deal to be withdrawn. Analysts said the decision, which took the tech industry by surprise, reflects Beijing's desire to stop the US from acquiring Chinese-developed intellectual property, while the US probe into the deal focused on limiting Chinese access to advanced US chips. The decision may close a back-door practice whereby Chinese mainland companies relocate to Singapore to avoid scrutiny from both Beijing and Washington. Manus said it passed US$100 million in annual recurring revenue last December, claiming to be one of the fastest-growing AI startups in the world.

Iran Reportedly Proposes Plan to Open Strait but Delay Nuclear Talks.

Iran has submitted a proposal to the US to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, but the plan postpones negotiations over Iran's nuclear program to a later stage, the US political website Axios reported, citing an unidentified Washington official and two sources familiar with the situation. The White House is reportedly reviewing the proposal. It comes as the status of peace talks remains in limbo and separate US and Iranian blockades near the strait remain in place. The US claims the stalemate is the result of a fracture within the Iranian government about how to proceed. Iran has blamed Washington for lack sincerity in pursuing a viable peace plan. A hoped-for resumption in Pakistan talks fizzled last weekend.

What Ceasefire? Israel Steps Up Attacks in Lebanon

Israelis Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to "vigorously attack Hezbollah targets" in Lebanon, two days after a ceasefire pushed through by the US was extended by three weeks. Lebanon's Ministry of Health has said Israeli strikes on Sunday killed 14 people, including two children and two women, and injured 37. The Israeli army warned people in several villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate their homes immediately. Hezbollah, which never agreed to the ceasefire, and Israel have broken the ceasefire repeatedly since it was first announced by Washington. Iran earlier said Israeli attacks on its ally Hezbollah needed to stop before serious peace negotiations with the US could make progress.

Top Business

AI Startup DeepSeek Slashes Prices

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has reduced prices for its application programming interface, cutting input cache costs as much as 90 percent for its full model suit and setting a new low for large language model services. The reduction refers to use of a model's previously computed results for identical or similar inputs instead of recomputing them. According to pricing updates published on April 26, DeepSeek's V4-Flash input cache costs were reduced from 0.2 yuan (0.03 US cents) per million tokens to 0.02 yuan. The new business-focused V4-Pro model saw deeper cuts, with discounted rates temporarily lowering cached input costs to 0.025 yuan per million tokens under promotional pricing. The company said the reductions apply mainly to high-frequency and long-context workloads. DeepSeek models have been optimized for both Nvidia graphics processing units and Huawei Ascend chips.

WuXi AppTec Profit Rises on Record Revenue

Shanghai-based WuXi AppTec, which supplies services across the drug development chain, reported first-quarter net profit rose 27 percent to 4.7 billion yuan (US$690 million), driven by a 29 percent increase in revenue to a record 12 billion yuan. The robust performance was largely fueled by the company's chemistry business, which had a revenue surge 44 percent to 10.6 billion yuan. Its testing business had growth of 35 percent and biology rose 10 percent. The company produces key components for drugs used in treatment of diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, HIV and obesity. Its client base includes leading Chinese drugmakers such as Jiangsu Hengrui and multinational pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

Junshi Biosciences Reports Revenue Surge in Q1

Shanghai-based Junshi Biosciences narrowed its loss in the first quarter to 20.6 million yuan (US$3 million) from 235 million yuan a year earlier on 45 percent increase in revenue to 726 million yuan. Growth was driven by a 39 percent surge in domestic sales of its core PD-1 monoclonal antibody toripalimab, marketed as Tuoyi, to 623 million yuan. Founded in 2012, the biopharmaceutical company focuses on monoclonal antibodies and therapeutic proteins. Toripalimab is currently approved for treatment of various tumors, including melanoma, nasopharyngeal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer.

Kweichow Moutai Returns to Profit

Kweichow Moutai, maker of a Chinese premium distilled liquor, said first-quarter profit rose 1.5 percent to 27.2 billion yuan (US$4 billion) on a 6.5 percent rise in revenue to 53.9 billion. The results rebounded from twin declines last year, when 2025 profit fell 4.5 percent and revenue slipped 1.2 percent. Although strong spirits aren't favored as much by the younger generation anymore, the company's flagship product, Moutai Feitian, is still considered a luxury item, often given as gifts and consumed at special occasions like weddings and festivals. The company's shares are among the most expensive on the Shanghai Exchange.

Tsingtao Brewery Profit Rises, Revenue Slips

Tsingtao Brewery, whose namesake brand is the largest selling Chinese beer in the US, said first-quarter profit rose 5.2 percent to 1.8 billion yuan (US$260 million), despite a 5.4 percent drop in revenue to 10.2 billion yuan. Volume sales in the period rose 5.6 to 2.2 million kiloliters, with a 0.4 percent rise in sales of its flagship Tsingtao beer brand. The Qingdao-based company is China's second-largest brewer. The company has been introducing new products, like Light Dry and Cherry Blossom beer to entice consumers in a slowing domestic beer consumption market. Founded in 1930 by German brewers, Tsingtao entered the US market in 1972.

Economy & Markets

Chinese Industrial Profits Surge in March

Profits at China industrial firms in March jumped 15.8 percent, their biggest gain in six months, as a surge in the technology sector offset any negative impact from oil and supply-chain disruptions related to the Iran war. Revenue at the companies in the survey gained 5 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. Profits at technology companies rose 47 percent. Optical fiber makers surged 337 percent from a year earlier, while optoelectronics increased 43 percent. Drone manufacturing profits were up 54 percent and consumer goods makers rose 67 percent. Non-ferrous metal companies rose 117 percent on strong demand from emerging sectors like aerospace and green energy. Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, told CNBC that strong export growth underpinned robust profitability in March.

CATL Begins Share Sale in Hong Kong

Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) launched a US$5 billion share placement in Hong Kong on Monday, seeking to capitalize on its share price near record highs. CATL is offering new shares ⁠priced at between HK$628.20 (US$80) and HK$651.80 each. The company's shares have surged about 157 percent since their trading debut after the company's US$4.6 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong last May. Proceeds from the share sale will help ⁠fund a battery plant in Hungary and general research and development, the South China Morning Post reported.

Alibaba Gets Approval for Property Spinoff

Alibaba Group said it gained approval in March from the Hong Kong stock exchange for the spin-off of company warehousing assets on the Chinese mainland via a real estate investment trust to be listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The move marks Alibaba's latest effort to unlock capital through China's expanding real estate trust market.

Printed Circuit Board Makers Rally on Chinese Mainland Exchanges

Printed circuit-board makers were strong gainers on Chinese mainland stock exchanges on Monday as investors sought profits in companies that make components for AI technologies. Shennan Circuits rose 7 percent to a record on the Shenzhen exchange, and Kinwong Electronic and Shandong Fiberglass surged to the daily limit of 10 percent in Shanghai. Printed circuit boards "wire" together components in electronic circuits and are used in AI server and data centers, and in nearly all electronics products.

Sungrow Power Renews Application for Hong Kong Listing

China's Sungrow Power Supply refiled an application to list in Hong Kong after its first application last year lapsed, the South China Morning Post reported. The Hefei-Based maker of solar inverters and energy systems is already listed on the Shenzhen exchange. It claimed in a prospectus last year that it had a 25 percent global market share by shipment volume. The proceeds of any Hong Kong initial public offering are expected to go toward global expansion. Sungrow was founded in 1997, when the renewable energy industry was in its infancy.

China Firm Fined for Unauthorized New York Listing

The China Securities and Regulatory Commission last week levied a 3 million yuan (US$414,000) fine on Zhongneng Liangke Agricultural Technology, a supplier of health food products, for launching an initial public offering in the US without first getting domestic regulatory approval.

It's the first such action in three years, Yicai reported. Zhongneng Liangke's controller, Liangke Technology Innovation Biology Hong Kong, submitted a filing report to the commission in late 2024 for an indirect listing on the Nasdaq through a special-purpose acquisition company but failed to submit requested supplementary materials. The Nasdaq shares were suspended on their debut.

Corporate

Haier Smart Home Profit Hit by North America Snowstorms

Qingdao-based Haier Smart Home, a global maker of home appliances and the listed arm of the Haier Group, reported first-quarter profit dropped 15 percent to 4.6 billion yuan (US$670 million) on a 6.9 percent decline in revenue to 74 billion yuan. It blamed severe winter storms in North America, which kept buyers in major markets home. Tariff costs further squeezed margins.

Yuanjie Semiconductor Profit Soars 11-Fold

Chinese optical chipmaker Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology reported an elevenfold surge in first-quarter profit on soaring demand for computing power for AI. Net profit in the three months soared to 179 million yuan (US$26 million), while revenue grew 321 percent to 355 million yuan, the Shanghai-listed company said in a filing on Monday. Yuanjie makes laser chips used in applications including AI data centers, the South China Morning Post reported. Yuanjie was the second company on China's tech-focused Star Market to see its share price surpass the 1,000 yuan mark.

Toyota Global Sales Decline 7.3 Percent

Toyota Motor, the world's largest carmaker, said global vehicle sales in March fell 7.3 percent from a year earlier. The slump reflected a one-third plunge in Middle East sales due to the Iran war, an 8 percent decline in China sales and 8.5 percent lower sales in the US. Sales in the Japanese market were off 7.8 percent. Toyota attributed at least part of the declines to a production shift to a new version of its popular RAV4 model SUV.

AI Agent Builder Raises Funds

Chinese AI startup SmartData said it raised several hundred million yuan in a new fundraising round led by SinoKing Capital, Oriza Private Equity and Wuxi Fund but gave no figures. The investments come less than six months after a previous funding round, and the company said a further round is close to completion. Founded in 2020, SmartData focuses on AI agents for state-owned companies and critical industries like energy, defense, and telecoms.

Hengli Petroleum Denies US Claim of 'Shadow" Iran Oil Purchases

Hengli Petrochemical, a Chinese polyester supplier, denied allegations by the US Department of Treasury that one of its subsidiaries was tapping Iranian crude oil for its production. Despite the Dalian-based company's denial, its shares plunged by the daily limit of 10 percent on the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday. The US agency placed a refinery subsidiary on a sanctions list, claiming it purchased billions of dollars of Iran oil shipped via "shadow fleet" vessels.