Daily Buzz: 6 April 2026

US Rescues Missing Airman, Trump Extends Iran Ultimatum a Day

A special US commando unit rescued an airman who went missing after Iran shot down an American F-15E fighter jet over the southwest of the country on Friday. The rescue inside Iran involved dozens of aircraft and a reported heavy firefight with Iranian forces. President Donald Trump said the airman, an air force colonel, suffered non-serious injuries after hiding in a mountain crevice awaiting rescue. The pilot of the two-manned plane was rescued earlier.

Trump apparently extended until Tuesday his April 6 deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face massive attacks on civilian targets like electricity plants, bridges and water desalination sites. In public language uncharacteristic of a president, he warned Iran online, "Open the f***in' strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell."

Iran is allowing some traffic, mostly from "friendly" nations, through the strait, which normally carries a fifth of the world's oil supply. On Friday and Saturday, 13 of the estimated 2,000 ships awaiting transit passed through, including vessels linked to France and Japan, and an Iraqi tanker carrying oil to Malaysia's Petronas. Ships from China, Russia and Pakistan have also traversed the narrow waterway recently. In some cases, Iran is charging a multimillion-dollar toll.

In the first half hour after oil trading resumed in New York on Sunday night, the price of Brent crude futures rose 2.1 percent to US$111.39 a barrel. Stock markets in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and many European countries are closed today for holidays.

In the war, Iranian air strikes damaged petrochemical complexes in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, and Kuwait reported strikes against its power and desalination plants. The United Arab Emirates reported Iranian strikes trying to target aluminum plants. The UN nuclear watchdog said US-Israeli air attacks hit close to Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant, but no increase in radiation levels was detected. Israel said it hit a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran.

Top Business

Space Pioneer Reports Failure of Reusable Rocket Launch

Beijing-based Tianbing Technology, commonly called Space Pioneer, said the maiden flight of its reusable rocket Tianlong-3 failed. It didn't disclose details in a brief statement posted online. The company is among a growing number of private-sector rocket developers spurred by Beijing's push to turn China into a major power in reusable rockets, which cut launch costs and increase the number available for building satellite constellations in space. The company, which has said the Tianlong-3 is similar to SpaceX's Falcon 9, raised 2.5 billion yuan (US$363 million) six months ago in fundraising rounds.

China Ranks Second in Global AI Market Share

China held about 11 percent of the global AI market as of September 30, hosting 16 percent of the world's 37,664 AI companies and ranking second only behind the US, Yicai said, citing a report from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. In terms of market share, the US had 18.5 percent, the UK 6 percent, Germany 5.4 percent and Japan 4.1 percent. The AI market is expected to top US$1 trillion by 2030, with embodied robotics and natural language processing segments growing the fastest.

Economy & Markets

Foxconn Posts Strong Growth in Q1 Sales

Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, reported a 30 percent rise in first-quarter revenue to NT$2.1 trillion (US$67 billion) on continuing AI demand. The strength comes amid concerns that rising oil prices triggered by the Iran war will slow building of power-hungry data centers. Foxconn is the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer.

China Regulators Tighten Standards for Power Banks

Chinese regulators tightened safety standards for mobile power packs following safety concerns that surfaced year. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology rules, scheduled to take effect April 1 near year, require power banks to monitor key metrics such as voltage and temperature in real time and be able to store and retrieve data on abnormal conditions, Yicai reported. The new standards also introduce a test for batteries to ensure higher cell quality. They come after a several universities in China last June warned that some products from power bank makers could explode when charging and after China's aviation regulator issued an emergency notice banning passengers from carrying power banks that don't meet a high level of certification.

Corporate

DeepSeek's New V4 Model to Run on Huawei Chips

DeepSeek's much anticipated new model V4 will run on the latest chips designed by China's Huawei Technologies, US news outlet The Information reported. Alibaba, ByteDance and Tencent have also placed large orders for the domestically developed chips, the report said, as China steers a course toward self-reliance in semiconductors. The launch of DeepSeek's next-generation model, expected in the next few weeks, has created a buzz in markets after the Hangzhou-based startup stunned the technology industry in January 2025 with the release of a large language model at a fraction of the cost of models from OpenAI and other industry giants.

XPeng Ends Australia Distributor Deal

Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng said it has terminated an exclusive distribution agreement with its Australian partner TrueEV after the latter entered administration, according to a company statement to Yicai. XPeng said TrueEV suffered a funding breakdown and had been taken over by financiers. The company added that TrueEV had not purchased vehicles for more than a year and failed to fulfill orders, including 454 cars.

Radiopharma Sector Advances Development

Chinese biotech firm New Radiomedicine Technology raised 1 billion yuan (US$145 million) in a fundraising round to finance development of its pipeline of discoveries through clinical trials and invest in the research, development and production of medical isotopes. The round was led by Shanghai Science & Technology Venture Capital, Shanghai Guoxin Investment & Development and a corporate shareholder. The Chengdu-based company works in the specialized field of nuclear medicine that uses small amounts of radioactive material to diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer.

Separately, Shenzhen-listed Baheal Pharma Group received regulatory approval for China's first Class 1 innovative radiopharmaceutical developed by a local firm, for which the Chinese drugmaker holds the commercialization rights. The injection, developed by Foshan Ruidi'ao Pharmaceutical, offers a more affordable option for precise tumor detection.

RoboTechnik Inks Contract with Nasdaq-Listed Buyer

RoboTechnik Intelligent Technology said it signed a US$36 million supply contract with an unidentified Nasdaq-listed company related to production of coupling devices for silicon photonics technology. The Suzhou-based company said the deal will strengthens the company's earnings this year and lift its global profile. The company also develops "smart" manufacturing software for industrial internet technology.