Weekend Buzz: 25-26 July 2026

APEC Endorses Open-Source AI Models, US Tech Giants Weigh Into Debate

A ministerial-level meeting of the 21 nations in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group convened in China released a statement calling for security, data protection and intellectual property safeguards in the development and deployment of artificial intelligence, and also for the first time supported open-source models that are freely available to everyone. China, whose AI models are largely open-source, and the US, whose models largely aren't, are members of APEC. Li Lecheng, China's industry and information technology minister who chaired the meeting, said parties recognize the risks of AI and are seeking international dialogue across governments, businesses and academia to share information on AI development.

Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta and about two dozen other US tech heavyweights published an open letter on Friday urging American policymakers not to place restrictions on open-source models that would "stifle competition or drive innovation overseas." It said, "Relying solely on closed models is not inherently safe: they can be breached, misused, or fail in ways that outsiders cannot detect." Notably absent from the list of signatories were OpenAI and Anthropic.

China's open models have been gaining prominence, especially after the release last week of Moonshot's Kimi K3 model, which challenges many US models. The Trump administration said it is probing whether China companies are stealing US technology and will impose sanctions if they are. Legislation in the US Congress to prevent what it calls AI spinning dangerously out of human control picked up pace after an OpenAI agent went rogue and hacked the platform of US AI tech company Hugging Face, which had to resort to a Chinese open-source model to analyze the attack when US models couldn't help.

US-Iran War Continues, Oil Prices Ease on Ceasefire Mediation Efforts

The US launched strikes on Iran for the 13th consecutive night, with Iranian state media saying four people have been killed and five injured. US President Donald Trump said he will use frozen Iranian assets held by the US to pay for any damage to ships or cargo inflicted by Iranian attacks in the region. Iran, which is seeking to get those assets back, called the threat an "incendiary precedent."

Amid reports of renewed Pakistani attempts to engineer a ceasefire to end two weeks of escalating warfare, global benchmark Brent crude futures fell back from prices over US$100 a barrel to close New York trading at US$96.78.

US-Saudi Nuclear Power Agreement Falls Into Fog

A landmark deal to share US nuclear power technology with Saudi Arabia, two decades in the making, began unraveling just two days after it was announced, CNN reported, after US President Donald Trump abruptly announced conditions that apparently caught the Saudis by surprise. He said Saudia Arabia would first have to recognize Israel and would not be allowed to enrich uranium under the deal. Saudi Arabia in the past has declined to recognize Israel unless there is a concrete path toward Palestinian statehood, which Israel opposes. The original announcement of the nuclear deal drew criticism from conservative US media outlets and Israel, which has its own nuclear weapons and doesn't want any in the hands of Muslim neighbors in the region.

Russia, Ukraine Attacks Escalate

Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least 15 people, including 10 deaths after ballistic missiles struck a Kiev exhibition of drone technology. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has received intelligence that Russia is preparing another massive missile strike within 48 hours. Meanwhile, Ukrainian strikes on the Russian city of Kirov killed six people, and Kiev again struck warehouses of Wildberries, Russia's biggest online retailer, which it accuses of supplying drone components to the Russian army.

Wildfires in Spain, France Threaten Major Cities

Unprecedented wildfires near Madrid and in southwestern France forced the evacuation of an estimated 222,000 people from their homes. Spanish officials said blazes near the capital are beyond firefighting capacities in a "perfect storm" of high temperatures, relentless wind and merging fire fronts. French President Emmanuel Macron mobilized the military to help fight fires that could threaten the French city of Bordeaux.

Top Business

CATL First-Half Profit Jumps on Strong Battery Demand

Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's largest maker of batteries for electric cars, reported second-quarter profit rose 37 percent to a record 22.5 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion) on a 57 percent surge in revenue to an all-time quarterly high of 147.8 billion yuan. For the first half, it posted profit of 43.3 billion yuan, driven by increasing demand for clean energy power. Revenue rose 54.8 percent to 276.9 billion yuan. The company said it captured a 40.2 percent share of the global electric-car battery in the January-May period, up 2.2 percentage points, while maintaining its top spot worldwide in energy storage. The strong earnings come as CATL unveiled plans to repurchase up to 40 billion yuan of its shares, the largest-ever buyback of Chinese mainland shares. The company has been diversifying its business into energy storage and robotics. CATL shares have risen 21 percent in Hong Kong and 1.5 percent in Shenzhen since the start of the year.

SpaceX Completes Successful Rocket Launch, Share Price Remains Grounded

SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket Friday evening in the first test flight since the company's history-making US$86 billion IPO last month. The rocket's super heavy booster detached from the Starship spacecraft about two minutes into the flight and made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The upper stage of the rocket splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Elon Musk's Starship, the largest rocket ever built or flown to be fully reusable is considered vital for the company's goal of vastly expanding its Starlink satellite network, among other missions. The successful launch came as SpaceX shares in New York fell 2.7 percent on Friday to US$20 per share below their offer price and 43 percent from their peak in mid-June.

Moody's Flags Risk in Heavy Spending on AI Infrastructure

Moody's Ratings said the trillion-dollar race to build AI data centers could risk the creditworthiness of US giants like Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Oracle. The ratings agencies said so-called "hyperscalers" are increasingly turning to debt financing to fund AI ambitions. It said capital spending on AI infrastructure, estimated at US$785 billion this year is expected to exceed US$1 trillion in 2027.

Separately, Intel shares in New York fell almost 8 percent, despite the tech company beating forecasts for second-quarter earnings. Investors instead focused on Intel's rise in capital spending to more than US$20 billion this year from earlier estimates of US$18 billion. The company reported quarterly revenue of US$16.1 billion and earnings per share of 38 US cents.

China Hits 14 EU Entities With Export Controls

China's Ministry of Commerce announced export controls on 14 EU entities, including the Lafate Group, in response to the EU's latest sanctions package against Russia that included 14 Chinese mainland and Hong Kong firms. The ministry cited national security, non-proliferation obligations and statutory regulations for the decision. The restrictions ban the transfer or supply of any China-origin dual-use goods and technology to the 14 European firms. Dual-use goods refer to those that can be used for both military and civilian purposes.

Volkswagen Suffers Profit Slump, China Sales Plummet

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, forecast a decline of up to 3 percent in sales revenue this year after reporting second-quarter net profit fell by a third from a year earlier to 1.5 billion euros (US$1.8 billion.) Quarterly global deliveries, which include the core VW marque along with Porsche, Audi and Skoda, slumped 8.6 percent, with sales on the Chinese mainland plunging 37 percent.

The company is seeking to lay off tens of thousands of workers to reverse poor earnings.

Separately, Chinese carmakers took a 13 percent market share in Europe last month, up from 7.9 percent a year earlier, ranking ahead of Japanese rivals for a second consecutive month. Geely Auto, SAIC Motor, BYD, Chery and Leapmotor led the gains.

Google Fined US$1 Billion by EU Regulators

Alphabet's Google was fined 890 million euros (US$1 billion) by the EU for flouting rules aimed at reining in the power of big tech companies, but regulators cited good progress in talks with the company. The rules are aimed at unfair competition that thwarts rivals. The fines related to Google searches favoring its own services and on restrictions in the Google Play store that prevent app developers from steering users to free or lower-cost options. Google said it might challenge the fines in court.

Allianz to Acquire HSBC Singapore Insurance Unit for US$2.1 Billion

German insurance giant Allianz said it is acquiring the Singapore life insurance unit of British-based HSBC, Hong Kong's biggest bank, for S2.7 billion (US$2.1 billion) to expand its Asian business. Last year, the Singapore business generated operating profit of US$91 million.

Economy & Markets

Zhongji Innolight Stops Taking Subscriptions for HK IPO a Day Early

Zhongji Innolight stopped accepting subscriptions for US$8 billion IPO in Hong Kong a day early on Friday, indicating heavy interest despite setting the highest subscription entry threshold in the city's history. The shares were priced at a maximum of HK$1,010 (US$149) and required 50 shares per board lot, raising the minimum threshold to HK$51,009. Subscriptions for Hong Kong's biggest IPO in seven years were reportedly several times the 54.4 million shares on offer. Shandong Province-based Innolight, the world's largest producer of optical transceivers, is a supplier to companies that include Nvidia, Alphabet and Meta.

China Increases Targets for Renewable Energy

China plans to increase wind and solar power generation by 53 percent over the next five years, under a new renewable energy plan that makes green power targets binding. The plan calls for increasing overall renewable generation to 1.8 billion tons of coal equivalent, up from a 1.28 billion tons-equivalent set in a 2025 target. By 2030, wind and solar, backed up by storage, should be able to supply 8 percent of their installed capacity during periods of peak demand, and cover 20 percent of electricity use during demand spikes. The plan also targets 570 gigawatts of hydropower capacity by 2030, up from a 2025 target of 450 gigawatts.

Tangshan Steelmakers Face Production Curbs

Iron and steel companies in the Chinese city of Tangshan received official notices of production cutbacks, with several blast furnaces to be idled, as the government seeks to address steel industry overcapacity and dropping prices. This week, blast furnace operating rates across 247 Chinese steel mills dropped 0.6 percentage points to 82 percent, with mill profitability falling 2.6 percentage points to 34.6 percent. Daily molten iron output shrank by 15,100 tons to nearly 2.4 million tons. Separately, Japan issued a preliminary anti-dumping ruling against certain galvanized steel imports from China. The ruling affects China's Angang Steel and Hunan Valin Lianyuan Steel, among others.

Japan Consumer Prices Rise Modestly

Consumer prices in Japan in June rose 1.7 percent a year earlier, up from 1.5 percent in May, as government fuel subsidies cushioned an economy dependent on oil imports from high energy prices triggered by the Iran war. Food prices increased 3.2 percent. Core inflation, which strips out fresh food. came in at 1.6 percent, below the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target.

Deep Dive

US$50 Vanishes in the Global Gap of AI Governance

I was at home in Shanghai one evening when my phone lit up with the name of my younger brother, a university student in Bangladesh. When I picked up the call, I heard panic in his voice.

"Bhaiya," he said, "my Claude account is gone!"

How I Found China's Innovation Engine From a Hospital Bed

I never expected a hospital stay to become my crash course in China's medical innovation ecosystem.

Corporate

Hikvision First-Half Net Profit Jumps 40 Percent

Hangzhou-based Hikvision, a major Chinese supplier of video surveillance equipment, reported a 40 percent surge in first-half net profit to about 8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion). Revenue rose 12 percent to 46.8 billion yuan. The company attributed its performance to expanding AI deployment. Hikvision business units, including Hikrobot, Hikmicro, EZVIZ, HikAuto and Hiksemi, continued to drive growth and profitability.

Trip.com Penalized in Antitrust Probe

China's market regulation authorities hit Trip.com with a 5.18 billion yuan (US$7.65 billion) antitrust penalty. Regulators ruled that the company abused its dominant position in China's online hotel booking market, where it has held over 50 percent market share since 2020.

An investigation revealed Trip.com forced exclusive deals on select hotels and mandated lowest-price guarantees on others. The company was ordered to refund 122 million yuan in withheld deposits, forfeit 1.66 billion yuan in illegal gains and pay a 3.52 billion yuan fine. The ruling marks another landmark platform economy antitrust case, following those involving Alibaba and Meituan.

Nvidia Raises Prices Over Surging Memory Costs

Nvidia announced a new round of price increase notices for its graphics processing units and video random-access memory bundles, affecting downstream graphics card manufacturers. The company cited rising costs, according to BenchLife. The price hikes cover both GDDR7 and previous-generation GDDR6 memory chips, and RTX 50-series graphics cards,

Skyworth to Expand into AI Computing Terminals

China consumer electronics group Skyworth Group said it will launch home AI computing terminals, citing the rapid development of Chinese chips from the likes of Huawei Technologies and Cambricon, Yicai reported. Skyworth's existing set-top-box business has partnerships with telecoms and broadcasting companies worldwide, giving the Shenzhen-based company access to a user base of 1 billion people. The company secured North American operating rights for Philips TVs last year and rights for Panasonic TVs in Europe and North America this year.

South Korean Chipmakers Plan Major US Tech Deals

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix will announce "large" deals with major US technology firms during a visit to California's Silicon Valley by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's visit to Silicon Valley, a senior Seoul official said. The agreements may include long-term memory chip supply contracts and investment partnerships.

Apple Demands OLED Price Cuts Over Rising Memory Costs

Apple is pressuring its display suppliers for significant price cuts on OLED panels to offset soaring memory chip costs that are driving up iPhone production expenses. The tech giant has asked suppliers to price OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max at around US$70 – about a 20 percent reduction. Industry insiders estimate that primary suppliers like Samsung Display and LG Display are currently supplying panels at an average price of US$66.50, already below Apple's target cap.

Lens Technology, Intel Partner on Glass Substrates

The Hong Kong unit of China's Lens Technology signed a memorandum of understanding with Intel to explore potential collaboration in advanced packaging of glass substrates