Daily Buzz: 25 November 2025

Xi, Trump Talk by Phone

Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Monday but details of the call were sketchy. It is not known who initiated it. According to Xinhua news agency, the two leaders discussed bilateral relations. Trump posted on his social media account that the topics included the Ukraine war, fentanyl and soybeans. "Our relationship with China is extremely strong," he wrote. Trump also said he would visit Beijing in April and Xi would reciprocate with a trip to Washington sometime later in the year. The two leaders met face-to-face in late October in South Korea, where they agreed to a package of proposals to reduce trade tensions.

US, Ukraine Announce Revised Peace Plan

A joint Ukraine-US statement on the second day of talks in Geneva announced a "revised framework" for ending the war in Ukraine, apparently shedding some of more contentious elements in the original 28-point plan that favored Russia. Among the items believed discarded are Russian demands that Kiev renounce any intention of joining NATO, reduce the size of its military and agree to a full amnesty for any war crimes committed during the nearly four-year conflict. How much territory Ukraine may be forced to cede to Russia to end the war remains unknown. Russian would have to agree to any changes from the original plan it accepted.

China Flights to Japan Canceled

All flights on 12 China-Japan routes were canceled by Monday, Shanghai TV reported. The reduction reflects soured relations between Beijing and Toyko, spurred by comments about Taiwan from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said "crossed a red line." Mainland travel to Japan has been discouraged. China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Japan's plans to deploy offensive weapons near Taiwan is an "extremely dangerous" development.

China's AI Bulls Have Room to Run

The Chinese boom in artificial intelligence-related stocks isn't a risky bubble, according to Kinger Lau, chief equity strategist at US investment bank Goldman Sachs. He told the South China Morning Post that Chinese companies are more focused on AI applications, whereas US companies are concentrating on increasing computing power. "Relative to the US, Chinese companies focused on applications are still trading at much more reasonable valuations," he said. "China's AI stock boom is far from a bubble from a valuation perspective." The top 10 tech companies in China have a combined market capitalization of US$2.5 trillion compared with a valuation of US$25 trillion for the top 10 in the US. He predicted the market rally in China will extend into next year, though possibly at a slower pace.

In US markets on Monday, the AI bulls resumed a rebound that started on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 2.7 percent in its best trading day since May. The rally was led by investor enthusiasm toward Alphabet, whose Google unit unveiled its upgraded AI model Gemini 3 last week.

Top Business

WeRide Narrows Loss on Robotaxi Gains

Chinese autonomous driving company WeRide narrowed its loss in the third quarter to 307 million yuan (US$43 million) from 1 billion yuan a year earlier on a 144 percent surge in revenue to 171 million yuan. The Nasdaq-listed company said revenue from its robotaxi business surged 7.6-fold to 35 million yuan. The company began trading on the Hong Kong exchange earlier this month after a HK$2.4 billion (US$308 million) IPO. WeRide, which started as a ride-hailing company in China, said it operates a fleet of 1,600 self-driving vehicles, including 750 robotaxis. It operates driverless commercial services in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and holds robotaxi licenses for startup operations in eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Dubai and Switzerland.

Chuangxin Shares Rise in Hong Kong Debut

Shares in Chinese aluminum smelter Chuangxin Industries Holdings rose 33 percent from their offer price in their Hong Kong debut on Monday after an initial public offering that raised HK$5.5 billion (US$707 million). The IPO drew major institutional investors, including global commodity giant Glencore and Hillhouse Investment. Chuangxin, based in Inner Mongolia, said it plans to use the proceeds to expand overseas and to develop green-energy projects. The IPO came amid an upbeat market for aluminum, which is selling at near three-year highs on demand from construction of AI data centers, Bloomberg News reported.

Moore Threads Begins Largest STAR IPO of 2025

AI chip firm Moore Threads, sometimes called "China's Nvidia," began subscriptions on Monday for its 8 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) initial public offering on the Shanghai STAR market. At an offer price of 114.28 yuan a share, it will be the priciest and largest IPO of the year. The STAR market, part of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, caters to startups in science and technology. Moore, a maker of graphic processing units, said proceeds from the sale will be used for research and development. The company, formed five years ago, reported operating revenue of 7 billion yuan in the first half and a net loss of 271 million yuan.

China Forms Robot Standards Committee

Executives of leading Chinese robotics companies, including Unitree Chief Executive Wang Xingxing and Agibot President Peng Zhihui, were among 65 people named to a new national committee on humanoid robot technical standards. It will be chaired by Xie Shaofeng, a chief engineer at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Economy & Markets

MSCI China Index Reshuffles Constituent Members

MSCI China Index added 26 companies and removed 20 under a reshuffle that reflects shifting investor demand toward higher-value manufacturing and technology sectors Beijing has prioritized for growth. Nine Hong Kong-listed firms, including Zijin Gold International, GF Securities, Ganfeng Lithium, and UBTech Robotics were added, along with mainland listed companies that include Hua Hong Semiconductor, Shengyi Electronics and Everwin Precision. Removals included Hong Kong-listed Beijing Enterprises Water and China Resources Pharmaceutical, and 16 mainland shares.

Separately, the Hong Kong stock exchange announced Chinese biotech company Innovent Biologics will be added to the Hang Seng index next month, expanding the benchmark index to 89 constituent members. Other Chinese mainland companies on the blue-chip Hang Seng include Alibaba, Tencent, BYD, Geely and Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Singapore Inflation Highest in More than a Year

Singapore inflation in October expanded to its highest level since August 2024, exceeding market forecasts. Consumer prices rose 1.2 percent after a 0.7 rise in September. The increase was driven by a 3.4 percent gain in transport prices and a 4 percent jump in healthcare costs.

Corporate

Alibaba's Qwen Hits a Milestone

Alibaba AI assistant Qwen had been downloaded more than 10 million times, surpassing rivals ChatGPT, Sora and Deepseek to become the fastest AI app to hit that milestone. Alibaba released the chatbot on November 17 as part of its push into the consumer market for artificial intelligence.

Lingguan, a multimodal AI tool developed by Alibaba-backed Ant Group, had drawn 2 million downloads globally by Monday, six days after its launch.

Dajin Secures Major European Contract

Dajin Heavy Industry, a Chinese supplier of offshore wind turbine foundations, said it received a 1.3 billion yuan (US$188 million) order from an undisclosed European client. The deal is equivalent to about a third of the company's 2024 operating revenue, it said, without revealing figures. Daijin also announced it will invest 4.4 billion yuan to build two wind power projects in China.

Honor 500 Smartphone Debut

Honor, which is mulling an initial public offering in China, released its mid-range Honor 500 smartphone, which features Snapdragon 8 Elite, ultra-bright displays, a 200 MP main camera and 8,000 mAh batteries. The base model with 12 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of storage is priced at 2,699 yuan (US$375).

Pony.ai, Sunshine Chuxing Partner on Robotaxis

China autonomous driving technology firm Pony.ai and ride-hailing platform Sunshine Chuxing announced a partnership on robotaxi services in major cities in China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai.