Semiconductors
Economy
AI drives markets as valuations race ahead of earnings
From Wall Street to Shanghai, stock markets are hitting record highs as investors crowd into a narrowband of AI and semiconductor giants, turning the rally into a concentrated surge rather than a broad advance. But with gains increasingly reliant on a handful of megacap companies, is the AI boom an overstretched bubble?
Caixin Global
Economy
The West’s industrial policy double standard
For decades, industrial policy was discouraged in developing economies, even as China’s state-led model reshaped global supply chains. Now, with the US and Europe embracing massive interventions, the old orthodoxy looks less like principle than self-interest. Academic Guanie Lim examines how the discourse on industrial policy has shifted.
Guanie Lim
Economy
China’s critical minerals export ban falls short
The latest data on imports and consumption of gallium and germanium suggests that Beijing’s weaponisation strategy only led to a price spike, but did not hurt the US’s industrial consumption amid their efforts to diversify. Ultimately, dominance built on a genuine capability differential is key to export controls achieving their desired result, say researchers Amit Kumar and Pranay Kotasthane.
Amit Kumar
Technology
The illusion of independent AI: How the US and China control the machines
The clash over Anthropic reveals a deeper reality: frontier AI is inseparable from state power. While Washington reacts and Beijing plans, both are tightening control, driving a split into rival AI ecosystems. SMU academic Liang Chen shares his analysis.
Liang Chen
Economy
Qatar helium shutdown adds new risk to chip supply chain
Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) shutdown has triggered a global helium shortage, pushing prices up, testing China’s chipmakers and disrupting import-dependent supply chains. Can Qatar’s missing capacity be offset by higher production from other countries?
Caixin Global
Technology
Can China win the AI race with cheap power?
China is rapidly building AI data centres powered by low-cost electricity and state-led planning. Yet shortages of top-end chips and misaligned infrastructure risk leaving much of this computing capacity underused. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Sha explains.
Liu Sha
Technology
Why China isn’t rushing to buy Nvidia’s H200 AI chip
The US is offering China Nvidia’s second-fastest AI chip, the H200, but Beijing is holding back. Behind the hesitation lies a high-stakes struggle over technology, control, and the future of domestic chips, says Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan.
Yu Zeyuan
Technology
Tech for market: How China’s tech exports force a global compromise
China’s tech tide has turned. Once a sponge for foreign know-how, it’s now an exporter facing strict “tech-for-market” rules abroad. From TikTok to AI, both sides are charting a cautious middle path between full access and total lockdown. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Lim Zhan Ting reports.
Lim Zhan Ting
Technology
US and Chinese chipmakers tread different paths in AI gold rush
As the global AI race heats up, US chipmakers are ramping up spending while China’s tech giants race to overcome sanctions with a self-sufficiency playbook — two divergent strategies chasing the same prize. Which path will define the future of artificial intelligence?
Caixin Global
Economy
How Taiwanese firms became the US’s secret weapon against China’s rise
Taiwanese firms have long been vital partners in the US economic strategy towards China. Their flexible operations and investments are reshaping supply chains and helping the US strengthen its manufacturing base while managing the challenges of China’s rise. Economist Min-Hua Chiang gives her read.
Min-Hua Chiang