China aspires to construct a globally competitive large aircraft. Is it possible without Western involvement? China is striving to create large aircrafts that can rival Airbus and Boeing, but the success of their plans might depend on Western regulators and suppliers' collaboration.

China has always harbored aspirations to transform the worldwide aviation sector into an "ABC" market by disrupting the Airbus and Boeing duopoly with the introduction of top-tier Chinese jets.

Currently, the Chinese airplane maker is intensifying efforts to grow its fleet, with plans to incorporate wide-body models. This includes their own creation designed to rival Boeing's legendary 747 jumbo jet.

Introducing the C929 and C939.

Comac seems highly concentrated on manufacturing its own aircrafts capable of performing long-distance flights, an effort influenced not only by market needs but also by political and strategic elements.

"Very few engineering products are as noticeable and identifiable as large aircraft," stated David Yu, a professor at New York University Shanghai with a specialty in aviation financing.

Similar to the United States and Europe, China also has numerous motivations to cultivate and utilize its own large aircraft that mirror its stature and aspirations.

Lack of funds and poor demand are hindrances to worldwide green-hydrogen initiatives, according to a report by BMI. The report reveals that 79% of these low-carbon hydrogen projects are unable to advance beyond the planning phase, as project developers face challenges with steep production expenses and weak market demand.

By the close of 2024, the number of low-carbon hydrogen initiatives had risen to 663, up from 409 the previous year, according to a report from BMI, a subsidiary of Fitch Solutions, released on Friday. Approximately half of these projects, 335 to be exact, were situated in North America and Western Europe, with most focusing on the development of green hydrogen.

Nonetheless, 79 percent of these initiatives are still in the conceptual stage, underlining the difficulty in obtaining funds and finalizing investment choices.

The firm stated that the entire process of hydrogen, from its creation to its exportation, is burdened with substantial initial outlays. Financial institutions are hesitant due to these costs and the unpredictability of returns, particularly in the context of elevated interest rates and insufficient transport and distribution systems.

The joint project in North Dakota by TC Energy and Marathon Petroleum, known as Prairie Horizon Hydrogen, has been terminated despite receiving $2 billion in federal funding, as reported by BMI.

The craze for DeepSeek leaves China's investors out of the AI game

DeepSeek creator, Liang Wenfeng, had previously expressed that Chinese investors were reluctant to support purely research-based projects.

Baidu Venture, a separate investment entity specializing in AI, which was established by the renowned Chinese internet behemoth bearing the same name, surprisingly didn't invest in DeepSeek. This is despite the fact that the start-up's Beijing office is located just a floor below the venture firm's location.

DeepSeek, a breakaway company from one of China's leading hedge funds, High-Flyer Quant, started in 2023, didn't express a need for outside investment, as per Gao Xue, the CEO and managing partner of Baidu Venture.

"High-Flyer's AI big-scale enterprise does not intend to secure additional funding, therefore, much like other venture capitalists, we have not been lucky enough to become an investor in DeepSeek," Gao informed a local news source.

The pair of companies have been in communication and shared a cordial relationship ever since DeepSeek relocated to the same premises last May, he stated.

Five in the morning

Could China's affordable DeepSeek signal the downfall of Nvidia's reign in the chip market?

Sam Altman, the head of OpenAI, praises DeepSeek for their impressive work on AI chatbot technology. Despite being the creator of ChatGPT, he has also announced plans to meet with a Chinese start-up, though it won't be at the AI Action Summit in Paris.

In a conversation with The Times Tech Podcast, Altman expressed that the emergence of DeepSeek was unexpected, even though the arrival of a new competitor was inevitable.

Shares in Hong Kong decline from a four-month peak due to increasing worries about trade conflicts. Market participants believe that Trump's tariff strategies may trigger inflation, potentially compelling the Federal Reserve to maintain elevated interest rates for an extended period.

The Hang Seng Index experienced a decline of 1.1 per cent, closing at 21,294.86, marking the sharpest drop in close to three weeks. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Tech Index saw a decrease of 2.7 per cent. This downturn followed a period of growth driven by the rise of AI startup, DeepSeek. However, this growth halted after the market shifted into a bullish trend last week, following a 20 per cent increase from a low in January.

In the mainland, there was a 0.5 per cent decrease in the CSI 300 Index and a 0.1 per cent decline in the Shanghai Composite Index.

Automobile manufacturers, Geely Automobile Holdings and Li Auto experienced a minimum of 5% drop after the US President, Donald Trump, mentioned the possibility of his administration considering tariffs on car imports. Leading the descent among significant mainland Chinese tech firms trading in the city were Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding. Meanwhile, Zijin Mining Group, a gold producer, defied the trend as the value of the precious metal hit a record high, causing investors to shift towards safer assets.

The potential consequences of these tariffs could significantly affect the worldwide economy. Experts suggest that these duties could solidify inflation within the US, and postpone reductions in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve.

OpenAI is on track to complete its initial proprietary chip design this year, reducing its dependency on Nvidia. The chip will be produced by TSMC utilizing the manufacturer's sophisticated 3-nanometer process technology.

Both OpenAI and TSMC chose not to provide any comments

The recent news indicates that OpenAI is progressing steadily towards its bold aim of large-scale production at TSMC by 2026. Usually, a tape-out process comes with a hefty price tag of tens of millions of dollars and requires about half a year to yield a complete chip, unless OpenAI decides to pay a significant premium for fast-tracked production.

There's no assurance that the silicon will operate correctly during the initial tape out. If it fails, the company will have to identify the issue and redo the tape-out phase.

Within OpenAI, the chip designed for training was seen as a tactical instrument to bolster OpenAI’s bargaining power with other chip manufacturers, according to the sources. Following the first chip, OpenAI’s engineers aim to create progressively sophisticated processors with expanded features with each subsequent version.

Jack Ma pays a visit to used goods platform Xianyu while Alibaba's AI continues to turn heads. Alibaba has been leveraging the digital swap meet as a proving ground for its swiftly advancing AI capabilities.

Images and short videos disseminated by Xianyu workers depicted Ma, aged 60, donning a vest bearing the Alibaba insignia and grinning widely. The corporation's youthful employees were observed eagerly trying to get a selfie with the retired business magnate, who continues to be highly respected as the symbolic head of the corporate giant he established in 1999 and as a prominent figure in China's private sector.

Analysts believe that BYD's complimentary provision of autonomous technology will stimulate electric vehicle purchases and the uptake of intelligent driving. BYD's founder and chairman, Wang Chuanfu, asserts that this step ushers in a revolutionary period where every customer can utilize smart driving.

Jefferies' analyst, Johnson Wan, reported on Tuesday that BYD has made significant progress from scratch in autonomous driving technology. This advancement is expected to speed up the feature's acceptance in the mainstream market and prompt a surge of updates among current users.

Shenzhen's BYD held an unveiling ceremony for its autonomous driving system known as "God's Eye" on Monday. They announced that the system will be incorporated into at least 21 of its electric vehicle models, without any price alterations.

During the occasion, the founder and Chairman of BYD, Wang Chuanfu, stated that this initiative signifies "a novel period where all users can utilize intelligent driving".

Wan expressed that the launch of God's Eye will help BYD preserve its prominent presence in the Chinese automobile industry. As of 2024, the company held a significant 15% of the passenger vehicle market and a dominant 34% of the country's electric vehicle market, as per the data provided by the China Passenger Car Association.

Wealthy investor David Tepper increases his China investments to make up 37% of his company's portfolio. The hedge fund manager fulfills his vow to purchase 'everything' related to China, raising his stakes in Alibaba, JD.com, ETFs.

Wealthy financier David Tepper amplified his stakes in several China-associated shares and ETFs in the previous quarter, even amid doubts concerning tariffs and China’s sluggish economic progression.

The head and originator of Appaloosa Management, who asserted in September that he would purchase "everything" connected to China, amplified his company's stake in businesses such as JD.com, Alibaba Group Holding, and PDD Holdings during the final quarter of 2024.

Tepper's purchasing rampage in China raised Appaloosa's stakes in JD.com by 43%, Alibaba by 18%, Baidu by 7%, KE Holdings by 18%, and PDD by 1%, as per the report filed on Monday. The holdings in two ETFs – KranShares CSI China Internet and iShares China Large-Cap – saw an increase by 21.5% and 14%, respectively.

Approximately 37 per cent of Tepper's portfolio was made up of stocks and ETFs associated with China by the end of December.

Chinese shares experienced a surge beginning in late September, following the announcement by Beijing of numerous initiatives to bolster the economy. This led to Tepper's pledge to invest in "everything" associated with China, even though the American did diminish his stakes in Alibaba and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF during the third quarter.

The surge in the market slowed down during the last quarter due to investor dissatisfaction with Beijing's execution of economic stimulus, but it regained speed the previous month. In more current news, the sudden popularity of the artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek resulted in a surge in Chinese tech stocks, driving the Hang Seng Index to achieve its most successful weekly outcome in the past four months last week.

Commentary | Trump's recent trade attack is more about control than finance

Trade taxes can be a two-sided weapon, but the government has chosen to leverage economic strain to accomplish wider tactical goals.

The conduct of Trump has sparked curiosity both domestically and globally about the precise nature of tariffs and their impact on international commerce. Essentially, tariffs are import taxes. For instance, if a Chinese shoe manufacturer aims to market its products in the US, that firm could be subject to a tariff imposed by the American authorities. If a US retailer purchases a pair for US$100, a 10 per cent tariff, similar to the one Trump recently instituted on Chinese goods, necessitates that the retailer remit an additional US$10 to the US government.

The price of those $100 shoes has now risen to $110. But who's footing the bill for the additional $10? During his initial term, when Trump increased tariffs on goods imported from China, the brunt of the expense fell on American importers, especially if they were unable to locate other sources. As a result, retail prices stayed fairly steady, at least for the first year.

The head of a Hong Kong restaurant franchise is planning to sell a building in Sha Tin due to escalating retail troubles. Fulum Group's chairman, Yeung Wai, has put up for sale the Big Orange, a property purchased in 2013 for US$64 million, through a tender process.

The proprietor of Big Orange, a nine-floor structure in Tai Wai, has designated real estate consulting firm CBRE to oversee a public auction for the property in April, as of Monday.

The building, which stands out with its unique orange exterior and spans 236,148 square feet, was purchased by Hansun Investments in 2013 for a sum of HK$498 million (equivalent to US$64 million), as per governmental documentation. Yeung Wai, the head of Fulum Group, is officially registered as a director of Hansun.

Reeves Yan, the executive director and chief of capital markets at CBRE Hong Kong, highlighted that Big Orange is linked to multiple key highways. He added that whether traveling to Hong Kong Island or to any significant regions in Kowloon, the location is just a 20-minute drive away, thus making it a highly strategic central location.

Three thirty-nine

Store occupancy rebounds in Hong Kong, yet empty shops remain noticeable throughout the city.

StairMed, a competitor of Neuralink, has received the most significant funding among Chinese companies specializing in brain-computer interfaces. This recent financial boost for the start-up, based in Shanghai, came from Qiming Venture, OrbiMed, and Lilly Asia.

StairMed, a brain-computer interface (BCI) company based in Shanghai that purports to exceed Neuralink, a venture by Elon Musk, in specific aspects, has amassed 350 million yuan (equivalent to US$48 million). This is the highest amount of capital ever raised by a Chinese start-up in this sector.

The firm, known for creating BCI devices that can be implanted and robots for surgery, announced that its latest round of funding was primarily driven by China's Qiming Venture Partners, OrbiMed, a healthcare-centric firm, and Lilly Asia Ventures, an offshoot of the renowned American pharmaceutical titan, Eli Lilly.

StairMed announced what it claimed to be the biggest fundraising round ever for a Chinese company specializing in implantable Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), as per their official WeChat post on Monday. The post also mentioned that the raised funds would be utilized to speed up clinical trials, support research and development efforts, and construct a new manufacturing plant. The last time StairMed had a fundraising round was in 2023, during which it managed to gather a sum amounting to hundreds of millions of yuan.

Lilly Asia Ventures lauded StairMed for being an international frontrunner in the field of flexible electrode technology and comprehensive BCI system development skills.

1:50 am

Scientists from China assert a significant advancement in brain-computer interface technology, achieved by utilizing signals

The new company announced that its extremely adaptable neural electrodes, employed in BCI devices for data collection, are only one-hundredth the size of a hair strand, or one-fifth the size of Neuralink's electrodes. According to the company, their product is also "hundreds of times softer" than Neuralink’s version, which makes it hard for the brain tissue to detect the electrode's 'invasion'.