Daily Tech Roundup provides insight into key technology developments, particularly in China and Asia.
Chinese tech companies are investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) as a strategy to bolster their cloud business. Big players such as ByteDance, Alibaba Group, Baidu and Tencent Holdings are slashing the prices of large language models (LLMs). ByteDance kicked off the trend with a big price cut for its large language model Doubao in May, and other big tech companies followed suit. This has set off a price war in China's AI sector, which is already seeing billions of dollars of investment aimed at developing various AI models and products aimed at both consumers and businesses. However, the main aim of this price war is not to take market share from competitors, but to expand cloud services that support core AI products, an official from a major Chinese cloud provider told Caixin. [para. 2][para. 3][para. 4][para. 5]
The European Union (EU) plans to impose tariffs of up to 48% on electric vehicles (EVs) imported from China starting next month in response to escalating trade tensions. Automakers such as BYD, Geely and MG's parent company SAIC have been notified of the additional taxes, which will begin around July 4. The move comes after a lengthy investigation into China's subsidies to the EV industry. The levels of the tariffs will vary, with SAIC Motor Corp. facing the biggest increase of 38.1% on top of its existing 10% tariff. The measures will have a major impact on SAIC, especially on models such as the MG4. [para. 7][para. 8][para. 9]
In the first four months of 2024, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) overtook LG Energy Solution Ltd. to become the top supplier of EV batteries outside China. According to a report by SNE Research, CATL's installed capacity share in the market outside China rose to 27.4%, slightly ahead of LG Energy's 25.7%. The change came as CATL's EV battery installed capacity in January-April 2024 increased 16.2% year-on-year to 27.7GWh. [para. 10][para. 11][para. 12]
Lilium NV, a German manufacturer of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, announced it will establish its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. Located in the Bao'an Low-Altitude Economy and Industrial Public Service Center, the new regional office will support sales and service throughout the Asia-Pacific region and will begin hiring locally starting this year. Shenzhen is a technology hub with an economy focused on innovation and the development of a low-altitude economy. [para. 13][para. 14][para. 15]
Hong Kong’s ambition to become a global hub for virtual asset (VA) trading has prompted financial institutions in mainland China to release innovative blockchain-based financial products. Subsidiaries of mainland China mutual fund companies, including Harvest Global Investments, Vocera Asset Management (International) Co., Ltd. and China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., were approved in April to list the first spot VA exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Hong Kong. These six funds, split into Bitcoin and Ether, began trading on April 30, with initial subscriptions reaching about $300 million. The development is expected to raise Hong Kong’s profile and provide a testing ground for regulators in Beijing to observe before formulating a similar policy for the mainland Chinese market. [para. 16][para. 17][para. 18][para. 19]
AI generated, for reference only
