China Tech News

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Andrew Ng, former Baidu chief scientist and an artificial intelligence expert, will reportedly join Woebot, a chatbot developer, as chairman.

The chatbot developed by Woebot can reportedly help people handle their mental health problems. The company's technology is based on cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on emotional management and customized handling solutions for mental problems like depression and anxiety.

A research conducted by Stanford University shows that after using Woebot for two weeks, people's anxiety and depression can be reduced.

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ZTE and JD Group announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement in New York under which the two parties will work together in mobile terminal development; online and offline channel sales; and brand marketing.
Cheng Lixin, chief executive officer of ZTE's terminal business unit, said that mobile technology ecosystem and consumer habits have changed tremendously. By cooperating with JD, ZTE will provide more innovative mobile devices to Chinese consumers.

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China's nationwide automobile sales reached 2.709 million units, including 78,000 new energy cars, in September 2017.

According to statistics provided by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China's automobile output was 2.671 million units, an increase of 27.64% compared with the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 5.54%; and China's automobile sales were 2.709 million units, an increase of 23.93% compared with the previous month and a year-on-year increase of 5.66%.

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SHANGHAI stocks edged up yesterday for the fourth day on gains made by shares of home appliance makers and the environmental protection firms.

The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.26 percent to 3,396.90 points.

Environmental protection companies gained after the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said yesterday it would promote green manufacturing, improve environmental protection equipment manufacturing, and encourage the sustainable and healthy development of the environmental protection industry.

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SAUDI Arabia’s powerful crown prince on Tuesday announced plans to build a futuristic city run entirely on alternative sources of energy and said the ultraconservative kingdom must return to “moderate Islam.”

The US$500 billion “Neom” project, envisioned as a hub for technological innovation, will be funded by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, which the prince oversees, as well as the Saudi government and a range of private and international investors.

“This place is not for conventional people or conventional companies,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told an audience of investors from around the world gathered in the capital, Riyadh, on Tuesday. “This will be a place for the dreamers of the world.”

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MCDONALD’S in China provoked snorts of laughter yesterday, as Internet users mocked a ham-fisted new company name that sounds a lot like the Chinese word for a pig eating.

Earlier this month, the company quietly changed its official name from a transliteration of “McDonald’s” to a new moniker meaning “Golden Arches” — a reference to the famous logo.

It was an under-the-radar decision only intended for official use, not for restaurants, the company said in a statement.

But the move threatened to turn into something of a PR nightmare after an enterprising Internet user uncovered the change in corporate filings.

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A series of safety scandals at Japanese companies have put the country’s lionized factory floor under scrutiny as manufacturers struggle with increased pressure on costs, stricter enforcement of standards and growing competition.

With margins squeezed by a stagnant domestic market and rivalry from China and South Korea, many factories have cut costs, reducing their reliance on workers in lifetime employment in favor of laborers on temporary contracts.

As they have done so, safety scandals have erupted across the country’s much-vaunted manufacturing sector, with Subaru Corp on Friday joining Nissan Motor Co Ltd in admitting it failed to follow proper vehicle inspection procedures.

Earlier this month, Japan’s third-largest steelmaker, Kobe Steel Ltd, said its workers had tampered with product specifications for years, leaving companies around the world scrambling to verify the safety of cars, planes, trains and electrical goods.

Unable to easily lay off “regular” employees, full-time employees with permanent contracts and pay scales based on seniority that formed the heart of Japan’s post-war workforce, companies have increasingly come to rely on “non-regular” workers — temps, part-timers and short-term contract workers.

These non-regular workers allow firms to cut costs and adjust their workforce, said Koji Morioka, emeritus professor at Kansai University and an expert on workplace issues. But it has led to a de-skilling of the factory floor, lowering standards and increasing the likelihood of wrongdoing and accidents, he said.

“The use of these ‘disposable’ workers is greatly increasing,” Morioka said. “The loss of experienced, skilled workers on the factory floor is becoming more and more risky.”

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ITALIAN super-luxury car manufacturer Maserati has enjoyed remarkable success in China. Thanks to its rich brand heritage and the outstanding performance of its cars, Maserati has won over more than 40,000 Chinese customers. Since the launch of Levante in mid-2016, the first SUV in Maserati’s history, the brand has enjoyed tremendous growth in China, which is now its largest market worldwide, even overtaking the US.

Soaring sales and surging growth

Following the launch of Levante and upgrading the flagship luxury sedan Quattroporte last year, Maserati secured its best-ever sales performance in China. The company’s total sales volume for 2016 was 12,250 units.
“In just one year, China has become the largest market for Levante worldwide,” said Mirko Bordiga, managing director of Maserati China. “Our sales have grown by 47 percent in the first three quarters of this year, and it is expected to hit a record high for the whole of 2017.”

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CHINA’S big four state-owned banks yesterday reported profit growth across the board in the third quarter.
Net income at the four lenders — the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China — all grew in the low single digits for July-September year on year, according to filings with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

ICBC, the world’s largest bank by assets, reported a net profit of 75 billion yuan (US$11.3 billion) for the third quarter, up 3.35 percent anually.

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THE first reviews of Apple Inc’s eagerly awaited iPhone X are out and the verdict is clear: it is the best iPhone yet.
The run-in to Friday’s release of the redesigned glass and stainless steel device has been dominated by concerns over the supply and functionality of its new FaceID access system.

At US$999, it is also the most expensive phone the company has ever launched, but going by channel checks run by market analysts, demand is already far outstripping supply.

“It’s thin, it’s powerful, it has ambitious ideas about what cameras on phones can be used for, and it pushes the design language of phones into a strange new place,” Verge reviewer Nilay Patel said in a lengthy review, which he promised to keep updated as he explored more features.

There is no home button in the iPhone X, a key feature on previous phones, and users instead tap the device to wake it up.

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MAJOR Chinese cities, developers and the financial sector are moving quickly to join a government-led campaign to develop the rental housing market.

This comes as the country’s top authorities aim to provide a long-term solution to an overheated real estate market by encouraging more people to rent rather than buy.
For a long time, soaring property prices have put urban residents under pressure, making housing affordability a growing problem for policy-makers.

Now the government wants to further tap the rental market to stabilize home prices and curb speculation, and a key is providing tenants with the same access to public services and decent living conditions that owners enjoy.
A new house rental policy in Beijing came into effect earlier this week, guaranteeing the education rights of tenants’ children and allowing those renting government-subsidized housing to have their hukou (household registration) registered and transferred to their rented homes.

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MORE than 40,000 spectators, giant screens, players glued to their keyboards and more than US$1 million prize money for the winners — welcome to the world of eSports in China, a country that has become a leader in competitive video game playing.

The final of the world championships for League of Legends, one of the most popular video games, took place on Saturday in Beijing’s “Bird’s Nest,” the national stadium built for the 2008 Olympic Games.
“The atmosphere is great! It’s better than at home, no?” said Yu Yating, a 23-year-old dressed in a long green wig, white minidress and a plastic golden scepter.

“I’ve been playing League of Legends since 2013 because I love the monster fights, it relaxes me,” she said, as screams broke out in the stands when the competitors arrived, ready to do battle.

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UBER is pledging US$5 million over the next five years to seven organizations that work to prevent sexual assaults, a move aimed at helping the ride-hailing service combat its own problems as well as society as a whole.

The world’s largest ride-hailing company says the money will help the organizations fund their own programs as well train 150 of Uber’s customer service agents as part of a new team to deal with sexual assault reports, including how to interview people reporting improper conduct.

The initiative was announced yesterday and comes at a time when Uber is trying to polish its image, which has been tarnished by investigations that found rampant sexual harassment of employees and multiple reports of drivers assaulting passengers. The issue of sexual harassment has exploded on the national stage as women have been coming forward with complaints against film producer Harvey Weinstein and high-profile influencers in other industries.

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CHINA’S forex reserves rose for the ninth month in a row in October as pressure of capital outflow continued to ease, data from the central bank showed yesterday.

Forex reserves had totaled US$3.109 trillion by the end of October, up US$703 million from a month earlier, according to the People’s Bank of China, the central bank.

Although slightly below market forecasts, it is the first time the reserves have risen for so long since June 2014.
In an online statement, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange attributed the rise to stable cross-border capital flows and balanced supply-demand in the foreign exchange market.

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REVENUE from China’s competitive video game events will rise more than three times by 2021, powered by aggressive development of games and the country’s large tech-savvy population, PwC said in a report yesterday.
The eSports market is set to reap US$182 million in revenue by 2021, up from US$56 million last year, the report said.

Advertising via streaming will be worth US$84 million and sponsorship will account for US$54 million while consumer spending will total US$31 million and ticket sales should take up US$12 million, all rising at double digits per annum.

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CHINA’S Weibo microblogging site said yesterday its third quarter profit jumped 110 percent from a year earlier to US$115.2 million, driven by booming online advertising income.Revenue jumped 81 percent

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CHINA has set up a committee under the State Council to oversee financial stability and development, according to an official statement yesterday.The committee will be an office of the council, focusing

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ONCE again, China dominated a new list of the world’s fastest supercomputers, not only taking the top two seats, but also pulling ahead of the United States in the sheer number of systems being used.

According to a biannual ranking of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, called the Top500 published yesterday, China’s Sunway TaihuLight maintains the lead as the No. 1 system for the fourth time, with a performance of 93.01 petaflops.

China’s Tianhe-2, or Milky Way-2, is still the No. 2 system at 33.86 petaflops. Intel chip-based Tianhe-2 had topped the list for three years until it was displaced in November 2015 by TaihuLight, which was built entirely using processors designed and made in China.

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THE growth of China’s industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment slowed in October and missed market expectations, signaling that economic growth is expected to ease in the fourth quarter.

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Value-added industrial output, an important contribution to gross domestic product, grew 6.2 percent year on year last month, 0.6 percentage points slower than in September, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
The growth also missed market expectations of 6.3 percent but was faster than the 6.1 percent increase in October last year. Retail sales jumped 10 percent, 0.3 percentage points slower than September and 0.4 percentage points slower than expected.

Both industrial output and retail sales growth were the second lowest this year.

Fixed-asset investment rose 7.3 percent year on year in the first 10 months of the year, the slowest rise since 1999. The market had expected growth of 7.4 percent.

Investment by the private sector, which accounted for more than 60 percent of total FAI, rose 5.4 percent year on year.

Bureau spokeswoman Liu Aihua said production and demand were balanced, more jobs have been created, prices were generally stable, and the quality of economic growth has improved with better profitability for both industrial and services companies.

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China will raise the retail prices of gasoline and diesel today, the 10th increase and by far the largest this year, the country's top economic planner said yesterday.

As international oil prices have increased, the retail prices of gasoline and diesel will rise by 265 yuan (US$40) and 250 yuan per tonne respectively, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.

Under the current pricing mechanism, if international crude oil prices change by more than 50 yuan per tonne and remain at that level for 10 working days, the prices of refined oil products such as gasoline and diesel in China are adjusted accordingly.

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In a sharp contrast to the industry-wide revolution to eliminate fossil-fueled vehicles, little evolutionary is happening to an equally old living fossil: automotive retailing.

While China’s booming e-commerce puts almost the entire world at the touch of our fingertips, buying a car is still a huge project of legwork and haggling.

Why do we have to put up with all this when we are spoiled by overnight deliveries from our Singles Day shopping spree? For years, I have been told by industry veterans that automotive retailing is not quite as simple as running a grocery store.

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Commercial application of self-driving trucks is progressing perhaps more steadily than for autonomous passenger cars because trucks operate on open highways and aren’t subject to the vagaries of downtown traffic.

“Self-driving trucks will be able to operate commercially in confined areas, such as quarries,” said Lars Stenqvist, chief technology officer of Volvo Group during an interview with Shanghai Daily. “In reality, they are almost doing that now. The self-driving technology will reach more public areas, like harbors and dedicated highway lanes.”

Earlier this month, Volvo Group unveiled an autonomous concept truck for the first time in China. The truck is designed for hub-to-hub transport in semi-confined areas. It has been trialed in Beijing, where onlookers could watch it turn and do other maneuvers without a driver.

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ALIBABA Group will pay HK$22.4 billion (US$2.9 billion) to buy 36.16 percent of Sun Art Retail Group, which operates Auchan and RT Mart malls, from Ruentex Group as it works to drive offline and online business synergies.

“Physical stores serve an indispensable role in the consumer journey and should be enhanced through data-driven technology and personalized services in the digital economy,” Alibaba chief executive officer Daniel Zhang said in a statement yesterday.

“By fully integrating online and physical channels together with our partners, we look forward to delivering an original and delightful shopping experience to Chinese consumers.”

Auchan Retail, Alibaba Group and Ruentex will each hold about 36.18 percent, 36.16 percent and 4.67 percent of Sun Art after the the deal.

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SHANGHAI stocks rose yesterday on gains made by blue-chips and investors were cheered that state-owned enterprises’ revenue and profit grew steadily and also on the Chinese central bank boosting liquidity in the financial market.

The Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.53 percent to close at 3,410.50 points.

China's blue-chip index ended at a fresh 28-month high yesterday, bolstered by robust gains in brokerage firms according to Reuters. The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.8 percent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 2.3 percent and the real estate index up 5 percent, according to Reuters.

Investors turned optimistic after the Ministry of Finance said Chinese SOEs posted steady growth in revenue and profit in the first 10 months of the year.

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BRITAIN slashed its growth forecasts for its Brexit-bound economy and expects to borrow sharply more going into the next decade, finance minister Philip Hammond said yesterday as he delivered a gloomy budget statement in parliament.

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Slower economic growth will mean lower tax revenues, giving Hammond little room for the bold moves that many in his Conservative Party — still smarting from an election mauling in June — are demanding to help households after years of cuts in public spending.

Hammond said he was taking a balanced approach to steering Britain’s economy through the next few years when it will face the challenge of leaving the European Union.

“We understand the frustration of families where real incomes are under pressure,” he said, acknowledging high inflation and weak wage growth. He pointed to forecasts that unemployment will continue to fall.

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SHANGHAI'S economy grew steadily in October as industrial output, consumer prices and foreign trade all rose.
The city’s foreign trade in October jumped 14.3 percent from a year earlier to 266.08 billion yuan (US$ 40.22 billion), reversing a 5.7 percent drop in the same month last year, according to Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

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Imports surged 18 percent to 154.65 billion yuan while exports rose 9.6 percent to 111.43 billion yuan compared to October last year.

Exports of machinery and electronics rose 9.3 percent to 81.67 billion yuan from the same month last year, accounting for 73.3 percent of Shanghai’s total exports in October. Exports of high-tech products grew 7.6 percent to 53.55 billion yuan.

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CHINA will need 6,103 more passenger aircraft over the next 20 years, the Aviation Industry Corporation of China said yesterday.

According to the “China Civil Market Outlook for Civil Aircraft (2017-2036)” report, by the end of 2036 the number of passenger aircraft for civil aviation transport will reach 7,079, including 6,065 large and medium jumbo jets and 1,014 regional aircraft.

In the same period, China’s cargo fleet in the civil aviation market will reach 748.

Stable growth in China’s economy, tourism, urbanization and the upgrading of consumption are major factors increasing demand for aircraft, the report said.

Over the next 20 years, the ratio of wide-body passenger aircraft in the civil fleet will increase due to trade accelerated by the Belt and Road initiative.

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BLACK Friday and Thanksgiving online sales in the United States surged to record highs as shoppers bagged deep discounts and bought more on their mobile devices, heralding a promising start to the key holiday season, according to retail analytics firms.

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US retailers raked in a record US$7.9 billion in online sales on Black Friday and Thanksgiving, up 17.9 percent from a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics, which measures transactions at the largest 100 US web retailers, on Saturday.

Adobe said Cyber Monday is expected to drive US$6.6 billion in Internet sales, which would make it the largest US online shopping day in history.

In the run-up to the holiday weekend, traditional retailers invested heavily in improving their websites and bulking up delivery options, preempting a decline in visits to brick-and-mortar stores. Several chains tightened store inventories as well, to ward off any post-holiday liquidation that would weigh on profits.

TVs, laptops, toys and gaming consoles — particularly the PlayStation 4 — were among the most heavily discounted and the biggest sellers, said retail analysts and consultants.

Commerce marketing firm Criteo said 40 percent of Black Friday online purchases were made on mobile phones, up from 29 percent last year.

The National Retail Federation, which had predicted strong holiday sales helped by rising consumer confidence, said on Friday that fair weather across much of the nation had also helped draw shoppers into stores.
The NRF is set to release Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales numbers tomorrow.
US consumer confidence has been firming over this past year, due to a labor market that is creating jobs, rising home prices and stock markets that are at record highs.

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POWERED by Chinese smartphone users splurging billions on mobile games and online shopping, tech giants Tencent and Alibaba are racing up the elite league of the world’s most valuable companies.

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Hong Kong-listed Tencent, famous for its games and WeChat messaging service, became the first Asian firm to break into the US$500 billion league last week — briefly overtaking Facebook as the world’s fifth biggest company by market value.

Alibaba is just a few billion shy of joining its Chinese competitor at the top table of public listings — and is already there when taking into account its private affiliates. While the top five — Apple, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook — thrive across the world, the two Chinese firms have made their fortunes by cornering China’s own vast market of 750 million Internet users.

Tencent and Alibaba do have a major advantage over American rivals because China severely restricts access to its Internet, with Facebook and Google kept outside the “Great Firewall.”

Alibaba, meanwhile, has dominated the e-commerce market, with Chinese consumers flocking to its shopping platforms to buy everything from laundry detergent to Boeing 747s.

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CHINA’S manufacturing and services activity rebounded in November beyond market expectations, indicating a steady economic outlook in the fourth quarter.

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The official Purchasing Managers’ Index, which measures vitality in the manufacturing sector, rose to 51.8 in November from October’s 51.6, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.

That was higher than market expectations for 51.4 and remained in expansionary territory for a 16th straight month.

November’s PMI was 0.2 points higher than the average so far this year.

Zhao Qinghe, the bureau’s senior statistician, said the PMI revealed a balanced growth in demand and supply, and that momentum has rapidly shifted to new industries.

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LED by US airlines, net profits in the aviation industry are set to rise by some 11 percent in 2018, the International Air Transport Association said yesterday as it presented economic forecasts for the industry.

According to the forecast by the industry’s global trade association, combined net profits will hit US$38.4 billion, from a revised US$34.5 billion in 2017, with US carriers weighing in with almost half.

“Strong demand, efficiency and reduced interest payments will help airlines improve net profitability in 2018 despite rising (operating) costs,” said IATA, whose 280 members account for more than three quarters of global air traffic.

“These are good times for the global air transport industry. Safety performance is solid. We have a clear strategy that is delivering results on environmental performance,” said IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.

“Airlines are achieving sustainable levels of profitability,” added de Juniac, while highlighting the challenges of rising fuel costs and well as labor and infrastructure expenses.

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Colombo Financial City to arise

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CHINESE smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc has asked banks to pitch on December 15 for an initial public offering in 2018, people familiar with the plan told Reuters.

Xiaomi was valued at US$46 billion in a 2014 funding round completed before its sales stagnated. More recently it has seen expectations of its value pick up following strong results this year.

Its float could be the world’s “largest technology IPO” next year, according to one of the people.
“It is huge,” said another source, adding that a valuation of US$100 billion would “not be a crazy number”.

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US companies continued to hire at a strong rate last month, but the pace slowed from the hurricane-inflated 2017 peak seen in October, payroll firm ADP said yesterday.

Nearly every major segment of the economy added employees, including the biggest increase in manufacturing jobs on record, according to the report that is closely watched for hints of what is to come in the key government jobs report tomorrow.

Total private employment rose by 190,000 in November, cooling from the blistering 235,000 pace in the prior month, according to the data. The gain was exactly as forecast by economists.

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A Bitcoin mining company in Slovenia has been hacked for the possible theft of tens of millions of dollars, just days before the virtual currency, which hit a record above US$15,000 yesterday, is due to start trading on major US exchanges.
NiceHash, a company that mines Bitcoins on behalf of customers, said it is investigating a security breach and will stop operating for 24 hours while it verifies how many bitcoins were taken.

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Research company Coindesk said that a wallet address referred to by NiceHash users indicates that about 4,700 Bitcoins had been stolen. At yesterday’s record price of about US$15,000, that puts the value at over US$70 million.
There was no immediate response from NiceHash to an emailed request for more details.

“The incident has been reported to the relevant authorities and law enforcement and we are cooperating with them as a matter of urgency,” it said. The statement urged users to change their online passwords.

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A QUEEN-size bed, wardrobe, one-seat sofa, desk and chair, TV, air conditioner, washing machine, refrigerator and microwave oven. Check! All amenities accounted for in a standard Mofang rental flat. What’s missing here is lots of space.
Shanghai-based Mofang is China’s biggest institutional rental apartment company, with a presence in 20 major cities. It provides what some might call “efficiency” apartments — small, furnished units targeted at young white-collar workers priced out of the homebuying market. It’s a home at a hefty price.

A 30-square-meter unit in a downtown complex on Jiangning Road costs renters 6,800 yuan (US$1,026), excluding utility fees that usually add up to about 300 yuan per month on average. Leases range from one to 12 months. Renters who stay six months or longer receive a 10 percent discount. Those who pay by quarter instead of monthly avoid an extra 100-a-month charge, and all renters must pay a deposit equal to one month’s rent.

“It all sounds pretty expensive,” said an acquaintance of mine, who has been leasing a similar-size one-bedroom apartment about 1.5 kilometers away from Jing’an Temple for more than two years. “Except for a one-time brokerage fee required in my case, I frankly don’t see much difference between the chain-operated apartments you describe and the one I rent from a private individual, but my costs are almost 50 percent lower.”

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SRILANKA on Saturday handed over a deep-sea port to a Chi*nese firm, in a deal to boost the cash-strapped island’s finances that has raised concerns at home and abroad over China’s growing influence.

The US$1.12 billion deal first announced in July lets a Chinese state company take over the southern port of Hambantota, which straddles the world’s bus*iest east-west shipping route, on a 99-year lease.

“With the signing of the agree*ment today the Treasury has received US$300 million,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at a ceremony in Colombo to mark the handover.
“This is the beginning of our debt settlement,” he said.

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UK inflation at highest in 6 years

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TRADE ministers are set to wrap up their biennial World Trade Organization meeting without having reached a single agreement yesterday, still reeling from criticism brought by the United States, once the WTO’s driving force.
The ministers gathered in Buenos Aires were never expected to agree great reforms, with relatively minor and unrelated proposals on the table, including discussions on fishing subsidies and e-commerce.

But a discordant intervention by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on the first morning effectively left the conference adrift, since the WTO requires consensus — unanimity among all 164 members — to reach any agreement.

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THE interest rates for China’s open market operations rose by 5 basis points yesterday, following the interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

The operations included 30 billion yuan (US$4.54 billion) of seven-day reverse repos, with the interest rate up from 2.45 percent to 2.5 percent, and 20 billion yuan of 28-day reverse repos, with the rate up from 2.75 percent to 2.8 percent, the People’s Bank of China said on its website.

The PBOC also injected 288 billion yuan via one-year medium-term lending facility, with the interest rate up from 3.2 percent to 3.25 percent.

The central bank said it aimed to offset the impact on market liquidity from tax payments and maturing MLF later this month, and meet the seasonal liquidity needs of banks near the year end.

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