Tan Weiyun|2025-6-27
Daily Buzz: 27 June 2025

Top News


Iran, US exchange rhetoric on bombing results

Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first public address since the ceasefire with Israel began earlier this week, said the US bombing attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities didn't "accomplish anything significant" in disrupting the nation's nuclear program. In the US, Pentagon officials took pains to back President Trump's claim that the bombings destroyed uranium-enrichment sites, setting back Iran's program by years. In an often combative exchange with reporters, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the US bombing an "historic success," though he provided no concrete evidence of site "obliteration."

Separately, Iran's parliament unanimously voted to suspend all ties with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear inspection agency. The decision, if approved by the Guardian Council, would remove independent assessment of the damage inflicted on Iran nuclear facilities and would make it harder to locate highly enriched uranium Iran said it moved beforehand from attack targets.

Iran-China flights resume

Mahan Air, Iran's largest private airline, resumed passenger flights between China and Iran this week, linking Mashhad, Iran's second largest city, with Shanghai and Beijing. There will be four weekly flights from Shanghai and two from Beijing. Mashhad is located near the Iran's northeastern border, far from the international airport in Tehran that was hit by some Israeli attacks.

Top Business


Xiaomi YU7 undercuts Tesla in price

Chinese electric car and smartphone maker Xiaomi ended months of speculation, announcing the price for its new YU7 SUV will start at 253,000 yuan (US$35,322), undercutting the Tesla Model Y by about 10,000 yuan. Xiaomi said it received 200,000 orders in the first three minutes of pre-sales yesterday. Citibank predicts annual sales of up to 360,000 units.

At the launch event hosted by Chief Executive Lei Jun, the company also unveiled new models of smartphones, tablets and home appliances, including its first artificial intelligence-powered glasses, priced from 1,999 yuan.

Separately, Tesla sales in Europe last month fell 28 percent, their fifth straight month of decline, as cheaper Chinese electric vehicles continued to make inroads in the market.

China's largest offshore gas field completed

China National Offshore Oil said the last phase of its Shenhai Yihao deep-sea project in the South China Sea has gone into full operation, marking completion of the nation's largest offshore gas field. The project, with proven gas reserves of more than 150 billion cubic meters, has annual production capacity of 4.5 billion cubic meters. It will feed terminals in Hong Kong and in Hainan and Guangdong provinces, and also hook into the domestic national gas pipeline.

Tech entrepreneurs make Fortune 500 wealth list

Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, parent of TikTok, topped this year's New Fortune 500 Wealth Creation List, while DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng placed in the top 10. Zhang, 42, who started ByteDance in his Beijing apartment, first appeared on the list in 2018. His 2025 wealth was listed at 482 billion yuan (US$67.2 billion). Liang, 40, was shown with assets of 186 billion yuan in his first entry on the annual list.

Economy & Markets


Central bank expands liquidity

The People's Bank of China injected 300 billion yuan (US$42 billion) of additional liquidity into the banking system through its medium-term lending facility to support economic growth and maturing debt. The central bank operation was conducted with fixed-quantity and interest-rate bidding. It followed similar interventions in April and May. Earlier this month, two reverse repo interventions injected a combined net 200 billion yuan into the economy.

US growth contraction, dollar's decline

US growth in the first quarter contracted faster than initially reported. In a routine revision of the data, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product fell 0.5 percent, compared with an initial estimate of minus 0.2 percent. Consumer spending came in tepid.

The US dollar sank to a three-year low amid concerns that President Donald Trump may make good on threats to fire US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and weaken the Fed's independence. Trump upbraided Powell again this week for his failure to lower interest rates. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, has fallen 10 percent this year.

Delegates attending the Summer Davos summit in Tianjin debated whether the yuan is poised to emerge as a credible alternative to the dollar's global dominance.

Private equity bonds

Five Chinese private equity investment firms issued a combined 1.3 billion yuan (US$186 million) in technology innovation bonds, the first issues of their kind by venture capital funds. The borrowings, issued by Addor Capital, Jinyu Maowu Investment Management, Junlian Capital Management, Zhongke Chuangxing Technology Investment and Shenzhen Oriental Fortune Capital Investment Management, carry terms of up to 10 years, with yields as low as 2.1 percent, according to the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors.

Shanghai industry fund outlines investments

The 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) Shanghai Future-Oriented Industries Fund will invest in funds supporting sectors such as brain-computer interfaces, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, General Manager Wei Fanjie told the 2025 International Synthetic Biology Industry Development Forum. The industry fund, backed by the municipal government, was formed last year to support work in cutting-edge technologies.

Corporate

New video game licenses

China's National Press and Publication Administration in June approved licenses for 147 new domestic video games and 11 foreign ones, the highest monthly number in recent years. The new titles include "CrossFire," a first-person shooter game developed by South Korea's Smilegate Entertainment and published by China's Tencent Holdings, and "Wildgate," a multiplayer shooter title from the US-based Moonshot Games, to be published by China's NetEase. The new licenses take this year's total to 812 for the burgeoning game industry.

Zhipu AI seen gaining foreign clients

ChatGPTmaker OpenAI said Chinese rival Zhipu AI is making significant inroads in securing government contracts in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, signaling China's growing momentum in pursuing global leadership in artificial intelligence, Reuters reported. Zhipu AI services include sovereign large language model infrastructure and private hardware, in partnership with Huawei Technologies. The Beijing-based company, founded in 2019, completed a counseling filing at the Beijing bureau of China Securities Regulatory Commission in April. It signals the company has started the application of an initial public offering.

Nike to curtail China production

Multinational sportswear maker Nike said Trump administration tariffs on imports from China will add US$1 billion to company costs and it plans to cut back on production in China.

MetaX, Moore Threads prepare IPOs

MetaX and Moore Threads, two Chinese developers of artificial intelligence chips, have moved closer to initial public offerings on mainland exchanges. MetaX Integrated Circuits finished its IPO guidance process, while Moore Threads has entered that phase, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The share sales are aimed at raising capital for research and development as demand for AI chips increases.

Pact to manufacture robots

Ningbo-based Huaxiang announced subsidiary Huaxiang Qiyuan has signed an agreement with Shanghai-based Zhiyuan Innovation Technology for the manufacture of full-size robots The deal is not expected to significantly impact Huaxiang's 2025 earnings, but the company says it marks a strategic step toward expanding into emerging tech sectors.

Bosch unit to expand in China

Bosch Home Comfort, a unit of the German technology and consumer goods company, plans to open 300 more stores in China this year, adding to the 400 opened last year. The heating and cooling solutions unit achieved double-digit sales growth in China last year despite a slowdown in the property sector, according to Li Lintao, local vice president of sales.