Month: April 2025

China’s daytime laser ranging breakthrough takes moon race to new heights

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China’s Tiandu-1 satellite has taken part in a laser ranging experiment in Earth-moon space under strong daylight conditions, which the satellite’s developer says is the first test of its kind. Advertisement China’s Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) ran a laser ranging experiment on April 26-27 from the Earth to the Tiandu-1 experimental satellite, which has been orbiting the moon since its launch in March last year, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Satellite laser ranging measures the distance to orbiting satellites, which involves a laser at an observatory sending pulses of…

Demand for Chinese stocks lifts Hong Kong exchange’s profits

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Surging global demand for Chinese stocks led Hong Kong’s exchange operator to its highest-ever quarterly profits, as investors renewed their optimism over Chinese technology companies and new listings. Net profit at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing rose 36 per cent year on year in the first quarter to HK$4.1bn (US$528mn) on revenues of HK$5.5bn, up 42 per cent from the same period last year. Earnings per share rose by almost…

Chinese investors pile into gold funds at record pace

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Chinese investors are piling into gold funds at a record rate, as Donald Trump’s trade war and fears over a US recession and inflation drive a hunt for haven assets. Inflows into gold exchange traded funds in China total 70 tonnes — or about $7.4bn — so far this month, more than double the previous monthly record, according to the World Gold Council, an industry body. “Whilst we have seen…

China manufacturing activity plummets amid Trump tariff war

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China’s factory activity slowed in April, with Beijing blaming “sharp changes” in the global economy as it fights a mounting trade war with the United States. Punishing US tariffs that reached 145% on many Chinese products came into force in April, and Beijing responded with 125% duties on imports from the US. Chinese exports soared more than 12% last month as businesses rushed to get ahead of the punishing tariffs. The impact of the measures began to show in official data on Wednesday, with the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) –…

Smartphone giant Xiaomi unveils AI model, joining fierce competition in China

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Chinese smartphone and electric vehicle maker Xiaomi on Friday unveiled a new reasoning artificial intelligence (AI) model developed in-house, underscoring the company’s ambition to integrate its hardware products with home-grown generative AI. Advertisement The open-source MiMo model has 7 billion parameters and outperformed OpenAI’s o1-mini and Alibaba Group Holding’s QwQ-32B-Preview, part of the Qwen series of models, in maths reasoning and coding, Xiaomi said in a statement. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The model was developed by Xiaomi’s specialised AI task force, known as Core, the company said.…

China’s Shenzhou-19 astronauts return home after forced landing site switch

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China’s three-person Shenzhou-19 crew successfully landed at a new site in the Inner Mongolia region on Wednesday, after poor weather delayed their return from the Tiangong space station. Advertisement The crew’s commander Cai Xuzhe and astronauts Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze – the country’s third female astronaut and the only female space flight engineer – were originally supposed to make their return one day earlier. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Wednesday that the return of the Shenzhou-19 crew – including the youngest Chinese astronaut so far –…

Samsung warns US tariffs will dent memory chip and smartphone sales

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Samsung Electronics has warned that US tariffs will hit demand for its products as the world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones presented a downbeat outlook for the year. The South Korean company said “growing policy risks” would increase uncertainty for its chip business, while tariffs would raise prices for smartphone components and put downward pressure on mobile device sales. “Ongoing uncertainty surrounding US tariff policies continues to pose…

North Korea’s reveal of new warship’s weapon system hints at Russian support: expert

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TAIPEI, Taiwan – North Korea’s recent test launches of key weapon systems aboard its new destroyer – including supersonic strategic cruise missiles – suggest possible assistance from Russia, according to a Seoul-based military expert. The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, reported that the country carried out the “combat application test” of weapons systems mounted on Choe Hyon, its new 5,000-ton destroyer. It conducted a test firing of supersonic cruise missiles, strategic cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and 127 millimeter ship-based automatic guns Monday. A test of firing ship-to-ship…

India’s Modi hails ‘new energy’ in push for Latin American minerals

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. India’s prime minister Narendra Modi this month hailed a “new energy” in New Delhi’s relationship with the “entire” Latin America, as the world’s fastest-growing major economy tries to deepen ties with the continent to secure the minerals it needs to meet its ambitious green energy targets. Latin America has the world’s largest lithium reserves and India is pushing mining groups to pursue reserves in the “lithium triangle” — between Argentina,…

Trade hub Singapore votes in shadow of Trump’s tariff war

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Singapore’s election outcome this week is set to provide a rare moment of relative certainty for its citizens, as Donald Trump’s trade war changes the world on which the country has built its wealth since independence 60 years ago. Barring an almost unthinkable upset, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will extend the dominance of his People’s Action party with its 16th consecutive victory on Saturday, making it one of the most…