Month: August 2025

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he was surprised by Beijing’s questioning of the security of its H20 artificial intelligence chips and that it would be up to the US government to decide whether the company can produce a new product for the Chinese market. Advertisement Huang made the comments during a visit to Taiwan on Friday, where he had meetings scheduled with top executives from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the silicon foundry that makes Nvidia’s chips. Separately, US tech media outlet The Information reported that Nvidia had instructed component…

China’s electricity consumption surpassed the 1 trillion kilowatt-hour mark in July, energy authorities said, as scorching heatwaves pushed demand to levels equivalent to the annual usage of all Asean nations combined. Advertisement Power usage in the country rose 8.6 per cent year on year to reach a historic high of 1.02 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh), according to data released by China’s National Energy Administration on Thursday. The level was more than double that of a decade ago and comparable to the annual electricity use of Asean, state broadcaster CCTV reported. By…

A fleet of large civilian cargo ships has sailed through the Taiwan Strait after heading south from the Bohai Sea off northern mainland China, prompting speculation about a possible joint amphibious landing drill with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Advertisement The seven ro-ro, or “roll-on/roll-off” ships, with the Yantai-based Bohai Ferry Company in Shandong province, deviated from their normal shipping routes in the Bohai Sea, according to Maritime Optima, a live ship tracker. As of Thursday, two of them – the Bohai Zuanzhu and Zhong Hua Fu Xing – had…

Chinese authorities have announced new rules targeting the rapid expansion of medical science accounts on social media and other unofficial channels, to stop the spread of false and misleading medical information online. Advertisement The rules – “Guidelines for Regulating Medical Science Self-Media Behaviour” – cover independently generated content that is not published by traditional or recognised media organisations but may have been posted to social media or other online outlets. They emphasise stricter requirements for healthcare practitioners and related personnel when posting medical science information on social media platforms. They…

From Paris to Athens, and Lisbon to Berlin, Europeans are enduring a prolonged and punishing summer heatwave amid global warming. Advertisement And rising right alongside the blazing temperatures are China’s exports of air conditioners (ACs) to the continent, with a nearly 60 per cent jump by volume in July, compared with the same time last year, according to Chinese customs data. The Spanish capital of Madrid kicked off the week under a yellow alert – the third-highest heat warning on a four-tier scale – with temperatures reaching almost 36 degrees…

Chinese sportswear and equipment maker Li Ning posted a drop in interim profit, as weak consumer sentiment weighed on spending and intensifying industry competition squeezed profitability, with management warning of “stronger-than-expected” challenges in the second half. Advertisement Net profit for the six months to June fell 11 per cent to 1.74 billion yuan US$241.9 million from a year ago under global accounting standards, according to a statement late on Thursday. Sales rose 3 per cent to 14.82 billion yuan, while net profit margin dropped to 11.7 per cent, compared with…

Advertisement In whirlwind meetings with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other senior officials in Islamabad on Thursday, Wang also vowed to enhance security collaboration to counter the country’s long-standing terrorism threats, often targeting Chinese nationals. “China has always been Pakistan’s most reliable partner and strongest backer,” he told Sharif, according to the Chinese foreign ministry readout. “Both sides should accelerate the construction of the 2.0 upgrade version of [CPEC], focusing on the three major areas of agriculture, industry, and mining,” Wang said, adding that China would help Islamabad to…