China Executive Insights
Elon Musk calls report 'absurdly fake news' as his companies navigate geopolitics Employees work at the Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai during a government-organized media trip on April 14. © Reuters HONG KONG -- U.S. automaker Tesla on Friday denied that it is exploring a sale of its Chinese business, as questions mount over its future in the world's largest car market amid speculation of a possible merger with SpaceX.
Lai administration faces challenge of addressing economic imbalances Taiwan's economy is booming thanks to the global AI buildout, although the administration in Taipei aims to spread the benefits. © Reuters TAIPEI -- Taiwan's economy grew 12.92% on the year in the second quarter, Taipei's statistics agency said Friday, driven by the AI boom and thriving trade and investment ties with the U.S.
No mention of China in summit declarations exposes limits of bloc's Asia commitment NATO leaders stand for a family photo at a leaders' summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. © Reuters Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa is an Asia-based geopolitics strategist specializing in the intersection of European, Asian and U.S. relations.
Japanese trading house taps US's Aviation Capital Group as global jet shortage persists The Airbus A320neo is widely used in the aircraft leasing business. (Airbus) TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Itochu plans to invest about 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion) to acquire a 50% stake in Aviation Capital Group (ACG), a leading U.S. aircraft lessor and a subsidiary of Japanese leasing company Tokyo Century, Nikkei has learned.
Move will shift burden of today's costs to tomorrow's generations Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on July 30 announces plans to temporarily lower the nation's consumption tax on food. (Photo by Ken Suzuki) An announcement on Thursday showed that the government of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi seems incapable of managing state affairs with a broad sense of perspective. The plan to lower the consumption tax on food will only erode fiscal discipline, reduce funding for the nation's social security system and increase reliance on deficit-covering government bonds.
Company touts more capable offerings and says it will implement peak-hour pricing plan DeepSeek’s pricing plans for its AI models are far cheaper than those of U.S. rivals. © Getty Images HONG KONG -- DeepSeek, China's artificial intelligence darling that rattled Silicon Valley last year, made the official beta version of its latest V4 Flash model publicly available on Friday, a move set to intensify a global price war in cutting-edge AI models.
Chip supplier's July-September outlook falls short of analyst estimates Demand for NAND flash memory, the core product of Kioxia Holdings, is on the rise as U.S. tech companies expand data center capacity. (Photo by Shintaro Ino) TOKYO -- Kioxia Holdings on Friday forecast a 31-fold increase in quarterly net profit, supported by strong demand for artificial intelligence data centers, even as its share price has tumbled on concerns that big tech firms are overinvesting in the infrastructure.
Policy rate unchanged, Japanese central bank to monitor yen movement, AI and Iran war Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda on Friday said that if financial conditions are judged to be overly accommodative, BOJ could "accelerate the pace of rate hikes." (Photo by Rie Ishi) TOKYO -- Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda on Friday signaled the pace of rate hikes could accelerate, while warning of "meaningful upside risks" to inflation due to rising wages and prices, as well as elevated oil prices and a weak yen.
Index coefficient to be cut in October after stock tops 10% limit Nikkei to lower Advantest's weight in Nikkei 225 from October as stock's index share exceeds 10% cap rule. TOKYO -- Nikkei will reduce the weighting of Advantest in the Nikkei 225 from Oct. 1, applying a cap intended to prevent any single constituent from becoming overly dominant. Based on the shares' July 31 closing price, the reference date for this autumn's periodic review, Advantest accounted for 12.2% of the index. This was above the 10% level that triggers the cap rule introduced in 2022. The Nikkei 225 is calculated using constituent share prices, multiplied by a price adjustment factor, which reflects past capital changes. Nikkei currently applies a factor of 7.2 and will reduce it to 6.4, starting in October. Further adjustments or removal of the cap will be decided in connection with the semiannual reviews following next spring. The capping rule was first applied in the autumn of 2024 to Fast Retailing. It was applied again in the spring of 2025. Advantest was also subject to the rule during the index's spring review this year.
The flags of Japan and the United States are displayed in a trading room in Tokyo on June 23. © Kyodo TOKYO -- Preliminary money market data released by the Bank of Japan on Friday suggests around 6 trillion to 7 trillion yen ($37.5 billion to $44 billion) worth of yen-buying intervention took place on Thursday, underscoring the currency's 3% jump against the greenback in early New York trading the same day.
Weak yen, Trump tariff refunds give boost, quake-hit chip plant to restart next week Sony reported double-digit growth in both sales and profits at its music division. (Photo by Mayumi Tsumita) TOKYO -- Sony Group has reported an over 30% jump in net profit to more than $2 billion for its first fiscal quarter, with U.S. tariff refunds and a weak yen boosting results at its chips, music and games businesses.
India's so-called oil marketing companies run about 90,000 fuel retail outlets and often change prices in tandem, acting as proxies for the government to control retail fuel prices on the ground. (Source photos by Reuters) MUMBAI -- India's state-owned fuel retailers, who control about 90% of the market, have reported losses totaling about 181.49 billion rupees ($1.90 billion) during the quarter through June, as they shielded customers from the full impact of the energy price shock driven by the U.S.-Iran conflict.