CX Daily: Tencent Unveils Three Computer Chips Of Its Own Design

Chips /

Tencent unveils three computer chips of its own design

Tencent Holdings Ltd., China’s most valuable publicly traded software company, touted its progress in getting into the hardware business Wednesday when it announced it is making three computer chips of its own design.

Though thin on detail, the announcement underscores the growing interest by Chinese companies in developing their own chips, along with recent big-name entrants like Xiaomi, Huawei and Alibaba.

Domestic electronics enterprises have been pushing into the area of in-house chips to cut costs and win a competitive edge amid a global chip shortage, but software companies are also piling into the space. Tencent’s archrival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. unveiled a central processing unit last month.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

More than 2 billion yuan ($312 million) of cross-border transactions were completed in the m-CBDC Bridge Project.

Digital currencies /

Asia-Middle East digital currency trial reports progress

A trial of a digital cross-border payment system between Asia and the Middle East made progress in the eight months after it was launched, according to a report issued Wednesday.

A total of 22 banks and financial institutions from mainland China, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Thailand participated in the study of the Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency (m-CBDC) Bridge project. The collaboration among the central banks of the four jurisdictions completed more than 2 billion yuan ($312 million) of cross-border transactions, according to the report released at the Hong Kong Fintech Week conference.

The project aims to facilitate real-time cross-border foreign exchange transactions in a multi-jurisdictional context and explore cross-border business usage employing domestic and foreign currencies.

PBOC says digital yuan users have surged to 140 million

Corruption /

China’s anti-graft agency has probed 36 major PBOC-linked cases

A task force from China’s top anti-graft agency tackled 36 corruption cases linked to key areas of the central bank’s regulatory system over a four-year period since October 2017, a senior anti-graft official said.

Xu Jiaai, who led the task force dispatched by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said some of the cases were related to currency issuance, payment, clearing and fintech, according to a video interview (link in Chinese) posted on the CCDI website Tuesday.

China’s top graft-buster reveals details of loans-for-bribe scheme at ICBC

Covid-19 /

China now has Covid-19 flare-ups in 19 regions

Local Covid-19 outbreaks in the Chinese mainland have spread to 19 out of 31 provincial-level regions, the widest distribution nationwide since the Wuhan outbreak early last year, as the number of infections mostly linked to trips in northern China since mid-October continues to grow.

As of Wednesday, China had recorded more than 700 locally transmitted infections in dozens of cities in 19 province-level regions since Oct. 17 when Xi’an, the capital of northwestern Shaanxi province, confirmed two cases in a group of eight who had visited Inner Mongolia and Gansu province. The widest spread prior to this began in Nanjing on July. 20 before reaching 16 provinces in a month.

Quick hits /

World Economic Forum postpones China event due to new Covid-19 outbreaks

Opinion: Faith, visionaries and global cooperation wanted at Glasgow

Opinion: What a Republican victory in a state governor’s race means for China-U.S. relations

BUSINESS & TECH

Internet companies /

Record $781 billion wiped off Chinese internet companies’ market value in third quarter

Chinese internet companies’ market values fell by a record amount in the third quarter as the ongoing wave of tougher regulations and bolstered enforcement spooks investors.

Since late last year, various regulators overseeing internet companies have issued new rules affecting internet businesses, including heightened scrutiny over data security as well as stinging antitrust penalties.

The market value of the 176 publicly traded Chinese internet companies fell by more than 5 trillion yuan ($781 billion) to 13.6 trillion yuan, sinking more than 27% quarter-on-quarter and 19.5% year-on-year, according to a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

ByteDance /

ByteDance founder quits board, source says

ByteDance Ltd. co-founder and chairman Zhang Yiming relinquished his board seat at the company six months after he said he was stepping down as CEO to focus on the company's long-term strategy, Caixin learned.

Company sources said that Liang Rubo, who replaced Zhang as ByteDance CEO in May, has taken over as chairman of the five-person board. ByteDance would not confirm whether Zhang still has an official role at the company.

Wind /

China’s wind giants hatch plans to muscle in on U.S., Europe

Chinese turbine-makers made their local wind power market the biggest in the world with a scorching pace of installations. Now, those giants want to take a larger slice of burgeoning global demand.

Companies including Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. Ltd., Envision Group and Ming Yang Smart Energy Group Ltd. typically made only small inroads into overseas markets.Now they plan to invest in factories abroad to take market share from European and American rivals such as Vestas Wind Systems A/S and General Electric Co.

Quick hits /

Top solar panel maker Longi says U.S customs detained products

Chinese Covid-vaccine maker Clover Biopharma set for Hong Kong debut

GALLERY