Hello everyone, this is Sisy from Hong Kong. Hong Kong police are once again on alert as Wednesday marked the 36th anniversary of Beijing’s bloody crackdown on pro-democratic protesters in and around China’s capital Tiananmen Square.
Although public lament over the tragedy has diminished since the implementation of the National Security Act in 2020, some democratic individuals are still striving in their own way to commemorate those killed. For example, one shop sold white candles at 6.40 Hong Kong each, similar to those traditionally used for candlelight vigils. Some individuals stopped at Victoria Park, where people gathered to commemorate the victims of the crackdown with white flowers for 30 years, but were soon escorted by police. At Causeway Bay, the usual starting point for most protests over the past 30 years, performance artists were searched by police for putting their hands in their pockets and chewing gum, and escorted to subway stations.
What’s even more upsetting is the owner of a white Porsche with the license plate “US 8964”. The driver was pulled and taken into custody by police on June 4 in both 2023 and 2024, and he told local media this week that his family had shipped the car outside of Hong Kong after being harassed and threatened by unknown individuals over the past year.
From population structure to daily consumption patterns, Hong Kong has changed dramatically over the past five years. I casually looked at the streets on Wednesday, so I briefly counted the brands of cars that had overtaken me at the intersection of the Central Business District. In the approximately five minute space, the majority of cars passed were Tesla, Toyota or Mercedes-Benz. We also saw five Maxus, a brand under the state owned SAIC, one Xpeng, one Xpeng and one Zeekr, as mainland China’s mainland EV brands are becoming increasingly seen in Hong Kong towns.
I’m hoping for a record
Despite geopolitical tensions, tariffs and volatile exchange rates looming on the semiconductor market, the world’s largest chip foundry is confident that it will record profits this year as demand for AI remains strong, writes Cheng Ting-Fang of Nikkei Asia.
TSMC Chairman and CEO CC Wei said at the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday that tariffs could raise prices and curb demand, and the only thing he fears is the global economic slowdown. Still, he continues to see demand for AI chips exceed supply, and his recent discussion with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is focused on quickly increasing production capacity to address this shortage.
Wey also spoke about his company’s fresh $100 million investment in the US, saying he announced the entire total at once, “we don’t even see Trump.” And he tried to explain to the President how challenging it was to achieve that five-year plan, but Trump explained it was “warm” but simply replied, “Do your best!”
With crosshairs
Electronics giant Xiaomi is one of China’s high-tech groups writing Donald Trump’s latest crackdown on the semiconductor supply chain, Zijing Wu and Eleanor Olcott of the Financial Times.
Last month, the US President issued an order directing the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Group to supply the technology to China.
That move will collide with many Chinese groups who use American-made software to design their own advanced chips before manufacturing processors in Taiwan.
And according to people with knowledge of the issue, Xiaomi is in the first line to be affected.
The company unveiled a groundbreaking, self-designed mobile processor in May. The chip is built in Taiwan, located on cutting edge 3nm nodes, and is home to a mix of licenses and tools from current restricted US EDA companies.
According to industry insiders, other Chinese groups include Lenovo and Bitcoin Mining Specialist Bitmain, the world’s largest computer manufacturers, using TSMC’s contract manufacturing for American EDA tools and TSMC’s self-designed chips.
Huawei’s Investment Strategy
Since Huawei was approved by the US in 2019, the Chinese tech giant has invested in over 60 chip companies in China to promote its own supply chain, Nikkei’s Ituro Fujino reports.
Huawei has increased its investments through Hubble, a fully owned investment division founded in 2019. Since its inception, Hubble has helped businesses span chip design, materials, manufacturing and testing. For most of these transactions, Hubble holds less than 10% of shares.
In addition to investing in Hubble, Huawei maintains a close relationship with Chip equipment manufacturer Sicarrier. The company, headquartered in Shenzhen, develops and produces equipment primarily for front-end processes that create fine circuits on wafers. The company reportedly spun from Huawei after US sanctions and is now operating under the umbrella of the deep Shenzhen city government.
Half of equally powerful force
SoftBank and Intel are partnering to develop advanced AI-specific memory chips that promise to significantly reduce power usage. According to a staff writer at Nikkei, the plan includes creating a new stacked DRAM chip that is different from current high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and is expected to cut power consumption by halving.
The project is led by newly formed company Saimemory, and utilizes Intel’s technology along with patented innovations from Japanese institutions, including the University of Tokyo.
The goal is to complete the prototype within two years. A decision is then made regarding mass production. The project, which targets commercialization in the 2020s, is estimated to cost around $70 million.
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#Techasia is coded at Katherine Creel, Nikkei Asia in Tokyo, with support from FT Tech Desk in London.
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