China polysilicon industry output cut to record lows...Alibaba’s quarterly revenue grows 7% on AI bet...JD.com losses deepen on food foray
China polysilicon industry output cut to record lows
China’s polysilicon producers are cutting output to historically low levels, with average operating rates dropping below 40%, as a prolonged supply glut and plunging prices push the solar supply chain into its deepest downturn in years, reports Caixin. Lv Jinbiao, deputy director of the Expert Committee of the Silicon Industry Branch under the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, told Caixin that most producers began scaling back production as early as the second half of 2024.
As of May, all operating polysilicon firms are operating below full capacity, with some suspending expansion plans and scaling back raw material inputs ahead of maintenance shutdowns.
“Our capacity utilization is hovering between 30% and 40%, roughly in line with the industry average,” said a representative from Xinjiang Daqo New Energy Co. Ltd., a leading domestic silicon producer.
Alibaba’s quarterly revenue grows 7% on AI bet
Alibaba Group Holding’s “all-in on AI” strategy to remake its business appears to be paying off, based on the tech giant’s latest quarterly results, reports the South China Morning Post. The Hangzhou-based company, which shocked investors earlier this year by pledging $52 billion in capital spending on computing resources and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure over the next three years, posted 18% growth in cloud unit revenue for its fourth quarter ended March 31, while AI-related products saw triple-digit revenue growth for the seventh consecutive quarter.
“We continue to see growing demand for cloud and AI, an opportunity that will define the next 10 to 20 years and will not be derailed by short term supply chain fluctuations,” Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming said during the post-earnings call with analysts on Thursday.
Alibaba’s total revenue rose 7% to reach RMB 236.5 billion ($32.6 billion) in the last quarter of its financial year to March, slightly missing the Bloomberg consensus estimate of RMB 237.9 billion. That marked the 11th consecutive quarter of revenue growth for the company.
JD.com losses deepen on food foray
JD.com Inc. saw losses deepen in its “new businesses” segment in the first quarter, amid the e-commerce giant’s costly push into China’s highly competitive food delivery sector, reports Caixin. The segment, which includes the company’s nascent ventures such as JD Takeaway, JD Property and its overseas businesses, booked losses of RMB 1.3 billion ($180 million) in the first three months, nearly double the RMB 670 million from the same period last year, according to JD.com’s quarterly results released Tuesday. The loss is equal to 23.1% of the quarterly revenue from “new businesses”—widening from 13.8%.
The mounting losses come as JD.com pursues an aggressive strategy to enter the food delivery sector. Since the launch of JD Takeaway in February, the company has been courting merchants with zero-commission deals, winning over delivery riders by offering a comprehensive social security package and attracting consumers through discount vouchers.
JD Takeaway’s orders have grown so rapidly that the app once collapsed during peak lunch hours. Forty days after launch, daily orders exceeded 1 million. A little more than two months later, orders exceeded 10 million.
Trump admin considers addition of Chinese chipmakers to blacklist
The Trump administration plans to put a number of Chinese chipmaking companies on an export blacklist, but some officials want to delay the move to avoid hurting efforts to strike a long-term trade agreement with China, reports the Financial Times. The commerce department has compiled a list of Chinese companies—including memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory (CXMT)—to add to the “entity list,” according to five people familiar with the matter.
Several of the people said the Bureau of Industry and Security, the commerce department arm that oversees export controls, had drafted a list that also includes the subsidiaries of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s biggest chipmaker, and Yangtze Memory Technologies Co, its largest memory chipmaker. SMIC and YMTC are already on the list.
But the timing of the move has been complicated by the trade deal agreed by China and the US in Geneva at the weekend to slash reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to help reach a broader trade deal.
China grants visa-free entry to some Latin American countries
China will extend its visa-free policy to nationals of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, putting some of Latin America's largest economies on equal footing with many European and Asian countries as it sought stronger ties with the region, reports Reuters. The visa-free arrangement will be effective from June 1 for a year, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Thursday during a regular press conference.
Brazil, Argentina and Chile are among the top five biggest economies in their region.
Travel to China has been visa-free for most European countries as well as its neighbours Japan and South Korea since last year.
The announcement came after a high-profile forum among Chinese and Latin American and Caribbean officials in Beijing earlier this week, at which Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to boost China's footprint with a new $9 billion credit line and fresh infrastructure investment.