Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• Nvidia’s Jensen Huang praises Chinese tech as he attends CISCE for the first time;
• China records 38 million border crossings by foreign nationals in H1 2025.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

Jensen Huang, Founder & CEO of Nvidia, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the third China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) that kicked off on Wednesday in Beijing, which gathered more than 600 exhibitors from over 70 countries and regions.

Huang praised China's tech companies and vast market potential, expressing optimism about the country's advances in AI, robotics and smart manufacturing, as well as China's growing role in global innovation.

Huang took off his signature leather jacket, appeared in traditional Chinese attire, and delivered part of his speech in Chinese. He said it was his first time delivering a speech in Chinese and praised China's open-source efforts in the AI sector.

China's open-source AI serves as a catalyst for global progress, giving every country and industry a chance to join the AI revolution, Huang said.

During his speech, the CEO mentioned 11 Chinese tech companies -- Tencent, NetEase, MiHoYo, Game Science, ByteDance, DeepSeek, Alibaba, Meituan, MiniMax, Baidu, and Xiaomi.

The comments came as the senior executive paid his third visit to China this year, highlighting the importance of the Chinese market to Nvidia, which has become the first company in the world with a market cap of USD”4 trillion.

For the future development of AI, Huang said that the next wave of AI is relying on systems that understand the physical world, reason and perform tasks. Within a decade, factories will be powered by software and AI, orchestrating teams of robots, working alongside people, building smart products that are also driven by AI.

When asked for his views on the progress made by China's tech giant Huawei, Huang said anyone who discounts Huawei and anyone who discounts China's manufacturing capability is deeply naive.” Huang recognized the Shenzhen-based firm as "a formidable technology company" with deep excellence in semiconductors and networking infrastructure.

Analyzing China's broader AI landscape, Huang outlined a three-tier ecosystem driving progress — foundational infrastructure including chips and systems; rapidly evolving AI models such as Alibaba's Qwen and Moonshot's Kimi; and hyper-competitive application development.

During a media briefing, Huang spoke with particular enthusiasm about China's electric vehicle (EV) sector, calling them "incredible," and said he would love to buy a Xiaomi car. He said the unavailability of Chinese EVs in the US market is “our misfortune, not yours.” The executive was seen in a photo taken earlier in Beijing with Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun and a Xiaomi SU7.

On Tuesday, Huang told a group of journalists that the company will resume the sales of its H20 AI chips to China. Following this announcement, Nvidia's shares surged over 4 percent.

Huang revisited this topic at the media briefing on Wednesday. "I hope to get more advanced chips into China than H20. And the reason is that technology is always moving on."

GBA express

• The Hong Kong arm of the Chinese mainland's second-largest fund firm China Asset Management on Thursday rolled out the world's first renminbi-denominated tokenized money fund, after rising demand for similar products based on US dollar funds. The company also launched a tokenized US dollar money market fund, calling it the first such offering in Asia. The fund firm in February rolled out a similar product based on the Hong Kong dollar.
• China's Ministry of Finance on Wednesday issued CNY6 billion of government bonds in the Macao SAR. This is the first such issuance following the interconnection of bond market infrastructure between the Hong Kong and Macao SARs.

Industry and company news

• China's silver economy has seen robust growth in the first half of this year, with related industries recording significant revenue increases, data released Wednesday by the State Taxation Administration showed. Notably, sales revenues for elderly travel services, sports and health services, and cultural entertainment activities increased by 26.2 percent, 23.9 percent, and 20.7 percent, respectively.
• Midea yesterday reached an agreement with the Confederation of African Football to become an official sponsor of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025. The Chinese home appliance giant plans to invest additional USD50 million in Egypt early next year. Its plants there are expected to come on stream next month.
• Despite the continued recovery of the civil aviation industry, China’s three biggest state-owned airlines expect losses in the first half of the year, while their private competitors forecast to have expanded profits. Air China’s net loss likely narrowed 21 percent to 39 percent to between CNY1.7 billion and CNY2.2 billion in H1, and China Eastern Airlines expects losses of CNY1.2 billion to CNY1.6 billion, shrinking up to 57 percent in the period. Meanwhile, China Southern Airlines projected its net loss to have widened 43 percent to 9 percent to between CNY1.3 billion and CNY1.8 billion. Regarding private airlines, China Express Airlines said it expects a net profit of CNY220 million to CNY290 million, and Hainan Airlines Holding will likely turn a loss into a net profit of CNY45 million to CNY65 million.

Asia-Pacific highlights

• China processed 38.05 million border crossings by foreign nationals in the first half of 2025, a 30 percent year-on-year increase, according to the National Immigration Administration on Wednesday. Of these trips, foreign nationals made 13.64 million entries to China visa-free, a year-on-year increase of 54 percent, as the country continues to expand visa-free entry policy. China introduced and implemented a visa-free policy for tour groups from ASEAN countries entering Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province in H1. Indonesia was newly added to the list of countries eligible for China's 240-hour visa-free transit policy.
• China's Ministry of Commerce and Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have signed a memorandum of understanding on the implementation and review of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), according to the ministry on Wednesday. The MoU was signed during Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's week-long visit to China, which marks a pivotal step in advancing the steadily improving relationship between the two countries, Xinhua reported.
• Thailand's TCP Group, owner of the Red Bull brand, is increasing its investment in China, its top executive said during the China International Supply Chain Expo on Wednesday. "Investing in China is investing in long-term certainty. From infrastructure to policy transparency, China offers a level of systematic support that gives foreign enterprises confidence to expand and grow," said Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TCP Group. Its latest moves include establishing a regional headquarters in Beijing and constructing new manufacturing bases in Sichuan and Guangxi.
• Autocraft from the UAE signed an MoU with the Chinese electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) maker Shanghai TCab Technology on Wednesday on purchasing 350 E20 eVTOL aircraft worth USD1 billion, China's largest single intent order for eVTOLs to date.
• Baidu is teaming up with Uber Technologies to deploy thousands of its Apollo Go driverless taxis on the ride-hailing provider's app outside the Chinese mainland and the United States. The new service is expected to launch in Asia and the Middle East by the end of this year. 
• Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah said yesterday that China Harbour Engineering won the USD1.5 billion contract to build the Diriyah Arena block near Riyadh. The project includes a multi-purpose indoor arena, three mixed-use office buildings, and a parking facility. 

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

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