This note was originally published for subscribers of Trivium Tech Daily on January 9. It has been republished here with minor changes and edits. On December 29, Meta announced it would acquire Chinese AI startup Manus AI – reportedly for USD 2.5 billion. Inside China, the deal was widely applauded as a canonical home run: a blockbuster exit for startup founders who built a
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With each passing day, the trade truce struck by Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Busan looks more durable. In the month since the two leaders met, Beijing and Washington have both taken significant steps to show good faith by rolling back countermeasures, lifting sanctions, pausing trade investigations, and reopening communication channels between military and security authorities. This week was no exception, with
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Fixed asset investment (FAI) – covering everything from roads to rail, ports to bridges, houses to factories – has long been a key pillar of China’s economic growth. But in June, something unexpected happened: China’s fixed asset investment (FAI) fell into the red, declining 0.1% y/y. Since then, FAI’s decline has accelerated, falling a whopping 12.2% by October. This is
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Even as US-China trade dynamics command the global spotlight, Chinese leaders are focused on “doing [their] own work well.” That goes double when it comes to their push toward tech self-sufficiency and AI development. After weeks of dissecting the trade war drama, it’s nice to be able to turn back to analyzing China’s domestic regulatory environment – aka “the Trivium
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The Trump administration is considering blocking US pharma companies from buying Chinese-developed drug candidates. Per the New York Times: “At the heart of the possible clampdown is a drafted executive order that threatens to cut off the pipeline of Chinese-invented experimental treatments.” “The prospect of the order…has set off furious behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts by two diametrically opposed groups — each
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This note was originally published for subscribers of Trivium Tech Daily on August 27. It has been republished here with additional commentary and minor edits. On August 26, the State Council published a high-level directive on implementing the AI Plus policy initiative. The directive is a big deal: It represents China’s most comprehensive blueprint yet for how it plans to
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