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Sun Baigong, who has held senior roles at Huawei and Li Auto, has been appointed vice‑president of Avita Technology to lead marketing and product operations. The hire underscores Avita’s focus on commercialisation and reflects a wider trend of consumer‑tech executives moving into China’s EV sector.

Mercedes’s refreshed S‑Class combines traditional luxury cues — physical controls and enhanced passive safety — with a new MB.OS software backbone and AI‑driven features. A publicised partnership with Nvidia to pursue Level‑4 autonomy underscores the company’s strategy to reclaim vehicle control through software while preserving high‑margin, bespoke hardware offerings.

Tencent has launched a concentrated RMB1 billion push to embed AI into social products, notably upgrading its Yuanbao offering to group chat and using culturally resonant red‑envelope incentives to drive adoption. The plan leverages Tencent’s social graph and payments infrastructure but must navigate regulatory scrutiny and fierce competition from Chinese AI rivals.

Bitcoin dipped below $86,000 on January 29, falling roughly 4% in a single session. The decline highlights enduring volatility in crypto markets and the sensitivity of bitcoin’s price to leverage, flows and shifting macro sentiment.

Megmeet, a Chinese power-electronics supplier, reported a sharp fall in 2025 profits as margins compressed and R&D spending surged, yet its shares have soared on hopes that new AI server power-supply business will deliver blockbuster revenue. The company has raised fresh equity to finance R&D and capacity expansion and is counted among suppliers to Nvidia’s GB200 rack project, but execution and certification risks make its future performance highly uncertain.

Beijing has launched a comprehensive plan to cultivate new service-sector consumption drivers and to optimise loan-interest subsidies for service businesses. The package pairs sectoral pilots — from rail-tourism to home-care and ultra-high-definition video — with stronger fiscal and financial support, aiming to boost domestic demand and create jobs while exposing implementation and credit-risk challenges.

SUSE executives warn that 2026 is a decisive year for Chinese firms adopting AI: they must choose between the short‑term convenience of closed platforms and the long‑term freedom of open, interoperable infrastructure. SUSE positions SLES 16, long support cycles and observability tooling as solutions to vendor lock‑in, regulatory demands and runaway compute costs.

Shanghai has announced plans to build a 9.3 km2 commercial-space cluster in Minhang—“Rocket Star City”—aiming to establish a full reusable-rocket industry chain and annual capacities of up to 150 rockets and 500 satellites by 2030, targeting roughly RMB100 billion in industry output. The initiative accelerates China’s push to industrialise commercial space but faces constraints around launch access, regulation and workforce scaling.

Fudan University researchers have flown a 2D semiconductor RF communications system on the Fudan-1 satellite and published results in Nature claiming dramatic reductions in power and mass and a theoretical device lifetime of 271 years. While the demonstration is an important milestone for radiation-hardened electronics, practical satellite lifetimes remain constrained by other subsystems and will require broader validation before reshaping industry norms.

Kunshan has launched a RMB5 billion AI industry fund with an initial RMB2 billion tranche to finance AI hardware, compute infrastructure, large models and AI+manufacturing projects. Backed by Chuangkong Group and prominent venture players, the fund aims to accelerate local industrial upgrading and strengthen domestic AI capabilities amid global technology tensions.

Thai and Cambodian military delegations postponed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on local border issues after talks at the Poipet crossing left several items unresolved. The delay underscores continuing frictions along the Thailand–Cambodia frontier and puts a premium on the joint boundary committee's ability to finalise practical arrangements without escalating tensions.

Cambodia has formally protested Thailand’s move to pursue legal action against Senate President Hun Sen and Prime Minister Hun Manet, saying the step undermines de‑escalation efforts. Bangkok’s decision to bring civil and criminal claims risks politicising a border dispute and complicating ceasefire and restoration of bilateral ties.

Senior Chinese and Philippine diplomats met in Cebu on January 29, 2026 to discuss maritime and other shared issues, agreeing to maintain diplomatic communications. The talks reflect a mutual interest in managing tensions in the South China Sea, though no specific agreements were announced.

Elon Musk announced that Tesla’s Optimus 4 humanoid robot will be produced in Texas with a substantial increase in output. The declaration signals a push from prototypes toward scaled manufacturing, carrying significant supply‑chain, competitive and regulatory implications for the robotics industry and Tesla’s business mix.

A U.S. carrier strike group and additional forces have deployed near Iran, prompting Tehran to raise its alert level and threaten broad retaliation. Israel is on heightened readiness and has warned of a “sensitive period” around 30 January, creating a volatile mix of deterrence, domestic politics and asymmetric response options that could unsettle global markets and regional stability.

Xi Jinping and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Beijing on January 29 and agreed to develop a "long‑term, stable comprehensive strategic partnership," a diplomatic formulation Beijing says reflects a new vision for bilateral ties. The declaration signals a mutual interest in resetting relations but leaves major political and security questions open, making concrete follow‑through crucial.

A Taiwanese military drone crashed within five seconds of launch on Jan. 29, 2026, and footage of the incident spread rapidly online and through mainland media. While technically likely to stem from propulsion, power or control-link failure, the episode has outsized significance for Taiwan’s deterrence posture, domestic politics and cross-strait information warfare.

President Trump reverted from a recent conciliatory posture to a hard-line stance on Jan. 28, accusing Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey of “playing with fire” after Frey said local police would not enforce federal immigration laws. The episode highlights rising tensions over federal immigration enforcement, legal and political clashes between Washington and cities, and the wider implications for federalism and civil liberties.

Tesla’s 2025 results expose a company at a crossroads: vehicle deliveries and automotive margins have declined while investors have re‑priced the firm around an AI and energy future. Energy storage is the clearest near‑term bright spot, but Robotaxi, FSD and Optimus remain high‑risk, long‑dated bets whose commercial payoff will decide whether Tesla’s trillion‑dollar valuation is justified.

Gold and other metals have surged sharply this week, with gold approaching $5,600/oz and major base and precious metals hitting record highs in China. The rally is being driven by heightened geopolitical risk, expectations of Federal Reserve easing, record central-bank buying and structural supply tightness, particularly for silver.