CBN丨China issues national standards for auto chips

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.Coming up on today’s program· China steps up efforts to set standards for auto chips amid fierce competition;· China expects record air travel demand in Lunar New Year Holiday.Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Monday released a sweeping plan to accelerate the establishment of standards for automotive chips, in a bid to further boost research and development (R&D) of the critical product amid increasing international competition.The move comes after China became the world’s biggest car exporter in 2023, thanks to its rapidly rising new-energy vehicle (NEV) sector, and as China continues to counter the US-initiated chip war and build a sound and safe industrial supply chain for critical components not just for cars but also other high-tech products. The plan aims to establish a complete set of standards, so as to guide and promote the development and application of China’s automotive chip technology, cultivate an independent innovation environment, enhance overall technological capabilities and competitiveness, and create a safe, open and sustainable ecosystem, the MIIT said. Notably, the plan said that China will set up more than 30 critical standards by 2025, covering areas such as reliability, electromagnetic compatibility and operational and information security. This will meet the basic needs for safe and reliable application of auto chips, the MIIT said. By 2030, China will establish more than 70 standards for the auto chip sector, which will further improve the general requirements for the application of auto chips and other aspects, according to the plan. Amid fierce international competition and the US’ attempts to deprive China of advanced chips, a sound and reliable domestic auto chip industry is critical for China’s rising NEV sector, which requires a rapidly increasing number of chips. In 2012, NEVs generally used less than 600 chips on average, but that number jumped to 1,459 in 2022, according to industry data. And as the NEV sector becomes more mature, increasingly advanced chips are required.   China has taken the lead in the global NEV market. In the first 11 months of 2023, China's exports of NEVs jumped 83.5 percent year-on-year to 1.09 million units, which greatly contributed to China’s total car exports of 4.41 million units, surpassing that of Japan and making China the world’s biggest car exporter. Moving on to regional highlights· Sales of new and pre-owned apartments in Shanghai bounced back in December last year after the metropolis introduced a series of policies to spur the property market. As many as 15,300 pre-owned apartments changed hands last month, a gain of 9 percent from November and a jump of 23 percent from a year ago, according to data released by think tank Shanghai Lianjia Research Institute today. The transaction value of these apartments soared 16 percent month on month and 26 percent year on year to 54.6 billion yuan.Greater Bay Area, Greater future· Guangzhou has officially become China's first tier-1 city to introduce housing vouchers to compensate residents displaced under urban-renewal efforts. The southern metropolis issued the first batch of such vouchers in Liwan District last Friday. According to the terms, residents or their immediate family can use the voucher when they purchase a first-hand property listed on the city’s government-run housing website. An official with Guangzhou's bureau of planning and natural resources said on Monday that the housing vouchers are subject to a maximum of 18 months of validity, which can be transferred once or redeemed after expiration.· Meituan has become Hong Kong’s second-largest food delivery platform since its launch in the city last May. The internet firm’s sister app “KeeTa” accounted for 37 percent of the local food delivery market in December, according to data from Measurable AI, a local firm that tracks business receipts. That trails delivery hero SE’s Foodpanda at 42 percent but surpassed Deliveroo’s 20 percent.Next on industry and company news· China's aviation regulators predicted that air travel will hit a record high during the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays. The 40-day travel rush that will last from January 26 to March 5 could hit 80 million passenger trips or 2 million per day on average, and the number of daily flights will reach 16,500, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Monday. The CAAC also said it expects 690 million passenger trips to be made this year, up 11 percent from last year, recovering to about 75 percent of 2019 level in terms of market performance. Meanwhile, the CAAC said it aims for China’s civil aviation to return to profitability this year during the 2024 work conference on Tuesday. The industry saw losses in 2023 cut by 187.2 billion yuan from the 216 billion yuan recorded a year prior, the meeting revealed.· China’s rail passenger travel and cargo transportation hit an all-time high in 2023, the state railway operator said on Tuesday. Tapping the advantage in its high-speed railway (HSR) network, the country's railways handled a combined 3.68 billion passenger trips, with peak-time daily passenger trips exceeding 20 million, in 2023, with both data setting all-time records, China State Railway Group announced. In terms of cargo transportation, the company handled a total of 3.91 billion tons of goods, also a new record.· China's home-made C919 aircraft is expanding its route map and will start flying from Beijing to Shanghai. A C919 from China Eastern will take a round trip between Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport on Tuesday, and there will be one round trip every day in the following two weeks using the aircraft.  · Xiaomi Automobile is concentrating on the production and sales of its first vehicle, a mid-level five-seat sedan, and has no plans to release a cheaper version of the car for now, the electric vehicle unit of Chinese handset giant Xiaomi said on Monday. Prices will be announced after the Xiaomi SU7 is released, which should be in the next few months, it added.· The price of Kweichow Moutai's special edition baijiu for the upcoming Year of the Dragon reached 5,999 yuan on some platforms as over 8.5 million people have signed up for the liquor, after the world's most valuable distiller opened subscriptions on its app iMoutai on Saturday. Its zodiac baijiu has an official guide price of 2,499 yuan.· New York-listed Dada Nexus’ shares sank 46 percent after the Chinese owner of on-demand delivery platforms JD Daojia and Dada Now said that an internal audit identified certain suspicious practices that may cast doubt on certain revenues in 2023. Based on a preliminary assessment, about 500 million yuan of revenues from online advertising and marketing services and anther 500 million yuan of operation and support costs for the first three quarters of last year may have been overstated, the company announced yesterday. The audit committee is engaging independent professional consultants to further investigate the matter.Switching gears to financial news· China’s central bank signaled that it’s prepared to keep policy loose by lowering the amount of money banks must keep in reserve, reinforcing expectations among investors of more easing to come. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will use a variety of tools to provide “strong support” for a reasonable growth in credit, said Zou Lan, head of the central bank’s monetary policy department, in an interview late Monday. He highlighted “reserve requirements” as one option, suggesting policymakers have considered trims to that ratio as a way to boost lending capacity and bolster credit.Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market· Chinese stocks rebounded on Tuesday as the benchmark Shanghai Composite inched up 0.2 percent and the Shenzhen Component added 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 0.2 percent and the TECH index fell 0.9 percent.Biz Word of the Day· Housing vouchers are a combination of monetary compensation and housing subsidies that local governments hand out to residents of run-down properties subject to demolition for redevelopment. Residents can use the vouchers to purchase new homes and enjoy varying degrees of tax benefits, depending on their relocation choices.