CX Daily: China Clears More Obstacles for Robotaxis

23 Jan 2025

Robotaxis /

In Depth: China clears more obstacles for robotaxis

Green lights are turning on for China’s driverless taxi companies. On Dec. 30, Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, announced that the provincial legislature had approved the city’s new regulations on supporting the development of “intelligent connected vehicles,” and they would go into effect in March 2025.

The following day, the Beijing city government passed its own set of regulations, which will take effect in April, while local legislation is also about to be implemented in Guangzhou. The latter has been submitted to the Guangdong provincial legislature and is expected to be reviewed in January or February, according to several sources familiar with the matter.

Xiaohongshu /

TikTok refugees send Xiaohongshu to top of U.S. app store charts

The Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu has surged to the top of U.S. app store charts as American TikTok creators, dubbed “TikTok refugees,” migrate to the platform amid a potential U.S. ban, driving new global user engagement and sparking cross-cultural trends.

Ryan Martin, a TikTok user, said restricted access to Douyin — TikTok’s Chinese counterpart — and dissatisfaction with Meta Platform’s role in the TikTok ban had prompted his switch to Xiaohongshu. He described the platform as the most similar to TikTok in terms of interface and functionality. Unlike TikTok and Douyin, Xiaohongshu does not isolate domestic and international users, allowing seamless access for overseas users.

BUSINESS & TECH

Smartphones /

Chart of the Day: Huawei’s smartphone comeback in China

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. was China’s fastest growing major smartphone brand last year, riding a wave of momentum as the country’s market began to grow after two years of decline.

Huawei shipped 46 million smartphones on the Chinese mainland in 2024, which put it in the No. 2 spot nationally with a 16% market share, according to a report published by Canalys on Thursday. Its 37% year-on-year shipment growth was greater than any of the other brands in the top five, three of which saw their shipments contract.

Supermarkets /

In Depth: E-commerce giants shun supermarkets as sales slump

China’s retail sector is undergoing a major shake-up: E-commerce giants are scaling back their brick-and-mortar investments and new players such as fast-growing Chinese retailer Miniso and private equity firms are stepping in to fill the gap.

JD.com Inc. reduced its stake in Yonghui Superstores Co. Ltd., China’s second-largest hypermarket chain, by a total of 11.25% last year, while in February 2024, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s chairman called its traditional retail segment a “non-core business” in an earnings call.

A rundown of the news making headlines in and around China:

Smart car ban: The foreign ministry called a U.S. rule designed to bar Chinese technology from cars sold in the U.S. a textbook example of “protectionism and economic coersion.” Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the statement Wednesday after the U.S. government issued a final rule on the ban of intelligent connected vehicles manufactured by Chinese and Russian firms, as well as the software and hardware that run them. Washington sees certain technologies originating from China or Russia as posing an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security. There’s no publicly available data on how much of this software and hardware from China is sold to the U.S.. One estimate said the U.S. accounts for 1% of China’s total exports of electric vehicles.

Low-altitude infrastructure: Developing a low-altitude economy requires robust infrastructure, with a focus on enhancing communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) systems. During Guangdong’s 2025 provincial legislative sessions, Zhou Jixiong, general manager of China Mobile’s Shenzhen unit, highlighted significant gaps in CNS capabilities, including inconsistent communication standards, limited navigation accuracy, and outdated radar technologies. To address these issues, Zhou proposed adopting advanced technologies like 5G-A and BeiDou for seamless integration, enabling precise positioning and real-time monitoring of low-altitude airspace. He also suggested creating new test fields and validation centers to accelerate the maturity and scalability of these technologies.

IPhones subsidies: Starting Jan. 20, China will introduce a nationwide subsidy program offering up to 15% discounts, capped at 500 yuan ($68), on new digital products such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. The scheme is open to both domestic and international brands including Apple. E-commerce platforms such as JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall are ready to implement the subsidy, with brands like Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi and Vivo joining the initiative. According to officials, the program could drive a market worth hundreds of billions of yuan, given China’s 1.7 billion mobile users.

China-U.S. tech war: The U.S. has tightened rules limiting exports of computing chips and added 27 Chinese and Singaporean companies in the artificial intelligence (AI) and computing industries to a trade blacklist. In one rule change issued Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce extended the upper limit on the specifications of chips for export from 7 nanometers to “14 or 16 nanometers.” Of the Chinese companies added to the U.S.’ Entity List, 10 were accused of using advanced AI research to support Chinese military modernization. They included Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co. Ltd., one of China’s earliest generative AI start-ups that had just raised 3 billion yuan ($409.2 million) in a new financing round in December. Zhipu said Wednesday that it opposes the U.S.’ decision.

Luxury brands dim: Global luxury car brands are under rising pressure in China to adapt to the country’s rapid transition to new energy vehicles (NEVs) and the intensifying competition from domestic upstarts. Sales figures from major automakers show declines: Mercedes-Benz reported a 7% drop in passenger car sales in China in 2024, Audi sales were down 10.9% and BMW faced a 13.4% decrease. Other brands, including Porsche and Volvo, also saw declining sales in the Chinese market. While these luxury brands continue to rely on fossil fuel cars for most of their sales, NEVs are gaining traction in the China market. NEVs accounted for more than 50% of total vehicle sales in China between July and November last year. Capitalizing on this shift, domestic brands have captured more than 65.2% of the market last year.

Record investment: China’s State Grid Corp., the country’s largest utility, plans to invest a record 650 billion yuan ($89 billion) this year to boost grid capacity and drive renewable energy growth. The grid operators said this year’s construction will focus on improving the main power grid, strengthening the distribution network and supporting the development of new energy. Major projects include long-distance, ultra-high-voltage power lines connecting the northwestern province of Shaanxi to Henan in central China, as well as several pumped-storage power stations. State Grid has been increasing investment in infrastructures to support the clean energy transition. In 2024, it planned to allocate about 600 billion yuan for capital expenditure, a record high.

TSMC earnings: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) reported record profit for the fourth quarter of 2024 as the chipmaker continued to ride the AI boom. TSMC’s profit surged 57% from the previous year to a record NT$374.7 billion ($11.4 billion) for the quarter. Its revenue rose 38.8% year-on-year to NT$868.5 billion. The company said the leap in profit was mainly due to improved capacity utilization and productivity. AI and consumer electronics remained TSMC’s two primary revenue drivers. For the entire year, TSMC’s profit jumped nearly 40%.

caixinglobal.com is the English-language online news portal of Chinese financial and business news media group Caixin. Global Neighbours is authorized to reprint this article.

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