Shots Fired as EV War Hots Up

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Shots Fired as EV War Hots Up

In one of the most aggressive moves yet seen in the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) price wars, BYD [1211:HK] has put a discount on almost all of its EVs and hybrids, under the slogan “electricity is cheaper than oil”. The firm is hoping to steal market share from legacy automakers such as Toyota [TM], according to Bloomberg. Elsewhere, Xiaomi [1810:HK] is poised to launch what its CEO Lei Jun says is the “best-looking, easiest-to-drive and smartest car” priced below RMB500,000.

Can the Vision Pro Compete in China?

During his visit to China, Apple [AAPL] CEO Tim Cook said that the Vision Pro headset will launch in the country later this year, CNBC reported. It will compete with local players, among them ByteDance-owned Pico. Meanwhile, the European Commission said on Monday that Apple’s and Google’s [GOOGL] app store rules will be the target of a probe under the Digital Markets Act.

China to Phase Out Foreign Hardware

Beijing has put in place new guidelines which will phase out the use of processors made by US firms, among them Intel [INTC] and AMD [AMD], in government computers and servers, reported the Financial Times. Foreign-made software, including Microsoft’s [MSFT] Windows, will also be phased out. China has been making moves to boost its domestic semiconductor industry while becoming less dependent on foreign technology.

Open-source Challenge to Nvidia

“We’re actually showing developers how you migrate out from an Nvidia platform,” Vinesh Sukumar, Head of AI and Machine Learning at Qualcomm [QCOM], told Reuters. Qualcomm is part of the UXL Foundation, a coalition of tech firms aiming to break Nvidia’s [NVDA] dominance in artificial intelligence (AI). The foundation is developing open-source software and tools that will be able to power different types of AI accelerator chips.

Stocks Rise as Biosecure Sponsor Stands Down

US Congressman Mike Gallagher has said he will step down from Congress next month. As he is chairman of the committee sponsoring the Biosecure Act, which aims to tighten controls over Chinese biotechs, the news sent up the share prices of two firms that stood to suffer under it: WuXi Biologics [2269.HK] and its sister company WuXi AppTec [2359.HK] rose 7.7% and 4.9%, respectively.