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Starbucks CEO seeks China partner to 'compete more effectively'
KENJI KAWASE
TOKYO -- Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said the American coffee chain is looking for a strategic partner in China to enhance its competitiveness and efficiency, but vowed that the U.S. company will "retain a meaningful stake" in the business.
For months, speculation has swirled over the future of Starbucks' operations in China, where it faces tough competition and sluggish consumer spending.
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Nikkei Asia
15 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
South Korea's chip push and dark days for Japan Display
Hello. This is Kenji from Tokyo, your host for this week's #techAsia newsletter. Much of Japan has been hit by blistering heat waves for days and weeks, and the debate over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff, trade and investment policy remains just as hot. Under the scorching Tokyo sun on Tuesday, Chinese government officials extended an olive branch to Japanese businesses, promoting the country's biggest trade exhibition, the Canton Fair. Luo Xiaomei, minister in charge of economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, and Ma Fengmin, deputy director general of the China Foreign Trade Centre, the organizer of the fair, were helped in this effort by the Association for the Promotion of International Trade, Japan (JAPIT), a traditionally pro-Beijing Japanese business group. JAPIT is one of the seven major bilateral "friendship organizations" and traces its history back to 1954, 18 years before the opening of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Masahito Yasuda, senior executive director at JAPIT, said the Trump administration's trade policy is bringing uncertainty to the economic outlook, leading to "the need to enhance economic cooperation between Japan and China more than ever." There was no mention of heightened personal security risks following the sentencing in Beijing of a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma over espionage charges or mounting tensions over the East China Sea during the gathering. Japan, the European Union and South Korea have all agreed with the Trump administration to set their "reciprocal" tariffs at 15%, with a similar rate on cars, in exchange for making substantial investments and purchasing American goods. India, an increasingly important hub for iPhone production, has been hit with a 25% rate. China, meanwhile, faces an Aug. 12 deadline to reach a tariff agreement. The most recent negotiations between the two countries in Stockholm failed to produce a major breakthrough, with U.S. tech export controls seen as one of the sticking points. South Korea's chip drive Amid the massive uncertainty of Trump's tariff policy, South Korea's big tech players continued to chart a path forward, both commercially and technologically, in chips. Samsung Electronics has clinched a $16.5 billion deal to supply semiconductors for Tesla by the end of 2033, marking a major win in its contract chipmaking business. Nikkei Asia's Kim Jaewon reported that while Samsung kept its customer name confidential by only referring to it as a "big global company," Tesla CEO Elon Musk spilled the beans on his X account. Musk further revealed that Samsung's new site in Texas "will be dedicated to making Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip." The deal is a major relief for Samsung, which is set to invest over $37 billion in Texas in the coming years, as the South Korean chipmaker looks to catch up with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the global leader in the chip foundry business. Separately, LG Electronics is working to develop a hybrid bonder, a device that attaches multiple chips together in the same package, according to Nikkei's Nami Matsuura. This marks LG's full-fledged entry into chipmaking devices, a segment stimulated by the growing demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) used for generative artificial intelligence applications. Hanmi Semiconductor, which holds a 90% global share in a device called thermocompression (TC) bonders used to manufacture HBM, is investing 100 billion won ($72.3 million) to build a new hybrid bonder plant in the city of Incheon, with plans to begin operations next year. The company's ambition is to break into the top 10 global chipmaking device producers by the end of the decade. Secret shipments At least $1 billion worth of Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence processors were shipped to China in the three months after Donald Trump tightened chip export controls, exposing the limits of Washington's efforts to restrain Beijing's high-tech ambitions, write the Financial Times' Zijing Wu and Eleanor Olcott. A Financial Times analysis of dozens of sales contracts and company filings and interviews with multiple people with direct knowledge of the deals reveal that Nvidia's B200 has become the most sought-after chip in a rampant Chinese black market for American semiconductors. The processor is widely used by U.S. powerhouses such as OpenAI, Google and Meta to train their latest AI systems, but is banned for sale to China. In May, multiple Chinese distributors started selling B200s to suppliers of data centers that serve Chinese AI groups, according to documents reviewed by the FT. It is legal to receive and sell restricted Nvidia chips in China, as long as relevant border tariffs are paid, according to lawyers familiar with the rules. Entities selling and sending them to China would be violating U.S. regulations, however. Nvidia has long insisted there is "no evidence of any AI chip diversion." There is no evidence that the company is involved in, or has knowledge of, its restricted products being sold to China."Trying to cobble together data centers from smuggled products is a losing proposition, both technically and economically," Nvidia told the FT. "Data centers require service and support, which we provide only to authorised Nvidia products." Battery-powered growth South Korean companies are expanding their footholds in the U.S. battery market, as Washington places Chinese players under increasingly strict regulations, Nikkei Asia's Pak Yiu reports. South Korea's LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On are all scaling up their local production and strengthening partnerships. Japan's Panasonic is also part of the trend, as it has started producing lithium-ion batteries at a second U.S. plant. In contrast, Chinese companies are being squeezed out of the American market. Automotive Energy Supply Corp. put construction of its EV battery plant in South Carolina on hold last month, citing policy and market uncertainty, while Gotion indefinitely suspended its Michigan facility last year. Dismal display Japan Display, or JDI, an ailing panel manufacturer, will sell the LCD and OLED panel production equipment at its Mobara plant, according to Nikkei's Fumie Yaku. The original plan was to relocate it to another factory and continue production, since the Mobara site, in a Tokyo suburb, was shutting down as part of the company's downsizing. The sale of the equipment means that the Japanese flagship display panel maker will no longer supply panels for the Apple Watch. JDI -- a combination by of panel businesses from Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi -- was a poster child for INCJ, a public-private investment fund established in 2009 to help strategic industries acquire competitiveness. However, the company has been racking up losses for the last 11 years, as it fell behind rivals from South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China. INCJ sold all remaining shares in JDI in March, marking a total loss of over $1 billion in present value. Japan looks to get solar mojo back with thin, light, bendable panels Welcome to the Tech Latest podcast. Hosted by our tech coverage veterans, Katey Creel and Shotaro Tani, every Tuesday we deliver the hottest trends and news from the sector. In this episode, Katey speaks with fellow host Shotaro Tani about how Japan is looking to regain its footing in the solar market with ultrathin and ultralight tech. Find us on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Voicy | YouTube | YouTube Music Suggested reads 1. China lays out its AI vision in foil to Donald Trump's 'America First' plan (FT) 2. China's automakers bring tech edge to Australia's small but brutal market (Nikkei Asia) 3. Changan Auto business carved out from key PLA supplier (Nikkei Asia) 4. Tesla's $16.5bn contract won't be enough to drive a revival at Samsung (FT) 5. Brussels accuses China's Temu of breaking EU digital rules (FT) 6. Indonesia's GoTo and Indosat launch home-grown AI chat tool (Nikkei Asia) 7. Panasonic digital unit CEO Yasuyuki Higuchi to step down (Nikkei Asia) 8. Samsung to supply Tesla with AI chips in $16.5bn deal (FT) 9. China launches probe into Nvidia over H20 'risks' (Nikkei Asia) 10. Narendra Modi's kingmaker aims to build Indian 'Quantum Valley' (FT)
Japan Today
17 hours ago
- Japan Today
China bids to lap U.S. in AI leadership
Beijing aims to become the world's leading AI 'innovation centre' by 2030 By Rebecca BAILEY Beyond dancing robots and eager-to-help digital avatars, Shanghai's World AI Conference saw China stake its claim to global artificial intelligence leadership and frame itself as a clear alternative to the United States. Assumptions that the U.S. was far ahead in the fast-moving field were upended this year when Chinese start-up DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that matched top American systems for an apparent fraction of the cost. With AI now at the forefront of the superpowers' tech race, the World AI Conference (WAIC) that ended Tuesday saw China set out its case to take charge on shaping its global governance too. China, the United States and other major economies are "engaged in a marathon at Formula One speed", said Steven Hai, assistant professor of tech innovation at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. "Which country will attain the upper hand can only be assessed dynamically over the course of development." China and the United States dominate the AI sector -- only 10 to 15 percent of models developed in recent years were built without either's participation, according to Epoch AI, a non-profit research institute. While U.S. companies like Google and OpenAI are still industry-leading, the institute labelled 78 percent of Chinese models "state-of-the-art" compared to 70 percent of models built with American participation. Beijing's stated aim is to become the world's leading AI "innovation centre" by 2030. "Now China is neck-and-neck with the United States in terms of core tech, that play (for global leadership) is more relevant than ever," said Tom Nunlist, associate director for tech and data policy at Trivium China. "With a solid AI offering and the U.S. turning inward, the question is will Beijing's vision gain greater global traction?" In May, Microsoft's Brad Smith told the U.S. Senate that "the number-one factor" in the tech race "is whose technology is most broadly adopted in the rest of the world". China's offer is technical and economical. "One of the biggest differences (with the U.S. sector) is that most of the leading models in China... are open-weight and open-source," former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told an audience at WAIC. That means they can be adapted by other countries to fit their own needs, said George Chen, partner at Washington-based policy consultancy The Asia Group. "We already see some countries like Mongolia, Kazakhstan, even Pakistan are trying to adopt the DeepSeek model to build their own," he said. "China has a chance to win in the aspect of sovereign AI to export its model to those countries." The comparative low cost of Chinese technology -- software but also hardware, for example through firms like Huawei -- will be a big factor, especially for developing countries, Chen added. On Monday another Chinese start-up, Zhipu, announced its new AI model -- also open-source -- would cost less than DeepSeek to use. In June, OpenAI accused Zhipu of having close ties with Chinese authorities and noted it was working with governments and state-owned firms across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. "The goal is to lock Chinese systems and standards into emerging markets before U.S. or European rivals can," it said. Washington has moved to protect its lead in AI, expanding efforts to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China in recent years. "While limiting China's share of the global AI hardware market, (these measures) have accelerated indigenous innovation and led Chinese firms to exploit regulatory loopholes," said assistant professor Hai, referring to "rife" smuggling and circumvention. Issues of trust? Other challenges to homegrown firms include the closed nature of the Chinese internet, and "general issues of trust when it comes to using Chinese tech", Trivium's Nunlist said. At WAIC, China sought to present itself as a responsible power. Premier Li Qiang emphasised the risks of AI and pledged to share technology with other nations, especially developing ones. His remarks contrasted sharply with U.S. President Donald Trump's aggressive low-regulation "AI Action Plan" launched just days before and explicitly aimed at cementing U.S. dominance in the field. China released its own action plan at WAIC, following a meeting attended by delegates from dozens of countries. Li also announced the establishment of a China-led organization for international AI cooperation. However, China's foreign ministry did not respond to a request from AFP for details on the set-up of the organization -- including any international participants -- and several foreign delegates said they had not been briefed on the announcement beforehand. Analyst Grace Shao wrote it was clear AI was still in its "infancy stage". "You can sense that vibrant energy but also the immaturity of the space," she wrote on Substack. "There just shouldn't be a definitive conclusion on who is 'winning' yet." © 2025 AFP
The Mainichi
21 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Trump's 50% tariff on copper imports to take effect Aug. 1
WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an order imposing a 50 percent tariff on certain copper imports starting Aug. 1, in another move aimed at protecting American manufacturing. Citing national security concerns, the proclamation signed by Trump said the new tariff will be imposed on semi-finished copper products and copper-intensive derivative products. Such items include copper pipes, wires, rods, cables, connectors and electrical components, according to the White House. In early July, Trump said he would impose a 50 percent tariff on copper imports, without providing many details, after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's team submitted the findings of its related probe and its recommendations to the president. Trump had directed Lutnick in late February to investigate whether tariffs were necessary for copper, a vital material used in military hardware and clean energy products such as electric vehicles. As part of efforts to support the U.S. copper industry, the proclamation also authorized the commerce secretary to take steps such as requiring 25 percent of high-quality scrap produced domestically to be sold in the country. In addition to his so-called reciprocal tariffs, Trump has introduced automobile, steel and other sectoral duties on national security grounds. In early June, the Trump administration doubled U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 percent, less than three months after going ahead with the first such sector-based protectionist measures. As global demand for copper increases, the United States has seen its reliance on imports rise markedly in recent years, despite it once being a leading producer of the metal. U.S. officials have said Trump recognizes that an overreliance on foreign copper in all its forms could result in vulnerabilities for the country's military capabilities, infrastructure development and technological innovation. The country's use of imported copper has surged from virtually zero percent in 1991 to 45 percent of consumption in 2024, according to the White House. On Wednesday, Trump also signed an executive order imposing a 50 percent tariff on imports from Brazil starting in a week. He had threatened such a move earlier this month. The tariff rate for Brazil marks a significant hike from the 10 percent Trump initially set and is by far the highest among the new rates released since early July for U.S. trading partners including Indonesia, Japan and the European Union. The order said Trump's tariff plan exempts some of Brazil's most important exports to the United States, including civil aircraft and parts, orange juice and fuel. He said the 40 percentage-point increase was decided because "recent policies, practices, and actions" of the Brazilian government "threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States." In the order, he accused Brazil of "unjustly" prosecuting former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro, known as the Brazilian Trump, has been charged with orchestrating a plot to overturn his 2022 election defeat.
