Links for Thursday, April 7, 2022

Samsung’s iron is hot
Samsung earnings top estimates on chip demand, new handsets / Bloomberg (paywall)
Samsung’s chip business is hot. Will China take a bite? / WSJ (paywall)

Didi eyes electric cars
Didi in talks with Haima Automobile about EV partnership / Bloomberg (paywall)
“Didi Global Inc. is in talks with Haima Automobile Co. about a partnership to manufacture electric vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter.”

Tesla to recall Model 3s in China
Tesla to recall 127,785 Model 3s in China, says market regulator / Reuters via Nikkei Asia (paywall)

Metaverse money-making
Metaverse trailblazers hope to make real money from virtual people / Caixin (paywall)

Zhiyi raises $100 million
China’s Zhiyi Tech raises $100M to help fashion brands predict bestsellers / TechCrunch
“The company said it recently raised close to $100 million from three rounds of funding led respectively by GL Ventures — Hillhouse Capital’s early-stage arm, Zoo Capital, Xianghe Capital and CE Innovation Capital.”

Tire giant eyes big bucks
China’s largest tiremaker ZC Rubber weighs $1 billion Shanghai IPO / Bloomberg (paywall)

China moves to stabilize financial risks
China’s draft financial stability law takes aim at ‘scattered’ rules governing systemic risks / SCMP (paywall)
“The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) published a draft law late on Wednesday aimed at establishing ‘institutional arrangements’ to offset instability in the financial sector.”

GoTo brings in funds for Alibaba and SoftBank
Alibaba, SoftBank score 2022’s first IPO windfall with GoTo / Bloomberg (paywall)
Jakarta-based GoTo Group raised $1.1 billion last week, becoming one of the world’s biggest listings this year and “giving a much needed boost to early backers including China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund.”

Property woes
As property downturn drags on, Chinese developers see an uncertain future / WSJ (paywall)
China allows Evergrande creditors to sue locally to recoup debt / Bloomberg (paywall)

U.S. lags behind in hypersonic missiles
Hypersonic-missile delay puts U.S. further behind Russia and China / Bloomberg (paywall)
“The first U.S. hypersonic weapon will be delayed for as long as a year under a new schedule, even as lawmakers protest that the Pentagon is lagging behind in a new technology that Russia has already used in Ukraine and China has demonstrated in a space launch.”

China’s aviation chief promises “extreme” vigilance
Flight MU5735: chief of China’s civil aviation authority promises greater vigilance and stricter safety checks / SCMP (paywall)
Féng Zhènglín 冯正霖, the head of China’s Civil Aviation Administration, has vowed to reflect the deadly crash of flight MU5735 and step up safety checks with “extreme” vigilance across the industry.

JD’s CEO steps down
JD’s founder steps down as CEO of $92 billion empire / Bloomberg (paywall)
JD.com founder Richard Liu steps down in latest Chinese tech chief exit / FT (paywall)
“Richard Liu has stepped down as chief executive of JD.com, the Chinese ecommerce group he founded more than two decades ago, marking the latest exit for one of the country’s top entrepreneurs.”
JD.com founder Richard Liu becomes latest tech billionaire to give up CEO role / Caixin (paywall)
JD.com founder Richard Liu hands over CEO role / Nikkei Asia (paywall)
JD.com billionaire founder Richard Liu steps down as CEO / WSJ (paywall)
China’s JD.com promotes Lei Xu to CEO as founder Liu steps back / Reuters