China Market Weekly Update

2025/12/15 - 2025/12/21

Weekly Investment Overview

Record IPO Jump

725.24%
Moore Threads

Battery Expansion

8,000 units
NIO

This week, China's investment market showed significant activity, particularly in high-tech sectors including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, new energy vehicles, and healthcare. The semiconductor sector saw remarkable IPO performance, with Moore Threads achieving a record 725.24% surge on its first trading day, demonstrating strong market confidence in domestic high-performance computing chips.

Investment Highlights

Record IPO Performance: Moore Threads surged 725.24% on its first trading day, with market value exceeding ¥300 billion, becoming the second trillion-yuan IPO on STAR Market
EV Infrastructure Expansion: NIO announced investment in over 3,777 new batteries, aiming to double its battery count to over 8,000 by mid-January
Cross-industry Semiconductor Acquisitions: Traditional companies like Toread acquired semiconductor firms Betterlife and Tongtu, while Zhonglian Development Holdings plans to acquire Longteng Semiconductor
Humanoid Robot Breakthrough: RoboParty completed new seed+ round, exclusively achieving full-stack open source from algorithms to hardware, advancing standardized embodied intelligence

In the semiconductor sector, this week showed a unique trend of cross-industry acquisitions. Outdoor brand Toread and Zhonglian Development Holdings acquired fingerprint recognition chip company Betterlife, display bridge chip company Tongtu Semiconductor, and power semiconductor enterprise Longteng Semiconductor. These traditional industry listed companies are attempting to transform into the "hard technology" sector through semiconductor acquisitions to secure advantageous positions in future market competition.

Additionally, GPU chip developer Moore Threads successfully listed on the STAR Market with a first-day price surge of 725.24%, reaching a market value exceeding ¥300 billion, becoming the second trillion-yuan IPO on the STAR Market. This highlights the strong market recognition of domestic high-performance GPU chips and reflects China's semiconductor industry's rapid adaptation and innovation capabilities under external pressure.

In the new energy vehicle market, NIO announced investments in over 3,777 new batteries, planning to complete its goal of doubling its battery count to over 8,000 by mid-January to meet Spring Festival peak demand and future user growth. Changan Automobile's new energy vehicle annual sales exceeded 1 million units, setting a new record and demonstrating the strong growth momentum of China's new energy vehicle market.

China Market & Policy Weekly Update

Zero-tariff Items

74%
Hainan Free Trade Port

Special Bonds

¥300 billion
2025

Investment Growth

2-3%
2026 Forecast

This week, China saw multiple important policies introduced or reviewed, providing crucial reference for foreign companies understanding the Chinese market. The Hainan Free Trade Port officially launched island-wide customs closure operations on December 18, 2025, marking a significant step in China's high-level opening up. After closure, the proportion of "zero-tariff" items will increase from 21% to 74%, covering almost all production equipment and raw materials.

Internet Platforms
Internet Platform Price Behavior Rules
Prohibits unfair competitive practices like predatory pricing and price discrimination. Effective April 10, 2026, this policy aims to regulate pricing behavior and protect consumer and business interests.
Trade Reform
Foreign Trade Law Amendment Draft
Adds government responsibilities in cross-border financial services, digital certificates, electronic signature recognition, and green trade standards. The amendment will optimize the foreign trade development environment and strengthen intellectual property protection.
Fiscal Policy
Ultra-Long Special Treasury Bonds
Will support equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in policies. The 2025 allocation increases to ¥300 billion, potentially rising to ¥500 billion in 2026, promoting consumption and industrial transformation.

Policy Analysis

The National Development and Reform Commission expects China's investment growth to moderately rebound to around 2-3% in 2026. In the first 11 months of this year, fixed asset investment declined by 2.6% year-on-year. The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized appropriately increasing central budget investment scale, optimizing local government special bond usage, and continuing to leverage new policy-based financial instruments to stimulate private investment. The government will focus on new quality productive forces, services, infrastructure construction, and green transformation to ensure investment growth and improve investment efficiency.

Regarding market regulation, the "Internet Platform Price Behavior Rules" released on December 21, 2025 (effective April 10, 2026) clearly prohibits unfair competitive practices like predatory pricing and price discrimination, aiming to promote healthy platform economy development. Simultaneously, photovoltaic and automotive industries are actively promoting anti-internal competition measures, such as establishing a "polysilicon capacity integration acquisition platform" in the photovoltaic industry and soliciting compliance opinions on price behavior in the automotive industry. These indicate that China's market will increasingly emphasize fair competition and value creation rather than mere price wars.

The Hainan Free Trade Port implementation of "free flow at the first line, effective control at the second line" monitoring policy after customs closure will benefit businesses with approximately 20% tax savings and provide 15% income tax incentives. This policy has significant attraction for foreign companies hoping to establish operations in Hainan or expand in the Chinese market, especially in trade, logistics, and high-tech industries.

Tech Market Overview

This week, China's technology market and economic sectors demonstrated flourishing growth across multiple areas, with technological innovation, product launches, and market policy adjustments jointly creating a vibrant market landscape. In the artificial intelligence field, Chinese companies continued to make significant progress, with AGI companies advancing toward public markets and new AI technologies being deployed across various sectors.

First Commercial sCO₂ Power Unit

Super Carbon No.1
Global First

Bohai Oilfield Production

40 million tons
Record High

GPU Architecture Efficiency

10x
Moore Threads

Tech Frontiers

Advanced GPU Architecture: Moore Threads launched "Huagang" architecture with three new chips: "Huashan," "Lushan," and "Changjiang," achieving 50% increase in computing density and 10x improvement in energy efficiency
AI-Generated OS Components: Shanghai Jiao Tong University's IPADS lab introduced SysSpec method for AI-automated generation of operating system core components, successfully implemented in Linux kernel's SpecFS file system
Supercritical CO₂ Power Generation: CNNC announced that "Super Carbon No.1," the world's first commercial supercritical CO₂ power generation unit, has begun commercial operation in Liupanshui, Guizhou, with efficiency increased by over 85%
First ICE Vehicle With Advanced ADAS: FAW Audi launched the new A5L with Huawei's Qiankun Smart Driving system, becoming the world's first internal combustion engine vehicle equipped with Huawei's intelligent driving assistance technology
Spatial Intelligence AI: SenseTime's SenseNova-SI model achieved a breakthrough in spatial intelligence, surpassing Fei-Fei Li's team's Cambrian-S with native multimodal and spatial intelligence architecture
Level 3 Autonomous Driving Approval: BAIC Group's ARCFOX received China's first L3 autonomous driving vehicle product access license, marking China's transition from "testing" to "implementation" phase in autonomous driving

In hardware products, Moore Threads released the new "Huagang" GPU architecture along with "Huashan," "Lushan," and "Changjiang" chips, increasing computing density by 50% and computing energy efficiency by 10 times. These chips fully support AI training, high-performance graphics rendering, and intelligent SoCs, signifying China's strong capabilities in the GPU field. This breakthrough comes at a critical time when domestic high-performance computing chips are increasingly important for China's technological self-reliance.

In the automotive industry, FAW Audi's A5L with Qiankun Smart Driving became the world's first internal combustion engine vehicle equipped with Huawei's intelligent driving assistance technology, demonstrating the potential for traditional vehicle intelligence. Dongfeng and Huawei Qiankun's jointly created brand Yijing's first engineering sample vehicle rolled off the production line, focusing on mid-to-high-end intelligent vehicles. BAIC Group's ARCFOX received the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's autonomous driving vehicle product access license, allowing L3 conditional autonomous driving pilots in designated areas of Beijing, marking China's autonomous driving technology transition from testing to implementation phase.

Selected News

Tech News List
2025/12/21

Moore Threads Launches New GPU Architecture "Huagang" and Multiple New Products

Moore Threads has unveiled its new GPU architecture "Huagang" along with three new chips: "Huashan," "Lushan," and "Changjiang." The "Huagang" architecture improves computing density by 50% and computing energy efficiency by 10 times, supporting FP4 computation. The MUSA software stack 5.0 has been released simultaneously, marking an important step for Moore Threads in the domestic full-function GPU field.

Reference

2025/12/21

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Develops SysSpec for AI-Generated OS Components

The IPADS laboratory research team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has introduced the innovative SysSpec method, using formal methods to guide AI in automatically generating operating system core components. They successfully implemented the SpecFS file system in the Linux kernel, effectively addressing the issue where 82.4% of code in traditional operating system development is used for bug fixes, significantly improving development efficiency.

Reference

2025/12/20

World's First Commercial Supercritical CO₂ Power Unit "Super Carbon No.1" Begins Operation

China National Nuclear Corporation has announced that the world's first commercial supercritical CO₂ power generation unit "Super Carbon No.1" has successfully begun commercial operation in Liupanshui, Guizhou. The unit improves power generation efficiency by over 85%, increases net power generation by more than 50%, and reduces equipment footprint by 50%, marking a major breakthrough in thermal-to-electric conversion technology for China.

Reference

2025/12/18

BAIC ARCFOX Receives China's First L3 Autonomous Driving Vehicle Product Access License

BAIC Group's ARCFOX has received an autonomous driving vehicle product access license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, allowing it to conduct L3-level conditional autonomous driving pilots in designated areas of Beijing. This marks China's autonomous driving technology officially transitioning from the "testing and verification" stage to the "product access" phase.

Reference

Market & Policy News List
2025/12/21

China Strengthens Internet Platform Regulation with New Pricing Rules

The Chinese government has strengthened regulation of internet platforms by issuing the "Internet Platform Pricing Behavior Rules," aimed at standardizing pricing behaviors and protecting the rights of consumers and operators. The new rules prohibit unfair competitive practices such as predatory pricing and price discrimination, and will be implemented on April 10, 2026. Major platforms will conduct self-inspections during this period, which will help build a better market ecosystem and promote quality competition.

Reference

2025/12/20

Hainan Free Trade Port Officially Launches Island-wide Customs Closure Operations

The Hainan Free Trade Port has officially launched island-wide customs closure operations, marking a significant step in China's high-level opening up. After closure, Hainan will implement "free flow at the first line, effective control at the second line" monitoring policies. The proportion of zero-tariff items is expected to increase from 21% to 74%, benefiting almost all production equipment and raw materials, and is estimated to save businesses approximately 20% in tax costs.

Reference

2025/12/20

NDRC Forecasts 2-3% Investment Growth for 2026

The National Development and Reform Commission has announced its future investment plans, projecting that China's investment growth will moderately rebound to around 2-3% in 2026, while fixed asset investment in the first 11 months of this year declined by 2.6% year-on-year. The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized appropriately increasing central budget investment scale, optimizing local government special bond usage, and continuing to leverage new policy-based financial instruments to stimulate private investment, focusing on new quality productive forces, services, infrastructure construction, and green transformation.

Reference

2025/12/16

Ministry of Finance to Continue Issuing Ultra-Long Special Treasury Bonds to Support Consumer Goods Trade-in Policies

The Ministry of Finance has announced it will continue issuing ultra-long special treasury bonds to support equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in policies, known as "national subsidies." Next year's ultra-long special treasury bonds will primarily support the "two new" policy for equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins. This allocation will increase to ¥300 billion in 2025 and is expected to potentially rise to ¥500 billion in 2026, promoting consumption and industrial transformation and upgrading.

Reference