Shanghai overtakes NYC 🧪 3.6M EV chargers in China 🔋 Visa-free for 38 countries 🌍

2024-11-25 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to this week’s edition of the China Insights Weekly Newsletter!

As China continues to drive global innovation and economic growth, here are the top stories making waves this week:

• China’s 3.6M EV Chargers by 2024, 70% of the global total.

• Merck’s $3.3B Oncology Deal: Partners with Shanghai-based LaNova to expand cancer R&D.

• eVTOL Flights Trial in 6 Cities: China launches low-altitude aviation pilot projects.

• Renewable Energy Surge: 161GW installed in 2024; renewables hit 1.73TW total capacity.

Dive deeper into these stories and more by clicking the headlines below. We value your feedback—let us know your thoughts or suggestions on LinkedIn, X or Facebook.

🚀 Headlines

Half of the top 20 science cities in the world are now in China, Shanghai surpassed New York while provincial capitals rose (link)

The released Nature Index Science Cities 2024 highlights China's remarkable rise in global research, with half of the top 20 science cities now located in the country. Beijing leads the ranking, nearly doubling the share of the second-placed city, Shanghai, which has overtaken New York. This growth is attributed to China's strategic spread of knowledge and innovation, with provincial capitals like Chengdu and Hefei emerging as significant research hubs. These cities specialize in key technologies such as electric vehicles and solar energy, aligning with national strategies like 'Made in China 2025' to shift towards high-tech industries. Despite lagging in health sciences, Chinese cities are making progress, with a possibility of leading in this field within a decade.

China to surpass US as Mexico’s top vehicle supplier with 33% market share in 2024 (link)

Mexico has seen a surge in Chinese car imports following a 2020 policy that dropped import tariffs from 20% to 0%, making low-cost electric vehicles more accessible. This year, China is set to ship nearly 500,000 vehicles to Mexico, surpassing the US as Mexico's top car supplier. One in three new cars sold in Mexico will be Chinese-made, up from just 4% in 2020. BYD, China's leading automaker, entered the Mexican market in 2023 and aims to sell 50,000 cars this year, with plans to double that to 100,000 by 2025. It remains to be seen how Mexico responds since it is part of a free trade agreement USMCA with the US and Canada that both set import tariffs on Chinese car imports to 100%.

China to have 3.6 million public chargers by the end of 2024, nearly 70% of the global total (link)

By the end of 2024, China is projected to have 3.6 million public electric vehicle (EV) chargers, nearly 70% of the global total. This dominance is attributed to China's position as the world's largest EV market. Nations are increasingly adopting DC public charging piles to boost charging efficiency. DC chargers will account for 37% of global public charging piles in 2024 — a 2% increase from 2023. However, global deployment of public EV chargers faces challenges such as land availability, grid planning, and a slowdown in the new energy vehicle (NEV) market, with growth expected to drop from 60% in 2023 to 30% in 2024. Chargers are over-concentrated in certain regions. 20% of chargers in China are located in Guangdong Province, 58% in Europe are located in just three countries the Netherlands, Germany, and France, and 26% in the US are located in California.

Germany’s Merck signs up to USD 3.3 billion cancer drug deal with China-based LaNova (link)

Merck has signed a USD 3.3 billion deal with Shanghai-based LaNova Medicines to develop an experimental cancer drug, LM-299, targeting PD-1 and VEGF proteins. Merck will pay USD 588 million upfront and LaNova is eligible for up to USD 2.7 billion in milestone payments. Additionally, Merck and five other foreign pharmaceutical companies have received approval to offer human stem cell and gene therapies in Shanghai's Free Trade Zone. This allows Merck to include stem cell technology development and genetic diagnosis and treatment technology development in its business scope. Shanghai's Pudong New Area, a leader in the stem cell and gene industry, hosts over 120 companies, including product developers and service providers, with three revolutionary cancer treatment CAR-T cell therapies already marketed and a clinical development pipeline accounting for nearly one-third of China’s national total.

Chinese tech groups build AI teams in California’s Silicon Valley (link)

China’s biggest technology groups are building artificial intelligence teams in Silicon Valley, seeking to hire top US talent. Alibaba, ByteDance, and Meituan have been expanding their offices in California in recent months, seeking to poach staff from rival US groups who could help them make up ground in the race to profit from generative AI. Smaller Chinese AI start-ups have also established a footprint in the US including Moonshot AI, which owns a popular Chinese AI chatbot called Kimi. TikTok owner ByteDance has the most established AI footprint in California, with multiple teams working on different projects. One research team is focused on integrating AI features into TikTok. It also has a group of researchers working on its Doubao large language model, alongside colleagues in China and Singapore.

China to trial commercial eVTOL flights in six major cities (link)

China is launching pilot commercial operations of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in six major cities — Hefei, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing. Hangzhou has already initiated the use of public eVTOL sites for services like takeoff, landing, battery charging and swapping, equipment storage, and cargo loading and unloading. eVTOLs offer significant cost savings over helicopters and faster speeds than ground logistics, making them ideal for commercial use. China is also establishing a new government department under the National Development and Reform Commission to oversee the low-altitude aviation sector and drive the "low-altitude economy." The department will coordinate with other government bodies, including the Chinese Air Force, to manage the emerging sector.

Solar leads as China adds 210GW of new renewable capacity so far in 2024 (link)

China installed 210GW of new renewable energy capacity in the first three quarters of 2024, a 21% increase over the same period in 2023. This accounted for 86% of all new power capacity added in the year. Solar led with 161GW, followed by wind (39.12GW), hydropower (7.97GW), and biomass (1.37GW). By the end of Q3, China’s total renewable energy capacity reached 1.73TW, a 25% increase year-on-year. This capacity contributed to 2.51 trillion kWh of actual electricity generation over the same period, a 20.9% increase from 2023. Renewables made up 35.5% of China’s total power generation in the first nine months of 2024.

China is installing wind and solar power faster than any other country. It is constructing two-thirds — nearly 339 gigawatts — of the world’s utility-scale solar and wind projects. That would be enough to power more than 250 million homes, nearly double the number of homes in the US.

Guangzhou is the first of China’s 1st-tier cities to grant permanent residency to home buyers (link)

Guangzhou has become China's first 1st-tier city to offer permanent residency to home buyers. Homebuyers in seven suburban districts who have paid social security for at least one year can apply for a hukou, China's household registration. This policy is expected to stimulate the property market by attracting individuals seeking urban residency. The move follows a national stimulus package in September, leading to a notable recovery in the real estate market. Shanghai and Beijing have also eased restrictions, canceling certain classification standards for ordinary and non-ordinary houses, which will reduce tax burdens for buyers and sellers. This policy relaxation is projected to save second-hand home sellers hundreds of thousands of yuan in transaction taxes and lower deed taxes for buyers, enhancing the pre-owned housing market's vibrancy.

🎁 Bonus Stories

China to apply visa-free policy to nine more countries, extends stay from 15 to 30 days (link)

China is expanding its visa-free policy to include nine additional countries on a trial basis, effective from November 30, 2024, to December 31, 2025. The new countries are Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia, and Japan. This move is part of China's efforts to enhance personnel exchanges with other nations. The visa-free entry will allow ordinary passport holders from these countries to enter China for business, tourism, family visits, exchanges, or transit without a visa, for stays of up to 30 days. This policy also extends the visa-free stay period from the current 15 days to 30 days, further facilitating short-term visits. With this expansion, a total of 38 countries are included in China's visa-free arrangement.

China’s economy is larger than 30 Asian economies combined (link)

China's USD 18 trillion GDP economy in 2024 surpasses the combined economic output of 30 other Asian economies, which total USD 16.5 trillion. This economic bloc, excluding Western Asia and Russia and without data for North Korea, includes major economies like Japan ($4.1 trillion), India ($3.9 trillion), and South Korea ($1.87 trillion). Despite having a smaller population of 1.4 billion compared to the 2.9 billion in the other Asian countries, China's per capita GDP is higher at USD 12,870 versus USD 5,583 for the rest of Asia. China has contributed nearly 39% to global growth from 2012 to 2021, more than the G7 countries combined. The country's annual economic growth of about USD 1 trillion since 2010 is equivalent to the size of Saudi Arabia's economy.

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