Pork Disguise Cancer Cure 🐷 JD Buys Up Exports 📦 625m High Bridge 🌉

2025-04-14 | subscribe | homepage

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

Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• China remains top emerging market for foreign direct investment

• Quark AI hits 150M users, leads China’s generative AI rankings

• R&D spending surge puts China near US levels by PPP

• Grid investment jumps 33% as China accelerates clean energy rollout

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

China continues to rank as the #1 emerging market for foreign direct investment in Kearney's FDI Confidence Index (link)

China has maintained its top ranking among emerging markets in Kearney's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index for the third consecutive year. However, it slipped to sixth place globally from third, likely due to economic challenges and rising US-China trade uncertainties. Despite this, investors remain optimistic about China's tech innovation, particularly with advancements like the launch of DeepSeek's AI assistant. Kearney noted that China's USD 1.4 trillion stimulus package announced in November 2024 could further boost economic performance. The US topped the global FDI Confidence Index, followed by Canada, the UK, Japan, and Germany. Only six emerging markets make the main Index, down two from last year, as Poland and Argentina fall out of the top 25. China was followed by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, India, and Mexico. 84% of respondents plan to increase their FDI in the next three years.

China's tech giants move to support exporters as trade tensions rise (link)

China's major tech companies are responding to escalating trade tensions by supporting domestic consumption. JD.com plans to spend 200 billion yuan (USD 27.3 billion) over the next year to help export-oriented manufacturers sell their products in the domestic market. The company will directly purchase goods originally destined for export. Alibaba's grocery chain Freshippo is also opening a 24-hour fast-track onboarding channel for Chinese exporters and will launch a dedicated section for export-to-domestic products. These moves come as China raised tariffs on some U.S. goods to 125%, following the U.S. plan to impose tariffs of up to 145% on certain Chinese goods.