Morning News

# Source: Wall Street Insights

## Market Overview

With geopolitical concerns fading and strong U.S. economic data boosting risk appetite, major U.S. stock indices rose for the second consecutive trading day, fully recouping the losses incurred earlier this week. Small-cap indices outperformed the S&P 500 for the 15th straight session, hitting fresh record highs. The Magnificent Seven tech stocks traded broadly higher, with Meta surging 5.6% and Tesla climbing over 4%.

Robust U.S. economic indicators tempered expectations for interest rate cuts, pushing the yield on the 2-year U.S. Treasury note up by 2.5 basis points, while the 10-year yield held steady from yesterday's late session levels.

The U.S. dollar slid 0.5%, approaching the key 98 level.

Cryptocurrencies declined, with Bitcoin falling 1.13% and Ethereum dropping 2.7%.

Against the backdrop of a weaker dollar, precious metals shone brightly. Spot gold soared 1.8% to break above the $4,900 mark for the first time ever. COMEX silver futures jumped 4% and spot platinum rallied over 6.3%, both hitting all-time highs. U.S. EIA crude oil inventories rose by a more-than-expected 3.6 million barrels last week, sending crude oil prices down 2%.

During the Asian trading session, China's three major A-share indices moved higher collectively in the afternoon, with the commercial aerospace sector triggering another wave of limit-up moves. Hong Kong stocks staged a volatile rebound, with Pop Mart surging 6%, while gold and silver prices bounced back.

## Top News

1. Pan Gongsheng: We will flexibly and efficiently employ a variety of monetary policy tools such as reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cuts and interest rate reductions, and there remains room for further RRR and interest rate cuts this year.

2. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge came in line with expectations: the U.S. November PCE Price Index rose 2.8% year-on-year and 0.2% month-on-month. Personal spending grew steadily, though the savings rate edged lower further.

3. The final reading of U.S. Q3 real GDP was revised slightly upward to a 4.4% quarter-on-quarter annualized growth rate, the fastest pace in two years, with core PCE inflation remaining at 2.9%.

4. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: Europe should not be in a hurry to abandon transatlantic relations. Following Trump's lifting of tariff threats, the European Parliament plans to unfreeze the review of the EU-U.S. trade agreement, while Greenland's Prime Minister reaffirmed the region's bottom line.

5. Nordic pension funds are accelerating their exit: Denmark has offloaded all its U.S. Treasury holdings, Sweden has followed suit with sell-offs, and Greenland is considering dumping U.S. equities.

6. Report: The U.S. is attempting to "overthrow the Cuban government by the end of the year".

7. Donald Trump has sued JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon over the "debanking" issue. In response to Trump's call, Bank of America and Citigroup are considering launching new credit cards with interest rates as high as 10%.

8. While AI demand has materialized, supply is set to hit a "trough". Intel's Q1 guidance disappointed investors, sending its shares plunging over 10% in after-hours trading.

9. Elon Musk unveiled his blueprint at Davos: Optimus robots will go on public sale next year, Robotaxis will become "very popular" in the U.S. this year, and AI may surpass human capabilities.

10. Following Baidu, Alibaba is reportedly planning to spin off its T-Head semiconductor unit for a separate listing, driving its share price up over 7% intraday.

11. The full suite of Qwen3-TTS has been released as open-source software.

12. The second round of the computing power tax has been implemented, leading to a price hike for CPUs. Storage demand remains red-hot, with Kioxia's production capacity fully sold out for the entire year.

13. Benefiting from the dual tailwinds of the AI boom and the storage cycle upturn, GigaDevice expects its 2025 revenue to grow by approximately 25% year-on-year and net profit to rise by 46%.

## Market Closing Quotes

### European and U.S. Stock Markets

- S&P 500 Index closed up 0.55% at 6,913.35 points.

- Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.63% to 49,384.01 points.

- Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.91% to 23,436.02 points.

- Europe STOXX 600 Index ended 1.03% higher at 608.86 points.

### A-Share Market

- Shanghai Composite Index closed at 4,122.58 points, up 0.14%.

- Shenzhen Component Index finished at 14,327.05 points, gaining 0.50%.

- ChiNext Index closed at 3,328.65 points, rising 1.01%.

### Bond Market

- The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose 0.40 basis points to 4.2469%.

- The yield on the 2-year U.S. Treasury note climbed 2.35 basis points to 3.6079%.

### Commodity Market

- COMEX gold futures surged 1.97%, hitting a new all-time high of $4,934.30 per ounce in electronic trading.

- COMEX silver futures jumped 4.05% to $96.395 per ounce.

- WTI crude oil futures for March delivery closed down 2.08% at $59.36 per barrel.

- Brent crude oil futures for March delivery fell 1.81% to $64.06 per barrel.

# Detailed Top News

## Global Headlines

Pan Gongsheng: Flexibly and efficiently employ various monetary policy tools such as reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cuts and interest rate reductions, with room remaining for further RRR and rate cuts this year. Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated that efforts should be made to improve expectation management and keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level. Strengthen the supervision and administration of the bond market, foreign exchange market, money market, bill market and gold market. Establish a institutional arrangement for providing liquidity to non-bank institutions under specific scenarios. Continue to make good use of the two monetary policy tools supporting the capital market to facilitate the stable development of the capital market.

The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge met expectations: the U.S. November Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index rose 2.8% year-on-year and 0.2% month-on-month. As the Fed's favored inflation indicator, the PCE inflation came in line with forecasts. U.S. personal spending grew at a steady pace in November, while the savings rate declined further.

The final reading of U.S. Q3 real GDP was revised slightly upward to a 4.4% quarter-on-quarter annualized growth rate, the fastest in two years, with core PCE inflation remaining at 2.9%. The final annualized quarter-on-quarter growth rate of U.S. real GDP in the third quarter was revised up to 4.4%, mainly driven by stronger exports, reduced drag from inventories and resilient consumer spending. During the same period, the annualized core PCE inflation rate stayed at 2.9%, consistently above the Fed's 2% policy target. Against the backdrop of robust economic growth, a relatively stable job market and inflation still exceeding the Fed's target, the market widely expects the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged at its interest rate meeting next week.

Trump's U-turn leaves Europe stunned. From military threats to a sudden withdrawal of tariff plans, Trump's "volatility" has plunged Europe into panic. EU officials described him as "mercurial", warning that this may just be a bait to divide allies. Under the shadow of the possibility of "military action as early as tomorrow", trust across the Atlantic has collapsed, and Europe is vigilantly watching whether this marks the prologue to the next round of crisis.

Still holding illusions about Trump? German Chancellor Olaf Scholz: Europe should not be in a hurry to abandon transatlantic relations. On January 22nd, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz issued a warning on transatlantic relations at the Davos Forum, emphasizing that in an era of great power competition, the strategic mutual trust on which NATO relies remains the "decisive competitive advantage" for both the U.S. and Europe, and Europe should not easily abandon this partnership. The statement came as U.S. President Trump made a sudden U-turn on the Greenland issue and canceled the planned tariff hikes on the EU. Scholz welcomed this move, calling it "a step in the right direction".

Following Trump's lifting of tariff threats, the European Parliament plans to unfreeze the review of EU-U.S. trade agreements, and Greenland's Prime Minister reaffirmed the bottom line. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said that Trump's shift in stance is sufficient to support a vote on the EU-U.S. agreement in the parliament, with an initial vote possibly taking place in the coming days. Múte Bourup Egede, Prime Minister of the Greenland Self-Government, stressed that Greenland's sovereignty and territorial integrity are a "red line", and any agreement involving Greenland must be negotiated with the participation of Greenland and Denmark on the basis of respecting international law. Trump claimed that the U.S. will obtain "full access rights" to Greenland, meaning it can "deploy whatever we need" in the region without paying any cost for it.

Nordic pension funds accelerate their exit: Denmark offloads all U.S. Treasury holdings, Sweden follows suit with sell-offs, and Greenland considers dumping U.S. equities. Major Nordic pension funds are accelerating their withdrawal from the U.S. market. Sweden's Alecta has sold off most of its approximately $11 billion holdings, Denmark's AkademikerPension also plans to liquidate all its positions by the end of January, while Greenland's SISA Pension is considering withdrawing its U.S. equity investments, which account for half of its approximately $1.1 billion in assets under management. This indicates that European long-term capital's confidence in U.S. dollar assets is wavering due to geopolitical and fiscal risks, which may signal a reshaping of the global capital flow pattern.

Report: The U.S. is attempting to "overthrow the Cuban government by the end of the year". According to Xinhua News Agency and The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration is seeking to overthrow the Cuban government by the end of the year; U.S. government officials believe that military action against Venezuela is a warning to Cuba. The U.S. intends to deal a heavy blow to Cuba's economy by cutting off Venezuela's oil supply to Cuba. Cuba's Defense Council held a meeting on the 17th to review and approve various plans and measures for Cuba to enter a state of war.

U.S. President Trump sues JPMorgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon over the "debanking" issue. Trump is seeking at least $5 billion in damages, accusing JPMorgan Chase of ceasing to provide banking services to him and his related businesses for political reasons. Earlier, in the process of trying to crack down on what he perceives as banks' ideological refusal to provide financial services to customers (debanking), Trump has repeatedly named JPMorgan Chase.

Responding to Trump, Bank of America and Citigroup are considering launching new credit cards with interest rates as high as 10%. Both Bank of America and Citigroup are exploring the launch of credit cards with an annual interest rate of 10% in response to a request made by U.S. President Trump. Earlier this week, Trump stated that he will ask Congress to promote the implementation of this proposal, which also made financial institutions clearer about the specific path he intends to take. Executives from several banks including JPMorgan Chase have publicly opposed this interest rate cap, saying it will force lenders to cut credit limits for consumers.

Elon Musk unveils his blueprint at Davos: Optimus robots to go on public sale next year, Robotaxis to become "very popular" in the U.S. this year, and AI may surpass humans. Musk said that if Tesla is confident in the reliability, safety and range of functions of the robots, public sales will be launched by the end of next year, and users can "basically ask it to do almost anything you want"; Tesla has started providing Robotaxi services without in-car safety supervisors in Austin, Texas. He predicted that by the end of this year, or at the latest next year, AI will become "smarter than any human being".

AI demand materializes but supply is set to hit a "trough"; Intel's Q1 guidance disappoints, sending shares plunging over 10% in after-hours trading. Intel's Q4 revenue fell 4% year-on-year but still exceeded analysts' expectations, while earnings per share (EPS) surged 15% to beat forecasts significantly; revenue from its data center and AI business rose 9% year-on-year, also above expectations. The company completed the sale of $5 billion worth of Nvidia shares in the quarter; its 18A process node became the first leading process to enter mass production in the U.S. The CEO said demand is "quite strong", noting that the company used up most of its inventory in Q4 while manufacturing yields failed to meet standards. Building the foundry business will take time, with foundry customers expected to make decisions in the second half of the year, and the company's restructuring will take several years. The CFO stated that the weak Q1 guidance is partly due to "supply falling short of seasonal demand", with supply issues expected to peak in Q1 and improve in Q2 and beyond; customers adopting the 14A technology will emerge in the second half of the year.

Following Baidu, Alibaba is reportedly planning to spin off its T-Head semiconductor unit for a separate listing, driving its share price up over 7% intraday. Reports indicate that Alibaba will first restructure T-Head into an entity partially owned by employees, then explore the possibility of an initial public offering (IPO). As Alibaba's long-concealed "nuclear weapon", T-Head's listing will not only be of great significance to Alibaba itself, but also exert a profound impact on China's semiconductor industry. In September last year, CCTV News reported on a smart computing center project of China Unicom, revealing the AI chip PPU developed by T-Head. This chip surpasses Nvidia's A800 and mainstream domestic GPUs in key parameters, with overall performance comparable to Nvidia's H20.

Qwen3-TTS Full Suite Released as Open-Source! All multi-codebook models of the Qwen3-TTS series have been made open-source, including two sizes: 1.7B and 0.6B. The 1.7B model delivers ultimate performance with strong control capabilities, while the 0.6B model strikes a balance between performance and efficiency. The models cover 10 mainstream languages (Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, German, French, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian) as well as a variety of dialect tones.

Second round of computing power tax implemented, triggering CPU price hikes. Share prices of leading Chinese and U.S. CPU manufacturers have surged sharply, with market expectations for CPU price increases heating up. The price hikes stem from the architectural transformation of AI agents: to execute tasks, AI agents need to create independent sandbox environments to call tools and process files, and such environments rely entirely on CPUs for operation. IDC predicts that the 70-fold growth of AI agents over the next five years will bring incremental demand of tens of millions of units, but supply-side production capacity has already reached its limit. Amid the structural imbalance between supply and demand, CPUs are replacing GPUs as the bearer of the second round of the "computing power tax".

Storage demand remains red-hot; Kioxia's 2026 production capacity fully sold out. AI demand is bringing an end to the era of cheap solid-state drives (SSDs). Storage giant Kioxia confirmed that its production capacity for 2026 has been fully sold out, with supply tightness expected to persist until 2027. This has led to a full-scale surge in terminal SSD prices, with some 1TB models seeing price increases of over 130%. To address the shortage, Kioxia has shifted to an allocation system based on long-term cooperation to distribute production capacity, highlighting the profound reshaping of the global storage supply chain driven by AI infrastructure construction.

Benefiting from the dual tailwinds of AI boom and storage cycle upturn, GigaDevice expects 2025 revenue to grow about 25% year-on-year and net profit to rise 46%. GigaDevice, a Chinese chip design company, released its performance forecast. Driven by the upward cycle of the storage industry and the construction of AI computing power infrastructure, the company expects its 2025 net profit to rebound sharply by approximately 46% to 1.61 billion yuan. Its non-recurring profit after deducting investment gains also increased by about 38%, indicating a strong recovery of its core business and establishing a clear trend of the company emerging from the industry downturn.

## Selected Research Reports

Fed Chairperson candidate selection sees twists and turns; is Judy Shelton still Trump's top pick? A Bank of America report stated that in the game over the Federal Reserve Chairperson position, Treasury Secretary Judy Shelton may emerge as a "hidden candidate". As the selection process drags on, the market should attach greater importance to the possibility of Shelton's appointment. Neither of the two publicly popular candidates, Kevin Warsh and Christopher Waller, can fully meet Trump's triple criteria of "policy loyalty, market trust, and congressional approval", while Shelton has unique advantages as a balance-seeker within the system.

Goldman Sachs sharply raises gold price target to $5,400; wealthy investors are rushing to enter the market, competing with central banks for "limited physical reserves". Central banks' structural gold purchases have pushed gold prices to a new level, while the private sector views gold as a long-term insurance against macro policy risks, making it difficult for prices to return to the old range from current highs. Therefore, $5,400 is not a "more optimistic end point", but rather a confirmation by Goldman Sachs of the "new pricing base for gold".

U.S. stocks tossed around by Trump news! Goldman Sachs: Economy has support, but buy the dips instead of chasing rallies. Goldman Sachs believes that although tariff disputes and Japanese bond market volatility have intensified short-term fluctuations, and investor positions are at a historical high, strong U.S. economic growth and liquidity support from the Federal Reserve keep the macro outlook favorable. The market has shifted from extreme calm to volatility; the strategy suggests maintaining a "cautiously bullish" stance, focusing on buying the dips rather than chasing upward moves.

Goldman Sachs' research on Chinese humanoid robots: The industry shifts from "general-purpose imagination" to "specialized implementation"; 2026 may usher in "volume verification + expectation reset". According to Goldman Sachs' research, Chinese humanoid robots are moving from "general-purpose concepts" to "specialized implementation" scenarios such as security, guidance and logistics. Global shipments are expected to reach about 15,000–20,000 units in 2025, dominated by Chinese manufacturers, and 2026 may become a crucial year for volume expansion and expectation reset. Motion control technology has made significant progress, with the iteration cycle shortened to 6–8 months. For B2B applications, a payback period of 2–3 years can be achieved when efficiency reaches about 50% of human levels, and data and world models have become the core differentiating factors.

"1920s vs 2020s"! Wall Street guru, ECB President and historians debate: Are "AI, tariffs and geopolitics" dragging the world toward the "1930s"? "The current 2020s bear striking similarities to the 1920s a century ago: back then, it was the technological explosion of electrification and Ford's assembly line; today, it is the rapid advancement of AI. Back then, it was the rise of U.S. dollar hegemony; today, it is the pressure on the U.S. dollar system." During the debate at Davos, financial tycoons warned that the scenario of "technological prosperity + trade protectionism + geopolitical fragmentation" is making a comeback.

# Domestic Companies

Pop Mart's new product "Electronic Wooden Fish" has gone viral, with its hidden edition being scalped for over 300 yuan, more than triple the original price! This plush keychain blind box, named the "PUCKY Tap-Tap Series", was launched in January. It transforms the traditional wooden fish into an electronic sound-emitting device—tapping its head triggers a crisp sound effect, paired with lucky tags like "Wealth +1" and "Happiness +1", focusing on emotional decompression. The product quickly topped the trending charts upon release.

Accurately predicting potential bestsellers and restructuring the global retail order, a report shows Temu's global market share has matched Amazon's. According to the Global Times, a report from the Universal Postal Union indicated that Temu's global market share surged from less than 1% to 24%, now on par with Amazon. Chinese cross-border e-commerce platforms have broken through by leveraging the "full fulfillment model" and supply chain advantages. Relying on the flexible supply chains in the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, they accurately forecast hit products and respond rapidly to market demands. Experts believe that Chinese platforms are restructuring the global retail order through digital means. Despite facing challenges from tariff barriers, they are transitioning from being the "world's factory" to global competitors in services and technology, advancing from "guerrilla warfare" to "regular army" operations.

# Overseas Macroeconomy

Trump to "prioritize housing market before crypto"; U.S. Congress delays "Cryptocurrency Bill" for weeks. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has shifted its legislative focus from cryptocurrency to housing policy, with the cryptocurrency market bill likely to be postponed until late February or March. Earlier, Coinbase's withdrawal of support already caused a delay in crypto legislation. Additionally, the Senate Agriculture Committee also needs to participate in formulating the bill, leaving the legislative process facing inter-committee coordination challenges and an uncertain outlook.

ECB December Meeting Minutes: Monetary policy "in a good place", to remain highly flexible in the future. The European Central Bank's Governing Council stated that current monetary policy can strike a balance between supporting economic growth and curbing inflation, while emphasizing that it is not set in stone. The minutes noted that the ECB will maintain a high degree of flexibility, retaining full optionality to adjust interest rates upward or downward to respond promptly to changes in economic and inflation outlooks.

Yen depreciation boosts Japan's exports to grow for the fourth consecutive month. Japan's exports in December rose 5.1% year-on-year, falling short of the market expectation of 6.1%. Japan's exports to the U.S. plummeted 11.1%, mainly concentrated in key categories such as automobiles, auto parts, and chip manufacturing equipment—products that have long been the mainstays of Japan's exports to the U.S.

Is the Japanese bond rebound "short-lived"? BOJ's holdings fall below the 50% red line, selling pressure far from over. The Bank of Japan's holdings of government bonds as a percentage of the total outstanding have dropped below 50% for the first time in eight years. In addition to the BOJ's reduction in holdings, overseas investors are also cutting their exposure to Japanese bonds. The price of 40-year Japanese government bonds once fell 8% from the mid-December high, with analysts warning that "sustained buying demand remains elusive".

$280 million triggers the "Tesla moment" in Japan's ultra-long-term bond market. A mere $280 million trading volume was enough to push Japan's 7.2 trillion U.S. dollar government bond market to the brink of collapse, sending strong shockwaves across global financial markets. Prices of Japan's benchmark ultra-long-term government bonds plummeted, and the $280 million figure represented the total trading volume of these ultra-long-term bonds on that day: on Tuesday, the most closely watched 30-year Japanese government bonds traded only $170 million, with an additional $110 million worth of 40-year bonds changing hands.

South Korea's stock market breaks through the 5,000-point mark; South Korea's AI strategy fully accelerates to build an "Asian AI infrastructure hub". Morgan Stanley believes that South Korea is entering an AI-driven "infrastructure reinvestment cycle", whose importance is comparable to the semiconductor capital expenditure wave of the past decade. The rapid popularization of AI services in South Korea is systematically pushing up the long-term demand for local computing power, electricity, and power grids. The Lee Jae-myung administration has explicitly elevated AI to a national development strategy, incorporating computing power and energy infrastructure into long-term planning through projects such as the "AI Superhighway" and the National AI Computing Center.

Brent crude breaks below the $65 mark; IEA just warns of "massive surplus", U.S. Energy Secretary calls for "doubling production". The U.S. Energy Secretary's call for a doubling of global crude oil production, combined with the IEA's maintained judgment of a severe supply surplus this year, has significantly dampened market sentiment. Rising U.S. inventories, the return of supplies from Kazakhstan and Venezuela, and the recovery of Russian crude oil exports have collectively amplified supply pressures; meanwhile, easing geopolitical risks have further weakened support for oil prices.

# Overseas Companies

Apple expands hardware chief's authority, making CEO succession clearer. According to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter, Apple CEO Tim Cook quietly expanded the authority of hardware engineering chief John Ternus at the end of last year, putting him in charge of design team management, further cementing his position as a successor. The 50-year-old Ternus now oversees hardware, software design, and robotics teams, emerging as a key decision-maker in product strategy and increasingly a public face of the company.

Anthropic cuts gross margin guidance; revenue surges 12-fold but can't offset 23% spike in inference costs. Anthropic lowered its 2025 gross margin forecast to 40% last month, 10 percentage points below its previous optimistic outlook. The reason is that the cost of running AI models on Google and Amazon servers is 23% higher than expected. Anthropic's gross margin dilemma stems from its reliance on cloud service providers' infrastructure—high inference costs are eroding profit margins, while competition in the enterprise market is intensifying.

Samsung and SK Hynix face off in earnings reports on the same day, both sprinting for record-breaking results; HBM4 competition fully escalates. Samsung and SK Hynix will release their earnings reports on January 29th. Benefiting from the rebound in traditional DRAM prices, Samsung's Q4 operating profit is expected to surge 208%, potentially exceeding 20 trillion won for the first time, rapidly narrowing the profit gap with SK Hynix. Both sides are fiercely competing to reach peak performance in 2026, with huge capital expenditures and the battle for next-generation HBM4 chip supply set to become the focus, directly impacting the future market structure.

SpaceX plans to launch Starlink Gen 2 satellites in 2027, targeting 5G-level experience. SpaceX intends to roll out its second-generation cellular Starlink system in 2027, aiming to deliver satellite direct-to-device services with near-terrestrial 5G experience. The plan is based on a spectrum acquisition worth approximately $17 billion and requires completing technical preparations such as terminal chip adaptation and launching 15,000 new satellites. SpaceX stated that the second-generation system's capacity will be over 100 times higher than the current version, with data throughput improved by more than 20 times.

Bezos' Blue Origin launches enterprise-grade satellite network to challenge SpaceX Starlink! Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin announced the launch of TeraWave, an enterprise-grade satellite internet service. It plans to send the first batch of satellites into orbit by the end of 2027, deploying over 5,000 satellites to provide communication speeds of up to 6 terabits per second. Focused on large enterprises, data centers, and government clients, the service will form differentiated competition with SpaceX Starlink and Amazon Leo.

# Industries/Concepts

1.  **Aerospace** | According to IT Home, Beijing Transcender Manned Space Technology Co., Ltd. held a "Global Space Tourism Launch Conference", showcasing the full-scale test cabin of China's first commercial manned spacecraft "Transcender No.1 (CYZ1)" for the first time. The technical team of "Transcender No.1 (CYZ1)" stated before the conference that more than three spacecraft have already been reserved, with a total of over 20 space tourists, and the first manned flight is expected to be realized in 2028. Overseas, SpaceX plans to launch its second-generation Starlink system in 2027, aiming to provide higher-speed internet services. The second-generation Starlink system is expected to offer 5G-like connectivity, with overall capacity more than 100 times higher and throughput improved by over 20 times compared to the first generation.

   > **Commentary**: Debang Securities believes that in the grand chessboard of global technological competition, the aerospace sector is accelerating its transformation from a state-willed "cost center" to a commercially driven "growth engine". In the U.S., companies like SpaceX have built a commercial closed loop through extreme cost reduction and technological iteration. China, relying on national-level constellation plans such as the GW Constellation and the Qianfan Constellation, is rapidly catching up driven by both policy and market forces. The aerospace economy is accelerating its growth into a trillion-dollar market.

2.  **Solid-State Batteries** | A123 announced that it will officially hold a new product launch conference at 19:00 on January 23, 2026. With the theme "Gathering Wisdom in the Starry Sky, Intelligent Energy Storage for the Future", the conference will globally debut a full range of energy storage products based on semi-solid immersion technology. A123 will launch the "Star Series" semi-solid battery cells and the "Galaxy Series" four scenario-based energy storage systems.

   > **Commentary**: Research institutions believe that semi-solid batteries are showing their edge, achieving dual leaps in performance and safety. The core value of the semi-solid battery equipped in the new MG4 lies in significantly improving the safety and environmental adaptability of power batteries under extreme conditions. Boasting excellent safety performance, thanks to innovations in underlying materials such as semi-solid electrolytes, the battery pack achieved the ultimate safety performance of "no smoke, no fire" in the "10-needle three-direction puncture test" that simulates the most severe internal short-circuit conditions, greatly reducing the risk of electric vehicle spontaneous combustion from the source. Semi-solid technology is expected to take the lead in mass commercialization.

3.  **Retail Pharmacies** | Nine departments including the Ministry of Commerce issued opinions on promoting the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical retail industry. The document mentioned supporting retail pharmacies in merger and reorganization, encouraging pharmaceutical retail enterprises to carry out horizontal mergers and reorganizations in accordance with the law, and urging local governments to optimize the business environment and streamline the application and approval process for the *Drug Distribution License* for integrated chain or individual pharmacies.

   > **Commentary**: China Post Securities believes that the retail pharmacy industry is accelerating market consolidation quarter by quarter in 2025, with customer traffic expected to concentrate on leading players. Recently, the Zhongkang Pharmacy Cloud platform updated the latest pharmacy scale data: as of the end of Q3 2025, the total number of pharmacy stores nationwide reached 686,426. Since the inflection point of net reduction emerged in Q4 2024, the number has decreased by nearly 20,000 stores in total. More notably, as of Q3 2025, the number of pharmacies nationwide has recorded a quarter-on-quarter decline for four consecutive quarters, indicating an accelerating pace of industry contraction. Leading pharmacy chains are strengthening their dominance during the industry integration phase, supported by their professional service capabilities, robust supply chain systems, digital and refined management, and internal compliance systems.

4.  **Passive Components** | According to China Securities Journal, passive component manufacturer Walsin Technology recently issued a price increase notice to customers, stating that it will raise quotes for all chip resistor product lines starting from February 1st, with specific adjustment ranges to be provided separately based on product specifications, models, and categories. Industry insiders revealed that the price increase could reach up to 20%. Following Yageo, the leading Taiwanese passive component manufacturer, and Hosiden, the largest mainland Chinese chip resistor manufacturer, Walsin Technology has become another major passive component player to announce a price hike for chip resistors, indicating that this wave of price increases is unstoppable and the industry has entered a new round of price increase cycle.

   > **Commentary**: Entering 2026, the price increase wave in the passive component industry continues to ferment. From a product perspective, price increases are spreading structurally—tantalum capacitors, high-end magnetic beads, and some resistors and inductors are taking the lead, while the MLCC market shows a distinct differentiation pattern of shortage in high-end products and stability in conventional ones. The explosive growth of high-end demand led by AI servers constitutes the "core engine" driving the continuous upward trend of the industry.

5.  **Prepared Dishes** | To effectively safeguard consumers' legitimate rights and interests and promote the high-quality development of the industry, the Office of the State Council Food Safety Commission organized departments including the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation to draft the draft versions of *National Food Safety Standard for Prepared Dishes* and *Terminology and Classification of Prepared Dishes*. It also jointly drafted with the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Commerce an announcement on promoting the voluntary disclosure of food processing methods in the catering sector, which will be open to the public for comments in the near future. Next, relevant departments will further revise and improve the documents based on fully absorbing opinions and suggestions from all parties, and issue them in accordance with procedures.

   > **Commentary**: China Securities Journal pointed out that the ready-to-prepare and ready-to-cook features of prepared dishes meet the "easy cooking" needs of daily life, solving the cooking problems of "not knowing how to cook, unpalatable food, and lack of time", and are particularly popular among young groups. For catering enterprises, prepared dishes can be provided through large-scale production, speeding up serving time, reducing customer waiting time, cutting down kitchen staffing, and effectively lowering enterprise costs. With the continuous development of formats such as fresh e-commerce, convenience stores, and home delivery services, personalized and multi-level consumer demands are further released, and prepared dishes will accelerate their penetration into the consumer end, ushering in greater development space.

6.  **Aerospace** | According to Securities Times, in the latest filing submitted to the FCC, SpaceX stated that it plans to launch a significantly improved second-generation direct-to-device system in 2027. By the end of 2025, the first-generation Starlink has served over 400 million people, with monthly active users exceeding 6 million. The FCC approved SpaceX's application this month, allowing it to deploy an additional 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites to enhance global internet service capabilities.

   > **Commentary**: Reports indicate that SpaceX plans to achieve a launch frequency of over 25 times per day through the Starship spacecraft, supporting the launch capacity required for deploying 1 million tons of satellites annually. As of December 2025, the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit has exceeded 9,000, accounting for 72% of all satellites in orbit worldwide. In December last year, China submitted an application for frequency and orbital resources for over 203,000 satellites to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), setting a domestic record for satellite constellation applications. This means that the world will witness a peak in satellite launches in the next decade. According to institutional forecasts, China will officially enter the high-frequency networking phase of satellite internet starting from 2026. China Satellite Network Group's GW Constellation plans to launch 12,992 satellites, while the Qianfan Constellation aims to achieve the global networking target of 15,000 satellites after 2030.

7.  **AI Chips** | According to Securities Times, multiple media outlets citing sources "close to the market" confirmed that Alibaba Group has decided to support its chip subsidiary T-Head in pursuing an independent listing in the future. Alibaba has not yet made an official comment on this but did not deny the news. Established in 2018, T-Head is Alibaba's key layout entity in the semiconductor sector, originally formed by integrating the group's chip design business with the R&D achievements of DAMO Academy. In recent years, it has gradually expanded its product lines such as AI processors (PPU). According to official demonstrations, T-Head's newly developed AI chips have approached or surpassed some competitors' products in multiple key performance indicators and have been deployed in large domestic data centers, demonstrating its technological progress in the AI accelerator market.

   > **Commentary**: Alibaba has clearly stated that multiple subsidiaries including T-Head, Hema, and Alibaba Health retain the possibility of independent financing and listing. Hema has entered the IPO preparation stage, and T-Head is regarded as the next key target. In addition, Baidu's recent plan to spin off KunlunXin for a Hong Kong IPO has attracted market attention, prompting Alibaba to accelerate T-Head's capitalization process. Currently, T-Head's self-developed products such as the Hanguang 800 (AI inference), Yitian 710 (server CPU), and XuanTie RISC-V IP have been deeply integrated into the Alibaba Cloud and Tongyi large model ecosystems, possessing independent commercial value. In the past few quarters, Alibaba's investment in AI infrastructure and product R&D has shown an upward trend. If T-Head successfully completes its IPO, it will not only bring more sufficient capital support for its technological R&D and ecological construction but also may provide an important reference sample for Chinese tech companies in their capital layout in the global AI chip sector.

# Today's News Preview

- January manufacturing, services and composite PMIs for the U.S., Eurozone, UK and Japan.

- January University of Michigan consumer sentiment and inflation expectations for the U.S.

- December CPI data for Japan.

- Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has decided to dissolve the House of Representatives on January 23rd and call an early general election.

- The Bank of Japan announces its interest rate decision, followed by a press conference held by Governor Kazuo Ueda.

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