Enjoy this half-year report on the returns China gets on its $1 Tn annual R&D investment (vs America’s $0.3 Tn). Part 2, covering Health, Defense, Further Reading and Watching will follow in a few days.

Economy & Trade

GDP growth hit $1.7 Tn. annualized, with zero debt (vs. $0.3 trillion growth, $3 trillion new US debt).

Foreign goods trade up 6.1% to $2.9 trillion YoY.
Trade surplus is $85 billion, up 12%.
ASEAN trade up 10.5% to $80 billion;
EU/U.S. trade unchanged.
Record crop, 150 MT, of cereal grains.
Courier sector handled 80 billion parcels, up 23% YOY.

Beijing’s $160 billion IC subsidy is 3x more than the CHIPS Act. Read article →

SMIC is the world’s #2 pure-play foundry, after TSMC. Read article →

China Telecom paid $265 million for 23% of QuantumCTek, patenter of Micius, the world's first quantum communications satellite. Read article →

Commercial aerospace launched 39% of China's 26 rockets. Read article →

Invention patents rose 43% to 524,000, making China the first country with 4 million domestic invention patents in force. Read article →

Baidu’s 1,000 robotaxis in Wuhan will break even in Q4, be profitable next year. Read article →

Science & Technology

China has 47% of the world's top AI talent, added 2000 AI courses to school and college curricula since 2019. Read more →

A 70 kW-level vanadium flow battery stack is 40% cheaper than a 30 kW pack, due to its volume power density of 130 kW/m3. Read article →

Photodiode array is three orders of magnitude faster and six orders more energy-efficient than current GPUs, suitable for high-speed processing in industrial assembly lines and autonomous driving. Needs no EUV lithography, Read article →

AI brain-on-a-chip is the world’s most energy-efficient. Small enough for mobile phones, too. Read article →

200 billion Integrated Circuits, ICs, manufactured in H1, up 40% YoY. Global share will be 40% by 2027, up from 31% last year. Read article →

Chip exports up 26% to $60 billion, beats car industry’s $50 billion, up 23.8%. China will become the largest chip exporter in 2024 because. Read more →

Taichi photonic chip's integrated photonic circuits achieve millions-of-neurons capability at 160 tera-operations per second per watt (TOPS/W) efficiency. Read article →

World's most powerful supercomputer runs 2.05 exaflops peak and 1.57 exaflops sustained on High Performance LINPACK – the most powerful machine yet assembled on Earth. Read article →

China leads three of four aspects of quantum science, “holds twice as many quantum patents as the USA”. Investments in quantum may be $15 billion vs the US’s $3.7 Bn. Read article →

57% of patents were for quantum computing, 30% for quantum communications. Read article →

First quantum chip with a quantum gallium nitride, GaN, light source has a much wider wavelength range and could be used to build other major components of a quantum circuit. Read article →

Huawei is the world’s #1 patent applicant with 6,494 filed, followed by Samsung (3,924), Qualcomm (3,410), Mitsubishi Electric (2,152). Read article →

Huawei's Pangu AI weather forecasting model voted a Top Ten science advance for 2023 for more precise numerical predictions in one ten-thousandth of the time. Read article →

China has six times more Generative AI Patents than the USA. Read more →

Vacuum cleaners’ dual solid state Lidar +AI identifies 73 types of obstacles. Read article →

Commercial diesel engine’s record 53% thermal efficiency saves 31 million tonnes and reduce carbon emissions by 97 million tonnes. Read article →

First Urban Quantum Internet. Quantum entanglement over 3 kilometers of existing, urban optical fibers. Next: 1,000 km by 2030.Read article →

Aluminum alloy handles 500ºC, up from the current 400ºC record. 350 - 500ºC is pivotal for aerospace applications. Read article →

First 100-kg class, vehicular liquid hydrogen system’s heavy trucks travel 700 miles on a charge Read article →

Shenzhen's 362 NEV supercharging stations outnumber gas stations. Read article →

East Asia has world’s top five science and technology (S&T) clusters. Read article

World’s first tunnel boring and blasting machine (TBBM), boosts efficiency in excavating extremely hard rock by 30%. Read article →

Darwin3 neuromorphic chip revolutionizes AI with on-chip learning, adapts in real-time, like humans. Read article →

CATL's Shenxing PLUS charges at 4ºC, adds 600 km of range in 10 minutes and powers an EV for 1000 km on a full charge. Read article →

1.2 acre (4,608 sqm) vertical farm produces 2,000 acres (800 ha) of rice seedlings a year. Read more →

State Grid's new UHV DC line powers 50 million homes, replaces 25,000 local coal trains, transmits 12 GW for 2,000 miles. Read more →

China has 18 fully automated cargo terminals, the most in the world, with 27 under construction. Read more →

Here Comes China

China's Excellent Half-Year. 1.