China's Week, April 24
CIPS beats SWIFT! Huge bomb; First 10G network; Killer drone
Next Tuesdays’ essay: Xi’s offer to Trump: Collapse, Capitulate or Cooperate.
Science & Technology
Zhao Chunling has been lead designer for the forthcoming C-929 widebody program since 2023 as Comac challenges the Western duopoly.
China’s first 10G network downloads a 20GB 4K movie in 20 seconds, supports smart agriculture with 8K streaming and 3 ms. latency.
CATL’s sodium battery gives EVs 310 miles on a single charge. Its 175 Wh/kg energy storage density rivals lithium iron phosphate’s 185 Wh/kg at half the cost.
China delivered a 1,600 tonne rare earth magnetic feeder system for ITER’s ‘artificial sun’. It energizes and cools the fusion reactor magnets.
Scientists reload fresh fuel into a running thorium reactor–a world first. China will offer nations base-load and sovereign energy with no nuclear risk.
Fudan U. demonstrates fastest storage, smaller than a rice grain, it erases and rewrites data in one trillionth of a second, 100,000X faster than today.
Half the top 10% most cited papers on chip design and fabrication are Chines vs. 22% by U.S. researchers and 17% from the EU.
Huawei’s networked their 7-nm chip and beat Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 rack. It uses 2-3x more power to achieve 2-3x the performance.
Longi’s two-terminal crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell achieved a conversion efficiency of 34.85%, confirmed by America’s NREL.
China finds 35 MT high-purity quartz deposits in Henan and Xinjiang to help localize supply for solar and semiconductor production.
Alibaba’s cancer detector becomes first AI model to receive US FDA ‘Breakthrough Device’ status.
Economy & Trade
China’s CIPS overtook SWIFT’s $ system, moves $1.76 trillion daily cross-border. Unlike SWIFT, CIPS handles both messaging and settlement.
A $100,000 payment to a Thai supplier via SWIFT cost $4,950 in fees (4.95%) and took 72 hours. CIPS 2.0 charged $0.12 .
US chip equipment makers Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA to lose $1 billion annually from bans.
AMD takes an $800M haircut as US cuts off GPU supply.
Nvidia writes off $5.5 billions for China. Nvidia CEO Huang calls China a ‘key market’ on Beijing visit.
Toyota invests $2 billion for wholly-owned EV plant in Shanghai.
“Trump thought tariffs could make the world's wealth flow to the US, but internationally, the real currency is credibility, where the US is close to bankruptcy”.
Society & Environment
Governance
Of 60 young officials who lead or manage a bureau within a provincial or municipal government, 30 hold STEM degrees, 47% Ph.Ds.
New Safety Requirements for EV Batteries updates thermal diffusion testing, bottom impact testing and a safety following fast charging cycles for EVs.
New regulations prohibit foreigners from preaching, sharing their faith, or
