Miscellaneous News

TPenglake said:

I totally missed that the UN HDI report came out two weeks ago. China is now at .797, while the threshold for Very High HDI is at .800 and above, so China should cross it next year. I also see that last year Vietnam was still at the lower end of High, but this year they're .766 so not too far behind China. Crazy how much that country has achieved in such a short amount of time, but hey that's what the Sinospheric work ethic gets you.

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US borrowing costs top 5% after Moody’s downgrade​

lube said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1924056979065942128

Another soft power win.
Very pro-India video on their space program and the creator gets bombarded with death threats for using the wrong map.

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Scott Bessent says tariff rates will return to ‘reciprocal’ levels if countries don’t reach trade deals with US​

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China’s Xiaomi commits $6.9 billion to in-house chips​

• Xiaomi is set to unveil on Thursday the Xring O1 processor designed for its flagship smartphones.
• Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC that the company will continue to supply Xiaomi with chips.
• Xiaomi will invest at least 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) over the next 10 years to develop its own chips, the company’s CEO Lei Jun said

Chinese technology giant Xiaomi
will invest at least 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) over the next 10 years to develop its own chips, CEO Lei Jun said in a Weibo post on Monday.

It’s the latest move by a Chinese firm to double down on home-grown technology amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China that has seen Washington cut off access to some semicondcutors for companies in the world’s second-largest economy.

The 50 billion yuan investment starts from 2025, a Xiaomi spokesperson confirmed. Lei added the company is looking to make a splash at an event on Thursday, when it takes the wraps off the Xring O1 — a so-called system-on-chip that will power Xiaomi’s upcoming smartphone.

The Xring O1 is based on a 3 nanometer manufacturing process, one of the most advanced on the market. For comparison, Apple’s A18 Pro chips inside the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max smartphones are built on the same process.

A system-on-chip, or SoC, is a type of semiconductor that contains different components that help run a device, such as a smartphone. This could include parts such as memory and a wireless connectivity.

Until now, U.S. firm Qualcomm has been the main supplier of SoCs for Xiaomi’s flagship smartphones through its Snapdragon-branded semiconductors.

On Thursday, Xiaomi is expected to launch a new smartphone and tablet, as well as electric car. It’s unclear what devices will contain the new Xring O1.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon told CNBC on Monday that Xiaomi’s latest step is not expected to impact his business.

“We remain a strategic supplier of chips for Xiaomi, and most important, I think Qualcomm Snapdragon chips are used in the Xiaomi flagships and will continue to be used in the Xiaomi flagships,” Amon told CNBC.

Very few smartphone companies globally design their own SoCs, given the expense and difficulty of the process. Apple, Samsung and Huawei are among the few players that have launched their own chips. Many other vendors rely on products from companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek.

But a big advantage to self-designed chips is the ability to more closely integrate hardware and software to offer a differentiated experience from competitors.

The Xring O1 is not Xiaomi’s first SoC, having released the Surge S1 in 2017. Lei said that, due to various reasons and setbacks, the research and development of SoCs was suspended. Xiaomi has launched other types of semiconductors such as those for better management or imaging, but the Xring O1 would mark the company’s return to a fundamental smartphone component.

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lube said:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1924056979065942128

Another soft power win.
Very pro-India video on their space program and the creator gets bombarded with death threats for using the wrong map.

Click to expand...

Japan PM warns financial condition worse than Greece’s​

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Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba said his country’s financial condition was worse than Greece’s as he rejected calls for tax cuts at a time of rising borrowing costs.

Mr Ishiba said he didn’t think it was a good idea to fund tax cuts with government bonds just days after the economy was reported to have shrunk for the first time in a year, and at a pace faster than expected, in the face of US president Donald Trump’s trade policies.

Opposition parties have been putting pressure on Mr Ishiba to cut taxes, including consumption tax.

Japan’s GDP for the March quarter contracted by 0.7 per cent as against the median market forecast of 0.2 per cent, data released last week showed.

“It’s important to recognise the dangers of a society and a world with interest rates. The government is not in a position to comment on interest rates, but the reality is we are facing a world with them. Our country’s fiscal situation is undoubtedly extremely poor, worse than Greece’s,” the prime minister told the parliament on Monday.

“Japan is seeing interest rates turn positive and its fiscal state is not good," he said, warning of the rising costs of funding the already enormous national debt. "While tax revenues are rising, social welfare costs are also increasing.”

According to the International Monetary Fund, Japan’s general government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product stood at 234.9 per cent as of 2025 while it was at 142.2 per cent for Greece.

Japan, however, has managed to escape a fiscal crisis of the kind Greece witnessed in 2009 because domestic investors hold most of its sovereign debt and it remains a major creditor to other nations with significant foreign asset holdings.

Finance minister Katsunobu Kato said while Japan was not facing difficulty raising funds through debt issuance now, it must strive to maintain market trust in its finances.

"A loss of market trust in our finances could lead to sharp rises in interest rates, a weak yen and excessive inflation that would have a severe impact on the economy," Mr Kato told the same parliament session.

The decline in GDP is being attributed to stagnant private consumption and falling exports, suggesting Japan’s economy was losing support from overseas demand even before Mr Trump announced sweeping import tariffs on almost all major trading partners in early April.

Japan faces the prospect of at least a 24 per cent levy starting in July unless it can negotiate a deal with Washington.

In addition, the US has announced a 25 per cent import levy on cars, steel and aluminium, dealing a blow to Japan's economy which relies heavily on automobile exports to America. Japanese automakers, in fact, are already feeling the pain.

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