Fortune (January 11)
“2026 begins with sharper risks for China: Geopolitical uncertainty, a struggling real estate sector, strained public finances, and elevated youth unemployment. Yet what draws companies to China—scale, innovation, and global influence— remain as compelling as ever.” The economics have changed and competition has increased. Success now requires greater discipline, but “for global businesses prepared to operate with this level of discipline, China can still be a lucrative market in the Year of the Horse.”
Tags: 2026, China, Competition, Discipline, Geopolitical uncertainty, Global influence, Innovation, Lucrative, Public finances, Real estate, Risks, Scale, Struggling, Year of the Horse, Youth unemployment
Washington Post (November 4)
America may still be “the world’s leading scientific research power, but competition is growing more fierce.” Even though “it’s a dangerous time to dull the country’s competitive edge,” Trump’s moves against universities have done just that. “Scientists in the United States increasingly see European bureaucracy as a safer setting for conducting their cutting-edge research than their home country’s own institutions.” The European Research Council “has seen a surge in applications,” with “nearly triple the number of proposals from Americans compared with the year before.”
Tags: Applications, Bureaucracy, Competition, Competitive edge, Cutting-edge research, ERC, Europe, Fierce, Leading, Power, Proposals, Safer setting, Scientific research, Trump, U.S., Universities
New York Times (July 23)
“G.M. was the second automaker this week to show the toll that the Trump administration’s trade policies are taking on the industry. Stellantis, the maker of Chrysler, Jeep and Ram vehicles, said on Monday that it lost 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in the first half of the year partly because of tariffs and other Republican policies.” Automakers employ roughly “one million manufacturing workers. Eroding profits will make it harder for them to invest in new technologies to withstand growing competition from Chinese automakers that have been expanding abroad.”
Tags: $2.7 billion, Automakers, China, Chrysler, Competition, G.M., Industry, Invest, Jeep, Manufacturing, Profits, Stellantis, Tariffs, Technologies, Trade policies, Trump, Withstand, Workers
Reuters (April 22)
“The burning question facing China’s EV industry… is how and when it can convert explosive sales of ground-breaking vehicles into sustainable profits. The intense competition driving the sector’s innovation has also made China a market with precious few winners, foreign or domestic.” Approximately 170 domestic and automakers are competing in China, “but only 14 have a market share higher than 2%.” In 2024, excluding hybrids there were 327 EV models produced by 86 brands. Ultimately, there will be “few survivors from China’s hypercompetitive EV industry.”
Tags: Automakers, China, Competition, Domestic, EV industry, EVs, Explosive sales, Foreign, Ground-breaking, Hybrids, Hypercompetitive, Innovation, Market share, Survivors, Sustainable profits, Winners
Jalopnik (January 15)
“American automakers have long feared Chinese competition, worrying that cheaper cars built just as well would knock the floor out of a profitable industry. Now, regulators have found a way to protect American brands by outright banning Chinese cars — or automotive hardware or software — used for communications or autonomous driving.”
Tags: Automakers, Autonomous driving, Banning, Brands, Cars, Cheaper, China, Communications, Competition, Hardware, Profitable, Protect, Regulators, Software, U.S.
Markets Insider (January 17)
“The US and European Union are seeing large stockpiles of solar panels after soaring manufacturing capacity fueled a substantial oversupply.” At year end, “an estimated 45 gigawatts of modules in the US and 90 gigawatts in the EU had piled up, nearly twice the forecast installations for 2024.” The glut is leading to “even lower prices” and “fierce competition between manufacturers,” with “less efficient manufacturers… bound to lose out, as overcapacity and low module prices add to financial challenges.”
Tags: 2024, 45 GW, 90 GW, Competition, EU, Forecast installations, Glut, Manufacturing capacity, Overcapacity, Oversupply, Prices, Soaring, Solar panels, Stockpiles, U.S.
Bloomberg (January 11)
“Years of harrowing losses have left Chinese stocks with a diminished standing in global portfolios.” The trend is “likely to accelerate as some of the world’s biggest funds distance themselves from the risk-ridden market.” Furthermore, what began “as a performance-driven exodus now risks becoming a structural shift due to a toxic combination of doubts over Beijing’s long-term economic agenda, a prolonged property crisis and strategic competition with the US.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Competition, Diminished, Funds, Global portfolios, Harrowing, Losses, Property crisis, Risk, Stocks, Structural, Toxic
Institutional Investor (December 1)
“Competition to manage middle eastern sovereign wealth has become fierce.” Five of the top ten sovereign wealth funds (by assets under management} “are based in the Middle East” with “roughly $2.92 trillion in assets.” Given “bleak fundraising prospects in the U.S. and Europe, managers are tripping over themselves to reach sovereign wealth funds” in the Middle East.
Tags: $2.92 trillion, AUM, Competition, Europe, Fundraising, Managers, Middle East, Prospects, Sovereign wealth funds, Top ten, U.S.
WARC (July 24)
“Around the world, AI is developing and it is quickly reaching a point where it is speeding up human work to the point of replacing humans. This is a point in time for brands and agencies to really think about the technology and work out what ethical, responsible uses look like.” The rise of virtual influencers in China marks “one of the first instances of true competition between humans and machines for work and will be an important test case for the technology and the labour questions it raises.”
Tags: AI, Brands, China, Competition, Developing, Ethical, Humans, Replacing, Responsible, Technology, Uses, Virtual influencers, Work
Institutional Investor (May 31)
Last December, “the SEC proposed a set of trading reforms detailing significant changes on vital features such as tick size, the access fee cap, and competition for retail orders.” NASDAQ broadly supports the moves, but worries that “they may not accomplish what the SEC is trying to accomplish” or lead to “unintended consequences that harm liquidity.” Instead, NASDAQ and others believe the SEC “should sequence the proposals rather than do them simultaneously and pause periodically to assess the impacts and determine whether additional reforms are warranted.”
Tags: Access fee cap, Assess, Competition, December, Impacts, Liquidity, Nasdaq, Proposals, Retail orders, SEC, Sequence, Tick size, Trading reforms, Unintended consequences
