Regions making up one-third of China’s economy expanded slower than the national growth rate in the first quarter, underscoring the extent of the damage caused by a worsening COVID-19 outbreak and widening lockdowns.
Six provincial-level jurisdictions — all of which experienced a rise in infections in the January-to-March period — lagged behind the national GDP growth rate of 4.8 percent, local statistics bureaus said.
That included Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, two of the country’s biggest provincial economies, which grew 3.3 percent and 4.6 percent respectively.
In Guangdong, the technology hub of Shenzhen was last month locked down for one week, while manufacturing base Dongguan salvaged factory activity by keeping workers in so-called “closed loops,” where they lived on site.
Several cities in Jiangsu, including the key electronics hub of Suzhou near Shanghai, also tightened controls as infections rose.
The other laggards included Henan, Liaoning, Shanghai and Tianjin. The latter, a port city that recorded China’s first community spread of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in January, expanded just 0.1 percent and had been struggling before the latest outbreak.
The first-quarter data made public so far includes 28 of China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions. Jilin, Xinjiang and Tibet, which contributed just 3.13 percent of national GDP, have yet to disclose results.
Jiangxi Province was the quarter’s best performer, with its economy growing 6.9 percent. The southeastern province, known for its fine porcelain, recorded retail sales growth of 8.9 percent.
Investment and industrial production in Jiangxi were also strikingly robust, up 15.6 percent and 9.5 percent respectively.
However, China’s overall growth outlook is weakening, as lockdowns in places such as Shanghai drag on and as infections start to rise in Beijing, prompting fears of strict curbs there.
Economists have slashed their growth forecasts due to the country’s strict adherence to its “zero COVID” policy.
The latest survey conduction by Bloomberg News found that GDP is expected to grow 4.9 percent this year, far short of Beijing’s target of about 5.5 percent.
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
RSS