Amid rapid growth in #EnergyStorage vs uncertain #EV market, #battery makers change biz strategies & double down on efforts to give ESS a boost. #CATL seek to est ind standards & has entered sys integration SVOLT EV+ESS “two wheeler” Gotion: strive to lead ESS sector #battchat

Some official numbers from the organizers of #AutoShanghai2023: 360,000 sqm 1,200 models 1,413 vehicles Global debuts: 93 (including 28 from global automakers), 64 concepts 271 NEV models (186 from Chinese brands) 513 total NEVs 10,000 🌷 (ok I made this up)

TikTok's parent ByteDance is trying to poach #OpenAI's 'technical staff' with a $1.4M salary, credible info channel says, the candidate hasn't accepted the offer. A number of OpenAI's engineers have China mainland education degrees from the likes of Peking U/Tsinghua/Zhejiang U.

Everyone from Tesla to ByteDance wants in on China's self-driving cars, writes Anjani Trivedi. Being basic won't cut it trib.al/ZSMerwu via Bloomberg Opinion

It’s been fascinating to watch the scaling of flake graphite production in Africa namely Madagascar & Mozambique over last decade. Gone are the days the world just looks to China for #graphite (including Chinese consumers). 🌍 Is Tanzania next? source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/tanzan…

Semiconductors: one recurring question has been, would US chip sanctions help accelerate China's chip industry development? Here's a scoop on AI chips in China that offers some hints on that theme. wsj.com/articles/u-s-s… Karen Hao Raffaele Huang

Autos/ transportation equipment used to be one industrial sector that China didn't dominate. That has changed. Despite all the talk of deglobalization, the potential for an EV driven second China shock is real ... you can see it in the data.

Big oil begins to pull the thread on lithium. V interesting read. The focus is oilfield brine in Arkansas. Not just one of the biggest natural resources companies but one of the biggest companies period. ⁦The Wall Street Journal⁩ wsj.com/articles/exxon…

This is startling: "The two-day long summit alone saw some 30 new deals worth more than $10 billion announced between Chinese firms and Middle East investors — the largest, a whopping $5.6 billion investment from the Saudi government to create a joint venture with Human Horizons,

Opinion: It is far harder these days to be an overt bully, writes @GraceLordan_. As a result tactics have evolved into subtler forms of harassment that can be as destructive on.ft.com/3OivgIP

That Dresden became a hub for #semiconductors is in part the result of ... industrial policy of the GDR.

Our cover this week. There's a lot of optimistic talk, much of it in the Gulf, about a "new" Middle East, one that will be focused on economic growth rather than mired in ideological conflict. It makes for an alluring vision. But there's ample reason to doubt it will succeed. 🧵

Word is out: Microsoft is plunging ahead on nuclear energy. They want a fleet of reactors powering new data centers. And now they're hiring people from the traditional nuclear industry to get it done. Why? Lack of stable long-term power, whether clean or dirty, is constraining

Three things stand out from an interview with Moussa Abu Marzouk of Hamas: a near-total refusal to even admit Hamas killed civilians; a sense that political leaders were kept in the dark about attack plans; and an utter lack of vision for the future. economist.com/middle-east-an…

What would happen if the US cracked down on Iran’s oil-smuggling machine? A loud “meh” in the high seas, is the likely answer. Anjani Trivedi and I track down the dark fleet tasked with moving the barrels—and find it largely immune to American sanctions economist.com/finance-and-ec…

Great article about battery 🔋technologies The Economist ! Keep #innovating and make better #battery. New battery designs could lead to gains in power and capacity economist.com/science-and-te…

Young women of child-bearing age are THE lifeblood of humanity. What the hell is going on?

About 0.001% of people seem to appreciate this crucial point

“It isn’t a product that you can simply switch away from.” Anjani Trivedi explores how the West can break China’s grip on rare earths. Listen to “Babbage” economist.com/podcasts/2025/…

The electricity system is the largest commodity supply chain in the world that doesn’t feature storage. Every technology benefits from storage. Top 1% of peak hours are 8% of your bill. Top 10% of hours are 40% of your bill. Batteries provide more tools to flatten out peaks.