The Shanghai Composite Index lost 63 points or 1.6% at midday to 3,818, hitting a more than three-and-a-half-month trough since late March, with turnover of RMB744.24 billion. The Shenzhen Component Index dived 535 points or 3.7% to 13,953, marking a more than three-month low, with turnover of RMB858.074 billion. The ChiNext Index slid 173 points or 4.7% to 3,518, reaching an about three-month trough, with turnover of RMB402.891 billion.

Major banking stocks bucked the market trend. ICBC (601398.SH) rose nearly 1%, while CCB (601939.SH) climbed 2.9%. CMB (600036.SH) gained nearly 1%. CHINA LIFE (601628.SH) rose nearly 0.9%. PING AN OF CHINA (601318.SH) added 0.6%. BYD Company (002594.SZ) fell 0.7%, while CONTEMPORARY AMPEREX (300750.SZ) edged up 0.1%.

Chip stocks came under selling pressure. SMIC (688981.SH) lost 2%, while HUA HONG GRACE (688347.SH) dipped 0.2%. AI chip stock CAMBRICON (688256.SH) tumbled 5.7%. METAX (688802.SH) plunged 9.4%.

LQKJ (688008.SH) continued to plunge 9% by midday. The company forecast 1H26 net profit of about RMB1.9 billion to RMB2.1 billion, representing a YoY increase of about 63.9% to 81.2%. The company plans to repurchase A-shares involving RMB300 million to RMB600 million. Regarding the investigation into potential antitrust-related violations by the Fair Trade Investigation Department of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in South Korea, authorities conducted an on-site search and evidence collection at the group's South Korea office on the previous day (15th). The group said it is fully cooperating with prosecutors' requests. The company stated that none of the Group, its directors and employees has been charged by the PO or any government authorities with any wrongdoing. The Group’s business operations remain normal and the Group remains fully focused on products research and development, as well as serving its customers.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) is preparing the biggest upgrade for the iPad mini in five years, with the device set to adopt an OLED display for the first time, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported.

The launch is expected as early as this autumn, with plans to release it before October. In addition, Apple plans to launch an entry-level iPad and an upgraded iPad Air next year.
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NVIDIA (NVDA.US) announced on Wednesday a new AI model, Cosmos 3 Edge, for robotics and visual AI agents, further advancing its presence in Japan's physical AI market.

The company said Cosmos 3 Edge belongs to the category of so-called world models, designed to help systems perceive and navigate physical environments in real time. Compared with large language models (LLMs), world models can learn from a broader range of inputs. The launch comes shortly after the release of Cosmos 3 in May.

During NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's two-day visit to Japan, regional expansion became a key focus. According to NVIDIA, the company is forming an alliance, with Japanese industrial giants including Fujitsu, Hitachi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries expressing interest in joining to expand its physical AI footprint.

Huang said in a statement on Wednesday that the next frontier of AI lies in the physical world, representing a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Japan. He noted that Japan invented modern manufacturing and now has the opportunity to reshape the industry for the intelligent industrial era.
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Japan plans to procure 27,500 next-generation Rubin chips from NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) to build a domestic foundational AI model for robots.

Newly established Noetra Corp. secured JPY387.3 billion (approximately USD2.4 billion) in funding from the Japanese government. The company will oversee the related project and construct large-scale data centers.

Dozens of companies, including SoftBank Corp. (9434.JP), Toyota Motor (7203.JP)-backed Preferred Networks and NEC Corp. (6701.JP), are assisting in the establishment and operation of Noetra.

While Japan's order is substantial, it remains relatively small compared to Microsoft's (MSFT.US) plans to eventually build a massive data center housing hundreds of thousands of Vera Rubin chips.

Noetra President Hironobu Tamba stated that Japan, home to some of the world's largest industrial robot manufacturers, may be able to establish alternatives to AI systems from the US and China.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) is seeking to acquire chip companies as its in-house developed AI servers face performance challenges, The Information, citing sources, reported. These servers are running on internally designed M2 Ultra chips.

Apple has reportedly contacted startup chip companies to assess their willingness to sell and has discussed potential transactions with banks.

Sources said Apple originally planned to launch a new version of its AI server chip this year, but the project has been delayed.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) will cooperate with BIDU-SW (09888.HK) to develop AI features for iPhone users in China, The STAR Market Daily, citing sources, reported.

BIDU-SW opened 1.21% higher alongside the broader market today (16th), hitting an intraday high of HKD112.8. It last reported at HKD112.4, up 4.56%, with trading volume of 5.3888 million shares and turnover of HKD601 million.

BIDU-SW will reportedly focus on developing AI search functions as part of the "Apple Intelligence" feature suite, capable of processing images and text, while also upgrading as the Chinese version of Siri voice assistant.
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Prosecutors in South Korea raided the South Korean offices of MONTAGE TECH (06809.HK), Renesas Electronics (6723.JP) and Rambus, Inc. (RMBS.US) yesterday (15th), on suspicion that the companies violated the Fair Trade Act by manipulating prices of semiconductor components supplied to companies including Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US), South Korean media reported.

MONTAGE TECH (06809.HK) opened 5.7% lower today and once hit a trough of HKD311. The stock last quoted at HKD322.4, down 10.84%, with turnover of 2.7228 million shares involving HKD879 million.

The Star Market Daily quoted staff from the board office of MONTAGE TECH as saying that the company is assessing the situation. The company stressed that it has always operated in compliance with regulations and will actively cooperate with the investigation, while current operations remain normal.
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Jefferies said in a report that Alibaba's Qwen under BABA-W (09988.HK) will provide services for users of the China version of Apple Intelligence by Apple Inc. (AAPL.US). Although further details of the cooperation have yet to be announced, the broker believed this represents recognition of the Qwen model across different scenarios.

According to the broker's recent report, Alibaba Cloud possesses comprehensive end-to-end capabilities, and revenue growth was estimated to accelerate in the September quarter. Jefferies reiterated BABA-W as its top pick.

The report said the news carries multiple positive implications for BABA-W, including affirmation of Qwen's model capabilities, with a comprehensive selection of models capable of meeting different user needs; enhancing Qwen's visibility in international markets; Alibaba's complete cloud infrastructure enabling service quality and cost-effectiveness; and with the successful cooperation with Apple, adoption and usage of Qwen models on edge devices (simple tasks) and the cloud (complex tasks) were forecast to rise further.
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NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang dismissed reports that its next-generation AI accelerator platform Vera Rubin is facing delivery delays.

Speaking to reporters at a developer conference in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, Huang said Vera Rubin has already entered mass production and will soon move into large-scale production, with deliveries to customers proceeding as scheduled. However, he did not disclose a specific timetable.

Prior to this, NVIDIA said Vera Rubin had entered full-scale production, with partner products adopting the platform expected to launch in 2H26.
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NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) will provide AI hardware and software to Toyota (7203.JP) to support smart cities, intelligent transportation systems and automobile manufacturing plants, expanding the decade-long partnership between the two companies.

NVIDIA said the two companies will strengthen cooperation and focus on applying AI to real-world scenarios. Previously, the companies also worked with US robotics company Ready Robotics to develop software aimed at improving safety and production efficiency on factory floors.
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