According to an SMM telephone survey, a certain intelligent computing company disclosed that the monthly rental for spot H100 was about 76,000 yuan, A100 (40G) about 13,000 yuan/month, and the 80G version was out of stock; an eight-card 5090 complete system was about 12,000 yuan/month. All card types required a minimum one-year contract and did not accept short-term rentals. The contact explained that equipment procurement costs were high and they needed to recoup their investment quickly, coupled with rapid GPU iteration, meaning idle periods during short-term rentals would cause significant losses. The specific location of the data center was not disclosed. The company stated that it mainly serves corporate clients, does not have its own server rooms, cooperates with data centers for operations, and is not involved in personal distribution for the time being.

SMM, June 25: Metal markets: As of the noon close, base metals on the domestic market fell across the board, with SHFE copper down 1.82%, SHFE aluminum down 2.75%, SHFE lead down 0.7%, SHFE zinc down 1.64%, SHFE nickel down 0.92%, and SHFE tin down 1.76%. Additionally, the most-traded cast aluminum futures fell 2.08%, the most-traded alumina contract fell 1.29%, the most-traded lithium carbonate contract fell 1.75%, the most-traded silicon metal contract fell 0.29%, and the most-traded polysilicon futures rose 0.33%. Ferrous metals mostly rose, with only stainless steel down 0.75%. Iron ore rose 0.2%, rebar rose 0.1%, and hot-rolled coil edged up. In the coking coal and coke segment: the most-traded coking coal contract inched up 0.08%, and the most-traded coke contract rose 0.28%. In overseas base metals, as of 11:38, LME metals rose across the board. LME copper rose 0.82%, LME aluminum rose 0.24%, LME lead rose 0.6%, LME zinc rose 0.31%, LME tin rose 2.02%, and LME nickel rose 0.77%. In precious metals, as of 11:38, COMEX gold fell 0.48%, and COMEX silver fell 2.02%. In domestic precious metals: SHFE gold declined 2.81%, hitting an intraday low of 868.34 yuan/g; the most-traded SHFE silver contract fell 7.1%, with an intraday low of 13,560 yuan/kg. Additionally, as of the noon close, the most-traded platinum futures fell 4.39%, and the most-traded palladium futures fell 3.54%. As of the noon close, the most-traded containerized freight index (Europe) futures fell 2.45% to 3,665.5 points. As of 11:38 on June 25, midday quotes for selected futures: Spot and fundamentals Silver: In the spot market, downstream consumption recovered somewhat after silver continued to decline. Morning quotes in Shanghai were mainly at TD parity to +20 yuan/kg... Macro front Domestic front: [China's power generation capacity exceeds 4 billion kW] On June 25, the National Energy Administration announced that as of the end of May 2026, China's power generation capacity reached 4.01 billion kW, ranking first globally. Non-fossil energy capacity became the absolute mainstay of capacity additions, and the energy mix continued to improve. The share of coal-fired power capacity fell from 61% in 2010 to 32% in May 2026; the share of non-fossil energy capacity rose from 25% in 2010 to 62% in May 2026; and the share of renewable energy capacity rose from 24% in 2010 to 61% in May 2026. (Xinhua) [PBOC reverse repo net injection of 322.5 billion yuan today] The PBOC conducted 370.5 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repos and 500 billion yuan of 1-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) operations today. With 300 billion yuan of 1-year MLF and 248 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repos maturing today, this resulted in a net injection of 322.5 billion yuan. ((Jin10 Data APP) US dollar: As of 11:38, the US dollar index fell 0.07% to 101.51. All large US banks passed the Fed's annual stress test, paving the way for banks to boost share buybacks and dividends by tens of billions of dollars. The stress test aims to assess how Wall Street lenders would fare under hypothetical financial system shocks. Unlike in previous years, the 2026 test results will not affect capital requirements, as the Fed is continuously revising the test to make it more friendly to banks. This year's test examined how 32 large lenders would withstand a severe global shock amid greater stress in commercial and residential real estate markets and corporate debt markets. The hypothetical scenario included a severe global recession, a 39% drop in commercial real estate prices, and a 30% decline in residential prices. The unemployment rate also surged to a peak of 10%, with a corresponding decline in economic output. The regulators said, "Despite absorbing over $708 billion in loan losses under this year's hypothetical scenario, total capital fell by just 1.6 percentage points, still above the minimum capital requirement." According to CME FedWatch, the probability that the Fed keeps rates unchanged in July is 65.8%, while the chance of a cumulative 25bp rate hike is 34.2%. By September, the probability of rates remaining unchanged is 33.6%, of a cumulative 25bp hike is 49.7%, and of a cumulative 50bp hike is 16.7%. US Treasury Secretary Bessent praised Fed Chairman Warsh for eliminating forward guidance, and said no one should make dot plot forecasts. On the economy, he expects real wage growth to return to the pace seen before April and expects the economy to accelerate for the rest of the year without fueling inflation. He stressed that the dominance of the US dollar is crucial. He believes that once the situation in Ukraine is over, Russia will want to return to the dollar system, while a new Venezuela is returning to that system. During a period of rate cuts, the dollar can still remain strong, and the US is willing to take the right measures to keep the dollar strong. (Jin10 Data APP) On the data front: Today will see the release of Australia's May seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, Germany's July GfK Consumer Confidence Index, US initial jobless claims for the week ending June 20, US May core PCE price index year-on-year, US May personal spending month-on-month, the final reading of US Q1 real GDP annualized quarter-on-quarter, the final reading of US Q1 real personal consumption expenditures quarter-on-quarter, the final reading of US Q1 core PCE price index annualized quarter-on-quarter, US May core PCE price index month-on-month, US May durable goods orders month-on-month, and other data. Additionally, investors should also note: NVIDIA held its annual shareholder meeting; the Bank of Canada published its monetary policy meeting minutes; the US Fed released the results of its annual bank stress test; Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda attended a central bank lecture event hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF); Micron Technology held its FY2026 Q3 earnings call; the 300-billion-yuan one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) and the 248-billion-yuan seven-day reverse repos matured today. Crude Oil: As of 11:38, oil prices on both sides of the Atlantic extended their losing streak from the previous three trading days, with WTI crude down 1.69% and Brent crude down 1.53%. Oil prices gave back wartime gains on Thursday as markets bet on improving global supply, with tankers that had been trapped in the Persian Gulf for months beginning to sail out of the Strait of Hormuz. According to maritime analytics firm Kpler, more than 20 tankers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since the US-Iran deal reopened this critical shipping lane, carrying approximately 35 million barrels of crude. These non-Iranian tankers had been stuck in the Persian Gulf for over three months after Tehran effectively blockaded the waterway at the start of the conflict. Most of these tankers are expected to reach Asian destinations by early August. Citigroup said the worst may be over for commodity futures carry strategies, which suffered heavy losses during the US-Iran war as near-month crude futures soared, punishing trades that shorted the front month and went long further out. Citi noted that its base case now assumes a significant de-escalation and expects Brent crude to fall to $60–65 per barrel over the next 6 to 12 months as Hormuz shipping normalizes. (Jin10 Data APP) Spot Market at a Glance: ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ► ►

This week, prices of ternary cathode precursors weakened slightly, nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prices both declined, while manganese sulphate prices remained stable.

This week, ternary cathode precursor prices weakened, nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prices both pulled back, and manganese sulphate prices remained stable. Discount side, for July and Q3 orders, due to relatively tight sulphate raw materials, some producers were willing to raise discounts. Long-term contract side, for some producers, long-term contracts were agreed upon at the beginning of the year, and coefficients have not yet been raised; for quarterly orders, downstream has equally weak acceptance of coefficient increases. Spot order side, in June, some consumer-related spot order nickel and cobalt coefficients edged up, but recently, nickel and cobalt salt prices have been relatively weak, and the coefficients for July orders have not been further lifted. Production side, top-tier producers' China and export orders performed well this month, with production schedules at high levels, but some producers reduced production loads due to downstream mid-year inventory control. Looking ahead, recently, sulphate prices have generally pulled back, and future new order prices need to focus on the pace of downstream stockpiling in Q3.

As of this Thursday, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate average price declined. Demand side, at the mid-year reporting period, the downstream sector mainly focused on consuming inventories this week, with weak stockpiling sentiment and low acceptance of nickel salt prices. Supply side, MHP payables and auxiliary material prices remained high, but the sharp drop in nickel prices this week still impacted the cost support for nickel salts, with some producers releasing previous inventories. Looking ahead, expectations of tight nickel sulphate raw material supply have not yet improved, and attention should be paid to the cost support strength of nickel prices and intermediate products on nickel salt prices. In terms of inventory, this week, the inventory index of upstream nickel salt smelters slipped from 8.5 days to 8.2 days, the inventory index of downstream precursor plants fell from 10.9 days to 9.9 days, and the inventory index of integrated enterprises remained at 7.0 days. Regarding the balance of buying and selling, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor of upstream nickel salt smelters stayed at 1.8, the purchasing sentiment factor of downstream precursor plants stayed at 2.5, and the sentiment factor of integrated enterprises stayed at 2.4. (Historical data can be accessed in the database)

Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource (ESDM) clarified on 25th June 2026 that the total 2026 nickel RKAB quota has not yet been decided, countering the recent uprise speculations from the market. Director General of Minerals and Coal, Tri Winarno, emphasized that the government is still evaluating RKAB revision proposals submitted by mining companies and "Regarding the nickel RKAB, the government will continue to follow the official evaluation mechanism before determining any RKAB revisions. No production figure has been decided yet, as discussions are still ongoing," on Thursday (June 25), adding that the current process is an assessment of industry requirements rather than a relaxation of production limits. While companies may submit RKAB revisions following second-quarter reporting under Ministerial Regulation No. 17/2025, any changes must undergo a comprehensive review based on production data, downstream industry demand, market conditions, supply chain balance, commodity prices, and long-term resource sustainability.