Recently, Meritech Integrated Circuits Co., Ltd., based in Beijing, announced the completion of two consecutive funding rounds within six months, raising a total of nearly 100 million yuan.

The China Semiconductor Industry Association issued an urgent notice regarding the rules for determining the "origin" of semiconductor products. According to the relevant regulations of the General Administration of Customs, the origin of "integrated circuits" is determined based on the principle of a change in the four-digit tariff code, meaning the location of the wafer fabrication is recognized as the origin. Please prepare PO certification materials for declaration to facilitate customs verification. For specific regulations, everyone is advised to carefully study the content of "Regulation No. 122 of the General Administration of Customs on the Standards for Substantial Transformation in Non-Preferential Rules of Origin." The China Semiconductor Industry Association recommends that, whether packaged or unpackaged, the origin of "integrated circuits" for import declaration should be reported based on the location of the "wafer fabrication plant.

According to customs statistics, in the first four months of 2025, the total value of China's import and export of goods trade was 14.14 trillion yuan, up 2.4% YoY (the same hereinafter). Specifically, exports amounted to 8.39 trillion yuan, up 7.5%, while imports reached 5.75 trillion yuan, down 4.2%. In April, the total value of China's import and export of goods trade was 3.84 trillion yuan, up 5.6%. Specifically, exports amounted to 2.27 trillion yuan, up 9.3%, while imports reached 1.57 trillion yuan, up 0.8%. The main characteristics of China's import and export in the first four months are as follows: 1. Growth in import and export of ordinary trade and processing trade In the first four months, China's import and export of ordinary trade amounted to 9.05 trillion yuan, up 0.6%, accounting for 64% of China's total foreign trade value. Specifically, exports amounted to 5.53 trillion yuan, up 7.3%, while imports reached 3.52 trillion yuan, down 8.4%. During the same period, import and export of processing trade amounted to 2.54 trillion yuan, up 6.6%, accounting for 18%. Specifically, exports amounted to 1.58 trillion yuan, up 5.5%, while imports reached 960.57 billion yuan, up 8.4%. In addition, China's import and export through bonded logistics amounted to 2.04 trillion yuan, up 7%. Specifically, exports amounted to 847.48 billion yuan, up 17.7%, while imports reached 1.19 trillion yuan, up 0.6%. 2. Growth in import and export with ASEAN and the EU In the first four months, ASEAN was China's largest trading partner, with the total trade value between China and ASEAN reaching 2.38 trillion yuan, up 9.2%, accounting for 16.8% of China's total foreign trade value. Specifically, exports to ASEAN amounted to 1.48 trillion yuan, up 12.6%, while imports from ASEAN reached 895.17 billion yuan, up 4%. The EU was China's second-largest trading partner, with the total trade value between China and the EU reaching 1.78 trillion yuan, up 1.1%, accounting for 12.6%. Specifically, exports to the EU amounted to 1.21 trillion yuan, up 6.1%, while imports from the EU reached 563.59 billion yuan, down 8.1%. The US was China's third-largest trading partner, with the total trade value between China and the US reaching 1.44 trillion yuan, down 2.1%, accounting for 10.2%. Specifically, exports to the US amounted to 1.07 trillion yuan, down 1.5%, while imports from the US reached 369.95 billion yuan, down 3.7%. During the same period, China's total import and export with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative amounted to 7.25 trillion yuan, up 3.9%. Specifically, exports amounted to 4.15 trillion yuan, up 9.6%, while imports reached 3.1 trillion yuan, down 2.8%. 3. Increase in the proportion of import and export by private enterprises In the first four months, import and export by private enterprises amounted to 8.05 trillion yuan, up 6.8%, accounting for 56.9% of China's total foreign trade value, an increase of 2.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year.Of this total, exports amounted to RMB 5.47 trillion, up 8.1%, accounting for 65.1% of China's total export value; imports reached RMB 2.58 trillion, up 4.2%, accounting for 45% of China's total import value. During the same period, the import and export volume of foreign-invested enterprises was RMB 4.1 trillion, up 1.9%, accounting for 29% of China's total foreign trade value. Of this, exports were RMB 2.28 trillion, up 6.1%; imports were RMB 1.82 trillion, down 3%. The import and export volume of state-owned enterprises was RMB 1.96 trillion, down 11.3%, accounting for 13.9% of China's total foreign trade value. Of this, exports were RMB 640.6 billion, up 7.3%; imports were RMB 1.32 trillion, down 18.2%. IV. Mechanical and electrical products accounted for over 60% of exports, with growth in exports of automatic data processing equipment and its parts, integrated circuits, and automobiles. In the first four months, China exported mechanical and electrical products worth RMB 5.04 trillion, up 9.5%, accounting for 60.1% of China's total export value. Of this, automatic data processing equipment and its parts were worth RMB 458.71 billion, up 5.6%; integrated circuits were worth RMB 405.15 billion, up 14.7%; and automobiles were worth RMB 264.98 billion, up 4%. During the same period, exports of labor-intensive products were RMB 1.3 trillion, down 1.6%, accounting for 15.4%. Of this, textiles were worth RMB 329.17 billion, up 4.9%. Exports of agricultural products were RMB 235.57 billion, up 6.1%. V. Import prices of major bulk commodities such as iron ore, crude oil, and coal fell, while the import value of mechanical and electrical products increased. In the first four months, China imported 388 million mt of iron ore, down 5.5%, with an average import price (the same hereinafter) of RMB 710.4 per mt, down 17.8%; 183 million mt of crude oil, up 0.5%, at RMB 3,936.7 per mt, down 8%; 153 million mt of coal, down 5.3%, at RMB 569.6 per mt, down 22.2%; 38.994 million mt of natural gas, down 9.2%, at RMB 3,318.3 per mt, down 6.1%; 23.19 million mt of soybeans, down 14.6%, at RMB 3,283.2 per mt, down 15%; and 12.922 million mt of refined oil products, down 25.6%, at RMB 4,381.8 per mt, up 1.6%. In addition, China imported 9.525 million mt of plastic in primary forms, down 1.1%, at RMB 10,500 per mt, down 0.5%; and 1.742 million mt of unwrought copper and copper semis, down 3.9%, at RMB 69,000 per mt, up 8.5%. During the same period, imports of mechanical and electrical products were RMB 2.23 trillion, up 5.7%.

Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd. is recalling 19,481 domestically produced EQA and EQB electric vehicles manufactured between April 2021 and March 2024. Starting June 25, 2026, the recall addresses potential internal short circuits caused by production fluctuations in high-voltage batteries and software-related overloads. These defects in the Battery Management System (BMS) increase the risk of vehicle fires, posing significant safety hazards. The move aligns with China's defective product regulations to ensure battery reliability and passenger safety.

Ford Motor Company will recall 20,484 hybrid sport utility vehicles (SUVs) due to battery issues. The recall involves 2020-2024 models of the Ford Escape and the luxury Lincoln Corsair. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that the recall is due to manufacturing defects in one or more high-voltage battery cells, which may cause internal short circuits and battery failures. US auto safety regulators said dealers will provide free updates to the battery energy control module software and replace high-voltage battery packs if necessary. Ford's power battery suppliers include LG Energy Solution, SK On, Panasonic, CATL, and BYD.

The Government Work Report stated that over the past year, China’s development moved toward the new and the better, demonstrating vigorous vitality. New quality productive forces developed steadily, with abundant achievements in scientific and technological innovation; the R&D and application of artificial intelligence, biomedicine, robotics, quantum technology, and other fields were at the global forefront. New breakthroughs were made in independent chip R&D; Tianwen-2 embarked on its “star-chasing” journey; the large-scale application of BeiDou was comprehensively expanded; construction began on the hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River; the first domestically built electromagnetic catapult aircraft carrier, the Fujian, was officially commissioned; and domestically developed large models led the global open-source ecosystem. The industrial structure continued to be optimized: the value added of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing grew by 9.4 and 9.2, respectively; the production of industrial robots and integrated circuits increased by 28 and 10.9, respectively; annual NEV production exceeded 16 million units; and EV charging facilities surpassed 20 million. Energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 5.1, and ecological and environmental quality continued to improve.

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council stated that it will promote state-owned enterprises to intensify their efforts in industries such as NEVs and integrated circuits, while encouraging the accelerated development of industries like biopharmaceuticals through mergers and acquisitions. They also emphasized the importance of forward-looking planning and the phased cultivation of future industries, and expressed the need to expedite the cultivation of the first batch of pioneering enterprises. Additionally, they plan to leverage major projects such as manned spaceflight and deep-sea and deep-earth exploration to strive for a commanding position in future development.

Recently, the official website of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress released the "Nansha Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation Regulations (Draft Amendment for Soliciting Opinions)" and solicited opinions from various sectors of society. The document requires the provincial government, the Guangzhou municipal government, and their relevant departments to formulate policies to promote the development of industries in Nansha, optimize the industrial structure, and layout emerging industrial clusters in deep-sea, deep-space, and deep-earth areas. The focus is on the development of strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuits and semiconductors, biomedicine, commercial aerospace, artificial intelligence, new energy vehicles, and new energy storage, and promoting the digitalization, networking, intelligent, and green development of industries.

The General Administration of Customs: China's Exports of Flat Panel Display Modules, Auto Parts, and Lithium Batteries to ASEAN All Grew by Over 20% At a press conference, spokesperson Lü Daliang from the General Administration of Customs stated that China and ASEAN are jointly committed to the development of regional economic integration. The close industrial chain connections between the two sides have driven rapid growth in the import and export of upstream and downstream products. In Q1, manufacturing products accounted for 90.1% of the trade between China and ASEAN. Among them, China's exports of flat panel display modules, auto parts, and lithium batteries to ASEAN all grew by over 20%. Meanwhile, China's imports of parts for automatic data processing equipment, printed circuits, and textile raw materials from ASEAN maintained growth.

The "Nansha Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation Regulations (Draft Amendment for Solicitation of Comments)" was released in June 2022. The State Council issued the "Overall Plan for Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Comprehensive Cooperation in Nansha, Guangzhou" (referred to as "Nansha Plan"), giving Nansha a new positioning as a major strategic platform to become a world-oriented bay area, coordinating with Hong Kong and Macao. The plan requires the provincial government, the Guangzhou municipal government, and related departments to formulate policies to promote the industrial development of Nansha, optimize industrial structure, layout emerging industry clusters, and focus on the strategic emerging industries such as integrated circuits and semiconductors, biopharmaceuticals, commercial aerospace, artificial intelligence, new energy vehicles, and new energy storage to promote the digitalization, networking, intelligent, and green development of industries.