TCL, Tianjin Chipmaker Team Up
Consumer electronics company TCL Technology and the Tianjin government have solidified their partnership as TCL expands in the port city. TCL said it was spending about 10.2 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) in Tianjin, which includes 4.2 billion yuan for a headquarters there.
It has already bought Zhonghuan Electronics & Information Group Co. Ltd. for 10.97 billion yuan. Zhonghuan Electronics & Information was formerly a state-owned enterprise under the Tianjin Municipal Government. It makes semiconductor materials and electronics.
The Tianjin government and TCL Technology signed an agreement Monday to increase cooperation and to agree the "mixed ownership" of Zhonghuan Electronics & Information. TCL wants to improve Zhonghuan Electronics & Information's semiconductor and display businesses, Yicai Global reported.
TCL has been looking to improve its own performance as an intelligence, technology and science company, CEO and founder Li Dongsheng said.
New Ventures Attract Foreign Investment to Beijing
Nearly 590 foreign-invested enterprises established new businesses in Beijing in the first half of the year with spending of $7.21 billion. Service-sector companies were among the most popular, according to China's Commerce Ministry.
In March Prudential-CITIC Asset Management Co., a joint-venture asset-management company jointly formed by British life insurance company Prudential plc and state-backed conglomerate CITIC Group Corp. Ltd., was registered in Beijing and given a business license by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. The joint venture has a registered capital of 500 million yuan, according to Reuters.
Los Angeles-based distressed asset manager Oaktree Capital Management established a wholly owned unit in Beijing in February with a registered capital of $5.42 million. It is the first foreign company to operate in China's bad-debt market. A recent trade deal allowed U.S. companies to apply for asset-management licenses and buy nonperforming loans from China banks.
Since 2018 more than 30 international financial institutions including Standard & Poor's, Fitch Group and Moody's Investors Service have set up in Beijing, Beijing Daily reported.
Central Bank Injects CNY100 Billion Into Market
The People's Bank of China injected 100 billion yuan into the market through a seven-day reverse repurchase agreement at a rate of 2.2 percent Tuesday. As 50 billion of reverse repos matured Tuesday the net injection was 50 billion yuan, according to the central bank.
Reverse repos allows the central bank to buy securities from commercial banks in the short term and then sell them back at a higher price. The PBOC said the operations hedged against the effect of tax peaks and other factors while maintaining reasonable liquidity in the banking system.
The PBOC injected 700 billion yuan in one-year medium-term lending facility loans Monday at 2.95 percent.
Between now and the end of the week 950 billion yuan comes due in the open market. On Aug. 20 another 50 billion yuan of treasury cash deposits will mature, according to financial data provider Wind.
Digital Yuan Getting Spent in Test Markets
The digital yuan has entered real-time use in small-scale tests across China. The Commerce Ministry last week announced trials of the new payment technology in some areas.
E-payment services in China are dominated by internet companies such as Alipay and WeChat Pay. They allow money transfers by scanning a quick response code. The central bank's digital yuan will compete on cost, China Daily reported.
A source in one of the four trial regions said people in Shenzhen, Suzhou and other cities can get their salaries paid in digital yuan - also known as Central Bank Digital Currency. They can pay for restaurant bills, transport cards and groceries and other goods and services. Ride hailing company DiDi says it will accept digital yuan. It will likely be used to pay for health and education, e-commerce, travel and other services later.
Digital yuan transactions don't require a third-party or bank account, the National Institution for Finance & Development said. It uses transaction passwords kept in users' digital wallets. Users can transfer cash offline, too.
China began researching and developing its digital yuan in 2014. The central bank said it wouldn't be blockchain-based but would use a two-tier structure with the central bank issuing the currency to banks and financial institutions who then circulate it to consumers.
Shenzhen Spending Big on Synthetic Biology, Brain Analysis
The Shenzhen government will spend up to 1.6 billion yuan on industrial research and development into synthetic biology and brain analysis and stimulation, thepaper.cn reports.
The research by the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology will be conducted in collaboration with the Southern University of Science and Technology, the Shenzhen Research Institute of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School.
They will research nervous-system diseases including Alzheimer's, autism, Major Depressive Disorder, strokes and cognitive language barriers. Spending will be about 879 million yuan, according to the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology.
The project aims to bring intelligent manufacturing to research in synthetic biology.
