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Tesla’s sales fell in 2025, the company reported Friday, ceding its position as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker for the year to Chinese auto giant BYD.The American company led by Elon Musk logged 418,227 deliveries in the final three months of the year, taking its full-year sales figure to around 1.64 million EVs.This marked a drop in sales of more than eight percent compared with 2024.A day prior, BYD said that it sold 2.26 million EVs last year.Analysts had expected Tesla’s sales in the final quarter to slow less, to 449,000, according to a FactSet consensus.The pullback comes amid the elimination of a $7,500 US tax credit at the end of September 2025, with industry watchers noting it will take time for EV demand to rebalance.But even before then, Tesla had seen sales struggle in key markets over CEO Musk’s political support of US President Donald Trump and other far-right politicians. Tesla has also been grappling with rising competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, and from European giants.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, unveiled record EV sales in the past year on Thursday.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995 and originally specialized in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive market for new energy vehicles, a term used to describe various vehicles from fully electric ones to plug-in hybrids. China is the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.BYD is now looking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.While BYD and other Chinese EV producers come up against hefty tariffs in the United States, the company’s success is picking up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and in Europe.Tesla only narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with US company’s 1.79 million outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.Tesla shares dipped 0.5 percent in early trading in New York on Friday.Analysts at Wedbush Securities noted that Tesla’s quarterly sales figure remained better than some had speculated.They flagged that the company faces a “more difficult demand environment following the end of the EV tax credit while Europe remains a headwind to its deliveries.”The company still sees challenges obtaining certain regulatory approval in Europe — relating to self-driving tech — with sales potentially rebounding once the regulatory hurdles are cleared.”Sales around smaller and emerging markets have started to see larger growth metrics than expectations which look to offset the declines in key regions like China and Europe,” Wedbush analysts said.

Markets made a bright start to 2026 on Friday but volumes were thin with Tokyo and Shanghai still closed as investors awaited fresh direction from Wall Street.Stocks had a bumper 2025, with the S&P adding 16.4 percent, the tech-rich Nasdaq 20.4 percent and London’s FTSE enjoying its merriest Christmas in 16 years.In Asia, Seoul stocks whooshed 75 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index bounced 28 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rocketed more than 26 percent.”Naturally, the start of the new year comes with the question everyone asks moving from one year to the next: will this continue? The consensus is that, yes, it will,” said Kyle Rodda at Australian brokerage Capital.com.”When it comes to the all important US economy, Wall Street is pricing in growth will accelerate this year while inflation still moderates and interest rates get cut. Meanwhile, analysts predict that corporate fundamentals will improve,” Rodda said.Hong Kong led Asian gains on Friday, climbing 2.8 percent with chip designer Biren Technologies soaring as much as 119 percent in the exchange’s first listing of the year. It closed at HK$34.46, off its intra-day high of HK$42.88 but well up on its offer price of HK$19.60.The Shanghai-based firm’s listing raised more than $700 million, suggesting that investor appetite for anything related to artificial intelligence remains insatiable.Biren “enjoys scarcity value and high market attention”, said Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities. “The industry is in a flourishing stage, with many firms striving for breakthroughs and significant growth potential,” Ng said.Search-engine giant Baidu jumped more than nine percent after saying its AI chip unit Kunlunxin had filed a listing application in Hong Kong.Taipei, Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila also advanced while Seoul’s Kospi, which soared 76 percent in 2025 in large part due to the AI boom, rose 2.3 percent.Samsung Electronics added seven percent after co-CEO Jun Young Hyun said customers had praised its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, saying that “Samsung is back”, Bloomberg News reported.Europe joined the rally, with London, Paris and Frankfurt all higher in early trade.After volatile recent days following record highs for silver, precious metals started the new year on a bright note with gold up 0.64 percent per ounce and silver 1.5 percent shinier.Key figures at around 0815 GMT – Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.8 percent at 26,338.47 (close)Shanghai – market closed for holidayTokyo – market closed for holidayLondon – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,947.20Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1732 from $1.1750 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3478 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.95 from 156.66 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.15 pence from 87.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $61.10 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $57.67 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 48,063.29 points (close)burs-jug-stu/mtp/ceg

Asian markets made a bright start to 2026 on Friday but volumes were thin with Tokyo and Shanghai still closed as investors awaited fresh direction from Wall Street.Stocks had a bumper 2025, with the S&P adding 16.4 percent, the tech-rich Nasdaq 20.4 percent and London’s FTSE enjoying its merriest Christmas in 16 years.In Asia, Seoul stocks whooshed 75 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index bounced 28 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rocketed more than 26 percent.”Naturally, the start of the new year comes with the question everyone asks moving from one year to the next: will this continue? The consensus is that, yes, it will,” said Kyle Rodda at Australian brokerage Capital.com.”When it comes to the all important US economy, Wall Street is pricing in growth will accelerate this year while inflation still moderates and interest rates get cut. Meanwhile, analysts predict that corporate fundamentals will improve,” Rodda said.Hong Kong was up 2.2 percent Friday with chip designer Biren Technologies roaring 80 percent higher after its initial public offering.The Shanghai-based firm’s listing raised more than $700 million, suggesting that investor appetite for anything related to artificial intelligenge remains insatiable.Biren “enjoys scarcity value and high market attention”, said Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities. “The industry is in a flourishing stage, with many firms striving for breakthroughs and significant growth potential,” Ng said.Search-engine giant Baidu jumped almost seven percent after saying its AI chip unit Kunlunxin had filed a listing application in Hong Kong.Taipei, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila and Singapore also advanced while while Seoul’s Kospi, which soared 76 percent in 2025 in large part due to AI boom, was up 1.7 percent.Samsung Electronics added three percent after co-CEO Jun Young Hyun said customers had praised its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, some saying that “Samsung is back”, Bloomberg News reported.After volatile recent days, following record highs for silver, precious metals started the new year on a bright note with gold up 0.64 percent per ounce and silver 1.5 percent shinier.Key figures at around 0430 GMT – Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.2 percent at 26,189.79Shanghai – market closed for holidayTokyo – market closed for holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1757 from $1.1750 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3480 from $1.3478 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.84 from 156.66 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.22 pence from 87.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $61.17 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $57.74 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 48,063.29 points (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,931.38 (close)burs-jug-stu/mtp

Chinese auto giant BYD sold 2.26 million electric vehicles last year, a company statement showed Thursday, setting a new record for any firm globally.The figure puts BYD in pole position to outstrip Elon Musk’s Tesla in the annual category for the first time, with the lagging Texas-based firm having previously announced 1.22 million in 2025 EV sales by the end of September.Tesla is expected to announce its total EV sales for last year on Friday.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, announced the data in a statement published to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995, originally specialising in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive new energy vehicle market — the world’s largest.Now it is seeking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.BYD and its Chinese competitors face hefty tariffs in the United States.But its success is growing in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe — to the consternation of traditional industry heavyweights from the continent.Tesla narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with US company’s 1.79 million just outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.This year, Musk’s firm has seen sales struggle in key markets over the CEO’s political support of US President Donald Trump and far-right politicians.Tesla has also faced rising EV competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, as well as from European giants.

Soaring global demand for semiconductors fuelled by a boom in artificial intelligence sent South Korea’s exports to their highest-ever level in 2025, official data showed Thursday.Total exports last year were valued at over $700 billion, according to data from Seoul’s industry ministry, up 3.8 percent from the previous year.The worldwide surge in interest in artificial intelligence saw semiconductor industry exports reach $173.4 billion in 2025 — a record high and an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.High-priced memory chips used in AI data centres were in strong demand, they added.Semiconductor exports in December alone rose more than 40 percent year-on-year, posting gains for a tenth consecutive month and marking the highest monthly figure on record.South Korean tech juggernaut Samsung Electronics is one of the world’s top memory-chip makers, providing crucial components for the AI industry and the infrastructure it relies on.The country is also home to SK hynix, another key player in the global semiconductor market.And South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has vowed to triple spending on AI this year — a move aimed at propelling the country into the ranks of the world’s top three AI powers behind the United States and China.Cars, South Korea’s other key export, also performed strongly, with auto shipments rising to $72 billion, the highest on record despite US tariff pressures.Other sectors like agriculture and cosmetics also recorded their highest-ever figures, buoyed by strong global interest in the country’s pop culture powerhouse, its food and beauty products.- ‘Challenging conditions’ -Exports rose everywhere except to the United States and China, weighed down by tariffs on steel, automobiles and machinery.Asia’s fourth-largest economy was initially hit with a 25 percent across-the-board tariff by the United States but managed to secure a last-minute agreement for a reduced 15 percent rate.South Korea is one of Washington’s biggest trade partners.The new record was “achieved amid challenging domestic and external conditions”, industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said in a statement.It also “serves as an indicator of the South Korean economy’s solid resilience and growth potential,” he said.But, he warned, “export conditions this year are expected to remain difficult, as uncertainties persist in the trade environment, including the sustainability of semiconductor demand”.

China said on Wednesday it will impose additional 55 percent tariffs on some beef imports from countries including Brazil, Australia and the United States that exceed a certain quantity from January 1.The price of beef in China has trended downwards in recent years, with analysts blaming oversupply and a lack of demand as the world’s second-largest economy has slowed.At the same time imports have surged, with China representing a hugely important market for countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Australia.Investigators found that beef imports had damaged China’s domestic industry, Beijing’s commerce ministry said in a statement. The probe covered fresh, frozen, bone-in and boneless beef.The extra tariffs apply for three years — until December 31, 2028.The ministry described the levies as “safeguards” and said they would be gradually relaxed.Countries have been assigned annual quotas and beef sent to China will be subject to the extra 55 percent levy if imports go beyond that amount.Quotas expand slightly each year.In 2026, Brazil has an import quota of 1.1 million tons while Argentina has a cap of roughly half that.Australia faces a quota of around 200,000 tons and the United States one of 164,000 tons.The ministry also said it was suspending part of a free trade agreement with Australia covering beef.”The implementation of safeguards on imported beef is intended to temporarily help the domestic industry get through difficulties, not to restrict normal beef trade,” a spokesperson said in a separate statement.Brazil, the world’s largest meat exporter, said Wednesday it intended to “work with the Chinese government, both bilaterally and within the WTO (World Trade Organization) framework, to mitigate the impact” of the new measure.The foreign ministry in Brasilia said in a statement that Brazil was the main supplier of beef to China, which accounted for 52 percent of the South American country’s foreign sales of the commodity in 2024.

Stock markets mostly retreated Wednesday in thin trading, following a year of record gains for key assets as central banks cut interest rates and the tech sector boomed thanks to the growth of artificial intelligence.Wall Street’s main indices dipped to close the final trading day of 2025, with little fresh economic data apart from a drop in both first-time and continuing claims for jobless benefits in recent weeks.Still, all three indices logged solid gains for the full year.The Dow added 13 percent in 2025, the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 16.4 percent and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite surged 20.4 percent over the year.”Generally speaking, 2025 was a spectacular year for equities,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Across the globe, stock markets struck record highs and enjoyed double-digit gains in 2025, thanks in large part to interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve following drops in inflation.London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index jumped more than 21 percent in 2025 — the biggest gain for 16 years. Frankfurt rallied 23 percent in 2025, while Paris saw an annual gain of more than 10 percent.In Asia, Seoul stocks rocketed 75 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 28 percent, and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 won more than 26 percent.”To push meaningfully higher in 2026, equities will need confirmation that the Fed can deliver at least the two rate cuts still priced by the market, with growth unimpeded,” noted Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.Minutes of the Fed’s policy meeting in December, which were released on Tuesday, indicated that most of its officials see future rate cuts as appropriate, should inflation cool over time as expected.A surge in the tech sector on the back of the vast amounts of cash pumped into AI also helped push stocks to record highs, but concerns that valuations of AI stocks are too high gnawed at investors late in 2025. AI chip juggernaut Nvidia became the world’s first $5 trillion company at the end of October, while its current worth stands at around $4.5 trillion.The price of gold, seen as a safe haven investment, scored multiple record highs this year. The precious metal has benefitted from weakness to the dollar caused by the Fed’s rate cuts and economic growth concerns triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs war.On Wednesday, the price of silver slid further having struck record highs in December.Oil prices have retreated nearly 20 percent over the year, pressured by an oversupplied market.Bitcoin, emphasizing the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency sector, soared to a record high above $126,000 in October before ending the year around $88,000.- Key figures at around 2105 GMT – New York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 48,063.29 points (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.7 percent at 6,845.50 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 23,241.99 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,931.38 (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0.2 percent at 8,149.50 (close)Frankfurt – market closed for holidayHong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 25,630.54 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,968.84 (close)Tokyo – market closed for holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1750 from $1.1774 on TuesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3478 from $1.3503Dollar/yen: UP at 156.66 yen from 156.00 yen Euro/pound: UP at 87.18 pence from 87.15 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $60.85 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.9 percent at $57.42 per barrelburs-rl-bys/sst

China’s economy is expected to have grown “around five percent” in 2025, President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday, despite “pressure” during a year he described as “very unusual”, state media reported.The announcement came in Xi’s New Year’s Eve speech to a top political consultative body that was reported by state news agency Xinhua.Such an annual expansion would be in line with the official government target and on par with the five percent growth recorded in 2024.The world’s second-largest economy has come under increasing pressure in recent years, with consumer sentiment having so far failed to recover from a Covid-19 pandemic-induced plunge.A persistent debt crisis in the property sector, industrial overcapacity and heightened trade conflict with Washington have also darkened the outlook.”We faced challenges head-on and strived diligently, successfully achieving the main goals of economic and social development,” Xi said in his remarks to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to Xinhua.”The growth rate is expected to reach around five percent,” he said.Experts widely expect Beijing to announce a similar economic growth target for 2026 at a major annual political gathering in early March.Xi said in a later speech broadcast to the nation that China had “overcome many difficulties and challenges” in recent years but that its economic, technological and defence capabilities had improved.”Many large AI models have been competing in a race to the top, and breakthroughs have been achieved in the research and development of our own chips,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.China should “focus on our goals and tasks, boost confidence, and build momentum to press ahead” in the coming year, he said.Data released on Wednesday offered a positive sign for policymakers, with factory activity in December inching into expansionary territory to snap an eight-month streak of contraction.

Taiwan’s world-leading microchip manufacturer TSMC says it has started mass producing next-generation “2-nanometre” chips. AFP looks at what that means, and why it’s important:- What can they do? -The computing power of chips has increased dramatically over the decades as makers cram them with more microscopic electronic components.That has brought huge technological leaps to everything from smartphones to cars, as well as the advent of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.Advanced 2-nanometre (2nm) chips perform better and are more energy-efficient than past types, and are structured differently to house even more of the key components known as transistors.The new chip technology will help speed up laptops, reduce data centres’ carbon footprint and allow self-driving cars to spot objects quicker, according to US computing giant IBM.For artificial intelligence, “this benefits both consumer devices — enabling faster, more capable on-device AI — and data centre AI chips, which can run large models more efficiently”, said Jan Frederik Slijkerman, senior sector strategist at Dutch bank ING.- Who makes them? -Producing 2nm chips, the most cutting-edge in the industry, is “extremely hard and expensive”, requiring “advanced lithography machines, deep knowledge of the production process, and huge investments”, Slijkerman told AFP.Only a few companies are able to do it: TSMC, which dominates the chip manufacturing industry, as well as South Korea’s Samsung and US firm Intel.TSMC is in the lead, with the other two “still in the stage of improving yield” and lacking large-scale customers, said TrendForce analyst Joanne Chiao.Japanese chipmaker Rapidus is also building a plant in northern Japan to make 2nm chips, with mass production slated for 2027.- What’s the political impact? -TSMC’s path to mass 2nm production has not always been smooth.Taiwanese prosecutors charged three people in August with stealing trade secrets related to 2nm chips to help Tokyo Electron, a Japanese company that makes equipment for TSMC.”This case involves critical national core technologies vital to Taiwan’s industrial lifeline,” the high prosecutors’ office said at the time.Geopolitical factors and trade wars are also at play.Nikkei Asia reported this summer that TSMC, which counts Nvidia and Apple among its clients, will not use Chinese chipmaking equipment in its 2nm production lines to avoid disruption from potential US restrictions.TSMC says they plan to speed up production of 2nm chips in the United States, currently targeted for “the end of the decade”.- How small is two nanometres? -Extremely tiny — for reference, an atom is approximately 0.1 nanometres across.But in fact 2nm does not refer to the actual size of the chip itself, or any chip components, and is just a marketing term.Instead “the smaller the number, the higher the density” of these components, Chiao told AFP.IBM says 2nm designs can fit up to 50 billion transistors, tiny components smaller than a virus, on a chip the size of a fingernail.To create the transistors, slices of silicon are etched, treated and combined with thin films of other materials.A higher density of transistors results in a smaller chip or one the same size with faster processing power.- Can chips get even better? -Yes, and TSMC is already developing “1.4-nanometre” technology, reportedly to go into mass production around 2028, with Samsung and Intel not far behind.TSMC started high-volume 3nm production in 2023, and Taiwanese media says the company is already building a 1.4nm chip factory in the city of Taichung.As for 2nm chips, Japan’s Rapidus says they are “ideal for AI servers” and will “become the cornerstone of the next-generation digital infrastructure”, despite the huge technical challenges and costs involved.

Taiwanese tech titan TSMC has started mass producing its cutting-edge 2-nanometre semiconductor chips, the company said in a statement seen by AFP on Wednesday.TSMC is the world’s largest contract maker of chips, used in everything from smartphones to missiles, and counts Nvidia and Apple among its clients.”TSMC’s 2nm (N2) technology has started volume production in 4Q25 as planned,” TSMC said in an undated statement on its website.The chips will be the “most advanced technology in the semiconductor industry in terms of both density and energy efficiency”, the company said. “N2 technology, with leading nanosheet transistor structure, will deliver full-node performance and power benefits to address the increasing need for energy-efficient computing.”The chips will be produced at TSMC’s “Fab 20” facility in Hsinchu, in northern Taiwan, and “Fab 22” in the southern port city of Kaohsiung. More than half of the world’s semiconductors, and nearly all of the most advanced ones used to power artificial intelligence technology, are made in Taiwan.TSMC has been a massive beneficiary of the frenzy in AI investment. Nvidia and Apple are among firms pouring many billions of dollars into chips, servers and data centres.AI-related spending is soaring worldwide, and is expected to reach approximately $1.5 trillion by 2025, according to US research firm Gartner, and over $2 trillion in 2026 — nearly two percent of global GDP.Taiwan’s dominance of the chip industry has long been seen as a “silicon shield” protecting it from an invasion or blockade by China — which claims the island is part of its sovereign territory — and an incentive for the United States to defend it.But the threat of a Chinese attack has fuelled concerns about potential disruptions to global supply chains and has increased pressure for more chip production beyond Taiwan’s shores.Chinese fighter jets and warships encircled Taiwan during live-fire drills this week aimed at simulating a blockade of the democratic island’s key ports and assaults on maritime targets.Taipei, which slammed the two-day war games as “highly provocative and reckless”, said the manoeuvre failed to impose a blockade on the island.TSMC has invested in chip fabrication facilities in the United States, Japan and Germany to meet soaring demand for semiconductors, which have become the lifeblood of the global economy.But in an interview with AFP this month, Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Chih-chung Wu said the island planned to keep making the “most advanced” chips on home soil and remain “indispensable” to the global semiconductor industry.