Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai launched a Concept Validation Platform Alliance on September 12 during the 2026 Pujiang Innovation Forum’s science-industry integration session. The first batch of 33 members includes concept validation platforms and future-industry funds, covering brain-computer interfaces, silicon photonics, cell and gene therapy, integrated circuits, smart manufacturing and green technology. The alliance will pool resources, set standards and build joint validation mechanisms.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the first session of the 18th BRICS leaders’ meeting in New Delhi, India, on the afternoon of the 12th local time. The meeting brings together leaders of the BRICS nations. No further details of the session were immediately disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s installed new-type energy storage capacity reached 153 million kilowatts (396 million kilowatt-hours) by the end of June, up 61% year on year. Equivalent utilization hours rose from 611 in 2023 to 911 in 2024 and 1,195 in 2025. The national new-type energy storage scale is projected to reach 300 million kilowatts by 2030.

TREE NEWS update: Zhong Zhihong, chief engineer of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, outlined four recommendations to advance high-quality computing power development at the opening of the 2026 China Computing Power Conference in Langfang, Hebei on [date]. The first proposal calls for strengthening systematic planning to improve computing utilization efficiency, including building a multi-tier architecture spanning hub, regional, and edge computing facilities and enhancing the China Computing Power Platform for coordinated monitoring and efficient use of resources.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s maternal mortality rate fell to 13.4 per 100,000 in 2025, down 20.7% from 2020. The infant mortality rate dropped 29.6% over the same period to 3.8 per 1,000, while the under-five mortality rate fell 28% to 5.4 per 1,000. The country now operates 3,571 critical maternal care centers and 3,221 critical newborn care centers, with hospital delivery rates above 99%.

TREE NEWS update: The 2026 China International Mining Conference closed on September 12 with delegates from 60 countries and international organizations, the highest number in its 28-year history, spanning Australia, Russia and Canada. The event featured its first mining rights trading section, where 28 on-site deals, three memorandums and one cooperation agreement were signed for a combined 300 million yuan, alongside 13 major projects under negotiation and 11 preliminary cooperation intents.

TREE NEWS update: Germany’s defense ministry said on November 11 that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will travel to the United States and meet US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on November 15. The two sides are expected to discuss US military deployments in Europe, among other topics.

TREE NEWS update: China Mobile General Manager Chen Yangfan said on Sept. 12 that the carrier will keep building computing infrastructure ahead of demand, aligning its AI data centers with the national “East Data, West Computing” program and developing gigawatt-scale data parks. Total signed AIDC capacity has exceeded 7GW. The company is also expanding inference clusters, with multiple 10,000-GPU intelligent computing centers and a distributed inference network.

TREE NEWS update: LG Chem said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Jiangyin Jianghua Micro-Electronic Materials to jointly develop and produce high-purity isopropyl alcohol (HP-IPA), entering China’s semiconductor cleaning-agent market. Under the cooperation, LG Chem will supply C3-IPA feedstock to Jianghua Micro to make HP-IPA products, on commercially reasonable terms agreed by both sides.

TREE NEWS update: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on September 11 that the United States is stronger than at any point in its past, speaking at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Hegseth said Washington has dealt a heavy blow to Iran over the past six months and will ensure Tehran “never acquires nuclear weapons.” His remarks drew pushback on social media, with some users questioning the effectiveness of US military action against Iran and others citing the country’s $40 trillion debt.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei said on September 11 that Iran, Iraq and other Persian Gulf states will hold a regional meeting in Oman on September 14, where the outcome of Iran-Oman talks on a secure maritime corridor through the Strait of Hormuz will be discussed. Baghaei said Iran is committed to ensuring shipping security in the strait, but that it cannot be guaranteed while US maritime blockades and economic warfare continue.

TREE NEWS update: Juan Jesús Vivas, the local government chief of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, said on August 11 that about 13,000 undocumented migrants remain stranded in Ceuta following the smuggling events of late July. Vivas earlier this week accused Morocco of using the border migration crisis to threaten Ceuta’s territorial integrity and called on the European Union to respond firmly.

TREE NEWS update: China is accelerating the nationwide rollout of “compute token loans” for AI companies after the product first launched in August, with several banks unveiling related offerings at this year’s CIFTIS. ICBC’s Hu Xianwen said the bank’s “compute infrastructure loan” funds data-center construction and GPU server cluster purchases, while a separate “compute R&D loan” targets companies with heavy R&D spending and long commercialization cycles.

TREE NEWS update: The Xiongan International Computing Power Integrated Scheduling Center officially began operating at the 2026 China Computing Power Conference Xiongan Forum. The center comprises an integrated scheduling platform and an international large-model service platform. The scheduling platform already covers 8 national computing hubs, connecting 44 computing resource pools across 19 provinces with total computing power exceeding 27,000 P.

TREE NEWS update: Iran is seeking to build what it describes as “more rational and solid” relations with its neighboring countries. No further details, named officials or specific countries were given in the announcement. The statement signals a diplomatic outreach push by Tehran toward its regional neighbors.

TREE NEWS update: Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China and head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, met Hong Kong SFC chairman Wong Tin-yau and CEO Julia Leung on September 11, 2026. The two sides discussed consolidating Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre and strengthening cross-border financial regulatory cooperation. SAFE deputy administrator Li Bin attended the meeting.

TREE NEWS reports: India is seeking to reform the closing auction mechanism for its stock market after facing strong opposition, Bloomberg reported. The move follows pushback against the current end-of-day trading process. No further details were immediately available.

TREE NEWS update: Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on September 11 that the group has seized large areas of western Yemen since launching an offensive on September 3. The claim covers territory taken over roughly a week of fighting. No independent confirmation or casualty figures were given.

TREE NEWS update: China’s national supercomputing internet platform has surpassed 1.7 million registered users and 270 million cumulative jobs, Sugon vice president Cao Zhennan said at the main forum of the 2026 China Computing Conference. The platform aggregates more than 3.5 million CPU cores and 250,000 GPU cards, with domestic computing power accounting for over 95%. Daily jobs exceed 300,000, peaking above 1 million.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank for International Settlements said advanced AI has compressed the window banks have to fix software flaws before attackers exploit them, from weeks to minutes. In a new report, the BIS said the most significant change from frontier AI is the autonomous discovery and exploitation of vulnerabilities, and that periodic security assessments and scheduled patch cycles are no longer sufficient. It urged financial institutions to patch software faster and speed up authorization decisions.