Food Republic, the Singaporean food court chain owned by BreadTalk Group, is set to close its last remaining outlet in Beijing on June 15, ending more than two decades in the Chinese capital, according to a notice outside the location in late May. Its closure comes amid a wave of store shutdowns among foreign and Hong Kong brands across mainland China. Many have struggled to adapt to the local mar...
Food Republic, the Singaporean food court chain owned by BreadTalk Group, is set to close its last remaining outlet in Beijing on June 15, ending more than two decades in the Chinese capital, according to a notice outside the location in late May. Its closure comes amid a wave of store shutdowns among foreign and Hong Kong brands across mainland China. Many have struggled to adapt to the local market, hampered by outdated business models and fast-evolving consumer preferences. French department...
In this article GOOGL 9660-HK NIO XPEV 1211-HK 1211-HK BABA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT An iFlytek liquid-cooled server equipped with Huawei Kunpeng 920 chips and Ascend AI chips, on display at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China on July 26, 2025. Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images Hi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the...
In this article GOOGL 9660-HK NIO XPEV 1211-HK 1211-HK BABA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT An iFlytek liquid-cooled server equipped with Huawei Kunpeng 920 chips and Ascend AI chips, on display at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China on July 26, 2025. Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images Hi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection — a succinct snapshot of what I'm seeing and hearing from local businesses. China's tech self-sufficiency push is rapidly becoming a reality as companies focus on business questions that run deeper than geopolitics. What does that mean for Nvidia? The big story Robovan startup Zelostech plans to use multiple chip suppliers from China and elsewhere, over the next year or two, instead of relying only on Nvidia for its self-driving systems, the company told CNBC. A major factor is cost, said Shi Yunjian, director of finance and investment. Using China-made chips, for example, would cost far less than the two Nvidia Orin chipsets currently used in each vehicle, he said. That's a big deal because scale is becoming a competitive advantage. The more autonomous vehicles can deploy, the more operating data they can collect and the easier it becomes to convince regulators that the technology is ready for wider use. Zelostech claims it already has more than 25,000 vehicles operating in over 20 countries, with plans to expand rapidly. These don't carry people, and many are smaller than a mail truck. Most operate in mainland China, mostly for logistics companies delivering packages. By comparison, Alphabet -backed Waymo has just under 4,000 vehicles on the road, while Chinese rivals Baidu, WeRide and Pony.ai have yet to deploy fleets at a similar scale. Beyond Nvidia Zelostech is hardly alone in pursuing Nvidia alternatives. Waymo uses custom chips , while Chinese electric car giant BYD last week joined Nio and Xpeng in revealing their own semicon...
Asking for a Trend Host Josh Lipton shares the top stories to keep an eye out for on Tuesday, June 2, including key earnings reports and the latest from Computex in Taiwan.
Asking for a Trend Host Josh Lipton shares the top stories to keep an eye out for on Tuesday, June 2, including key earnings reports and the latest from Computex in Taiwan.
Explore the exciting world of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of April 8, 2026. The video was published on June 8, 2026. Continue reading
Explore the exciting world of Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) with our contributing expert analysts in this Motley Fool Scoreboard episode. Check out the video below to gain valuable insights into market trends and potential investment opportunities! *Stock prices used were the prices of April 8, 2026. The video was published on June 8, 2026. Continue reading
China is pitching itself as the global fulcrum for the next phase of artificial intelligence and a legion of robotics companies is lining up initial public offerings to test investor appetite. Unitree Robotics, one of the most recognizable names in the industry after its robots practicing martial arts made headlines, on Monday received approval for a listing in Shanghai. Its IPO will serve as an e...
China is pitching itself as the global fulcrum for the next phase of artificial intelligence and a legion of robotics companies is lining up initial public offerings to test investor appetite. Unitree Robotics, one of the most recognizable names in the industry after its robots practicing martial arts made headlines, on Monday received approval for a listing in Shanghai. Its IPO will serve as an early test for what could be a broader wave of offerings. Hong Kong alone has at least 46 robotics-related companies in the pipeline, more than 10% of applicants, according to a report . Companies that have filed IPO applications include Leju Robotics and Deep Robotics. “Chinese humanoids are one step closer to IPOs, igniting market interest on humanoids in the second half of 2026,” Sheng Zhong , head of China industrials research at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a note. “Funds from most of the Chinese humanoids’ IPOs will go toward R&D, especially robot models.” The deep pipeline of robotics IPOs mirrors the fast rise of China’s AI ecosystem, where an array of listings whipped up an investor frenzy in the past six months. It also aligns with Beijing’s push to shift high-tech industries from innovation to large-scale deployment. China is rushing to set the pace of funding, industrialization and ultimately leadership in what Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calls “ physical AI .” “This is the decade of the robot – and it belongs to China,” Barclays analysts including Zornitsa Todorova wrote in a note last month. “This leadership reflects a decade-long, state-guided push.” The firm says China’s robotics roll-out is already unmatched, accounting for 50% of global industrial robots and 85% of humanoids in 2025. Backed by coordinated industrial policy and tight supply-chain control, humanoids could reach about 3.8% of the nation’s labor capacity by 2035, it estimates. Some investors remain more cautious, though, when looking at the companies’ fundamentals. Many robotics firms are expected to b...
It’s been a source of intrigue and confusion among currency traders for years. Just how does China decide each day where it’s going to set its fixing rate for the yuan — a reference point that determines its permitted trading range for the next session? Now, a small group of traders are using artificial intelligence models in an attempt to decode the nation’s opaque currency policy. Among them is ...
It’s been a source of intrigue and confusion among currency traders for years. Just how does China decide each day where it’s going to set its fixing rate for the yuan — a reference point that determines its permitted trading range for the next session? Now, a small group of traders are using artificial intelligence models in an attempt to decode the nation’s opaque currency policy. Among them is Ding Di, who works for a Shanghai-based bank’s investment department. Since a year ago, Di has been working with the Gemini-powered AI model Xiao Long, also known as Little Dragon, to see if it could help him predict where the People’s Bank of China would set the daily yuan reference rate. Di got an early taste of success on March 4. Then three days into the US war with Iran, Xiao Long computed the day’s dollar-yuan fixing at 6.9122, just two pips below the official number of 6.9124. The model was nearly spot on because it had identified a change in how the fixing was set the day before, said Di, who declined to identify his employer as he’s not authorized to speak publicly and the AI experiment is for his personal use. While the central bank focused on factors such as the US-China interest rate differential and the Federal Reserve’s easing mode in the months before the war, it seemed to have begun attaching more weight to the yuan’s overnight moves, Xiao Long’s findings showed. That suggested the PBOC no longer intended to let the yuan extend its appreciation since last year, at least around that time, Di said. “The fixing is official pricing, not something arbitrary or casually disclosed,” said Di in an interview. “AI approaches things from policymakers’ perspective. It may interpret signals as a particular way of thinking by the central bank.” Di is not alone in using AI to penetrate the thinking of the PBOC. A small group of like-minded peers say they are training AI tools in a bid to detect patterns from the minuscule changes made daily to the fixing. A tentative concl...
Artificial intelligence infrastructure stocks have been a popular way to invest in the massive build-out of AI. There is a huge demand for chips, data center capacity, power, cooling technology, and the equipment needed to help chips run AI workloads. Credo Technology (NASDAQ: CRDO) has been a solid pick-and-shovels AI infrastructure stock over the last several quarters. The company makes digital ...
Artificial intelligence infrastructure stocks have been a popular way to invest in the massive build-out of AI. There is a huge demand for chips, data center capacity, power, cooling technology, and the equipment needed to help chips run AI workloads. Credo Technology (NASDAQ: CRDO) has been a solid pick-and-shovels AI infrastructure stock over the last several quarters. The company makes digital signal processors, memory systems, and Active Electrical Cables (AECs), which are connectors that use signal processors to efficiently move data between chips and switches. Credo issued its earnings report on June 1 for its fiscal fourth quarter (ending May 2, 2026), showing that it beat analysts' expectations on both the top and bottom lines. But the stock fell more than 12% in after-hours trading, apparently unable to meet the market's sky-high expectations. Let's look at what happened. Continue reading
On June 1, 2026, Integrated Investment Consultants reported a full exit from Champion Homes (NYSE:SKY) , selling 61,461 shares in a transaction estimated at $5.29 million based on quarterly average pricing. According to the SEC filing dated June 1, 2026, Integrated Investment Consultants sold its entire stake of 61,461 shares in Champion Homes during the quarter. The estimated transaction value wa...
On June 1, 2026, Integrated Investment Consultants reported a full exit from Champion Homes (NYSE:SKY) , selling 61,461 shares in a transaction estimated at $5.29 million based on quarterly average pricing. According to the SEC filing dated June 1, 2026, Integrated Investment Consultants sold its entire stake of 61,461 shares in Champion Homes during the quarter. The estimated transaction value was $5.29 million, calculated using the quarter’s average share price. The fund reported a net position value change of $5.19 million, which includes both the sale and market movements in the underlying stock. Champion Homes is a leading North American producer of factory-built housing, operating under multiple well-established brands. The company leverages scale and integration to offer a diversified product suite and capture value across manufacturing, retail, and services. Its broad distribution network and multi-segment approach provide resilience and competitive advantage in the residential construction sector. Continue reading
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim on Monday slammed the Trump administration for potentially allowing advanced American AI chips to be sent to overseas units of Chinese firms, and called on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify to Congress on the issue, according to a statement. In a surprise move, the Department of Commerce, which oversees US exports, on Sunday issued gui...
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Andy Kim on Monday slammed the Trump administration for potentially allowing advanced American AI chips to be sent to overseas units of Chinese firms, and called on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify to Congress on the issue, according to a statement. In a surprise move, the Department of Commerce, which oversees US exports, on Sunday issued guidance to close a potential loophole that may have led companies to export the world’s most advanced...
UiPath’s stronger quarter gives investors a clearer test of whether demand for AI-powered automation is turning into more durable growth and profitability.
UiPath’s stronger quarter gives investors a clearer test of whether demand for AI-powered automation is turning into more durable growth and profitability.
UiPath (NYSE:PATH), an automation platform offering robotic process automation solutions, closed Monday’s session at $13.1, up 11.77%. The stock moved higher after investors reacted to fiscal Q1 2027 results that showed 17% revenue growth, the company’s positive GAAP operating in
UiPath (NYSE:PATH), an automation platform offering robotic process automation solutions, closed Monday’s session at $13.1, up 11.77%. The stock moved higher after investors reacted to fiscal Q1 2027 results that showed 17% revenue growth, the company’s positive GAAP operating in
In this article XPO ARCB Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT FedEx Freight CEO John Smith said on Monday the company's separation from FedEx will allow it to invest more aggressively in growth initiatives and better compete in the less-than-truckload shipping market. "The things that we are going to be able to control now, especially from a capital and investment perspective, be able t...
In this article XPO ARCB Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT FedEx Freight CEO John Smith said on Monday the company's separation from FedEx will allow it to invest more aggressively in growth initiatives and better compete in the less-than-truckload shipping market. "The things that we are going to be able to control now, especially from a capital and investment perspective, be able to put dollars into the LTL company that are LTL specific ... That's going to help us leapfrog the competitors," Smith said on CNBC's " Mad Money ." FedEx Freight began trading as an independent company Monday after being spun off from FedEx. The company is the largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier in North America, a market that combines shipments from multiple customers onto the same truck, allowing businesses to move freight more efficiently than paying for an entire trailer. Other competitors in the industry include Old Dominion Freight Line , ArcBest , and XPO . Smith said the business often took a backseat while operating inside the larger transportation giant, where it generated roughly $9 billion in revenue compared with FedEx's $90 billion. As a standalone company, however, Smith said FedEx Freight plans to invest heavily in customer-facing technology, expand its dedicated sales force, and improve profitability. " All those things are going to level the playing field and also allow us to leapfrog, we've been working on those very hard for the year," Smith said. The company has outlined a goal of reaching a 15% operating margin by 2029, up from roughly 12% today, though Smith suggested there could be additional upside beyond that target. "That's not the ceiling," he said. Trucking activity is seen as closely correlated to the broader U.S. economy, so Wall Street typically looks to companies within the industry as economic barometers. For the same reason, investors consider their stocks to be economically sensitive. Smith expressed confidence in FedEx Freight's ab...