In March, Premier Li Keqiang named semiconductors as the top priority of the 10 industries China wants to foster in its “Made in China 2025” initiative. But China’s ambitions were already clear in 2014 when it launched the National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund — better known as the Big Fund — in 2014 with 138 billion yuan ($21.9 billion) in seed capital, which it hoped would turbocharge investment from local governments and the private sector. Source Asian Review
Global trade has taken a sharp turn down, reinforcing the view that the world economy is in its worst state since since the financial crisis a decade ago. Figures published Monday show trade fell 1.8 percent in the three months through January compared with the previous perid. That’s the biggest drop since May 2009. On a year-on-year basis, trade posted its first decline in nine years in the three-month period. Source: Bloomberg.
European shares opened deep in the red on Monday, adding to the worst weekly fall of the year last week after disappointing economic data in Europe and the United States stoked fears of recession. Source: Reuters
The Pentagon has sent ships through the Taiwan Strait — the third time in as many months — as Washington ramps up naval activities in the waterway, stoking fears in Beijing of a growing alignment with Taipei. Source: Japan Times
