Business

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, held a rare public meeting with the country’s leading tech entrepreneurs, underscoring the government’s change of heart towards an industry it had cracked down on a few years ago. Mr Xi was seen shaking hands with Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, who at one stage moved to Japan after criticising Chinese regulators. Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, was also there, as were bosses from Tencent, BYD and CATL. Baidu’s share price plunged when its chief executive was not spotted at the gathering. With China’s economy struggling and the rivalry with America heating up, Mr Xi has become more favourable towards private enterprise.

Meanwhile, South Korea banned further downloads of DeepSeek’s generative artificial-intelligence app, claiming it doesn’t comply with the country’s data-privacy laws.

Apple and Google made TikTok available for download again at their app stores in America. TikTok was briefly unavailable in the country at the tail end of the Biden administration, which blocked it over claims the Chinese-owned platform poses a threat to data privacy. It was restored for users who already had the app ahead of the inauguration of Donald Trump, who gave TikTok a reprieve while a solution is found to its ownership.

Microsoft unveiled its Majorana 1 chip, which it claims would allow quantum computers capable of solving “industrial-scale problems” to be developed within years, rather than decades. The new chip is based on a substance Microsoft calls a “topoconductor”, one of a class of materials known as topological superconductors. The company claims that its topoconductor can produce more reliable and scalable qubits based on Majorana fermions, subatomic particles with intriguing quantum properties. Experts said it would take time to evaluate its impact.

Mr Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 25% or higher on all imports of cars, chips and pharmaceuticals to the United States, the latest salvo in his trade war. Like most pronouncements from the president, it was unclear whether his threat was real or a tactic to attain lower duties for American exports. He has also proposed “reciprocal” tariffs to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports.

Inflationary pressures

In Britain the government’s imposition of a value-added tax on private-school fees was cited as a contributing element to a surprise surge in inflation. A smaller-than-expected decrease in air fares was another factor. The annual rate jumped to 3% in January from 2.5% in December, the highest level in ten months. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose to 3.7% from 3.2%. The Bank of England said recently that it expected inflation to rise, and it remained cautious about further cuts to interest rates.

Australia’s central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate to 4.1%, the first cut since November 2020. The country’s annual inflation rate has fallen to 2.4%, within the bank’s target range.

A strong rebound in business investment helped boost Japan’s economy in the last three months of 2024. GDP expanded by 2.8% at an annualised rate in the quarter.

In another blow to the London Stock Exchange, Glencore’s chief executive, Gary Nagle, said the commodities firm was considering whether to delist its shares and trade on another bourse, possibly New York. It is one of the LSE’s most valuable companies. Last year 88 companies left or transferred their primary listing from the LSE, the most since the financial crisis of 2007-09. Rio Tinto, meanwhile, urged shareholders to reject a proposal to delist its shares in London and unify them in Australia.

The High Court in London gave its approval to Thames Water’s request to borrow up to £3bn ($3.8bn), as the embattled utility tries to avoid insolvency. Thames Water, the biggest provider of water and sewage services in Britain, is carrying a huge debt load and still faces legal challenges from junior creditors. KKR, a private-equity firm, has reportedly submitted a bid to take a majority stake in the company.

Now that’s a zinger

Kentucky is no longer finger-lickin’ good enough for KFC, which is moving its headquarters from Louisville to Plano, Texas. The decision was taken by Yum Brands, which owns KFC and wants it to share offices in Plano with Pizza Hut, another fast-food chain in its portfolio. Kentucky Fried Chicken started out in the Bluegrass State in the 1930s, when Colonel Harland Sanders developed his famous “secret recipe”. To placate Kentuckians outraged by the move, KFC has promised to build a flagship restaurant in Louisville.