Pop Mart tops Hello Kitty 🛍️ Xiaomi Joins 3nm Club 💾 Cargo Drone Hauls 1 Ton 🚁

2025-05-26 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to this week’s edition of the China Insights Weekly Newsletter!

Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• Pfizer signs $1.25B deal to license China’s 3SBio cancer drug, a record-setting biotech agreement.

• China’s solar installs hit 105 GW so far this year, with April alone up 215% y/y.

• Robot fighting championship kicks off in Hangzhou, as humanoid robotics push toward mass-market viability.

• China backs 3,000-km railway across the Amazon to cut shipping time to South America’s Pacific coast.

Dive deeper into these stories and more by clicking the headlines below. We value your feedback. Let us know your thoughts or suggestions on LinkedIn, X or Facebook.

🚀 Headlines

BYD surpasses Tesla in BEV registrations in Europe for 1st time, launches 7th car carrier ship (link, link)

In April 2025, BYD registered 7,231 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Europe, surpassing Tesla's 7,165 units. This marks the first time BYD has outperformed Tesla in the European BEV market. BYD's BEV registrations in Europe saw a 169% year-over-year increase, while Tesla's dropped by 49%. This milestone is significant given that BYD only officially expanded beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022. BYD's overall European sales, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), grew by 359% year-over-year. Globally, BYD led the BEV market in Q1 2025 with a 15.4% share, ahead of Tesla's 12.6%. BYD continues to expand its presence in Europe, launching new models like the Seagull (rebranded as Dolphin Surf), which is expected to strengthen its market position further.

BYD has launched its seventh car carrier. The LNG dual-fuel vessel, a sister ship of the BYD Hefei, is 199.9 meters long with a beam of 38 meters and can accommodate up to 7,000 vehicles. This follows the launch of other carriers like the BYD Changzhou and BYD Shenzhen, with capacities ranging from 7,000 to 9,200 vehicles. BYD's fleet expansion supports its growing global shipments of new energy vehicles (NEVs).

US healthcare giant Pfizer licenses China’s 3SBio cancer drug for record USD 1.2 billion (link)

Pfizer has entered into a USD 1.25 billion deal to license an experimental cancer drug from China's 3SBio, setting a new record for China licensing deals. The agreement grants Pfizer rights to develop and commercialize the drug, which is currently in clinical testing for multiple tumor types. 3SBio is eligible for up to USD 4.8 billion in downstream fees if the drug meets all milestones. Pfizer will also make a $100 million equity investment in 3SBio. This deal underscores the growing enthusiasm of multinational drugmakers for Chinese biotech innovation. In 2024, the number of large pharma licensing deals from China reached a record high, with 28% of innovator drugs licensed from Chinese companies. This trend continued in 2025, with Novo Nordisk and Merck also investing in Chinese-originated drugs. The deal is expected to alleviate investors' concerns about geopolitical risks to the out-licensing trend, which has boosted Chinese biotechs.

Xiaomi breaks into 3nm chip territory matching Apple and Snapdragon top chip performance (link)

Xiaomi has achieved a significant milestone in semiconductor technology by beginning mass production of its self-designed 3-nanometer system-on-a-chip (SoC), the XRing O1. This breakthrough positions Xiaomi as the fourth company globally, alongside Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek, capable of designing a 3nm mobile chip for mass production. The XRing O1 features 19 billion transistors, matching the Apple-designed A17 Pro SoC. Performance benchmarks place it among the world's top-performing ICs, rivaling Apple’s A18 series and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite. Xiaomi's Lei Jun confirmed that the chip will be installed in the company’s new 15S Pro smartphone and Pad 7 Ultra tablet. The development represents a $1.9 billion investment and is part of Xiaomi's 10-year, $6.9 billion semiconductor development program. This achievement underscores China's push for technological self-sufficiency amid US export restrictions.

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