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2026-03-30 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to China Insights Weekly. Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• Chinese pharma giants deepen China bets, Novartis adds USD 480M

• Gap plans 50 new stores, aiming for a China comeback

• Chinese chip and battery makers widen global lead, rivals lose ground

• World’s first floating deep-sea lab takes shape, targeting 10,000-meter missions

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🚀 Headlines

Chinese AI models surpass US peers by global usage for third week, China’s average daily token usage surges 40% (link, link)

Chinese large language models led global AI usage for a third straight week, according to March 23 OpenRouter rankings. Five of the top nine models were Chinese, including the top four: Xiaomi’s MiMo-V2-Pro, Step 3.5 Flash, MiniMax’s M2.5, and DeepSeek’s V3.2, with Z.ai’s GLM5 Turbo in sixth. Chinese models generated 7.359 trillion tokens, up 57% from 4.69 trillion the week before, while US models from Anthropic and Google produced 3.536 trillion, up 7.3%. Chinese open-source models also saw the highest global downloads in 2025, and US firm Cursor confirmed its latest release uses Moonshot AI’s Kimi 2.5.

China’s average daily token usage has risen 40% this month to over 140 trillion, up from 100 trillion at the end of 2025 and more than 1,000 times early 2024 levels. The surge reflects rapid ecosystem growth around data usage and distribution. By the end of 2025, China had built over 100,000 high-quality datasets totaling more than 890 petabytes. The government has named 2026 the “Year of Data Element Value Release” and is accelerating a national data registration system and AI-ready dataset development.

Novartis joins multinationals in China expansion with USD 480 million commitment to boost manufacturing and R&D (link)

Novartis will invest over 3.3 billion yuan (USD 480 million) to expand its China manufacturing and R&D operations, including 1.5 billion yuan to upgrade its Beijing facility, which has operated since 1987 with annual capacity of 3 billion tablets or capsules and 550 million boxes, and 1.8 billion yuan for the second phase of its Shanghai campus, its China headquarters and third-largest global R&D center. The company has also completed a 600 million yuan radiopharmaceutical facility in Haiyan, Zhejiang, producing therapies such as Lutathera and Pluvicto. With 140 years in China and over 80 million patients served, the country is Novartis’ second-largest market. The move follows major investments by AstraZeneca at USD 15 billion in January 2026 and Eli Lilly at USD 3 billion earlier in March.

Gap China operator plans 50-store rollout and Hong Kong return in 2026 (link)

Gap China operator, Shanghai-based e-commerce and digital commerce service provider, Baozun, plans to open 50 new stores across tier-one to tier-three cities in mainland China during 2026 and return to Hong Kong later in the year, marking a major expansion after achieving its first quarterly breakeven. Baozun, which took over Gap China operations in late 2022, grew the chain to 164 locations in 2025 by opening 29 new stores. Sales increased over 20% in 2025, with Q1 continuing the stronger performance seen toward year-end, and the company targets maintaining 20%-plus growth in 2026 before accelerating to 30% over the following two years. Baozun plans accelerated expansion and potential new brand partnerships beyond Gap and Hunter boot.

China’s EV battery makers widen lead to over 70% global share (link)

Chinese EV battery makers captured 70.4% of global market share in 2025, rising four percentage points from 2024 and up from less than 50% in 2021, according to SNE Research. Six of the top ten manufacturers were Chinese, with CATL leading at 39.2% share and posting record net profit of RMB 72.2 billion (USD 10.5 billion), up 42% year-on-year. Global battery installation volume reached 1,187 gigawatt-hours in 2025, up 32%, with China accounting for approximately 60%. BYD ranked second globally. Conversely, South Korean competitors' combined share fell three points to 15.3%, roughly half their 2021 level, with LG Energy Solution's profit plummeting 76% to USD 53.9 million, less than 1% of CATL's earnings, and SK On cutting 1,000 jobs (40% of workforce) at its Georgia plant. Chinese manufacturers are currently expanding production in Hungary and Southeast Asia.

South Korean chip giants step up China investments, Swiss STM localizes supply chain with China’s Huahong (link, link)

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are ramping up investment in China to address tightening AI memory supply. In 2025, Samsung invested 465.4 billion won (USD 308.8 million) in its Xi’an plant, up 67.5%, which produces about 40% of its NAND output. SK Hynix invested 581.1 billion won in its Wuxi plant, up 102% and accounting for over 30% of its DRAM production, and 440.6 billion won in its Dalian NAND facility, up 52%. The move follows forecasts of a supply shortfall, with 2026 DRAM demand expected to exceed supply by 4.9% and NAND by 4.2%.

STMicroelectronics has begun shipping STM32 microcontrollers produced in China through a partnership with Huahong Semiconductor, establishing a dual supply chain. The first batch of 40nm eNVM wafers was produced at Huahong’s 300mm Wuxi fab, with packaging and testing in Shenzhen and through local OSAT partners. Production starts with the STM32H7 series, with expansion to STM32H5 and STM32C5 planned. The setup allows customers to choose between local and overseas supply. Huahong ranked sixth globally in Q4 2025 with a 2.5% market share, compared with SMIC in third place at 5.2%.