Newsquawk Analysis: China/US AI race continues to heat up amid a deluge of bullish China updates

Analysis details (13:00)

On Thursday morning, there has been a deluge of positive newsflow out of China, and on household names:

• 1) Alibaba overhauled AI apps; the “Tongyi” mobile AI apps in coming months will be over-hauled, renaming them “Qwen” and adding agentic-AI features to make the service resemble ChatGPT. BABA +4% pre-market.


• 2) Baidu unveiled two new AI chips the M100 and M300, and intended for release in 2026 and 2027, respectively. BIDU +1.5% pre-market.


• 3) Tencent reported stellar Q3 earnings; Rev., net profit, op. profit all beat, while Q3 rev. grew 15%, topping exp., and growth remained broad-based as Co. continued to avoid large AI-infrastructure spending while sustaining momentum across its social, gaming and advertising businesses. TCEHY +0.3% pre-market.


• 4) JD.com impressive results; Q3 (CNY) EPS 3.73 (exp. 2.89), Rev. 299.1bln (exp. 293.95bln); CEO said in Q3 continued to see strong growth in both user base and shopping frequency, & number of annual active customers topped 700mln in Oct. JD +1.6% pre-market.


• 5) SMIC solid Q3 metrics; Q3 (CNY): Net 191mln (exp. 183mln), Gross Margin 22% (exp. 19.6%).

In reaction, Chinese semiconductor ETF KWEB is firmer by 1.5% in pre-market trade, while US semiconductor ETF SOXX is lower by 0.5%.

Out of US:

• 1) AI infrastructure name Cisco reported strong earnings whereby EPS, rev. beat accompanied by strong guidance as strong AI-fuelled equipment demand. CSCO +7.3% pre-market.


• 2) US memory names are seeing weakness after Japanese listed Kioxia did not provide FY outlook after results, while in earnings, rev. for 6mnths -13% Y/Y w/ op. profit -55.2% Y/Y. STX -2.2% WDC -2.2% SNDK -2.6%

On the US/China AI race, it was worth reminding ourselves that NVIDIA CEO Huang just last week warned that China "will win" AI race with US. Huang added China will beat the US, thanks to lower energy costs and looser regulations. NVDA CEO noted the West, including the US and UK, being held back by “cynicism” and “We need more optimism." On this footing, HSBC said this morning that China looks ‘uniquely’ strong on AI energy, and that China’s dominance in clean energy has put the country on a singularly strong footing when it comes to competing with RoW, particularly the US, in building AI.

In terms of risk events ahead, NVIDIA earnings next Wednesday is the next clear big scheduled catalyst.

13 Nov 2025 - 13:00- EquitiesResearch Sheet- Source: Newsquawk