Apple officially raises iPad and Mac prices, citing unprecedented AI data center demand driving storage and memory costs to unsustainable levels
On June 25, Apple formally announced price increases for its iPad and Mac product lines due to surging memory and storage chip costs. Apple stated in a press release: "The consumer electronics industry is facing unprecedented challenges. The rapid expansion of AI data centers has triggered a surge in storage demand—we've never seen component prices rise by such magnitudes at such speed. While we've previously absorbed these cost pressures internally, we've now had to begin raising prices on multiple products, including the iPad and Mac announced today." (Caixin)
At NVIDIA's annual shareholder meeting early Thursday Beijing time, the world's highest-valued listed company heard from AI industry leader Jensen Huang on the returns question around AI investment. "We already have the answer," he said.
In his business update, Huang repeatedly emphasized that AI data centers are "token factories"—tokens that become code, answers, designs, actions, and services, making each token a profit unit. NVIDIA's systems, he stressed, may not be the lowest-cost procurement option, but they produce the lowest-cost tokens and achieve the highest token throughput—and the highest revenue. In other words, NVIDIA's customers aren't buying stacks of servers; they're building revenue-generating AI factories.
Beyond AI factories, Huang highlighted "Physical AI" as the next growth wave. Robots, cars, and factories will become intelligent agents in the physical world, capable of perceiving, reasoning, planning, and acting autonomously. NVIDIA will train models through AI factories, use Omniverse for simulation, and run them on robots and devices via computing platforms like Jetson.
On shareholder returns, Huang indicated plans to return 50% or more of free cash flow to shareholders this year, next year, and beyond. (China Finance)
On June 24 local time, OpenAI and Broadcom jointly unveiled Jalapeño, their first custom chip, marking OpenAI's formal entry into the AI chip race.
Jalapeño is a specialized application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designed specifically for large language model (LLM) inference. It's the first AI accelerator in a multi-generation compute platform developed jointly by both companies, aimed at improving AI speed and reliability while lowering barriers to adoption. The chip offers high flexibility and can adapt to various large language models. (Interface News)
Anthropic has become the world's highest-valued unicorn, and DeepSeek has entered the top 15 global unicorn companies.
The Hurun 2026 Global Unicorn List, released on June 25, shows global unicorn enterprises have reached a historic high of 1,603 companies, a 5.3% increase from last year with 80 new entrants. The combined valuation of global unicorns rose 43% year-over-year to 54 trillion yuan.
The report notes that the top three are all engaged in large model development. Following SpaceX's record IPO, Claude's parent company Anthropic has leapt to become the world's most valuable unicorn with a valuation of 6.6 trillion yuan, gaining 6.1 trillion yuan in a single year—a record in Hurun's unicorn rankings. ChatGPT's parent OpenAI ranks second with a 5.8 trillion yuan valuation, while ByteDance (parent of Doubao) comes third at 3.3 trillion yuan. As the top new unicorn among 308 entrants globally, DeepSeek, valued at 340 billion yuan, has entered the top 15 of global unicorn companies. (IT Home)
On June 25, DeepSeek announced multiple job openings. The company stated it is working to expand every department by at least 50%. (Securities Times)
At this year's Summer Davos Forum, AI remains a hot topic. The forum's AI agenda has expanded from "What can AI do?" to "What's the economic cost behind AI?" Behind this economic equation lies an easily overlooked question: AI's water consumption.
How fast does AI consume water? Forum participants offered two straightforward conversions. Wang Xuchu, vice chairman of KPMG China, noted that a 5-minute conversation with AI consumes roughly 500 milliliters of cooling water. Wenbo, a member of the National Geographic Society's Air and Water Foundation scientific committee, provided a similar estimate: answering 10 AI questions consumes about one bottle of mineral water.
The World Economic Forum's report indicates that chip manufacturing and power generation consume far more water than data centers alone. The entire AI industry chain—covering chips, power generation, and computing—consumes 23 billion cubic meters of fresh water annually, which represented 3.7% of global industrial fresh water use last year. (CCTV Finance)
36氪 learned that China Construction Bank issued a notice regarding recent arrangements for its agency of Shanghai Gold Exchange personal precious metals trading services. The bank will close its agency precious metals trading functions effective at the close of trading on July 24. Suspended trading varieties include Au99.99, Au100g, PGC30g, Au, mAu, and Ag. Customers with positions or spot inventory in these products are advised to quickly execute sell or close-out transactions via the bank's mobile banking and online channels.
36氪 learned that U.S. stock indices closed mixed on June 25: the Nasdaq fell 0.46%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.01%, and the Dow rose 0.14%. Among large-cap tech stocks, chip shares gained, with SanDisk climbing over 21%, Micron up over 15%, while Apple fell over 6%, Microsoft and Amazon dropped over 3%, Meta fell over 2%, and NVIDIA declined over 1%. Chinese tech stocks broadly sold off—Alibaba and Li Auto fell over 4%, Pinduoduo, Baidu, and NIO dropped over 3%, NetEase, XPeng, and Bilibili fell over 2%, and JD.com declined over 1%.
On June 25, bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, dropped below the $60,000 mark Wednesday, hitting a low of $59,023.11—the lowest level since October 2024. For the past two years, traders have viewed $60,000 as a critical support level. As of press time, CoinGlass data showed nearly 180,000 liquidations in the past 24 hours, with liquidation volume reaching $984 million, including $799 million in long positions. (China Finance)
In 2022, Elon Musk publicly stated on social media that hybrid vehicles are merely a temporary phase in automotive development—"it's time to move on from hybrids." That position sparked industry controversy at the time. Four years later, China's latest new-energy vehicle production and sales data are validating that judgment.
According to wholesale data released by China Passenger Car Association for May 2026, the extended-range EV segment—which had grown for five consecutive years—reached a historic inflection point. May extended-range wholesale sales were 95,000 units, a 24.9% year-over-year decline and the steepest monthly drop in five years. From January to May 2026, cumulative extended-range sales totaled 410,000 units, down 9.7% year-over-year, with market share contracting from 10.3% to 7.0%.
Contrasting sharply is the sustained strength of pure-electric lines. May pure-electric wholesale sales reached 886,000 units, up 16.6% year-over-year, comprising 65.7% of total new-energy vehicle sales, with market share gaining 3.3 percentage points and becoming the only stable growth driver in the new-energy sector. (Elephant News)
In June, the gold market experienced significant volatility. Weekday mornings saw steady foot traffic at Shuibei, Shenzhen's gold trading market. However, unlike the rush-buying scenes from early year, market sentiment is now heavily cautious, with many inquiries but few transactions. Facing continued gold price swings, many consumers have grown more conservative. Most hold a "chase rallies, avoid drops" mentality, hoping to wait for further price declines before acting. While overall retail has cooled, the high-level pullback has stimulated some demand purchases. According to reports, June is normally a slow season for jewelry sales, but wedding-related orders have noticeably rebounded, driving some merchants' overall sales up year-over-year. (CCTV Net)
On June 24, JPMorgan Chase published a market report estimating Apple's iPhone 18 Pro series price increases at $50–$100, a 4.55%–9.1% jump, lower than some prior estimates of 18.2%–27.3% increases.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal speculated that the iPhone 18 Pro's starting price would rise by $200, from $1,099 to $1,299 (an 18.2% increase), with the possibility it could reach $1,399 ($300 increase, 27.3% jump). Compared to the Journal's "aggressive" forecast, JPMorgan sees Apple taking a more "measured" approach, offsetting memory and storage cost pressures through cost reductions elsewhere. (IT Home)
As South Korea's KOSPI index hits new historic highs, more people are entering the stock market. This year in particular has seen a surge in small accounts and new investors. According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association on June 25, as of June 24, all Korean domestic securities companies had a combined 108.77 million active stock trading accounts, averaging two accounts per person. Analysis by Daishin Securities by age group shows that new account openings for the 0–9 age cohort in April were up 119.2% compared to January. New Han Investment Securities also saw underage account openings jump 272% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. (Xinhua Finance)
On June 25, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China issued a "Notice on Precious Metals Market Volatility Risk" stating that recent international precious metals market prices have experienced notable volatility acceleration. The bank recommends closely monitoring market changes, adhering to moderate and balanced principles, adopting a medium-to-long-term perspective for rational investment positioning, effectively guarding against market risk, and protecting asset safety. (Interface News)
At midday on June 25, Evergrande Properties announced on the Hong Kong Exchange that the liquidator had notified the company that negotiations between potential sellers and buyers had been terminated, and no formal or legally binding purchase agreement had been reached. The liquidator is actively consulting with financial advisors to seek other potential buyers to acquire the controlling interest in the company held by China Evergrande and CEG Holdings (the potential transaction). (Interface News)
A survey shows that despite Australia's groundbreaking December 2025 implementation of a ban on social media for minors—the first globally—approximately 85% of those under 16 in the country are currently circumventing restrictions and continuing social media use through various means. As of June 25 UK time, the survey was conducted by a research team at Newcastle University, Australia, with findings recently published in the British Medical Journal. Results show that the vast majority of Australian users under 16 have not stopped using social media, with daily usage duration remaining nearly unchanged. The survey identified the three most common workarounds used by the under-16 population: continuing use of existing accounts, borrowing others' accounts, and lying about age when registering new ones. (Xinhua News)
On June 25 local time, the EU Council formally adopted two regulations to implement commitments outlined in the August 21, 2025 EU-U.S. joint declaration related to tariffs. The passage of these regulations marks completion of the legislative process. They eliminate the remaining EU tariffs on U.S. industrial goods, introduce preferential access for certain U.S. seafood and non-sensitive agricultural products via tariff quotas and reductions, and extend the tariff suspension on lobster imports (including processed lobster, imported from all countries at most-favored-nation rates). The regulations have now been signed and will be published in the official journal, taking effect the day after publication. The principal regulation will expire at the end of 2029. (CCTV News)
Sony announced on June 25 that its robotic dog aibo (ERS-1000/W ivory white model) will cease domestic sales in Japan once inventory is depleted. The company noted that aibo basic and premium packages, care support services, related accessories, spare parts, the My aibo application, repair services, and the aibo Dock support ecosystem will continue unaffected. Sony also stated it will continue developing new products and services to support aibo's growth with users. (Interface News)
Korean Air will complete its merger with Asiana Airlines on December 17 this year, formally establishing a unified airline. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on June 25 that it has completed review under the Aviation Business Law of Korean Air's corporate merger application for its subsidiary Asiana and approved the merger with conditions. (Interface News)
EasyJet, Europe's second-largest low-cost carrier, rejected on Thursday a fourth and higher takeover offer of nearly £50 billion ($65 billion) from U.S. investment firm Castlelake, but said it would grant limited access to business information in hopes of soliciting a higher bid. (Sina Finance)
U.S. Commerce Department data released on June 25 showed the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index for May rose 4.1% year-over-year, higher than April's 3.8%. Excluding food and energy, the May core PCE price index rose 3.4% year-over-year. (CCTV Finance)
On June 25, IBM announced a major breakthrough in semiconductor technology, unveiling the world's first "sub-1 nanometer" chip process technology. The technology employs a revolutionary "three-dimensional vertical stacking" (NanoStack) transistor architecture, directly reaching the 0.7-nanometer (7 Angstrom) node. Through this novel 3D architecture, IBM has successfully integrated nearly 100 billion transistors on a fingernail-sized chip, doubling the transistor density compared to its 2-nanometer chip launched in 2021. (Interface News)
36氪 learned that Hong Kong Exchange filings show that on June 25, Hangzhou Lingka Technology Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the HKEx, with China International Capital Corporation and PU Banking International serving as joint sponsors.
36氪 learned that the China Securities Regulatory Commission recently issued approval for Tianjin Fujianda Bicycle Industry Co., Ltd.'s initial public offering registration, approving its application to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange main board.
36氪 learned that according to announcements filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Beijing Tong Ren Tang Healthcare Investment Co., Ltd. is offering 108 million shares in Hong Kong at a price range of HK$5.48 to HK$6.21 per share. The company is projected to raise no more than HK$671.6 million and is expected to begin trading on July 7.
36氪 learned that "Saiende" recently completed a C-round financing of 300 million yuan. This round of financing introduced Manbang, an intelligent logistics ecosystem platform, along with institutions including Haitong Kaiyuan, Yuanhe Puhua, Huayi Innovation, and Yuanhe Houwan, while existing shareholders Dachen Financial, Changshi Capital, and Chuihui Capital participated with over-subscriptions.
36氪 learned that "Airwallex" announced completion of H-round financing of $320 million. Post-financing, its valuation will reach $11 billion. This round was led by existing shareholder Addition, with participation from existing shareholders Baillie Gifford, Hummingbird, QED Investors, T. Rowe Price, Hedosophia, Haun Ventures, Washington University in St. Louis, and Amex Ventures, as well as new investors. Proceeds will be used to accelerate product R&D in financial intelligence and AI agent commerce, expand global infrastructure and compliance frameworks for new markets, and continue team expansion to build next-generation AI-native financial software.