Bank of Japan Governor UEDA said he expects to continue raising rates once underlying inflation approaches 2%.

People familiar with the matter say Qualcomm (QCOM.O) is negotiating with ByteDance to provide custom chip design services; if successful, ByteDance would be an early customer for Qualcomm’s design business. Sources caution talks are ongoing and outcomes are uncertain; no chip design or manufacturing agreement has been confirmed and ByteDance may pursue other partners. Discussions reportedly cover a video processing unit (VPU) design, with a target to begin mass production by year‑end.

Zhengzhou municipal statistics bureau said on June 24 that industrial value added of firms above designated size rose 13.3% YoY in Jan–May 2026, accelerating 1.6 ppts from Jan–Apr and outpacing national and provincial growth by 7.9 and 5.1 ppts respectively. The seven leading industrial sectors’ value added rose 16.7% YoY; electronics and auto manufacturing increased 32.6% and 8.2% YoY. By product, output of lithium‑ion batteries, smartphones and new‑energy vehicles rose 65.7%, 27.5% and 23.2% YoY respectively. In May alone, industrial value added of firms above designated size climbed 20% YoY, up 2.7 ppts month‑on‑month and exceeding national and provincial growth by 15.5 and 10.9 ppts.