Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akazawa said he is prepared to assist overseas semiconductor manufacturers investing in Japan.

Yushu Technology co‑founder Chen Li said at the Yabuli forum that the smart-robotics industry could see three market-moving breakthroughs in the next 2–5 years: a unified end-to-end robot large model; continued declines in hardware costs plus longer lifespans and scaled manufacturing; and the build-out of low-cost, large-scale compute infrastructure. He defined an embodied-intelligence 'ChatGPT moment' as robots that, in about 80% of unfamiliar scenes, can complete roughly 80% of tasks from voice or text commands. Chen forecasted that by 2030 embodied-intelligence robots will trigger a consumer wave and materially raise productivity and labor skill levels.

REUTERS SURVEY: OPEC crude output rose sharply in June, up roughly 3.3 mln bpd MoM to about 19.43 mln bpd, rebounding from May’s 20-plus-year low but remaining well below quota levels. The increase was led by Gulf producers restoring supply—Kuwait the largest contributor—while Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq also added, with Nigeria and Libya posting smaller gains; the UAE exited OPEC on May 1 and is excluded from the figures. The report says prior conflict involving Iran and an effective Strait of Hormuz blockade had disrupted flows; the US then lifted restrictions on vessels calling at Iranian ports, allowing some output to return. OPEC+ had planned June increases but could not fully implement them due to the conflict; overall global oil supply is repairing but not yet back to normal.