Chinese robot maker AGIBot completes new round of financing
The company said this marked LG Electronics' first investment in the embodied intelligence sector. It declined to disclose the size of the fundraising round or any financial details.
AGIBot, whose robots were inspected by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Shanghai this year, is one of several Chinese humanoid robot startups that have emerged in recent years.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNA
4 hours ago
- CNA
In US-China battle over rare earths, developing nations are the frontline
Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said that 'the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths'. His words carry new weight today as China's stranglehold over the rare earths supply chain gives it leverage in the trade war with the United States. China controls some 60 per cent of global mining of rare earths, over 85 per cent of their processing, and more than 90 per cent of permanent magnet production – used in everything from cars to medical devices and wind turbines. That leaves the US and other Western nations vulnerable, and many are now scrambling to diversify their supply chains away from China. Analysts say that while there are multilateral efforts underway to reduce reliance on China, they are largely diplomatic, and there is a lack of investment or technical expertise to move away from Chinese supply. They also say that developing countries with rare earths are emerging as the new frontline of a high-stakes contest between China and the West. "MORE MOMENTUM" 'The United States and other countries have been seeking to diversify for years, and the challenge remains difficult to overcome, yet I think we're seeing more momentum now than in the past,' said Ilaria Mazzocco, deputy director with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. But she said the issue was that many solutions were long-term, while the threat of export controls was immediate. A US Department of Defense initiative known as 'mine to magnets' has been accelerated in recent years. The goal is to develop a fully domestic rare earths supply chain – from sourcing and separation to processing, metallisation, alloying and magnet production. In 2023, the department invested US$258 million in Lynas Rare Earths – the only non-Chinese commercial-scale producer – to open a production facility in Texas. The Australian company achieved a milestone in May this year by producing the heavy rare earth dysprosium oxide at its Malaysian plant – the first time it has been done commercially outside China. There are other moves afoot by the US and its allies to break China's dominance in the sector. Washington in 2022 launched the Minerals Security Partnership with 14 partners including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain and Australia. Resource-rich countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Greenland, Kazakhstan and Ukraine are involved in project development and policy dialogue as forum members. In June, the Group of Seven unveiled a new action plan on critical minerals. And a Quad initiative was launched in July to diversify the critical minerals supply chain. While there is momentum, analysts say these efforts might not be enough to challenge Beijing's long-standing dominance of the industry. 'Multilateral initiatives, like the G7, Quad and (Minerals Security Partnership) are still largely in a diplomatic stage, ' said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the CSIS Critical Minerals Security Programme. It is also not clear if the Minerals Security Partnership is a viable alternative to Chinese supply, according to Hu Xinyue, a senior analyst with the China Programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore She said the partnership had seen limited investment and it lacked technical expertise. 'Environmental concerns could be a significant hurdle to developing the partner countries' rare earth mining or production capability,' she added. Hu said the time it took to get mining projects up and running in the US was another obstacle, noting that it could take 16 years to secure permits and complete construction before production could begin. OPPORTUNITY AND RISK There is also a battle playing out over resource-rich developing nations, which are being courted by Chinese and Western investors. Jonathan Hykawy, president of Stormcrow Capital, a Canada-based equity research firm specialising in rare earths, said China could offer more to these nations than the US, including the size of its market and geopolitical stability. 'The current American presidential administration seems to be using uncertainty and turmoil as some sort of negotiating tactic, but it is difficult to make spending decisions in the face of uncertainty,' he said. 'The US is also making it more difficult for other nations to regard the US as a friend and ally, opening the door to Chinese efforts to do the same.' Hu in Singapore noted that Beijing's geopolitical playbook included a 'carrot and stick' approach to rare earths – providing tech transfers and access to resources to attract and reward some nations while imposing export controls and other restrictive measures on its geopolitical rivals. For developing nations with abundant rare earths, this presents both opportunity and risk. 'Chinese companies have a very strong position in the mining and refining of rare earths and so it's no surprise that they also hold a lot of the IP and know-how in this sector,' according to Mazzocco from CSIS. 'As a result, many companies and countries seeking to develop their industry face a dilemma in wanting to collaborate with the biggest players in the business and also seeking to de-risk.' Baskaran noted that developing a rare earths industry required significant capital and technical expertise. She said many emerging economies were 'non-aligned and looking for the best deal and thus willing to work with China or the West'. Vietnam holds the world's second-largest known reserves of rare earth minerals, accounting for 19 per cent of global deposits – second only to China. In 2023, Vietnam and the US signed an agreement to boost technical cooperation on rare earths with the aim of strengthening the Vietnamese industry and attracting foreign investment. China also wanted a slice of the action, with state-owned China Rare Earth Group pursuing cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese mining giant Vinacomin. Beijing and Hanoi issued a joint statement in April saying they would explore cooperation on critical minerals. Malaysia has also become an important link in the supply chain now that Lynas is operating a processing facility there. With substantial rare earth deposits but limited ability to process them, Malaysia is keen to develop its own industry. Its foreign minister in April announced that China had agreed to share some of its processing technology with Malaysia. Myanmar, meanwhile, is the world's third-largest source of rare earths after China and the US. Its Kachin region is home to some of the world's biggest mines for heavy rare earths, which are exported to China for processing. Reuters reported last week, citing sources, that the Donald Trump administration had heard proposals aimed at diverting Myanmar's rare earth minerals away from China. No final decision has been reached, and any effort to implement such plans would likely require Washington to engage in negotiations with the ethnic rebel groups that control much of Myanmar's rare earth reserves. Hykawy noted that Myanmar and other developing countries were becoming more important as the US-led West and China sought rare earths. '(Myanmar) pertains to the supply of the heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium, which are important to the manufacture of NdFeB magnets that can be used at higher temperatures, as needed in the automotive industry,' he said. 'But this reliance also carries some risk, as when rare earth concentrate supplies from Myanmar became uncertain in the period following the governmental coup in 2021.' Cory Combs, head of supply chain research at Trivium China, said the value of the rare earth sector was typically set downstream, and resource-rich countries would have to capture value locally to make full use of their resources. He said those countries should look to Indonesia's export bans on raw minerals, which encouraged investment in local processing facilities and training local staff to do the jobs required. "TIME AND MONEY" Analysts say that while China's strategy of leveraging its rare earth monopoly is highly effective in the short term, it would not last forever as a trade weapon. Baskaran noted that initiatives including the US defence department's recent partnership with American rare earths company MP Materials would take time to scale up, but they 'effectively set a countdown in motion for developing alternative supply chain options'. According to Hykawy, 'there is almost no highly proprietary knowledge left in the rare earth space'. 'The actual deposits, the separation technology, the knowledge regarding making rare earth metals, alloys and magnets – all these exist outside China. Putting all this into commercial-scale production is a matter of time and money,' he said. Building alternative supply chains is far more complex than just identifying new mine sites – it requires a system of processing facilities, manufacturing capabilities and technical expertise. As a result, Western nations could find it difficult to close the gap even over the longer term, according to Combs. 'Now the world is trying to catch up with where China was yesterday, as it is trying to advance technologically tomorrow,' he said. However, China's dominance in rare earths has been built up over decades of strategic investment. Combs said the West should focus on diversifying the supply chain in critical areas, such as components for military equipment. 'There is no world in which the West is able to meaningfully diversify the whole suite of commercial applications (for rare earths),' Combs said. 'It is just too big, the total volume, and China is too far ahead.'
CNA
5 hours ago
- CNA
In US-China battle over rare earths, developing nations are the front line
Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once said that 'the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths'. His words carry new weight today as China's stranglehold over the rare earths supply chain gives it leverage in the trade war with the United States. China controls some 60 per cent of global mining of rare earths, over 85 per cent of their processing, and more than 90 per cent of permanent magnet production – used in everything from cars to medical devices and wind turbines. That leaves the US and other Western nations vulnerable, and many are now scrambling to diversify their supply chains away from China. Analysts say that while there are multilateral efforts underway to reduce reliance on China, they are largely diplomatic, and there is a lack of investment or technical expertise to move away from Chinese supply. They also say that developing countries with rare earths are emerging as the new front line of a high-stakes contest between China and the West. "MORE MOMENTUM" 'The United States and other countries have been seeking to diversify for years, and the challenge remains difficult to overcome, yet I think we're seeing more momentum now than in the past,' said Ilaria Mazzocco, deputy director with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington. But she said the issue was that many solutions were long-term, while the threat of export controls was immediate. A US Department of Defense initiative known as 'mine to magnets' has been accelerated in recent years. The goal is to develop a fully domestic rare earths supply chain – from sourcing and separation to processing, metallisation, alloying and magnet production. In 2023, the department invested US$258 million in Lynas Rare Earths – the only non-Chinese commercial-scale producer – to open a production facility in Texas. The Australian company achieved a milestone in May this year by producing the heavy rare earth dysprosium oxide at its Malaysian plant – the first time it has been done commercially outside China. There are other moves afoot by the US and its allies to break China's dominance in the sector. Washington in 2022 launched the Minerals Security Partnership with 14 partners including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain and Australia. Resource-rich countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Greenland, Kazakhstan and Ukraine are involved in project development and policy dialogue as forum members. In June, the Group of Seven unveiled a new action plan on critical minerals. And a Quad initiative was launched in July to diversify the critical minerals supply chain. While there is momentum, analysts say these efforts might not be enough to challenge Beijing's long-standing dominance of the industry. 'Multilateral initiatives, like the G7, Quad and (Minerals Security Partnership) are still largely in a diplomatic stage, ' said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the CSIS Critical Minerals Security Programme. It is also not clear if the Minerals Security Partnership is a viable alternative to Chinese supply, according to Hu Xinyue, a senior analyst with the China Programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore She said the partnership had seen limited investment and it lacked technical expertise. 'Environmental concerns could be a significant hurdle to developing the partner countries' rare earth mining or production capability,' she added. Hu said the time it took to get mining projects up and running in the US was another obstacle, noting that it could take 16 years to secure permits and complete construction before production could begin. OPPORTUNITY AND RISK There is also a battle playing out over resource-rich developing nations, which are being courted by Chinese and Western investors. Jonathan Hykawy, president of Stormcrow Capital, a Canada-based equity research firm specialising in rare earths, said China could offer more to these nations than the US, including the size of its market and geopolitical stability. 'The current American presidential administration seems to be using uncertainty and turmoil as some sort of negotiating tactic, but it is difficult to make spending decisions in the face of uncertainty,' he said. 'The US is also making it more difficult for other nations to regard the US as a friend and ally, opening the door to Chinese efforts to do the same.' Hu in Singapore noted that Beijing's geopolitical playbook included a 'carrot and stick' approach to rare earths – providing tech transfers and access to resources to attract and reward some nations while imposing export controls and other restrictive measures on its geopolitical rivals. For developing nations with abundant rare earths, this presents both opportunity and risk. 'Chinese companies have a very strong position in the mining and refining of rare earths and so it's no surprise that they also hold a lot of the IP and know-how in this sector,' according to Mazzocco from CSIS. 'As a result, many companies and countries seeking to develop their industry face a dilemma in wanting to collaborate with the biggest players in the business and also seeking to de-risk.' Baskaran noted that developing a rare earths industry required significant capital and technical expertise. She said many emerging economies were 'non-aligned and looking for the best deal and thus willing to work with China or the West'. Vietnam holds the world's second-largest known reserves of rare earth minerals, accounting for 19 per cent of global deposits – second only to China. In 2023, Vietnam and the US signed an agreement to boost technical cooperation on rare earths with the aim of strengthening the Vietnamese industry and attracting foreign investment. China also wanted a slice of the action, with state-owned China Rare Earth Group pursuing cooperation opportunities with Vietnamese mining giant Vinacomin. Beijing and Hanoi issued a joint statement in April saying they would explore cooperation on critical minerals. Malaysia has also become an important link in the supply chain now that Lynas is operating a processing facility there. With substantial rare earth deposits but limited ability to process them, Malaysia is keen to develop its own industry. Its foreign minister in April announced that China had agreed to share some of its processing technology with Malaysia. Myanmar, meanwhile, is the world's third-largest source of rare earths after China and the US. Its Kachin region is home to some of the world's biggest mines for heavy rare earths, which are exported to China for processing. Reuters reported last week, citing sources, that the Donald Trump administration had heard proposals aimed at diverting Myanmar's rare earth minerals away from China. No final decision has been reached, and any effort to implement such plans would likely require Washington to engage in negotiations with the ethnic rebel groups that control much of Myanmar's rare earth reserves. Hykawy noted that Myanmar and other developing countries were becoming more important as the US-led West and China sought rare earths. '(Myanmar) pertains to the supply of the heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium, which are important to the manufacture of NdFeB magnets that can be used at higher temperatures, as needed in the automotive industry,' he said. 'But this reliance also carries some risk, as when rare earth concentrate supplies from Myanmar became uncertain in the period following the governmental coup in 2021.' Cory Combs, head of supply chain research at Trivium China, said the value of the rare earth sector was typically set downstream, and resource-rich countries would have to capture value locally to make full use of their resources. He said those countries should look to Indonesia's export bans on raw minerals, which encouraged investment in local processing facilities and training local staff to do the jobs required. "TIME AND MONEY" Analysts say that while China's strategy of leveraging its rare earth monopoly is highly effective in the short term, it would not last forever as a trade weapon. Baskaran noted that initiatives including the US defence department's recent partnership with American rare earths company MP Materials would take time to scale up, but they 'effectively set a countdown in motion for developing alternative supply chain options'. According to Hykawy, 'there is almost no highly proprietary knowledge left in the rare earth space'. 'The actual deposits, the separation technology, the knowledge regarding making rare earth metals, alloys and magnets – all these exist outside China. Putting all this into commercial-scale production is a matter of time and money,' he said. Building alternative supply chains is far more complex than just identifying new mine sites – it requires a system of processing facilities, manufacturing capabilities and technical expertise. As a result, Western nations could find it difficult to close the gap even over the longer term, according to Combs. 'Now the world is trying to catch up with where China was yesterday, as it is trying to advance technologically tomorrow,' he said. However, China's dominance in rare earths has been built up over decades of strategic investment. Combs said the West should focus on diversifying the supply chain in critical areas, such as components for military equipment. 'There is no world in which the West is able to meaningfully diversify the whole suite of commercial applications (for rare earths),' Combs said. 'It is just too big, the total volume, and China is too far ahead.'
CNA
5 hours ago
- CNA
Asian markets track Wall St rally on Fed rate cut bets
HONG KONG: Stock markets rose on Tuesday (Aug 5) as investors grow increasingly confident the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month, despite concerns about the United States economy and Donald Trump's tariffs. The gains tracked a rally on Wall Street, where traders rediscovered their mojo following Friday's sell-off that was fuelled by news that fewer-than-expected American jobs were created in July, while the previous two months' figures were revised down sharply. The reading raised concerns that the world's biggest economy was in worse shape than expected, though it also fanned bets the Fed will slash in September, with markets pricing the chance of a 25-basis-point reduction at about 95 per cent, according to Bloomberg. There is also talk that bank officials could go for twice as much as that. "The narrative flipped fast: soft jobs equals soft Fed, and soft Fed equals risk-on," said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. But he warned that "if cuts are coming because the labour market is slipping from 'cooling' to 'cracking', then we're skating closer to the edge than we care to admit". He added: "That dichotomy - between rate cuts as stimulus and rate cuts as warning flare - is now front and centre. "If the Fed moves proactively to shield markets from the tariff storm and weak labour, the equity rally has legs. But if policymakers are reacting to a sharper downturn that is in full swing, the runway shortens quickly." In early trade, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta were all in the green. However, while there is a broad expectation that the Fed will cut rates, Lazard chief market strategist Ronald Temple remained sceptical. "I continue to believe the Fed will not reduce rates at all this year, given rising inflation caused by tariffs and a relatively stable unemployment rate," he wrote. "I would align with the majority of the FOMC members who believe it is more appropriate to hold policy constant until there is greater clarity in terms of the effects of tariffs and stricter immigration enforcement on inflation and employment." Traders were keeping an eye on trade talks between Washington and dozens of its trade partners after Trump imposed tariffs of between 10 and 41 per cent on them. Among those to strike a deal is India, which Trump on Monday threatened to hit with "substantially" higher rates over its purchases of Russian oil.
