Video: U.S. and China Agree to Get Trade Pact Back on Track
U.S. and Chinese negotiators wrapped up two days of talks with what they said was a framework to get their trade truce back on track and ratchet down tensions.
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Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stock market today: S&P 500, Nasdaq little changed amid renewed tariff threats, Boeing stock weighs on Dow
US stocks were little changedon Thursday as President Trump again urged the Fed for jumbo rate cut amid easing inflation pressures despite despite "take it or leave it" tariff threats on trading partners. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) hovered near the flatline, as component Boeing (BA) slumped in the wake of a deadly plane crash in India. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained roughly 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also rose about 0.1%. President Trump reiterated his call for a jumbo rate cut from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, calling him a "numbskull." "All he has to do is lower it," said Trump. Stocks edged higher after the S&P 500 (^GSPC) snapped this week's run of wins. Investors are adding growing tensions in the Middle East to worries over Trump's trade policy, such as the fragility of the US-China detente. The US dollar sank to its lowest level in three years as fresh price data showed a so-far mild impact from Trump's tariff policies, as wholesale inflation increased less than economists expected. The report came after the consumer counterpart showed an easing in price pressures in the wake of Trump's "reciprocal" tariff hikes in April. Further hints that tariffs are sparing inflation could put the Federal Reserve in a tight spot ahead of its policy meeting next week. Bets on interest-rate cuts this year have mounted, but analysts expect officials to maintain their wait-and-see approach to economic data and policy decisions, with September seen as the most likely spot to resume rate cuts. While investor focus is shifting back to the Fed, Wall Street is still closely following the latest twists and turns in Trump's tariff policy in the hunt for clarity. Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs US trading partners will get letters within a week or two to set their unilateral tariff rates, Trump reiterated on Wednesday, renewing the threat of no-deal hikes. But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Congress it's "highly likely" that countries in trade negotiations with the US will see an extension of the 90-day tariff pause, currently set to expire July 9. President Trump reiterated his call for a jumbo rate cut from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The president spoke at the signing of a resolution targeting California's plan to phase-out gas powered vehicles by 2035. Trump urged Powell to cut rates by 1 percentage point in order for the cost of short-term debt to go down, an ask he's made before on social media. "All he has to do is lower it," said Trump. The President reiterated he won't fire Powell, even though he disagrees with his policy and inflation has not be trending higher. "I'm not going to fire him", said Trump. "He was in my office a couple of days ago," said Trump. "I told him... cut your rates now," said Trump. "Lets say there was inflation a year from now, raise your rates — I don't mind." Shares of German biopharmaceutical CureVac (CVAC) soared roughly 39% after its domestic rival BioNTech (BNTX) announced it would acquire the company in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $1.25 billion. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening BioNTech's development of mRNA-based cancer therapies. The US dollar ( sank to its lowest level in three years after the Producer Price Index came in below expectations, showing a milder than expected impact from shifting US trade policy. The dollar against a basket of currencies hovered below 98, its lowest level since 2022. Year to date, the index is down more than 9%. Investors sold greenbacks as tensions between Iran and Israel escalated and Trump renewed tariff threats against US trading partners. US wholesale prices rose modestly last month, a sign that inflationary pressures remain contained. Wednesday's CPI report also pointed to contained inflation, increasing expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. Yahoo Finance's Laura Bratton reports: Read more here. Oracle (ORCL) shares jumped 10% early Thursday after the company's fiscal fourth quarter results topped Wall Street's expectations. Oracle's adjusted revenue of $15.9 billion was ahead of the projected $15.6 billion, while its earnings per share of $1.70 surpassed the expected $1.64. The company raised its annual revenue forecast, as it expects strong demand for its AI-related cloud services. "What is clear is that more customers will use the Oracle database to leverage AI," CEO Safra Ada Catz told analysts in a call after the market close Wednesday. "It's been a long wait for people who own the stock because ... they [Oracle] missed the last two quarters, both on the top and the bottom line, despite the fact that they were booking an enormous amount of business," Citizens head of technology equity research Pat Walravens told Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman on Market Domination Overtime. Analysts at UBS, Cantor Fitzgerald, Deutsche Bank, KeyBanc, and Melius Research raised their price targets on the stock to as high as $240 on Thursday. US stocks pulled back on Thursday as President Trump renewed his threat to impose "take it or leave it" tariffs on trading partners, while Boeing (BA) shares sank in the wake of a deadly crash in India. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell roughly 0.4%, with component Boeing slumping after the crash of an Air India flight involving a Dreamliner jet. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also moved 0.3% lower. US trading partners will get letters soon within a week or two that will set their unilateral tariff rates, Trump reiterated on Wednesday. Weekly claims for unemployment benefits remained at their highest level in eight months during the first full week of June while the number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance on an ongoing basis reached the highest level since November 2021 as the US labor market continues to show signs of slowing. Data from the Department of Labor released Thursday morning showed 248,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending June 7, flat from the week prior and above economists' expectations for 242,000. Meanwhile, 1.956 million continuing claims were filed, up from 1.902 million the week prior and the highest level seen since November 2021. Economists see an increase in continuing claims as a sign that those out of work are taking longer to find new jobs. Chime is set to debut on the Nasdaq later today under the ticker symbol CHYM. The digital bank raised $864 million in its IPO, and priced shares at $27 each for a valuation of $11.6 billion. Chime's entrance in the public markets has been viewed as another indicator of whether the IPO market is thawing after a freeze due to tariff-induced uncertainty. Other recent go-publics, like stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and Nvidia-backed CoreWeave (CRWV), saw massive rallies after their IPOs. As my colleague Josh Schafer wrote yesterday, the largest tech stocks are once again leading the market higher, and that enthusiasm has trickled down to newly issued public offerings. In a June 9 research report, Carson Group associate portfolio manager Blake Anderson found that tech IPOs have been outperforming non-tech IPOs, with shares tied to tech IPOs rising an average of 108% from their deal price. Beyond Chime, other closely watched IPO hopefuls in the pipeline include crypto exchange Gemini; buy now, pay later firm Klarna ( AI chipmaker Cerebras ( and medical supplies company Medline. Read more here about the details of Chime's IPO. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump's Truth Social posts aren't moving markets like they used to, notes Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer. Stocks barely budged as he posted on Wednesday that a US-China deal was "done" — something that would have swung markets around a month earlier. Instead, stocks found their direction from economic data, Josh reports: Read more here from today's Morning Brief. The dollar (DX=F) fell further on Thursday as concerns grew about US tariffs after President Trump said he would soon tell trading partners about unilateral levies. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Boeing stock fell on Thursday by 8% in premarket trading after an Air India aircraft carrying over 200 people crashed minutes after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service. Air India confirmed the plane, which was headed to Gatwick Airport in the UK, crashed in a civilian area near the airport, but has not specified if there are any fatalities. It is still not clear what caused the crash. According to Reuters, Boeing confirmed it was aware of the crash and was working to gather more information. The news comes as the planemaker is trying to rebuild trust relating to the safety of its jets and increase production under new Chief Executive Officer Kelly Orthberg. "There's revised fears of the problems that plagued Boeing aircraft and Boeing itself in recent years," said Chris Beauchamp, analyst at IG Group. Economic data: Producer Price Index (May); Initial jobless claims (week ending June 7) Continuing claims (week ending May 31) Earnings: Adobe (ADBE), Lovesac (LOVE), RH (RH) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: Boeing stock slides after plane crashes in India The $11 trillion gap in costing Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill Gundlach: 'Reckoning is coming' for US debt Trump says he will set unilateral tariff rates within weeks Americans flunk on retirement literacy. Here's why it matters. Nvidia, Samsung to take stakes in robot AI startup Skild US long-dated debt faces crucial test in $22 billion auction Oracle stock jumps as AI boosts revenue forecast Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Oracle (ORCL) stock rose 8% in premarket trading on Thursday after the tech company raised its annual forecast, driven by demand for its AI related cloud services. "Oracle's once-stodgy image levels up to 'cloud-native mage,' and the competitive map now looks less like a classic three-player real time strategy and more like a battle-royale with everyone dropping in, looking for compute loot", said Michael Ashley Schulman, partner at Running Point Capital Advisors. GameStop (GME) shares slumped on Thursday by 11% after announcing a convertible notes offering. The press release said: "GameStop intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including making investments in a manner consistent with GameStop's Investment Policy and potential acquisitions." Boeing (BA) stock fell 8% before the bell on Thursday after a plane crashed in India, with more than 200 people on board, near the airport in the country's western city of Ahmedabad. The plane, which was headed to Gatwick airport in the UK, crashed in a civilian area. Oil prices pulled back early Thursday morning, reversing earlier overnight gains as traders assessed a US decision to pull some diplomats out of the Middle East. The decision to reduce staffing in Iraq came after Iran threatened to hit US assets in the region ahead of its talks with the US over nuclear-related activity. Brent crude futures fell to under $69 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude traded below $68 a barrel — both down around 1%. Prices jumped over 4% on Wednesday amid reports of a potential evacuation. Reuters reports: Read more here. Gold (GC=F) rose for a second day in a row as tensions in the Middle East, coupled with Trump's claims of upcoming unilateral tariffs, pushed risk-averse investors toward the haven commodity. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump reiterated his call for a jumbo rate cut from Fed Chair Jerome Powell. The president spoke at the signing of a resolution targeting California's plan to phase-out gas powered vehicles by 2035. Trump urged Powell to cut rates by 1 percentage point in order for the cost of short-term debt to go down, an ask he's made before on social media. "All he has to do is lower it," said Trump. The President reiterated he won't fire Powell, even though he disagrees with his policy and inflation has not be trending higher. "I'm not going to fire him", said Trump. "He was in my office a couple of days ago," said Trump. "I told him... cut your rates now," said Trump. "Lets say there was inflation a year from now, raise your rates — I don't mind." Shares of German biopharmaceutical CureVac (CVAC) soared roughly 39% after its domestic rival BioNTech (BNTX) announced it would acquire the company in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $1.25 billion. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening BioNTech's development of mRNA-based cancer therapies. The US dollar ( sank to its lowest level in three years after the Producer Price Index came in below expectations, showing a milder than expected impact from shifting US trade policy. The dollar against a basket of currencies hovered below 98, its lowest level since 2022. Year to date, the index is down more than 9%. Investors sold greenbacks as tensions between Iran and Israel escalated and Trump renewed tariff threats against US trading partners. US wholesale prices rose modestly last month, a sign that inflationary pressures remain contained. Wednesday's CPI report also pointed to contained inflation, increasing expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. Yahoo Finance's Laura Bratton reports: Read more here. Oracle (ORCL) shares jumped 10% early Thursday after the company's fiscal fourth quarter results topped Wall Street's expectations. Oracle's adjusted revenue of $15.9 billion was ahead of the projected $15.6 billion, while its earnings per share of $1.70 surpassed the expected $1.64. The company raised its annual revenue forecast, as it expects strong demand for its AI-related cloud services. "What is clear is that more customers will use the Oracle database to leverage AI," CEO Safra Ada Catz told analysts in a call after the market close Wednesday. "It's been a long wait for people who own the stock because ... they [Oracle] missed the last two quarters, both on the top and the bottom line, despite the fact that they were booking an enormous amount of business," Citizens head of technology equity research Pat Walravens told Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman on Market Domination Overtime. Analysts at UBS, Cantor Fitzgerald, Deutsche Bank, KeyBanc, and Melius Research raised their price targets on the stock to as high as $240 on Thursday. US stocks pulled back on Thursday as President Trump renewed his threat to impose "take it or leave it" tariffs on trading partners, while Boeing (BA) shares sank in the wake of a deadly crash in India. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell roughly 0.4%, with component Boeing slumping after the crash of an Air India flight involving a Dreamliner jet. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) also moved 0.3% lower. US trading partners will get letters soon within a week or two that will set their unilateral tariff rates, Trump reiterated on Wednesday. Weekly claims for unemployment benefits remained at their highest level in eight months during the first full week of June while the number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance on an ongoing basis reached the highest level since November 2021 as the US labor market continues to show signs of slowing. Data from the Department of Labor released Thursday morning showed 248,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending June 7, flat from the week prior and above economists' expectations for 242,000. Meanwhile, 1.956 million continuing claims were filed, up from 1.902 million the week prior and the highest level seen since November 2021. Economists see an increase in continuing claims as a sign that those out of work are taking longer to find new jobs. Chime is set to debut on the Nasdaq later today under the ticker symbol CHYM. The digital bank raised $864 million in its IPO, and priced shares at $27 each for a valuation of $11.6 billion. Chime's entrance in the public markets has been viewed as another indicator of whether the IPO market is thawing after a freeze due to tariff-induced uncertainty. Other recent go-publics, like stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and Nvidia-backed CoreWeave (CRWV), saw massive rallies after their IPOs. As my colleague Josh Schafer wrote yesterday, the largest tech stocks are once again leading the market higher, and that enthusiasm has trickled down to newly issued public offerings. In a June 9 research report, Carson Group associate portfolio manager Blake Anderson found that tech IPOs have been outperforming non-tech IPOs, with shares tied to tech IPOs rising an average of 108% from their deal price. Beyond Chime, other closely watched IPO hopefuls in the pipeline include crypto exchange Gemini; buy now, pay later firm Klarna ( AI chipmaker Cerebras ( and medical supplies company Medline. Read more here about the details of Chime's IPO. Bloomberg reports: Read more here. President Trump's Truth Social posts aren't moving markets like they used to, notes Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer. Stocks barely budged as he posted on Wednesday that a US-China deal was "done" — something that would have swung markets around a month earlier. Instead, stocks found their direction from economic data, Josh reports: Read more here from today's Morning Brief. The dollar (DX=F) fell further on Thursday as concerns grew about US tariffs after President Trump said he would soon tell trading partners about unilateral levies. Bloomberg News reports: Read more here. Boeing stock fell on Thursday by 8% in premarket trading after an Air India aircraft carrying over 200 people crashed minutes after taking off from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service. Air India confirmed the plane, which was headed to Gatwick Airport in the UK, crashed in a civilian area near the airport, but has not specified if there are any fatalities. It is still not clear what caused the crash. According to Reuters, Boeing confirmed it was aware of the crash and was working to gather more information. The news comes as the planemaker is trying to rebuild trust relating to the safety of its jets and increase production under new Chief Executive Officer Kelly Orthberg. "There's revised fears of the problems that plagued Boeing aircraft and Boeing itself in recent years," said Chris Beauchamp, analyst at IG Group. Economic data: Producer Price Index (May); Initial jobless claims (week ending June 7) Continuing claims (week ending May 31) Earnings: Adobe (ADBE), Lovesac (LOVE), RH (RH) Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning: Boeing stock slides after plane crashes in India The $11 trillion gap in costing Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill Gundlach: 'Reckoning is coming' for US debt Trump says he will set unilateral tariff rates within weeks Americans flunk on retirement literacy. Here's why it matters. Nvidia, Samsung to take stakes in robot AI startup Skild US long-dated debt faces crucial test in $22 billion auction Oracle stock jumps as AI boosts revenue forecast Here are some top stocks trending on Yahoo Finance in premarket trading: Oracle (ORCL) stock rose 8% in premarket trading on Thursday after the tech company raised its annual forecast, driven by demand for its AI related cloud services. "Oracle's once-stodgy image levels up to 'cloud-native mage,' and the competitive map now looks less like a classic three-player real time strategy and more like a battle-royale with everyone dropping in, looking for compute loot", said Michael Ashley Schulman, partner at Running Point Capital Advisors. GameStop (GME) shares slumped on Thursday by 11% after announcing a convertible notes offering. The press release said: "GameStop intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including making investments in a manner consistent with GameStop's Investment Policy and potential acquisitions." Boeing (BA) stock fell 8% before the bell on Thursday after a plane crashed in India, with more than 200 people on board, near the airport in the country's western city of Ahmedabad. The plane, which was headed to Gatwick airport in the UK, crashed in a civilian area. Oil prices pulled back early Thursday morning, reversing earlier overnight gains as traders assessed a US decision to pull some diplomats out of the Middle East. The decision to reduce staffing in Iraq came after Iran threatened to hit US assets in the region ahead of its talks with the US over nuclear-related activity. Brent crude futures fell to under $69 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude traded below $68 a barrel — both down around 1%. Prices jumped over 4% on Wednesday amid reports of a potential evacuation. Reuters reports: Read more here. Gold (GC=F) rose for a second day in a row as tensions in the Middle East, coupled with Trump's claims of upcoming unilateral tariffs, pushed risk-averse investors toward the haven commodity. Bloomberg reports: Read more here.
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Is This Stock a Buy After Acquiring a Potential Zepbound Competitor?
Regeneron acquired a promising weight management asset that could become lucrative. This investigational medicine helps beef up the biotech's already exciting pipeline. There are also several other reasons to invest in the stock. 10 stocks we like better than Regeneron Pharmaceuticals › Shares of Regeneron (NASDAQ: REGN) have declined this year due to issues with one of its former growth drivers, Eylea, a medicine that treats wet age-related macular degeneration. The therapy is facing stiff competition, biosimilar and otherwise, that is eating into its market share. However, Regeneron is constantly looking for its next billion-dollar medicine. And a recent deal it made with a smaller drugmaker helped it beef up its pipeline by acquiring an asset in the hottest therapeutic area right now: weight management. Is Regeneron stock a buy now? Regeneron signed a deal with China-based Hansoh Pharma for HS-20094, an investigational, late-stage anti-obesity asset. Per the terms of the agreement, Regeneron will pay an upfront amount of $80 million, with potential clinical and regulatory milestones of up to $1.93 billion, in addition to royalties on future sales. HS-20094 mimics the action of two gut hormones: GLP-1 and GIP. The only approved medicine that does that is Zepbound, the weight loss therapy marketed by Eli Lilly. Zepbound has been a major hit, with incredibly fast-growing sales. Could HS-20094 become similarly successful? The fact that it's in the same class as Zepbound hardly guarantees so, but, according to Regeneron, the medicine has been tested in over 1,000 patients and has shown a potential similar to Zepbound. It is currently undergoing a Phase 3 clinical trial for obesity and a Phase 2 study for diabetes. Results that are, in fact, on par with Zepbound might jolt Regeneron's share price. This isn't the only attempt by Regeneron to enter the weight loss market. The biotech company has been working on ways to address one drawback of anti-obesity medicines: muscle loss. It recently announced top-line data in patients taking semaglutide (the active ingredient in the weight loss drug Wegovy) and trevogrumab, a medicine developed to address muscle atrophy. The trial showed that about 35% of weight loss due to semaglutide comes from lean muscle mass, but combining it with trevogrumab could help retain muscle mass while helping patients lose fat instead. If HS-20094 becomes nearly as successful as Zepbound, the $80 million Regeneron paid -- and the $1.93 billion in milestones -- would represent quite the bargain. However, it is too early to celebrate. Despite Regeneron's confidence in this asset, many weight management candidates in the pharmaceutical industry have flopped. That's the nature of developing novel drugs. Most will never reach the market. But the fact that HS-20094 has reached late-stage studies is a good sign. And at any rate, this move does not make Regeneron less attractive. There are, however, other reasons to buy the stock. Regeneron is mitigating Eylea-related losses with a new, high-definition (HD) version of the medicine, which will continue to attract patients away from the old version due to its more convenient dosing schedule. In the first quarter, total U.S. sales of Eylea and Eylea HD dropped by 26% year over year to $1.04 billion, but revenue from the latter increased by 54% year over year to $307 million. Eylea HD should also earn some label expansions. Meanwhile, Regeneron's other growth driver is Dupixent, a medicine for eczema. It shares the rights to Dupixent with Sanofi. In the first quarter, Dupixent's sales came in at $3.67 billion, up 19% compared to the year-ago period. The therapy won an indication in treating COPD last year, so expect its revenue to continue moving in the right direction for a while. Regeneron's total sales in the first quarter dropped by 4% year over year to $3 billion. However, as Eylea HD gains ground, including with new indications, Dupixent continues to make headway, and the biotech earns new products, including those in oncology, it should eventually start growing its sales again. Regeneron's work in weight management could, eventually, contribute to that. So, despite its recent headwinds, the stock still looks attractive. Before you buy stock in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $657,871!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $875,479!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 998% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 174% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 9, 2025 Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is This Stock a Buy After Acquiring a Potential Zepbound Competitor? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
China's AI chip tool QiMeng beats engineers, designs processors in just days
As the US-China tech war intensifies, both nations are racing to secure independence in critical technologies. With Washington tightening access to advanced chip tools, Beijing is ramping up efforts to break its reliance on Western software. In a major step, China's top scientific body has unveiled a homegrown, AI-powered system to automate chip design, an area long dominated by American firms. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has launched an AI-driven chip design platform called QiMeng, meaning 'enlightenment' in Chinese. Developed by the State Key Laboratory of Processor, the Intelligent Software Research Centre, and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the system aims to accelerate semiconductor development and reduce dependency on human programmers. QiMeng leverages large language models to automate complex chip design tasks. The developers open-sourced the system on GitHub and published detailed technical documentation in a recent research paper. The team added that an autonomous-driving chip, which would take human engineers weeks to complete, could be produced by QiMeng in just a few days. QiMeng is built around three functional layers. The foundation is a domain-specific processor chip model. Above that is a design agent that handles both hardware and software aspects. The top layer contains various chip design applications. These components work together to support automated front-end design, generation of hardware description language, OS configuration, and compiler toolchain creation. The research paper notes that future iterations will boost the system's capacity for self-evolution. Using the platform, researchers have built two processors: QiMeng-CPU-v1, which is comparable to Intel's 486 chip, and QiMeng-CPU-v2, which aligns with Arm's Cortex A53. The launch of QiMeng comes at a time when the US is pressuring major electronic design automation (EDA) software vendors to stop selling to Chinese firms. Companies like Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens EDA, who together held 82% of China's EDA market last year, have been hit by fresh export restrictions from the US Commerce Department, according to a Morgan Stanley report cited by SCMP. QiMeng is a direct attempt to replace reliance on these Western firms. 'The goal was to improve efficiency, reduce costs and shorten development cycles when compared to manual methods,' said the CAS team in their paper. The system also aims to enable rapid customisation of domain-specific chip architectures and software stacks. As AI advances demand more powerful chips, China's ability to design and fabricate them locally becomes crucial. While the country still lags behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in advanced chip fabrication, efforts like QiMeng are intended to close the gap in design capabilities. The developers acknowledged remaining hurdles, citing 'constrained fabrication technology, limited resources and a diverse ecosystem.' Still, they hope QiMeng will help automate the full chip design and verification process in the long run.
