China's BYD, Tsingshan scrap plans for Chile lithium plants, newspaper reports
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chinese automaker BYD and metals group Tsingshan have both informed Chilean authorities that they are withdrawing plans to construct lithium processing plants in Chile, newspaper Diario Financiero reported on Wednesday.
BYD filed its intent to withdraw with the national assets ministry, while Tsingshan told development agency Corfo it would no longer pursue the project, the newspaper said.
Tsingshan confirmed to Reuters that it had withdrawn its plans while BYD declined to comment.
Last May, BYD said it had postponed plans to produce a lithium cathode plant for electrical vehicles in Chile's north. The $290 million investment was originally slated to come online this year.
Tsingshan, meanwhile, had plans for $233.2 million plan to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which was also originally slated to become operational this year.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Alexander Villegas and Sarah Morland)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
EU plan would limit Chinese device makers in Europe
This story was originally published on MedTech Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily MedTech Dive newsletter. European Union member states this week voted to support a plan to adopt measures that would restrict Chinese medical device makers' access to the EU market. The member states took the action, under the EU's International Procurement Instrument, after concluding an investigation in January that looked at China's practices in the public procurement market for medical devices. The investigation found that government practices unfairly encouraged Chinese hospitals to choose domestic manufacturers' products. 'The Commission has identified measures and practices in the Chinese procurement market that lead to discrimination against EU operators and EU-made supplies,' Olof Gill, commission spokesperson, said Thursday in an emailed statement. 'This discrimination also harms both the Chinese healthcare infrastructure, which is deprived of quality equipment, and EU businesses, with a high cost in terms of jobs and economic activity in the EU.' The commission has discussed its concerns with Chinese authorities. However, a satisfactory solution has not been proposed, and the EU had no other option than to tackle the issue through an IPI investigation, Gill wrote. The commission said it could not disclose the content of the draft IPI measure or next steps in the process. Chinese manufacturers would be prohibited from bidding on public procurement contracts worth more than 5 million euros for five years. In addition, no more than 50% of a contract's value may be subcontracted to Chinese entities or include Chinese-origin medical devices, MedTech Europe said in a statement. The trade group said it would provide further updates once the IPI measures are published in the EU's official journal. The EU investigation into China's medical device procurement practices was the first use of the IPI, which was introduced in 2022. Getting fair access to Chinese markets became more challenging for medical device companies after the country launched a program calling for domestically produced medical equipment to achieve 50% market penetration in county-level hospitals by 2020 and 70% by 2025, according to a statement from the European Chamber, which represents European businesses in China. European and Chinese leaders will meet in July at a summit in Beijing. Recommended Reading EU mulls retaliation after showing China's bias against foreign device firms Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot program head exiting firm, Bloomberg News reports
(Reuters) -The head of Tesla's Optimus program, Milan Kovac, is leaving the company, casting uncertainty over chief executive Elon Musk's humanoid robot project, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Kovac, vice president and head of engineering for Optimus, told colleagues on Friday that he was departing, effective immediately. Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's autopilot teams, will take on Kovac's role, the report said. Tesla, Kovac and Elluswamy did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Musk has earlier said he expected Tesla to make thousands of Optimus robots this year. He said in April that China's export restrictions on rare-earth magnets had affected production of the humanoid robots. Tesla has shifted focus to launching the robots and its robotaxi service, with much of the company's valuation hanging on that bet. "The only things that matter in the long term are autonomy and Optimus," Musk told CNBC in an interview in May.
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla's largest EV plant in the world suffers eighth straight month of declining demand as May sales sink 15%
Outbound volumes from Tesla's GigaShangai factory, which includes exports, sank 15% in May. The drop follows similarly bleak figures out of most of Europe. Although Tesla is increasingly viewed as an AI company, roughly three-fourths of its revenue and gross profit come from selling cars. With two-thirds of the second quarter now in the books, the chance Tesla's EV sales could rebound from its terrible start to the year is swiftly waning. On Thursday data continued to pour in from across the world showing demand for Elon Musk's cars is shrinking in most major markets. One sign of that emerged out of China, where aggregate sales of EVs made in Tesla's largest manufacturing plant worldwide suffered an eighth straight month of declines. According to China's CPCA industry association, outbound volumes from its GigaShangai factory, including exports, sank 15% in May to 61,662 vehicles. It follows similarly bleak figures out of most of Europe. Tesla may have successfully rebranded itself as an AI and robotics company in the eyes of investors, but EV sales still matter because they pay the bills. Its core business accounted for 72% of both revenue and gross profit in the first three months of this year, when volumes dropped to their lowest level in three years. Yet just as sales are crashing, the stock is paradoxically ballooning, with the price rallying by a third since April's terrible Q1 earnings. At $1 trillion, Musk's company is now the ninth most valuable company in the world, worth more than the next 15 largest global carmakers combined. Multiples well above 100 times next year's consensus earnings estimates, like Tesla's, are typically reserved for companies about to see stratospheric earnings growth. In this case, it reflects optimism that Musk is poised to capture Uber and Lyft's ride-hailing market with its robotaxi service scheduled to roll out in the second half across much of the United States. Yet there is no evidence its driverless technology already matches, let alone outperforms, autonomous vehicle leader Waymo, and one well-known Tesla bull sold the remainder of his stockholdings as a result. Citing valuation 'disconnected from underlying fundamentals', Future Fund money manager Gary Black said late last month he exited his position for the first time since 2021 given the risks are firmly to the downside. There are a few bright spots for Tesla car sales, like Norway, the world's most EV-friendly country, that remains loyal to the brand. Australia, a key market where Tesla must compete directly with Chinese brands for western consumers without the help of steep tariffs, likewise saw a 9% gain in May amid soaring demand for the refreshed Model Y. But these individual data points are not reflective of the broader Tesla trend. In most other parts of the world, the picture looks radically different. On Thursday, the United Kingdom followed Germany with an identical 36% decline in Tesla registrations for last month. That leaves Tesla EV sales trackers such as TroyTeslike, one of the most reliable, warning Q2 will likely see a drop of 11% to 395,000 cars in a best-case scenario for Tesla. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
