Technology

Microsoft’s president meets with the Chinese government to discuss AI co-operation

Published

2 years ago

December 7, 2023

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Microsoft CEO Brad Smith participates in a meeting at The Westin Palace Hotel, on 20 May, 2022 in Madrid, Spain.

Cezaro De Luca | Europa Press | Getty Images

Microsoft President Brad Smith met with China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao on Wednesday to discuss topics ranging from artificial intelligence to trade relations between Washington and Beijing, according to a Youdao-translated Chinese government announcement.

The meeting underscores China’s attempt to show it remains favorable to American businesses amid continued tensions with the U.S., as it looks to reinvigorate its economy.

Notably, Smith and Wang’s engagement comes after U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met last month — a gesture that commentators said showed China and the U.S. are trying to co-operate in areas with potential. It also signalled a desire to improve the environment for foreign businesses.

During the meeting, Wang said that China is committed to providing better services for foreign enterprises, according to a statement from the country’s commerce ministry. The readout said that the Ministry of Commerce hopes Microsoft will play a “constructive role” in co-operation on artificial intelligence between China and the U.S.

Microsoft is seen as one of the leading players in artificial intelligence, particularly after its reportedly multibillion dollar investment in ChatGPT developer OpenAI earlier this year.

China’s own technology giants — from Alibaba to Baidu and Tencent — have also been launching their own AI models and rival products.

Technology has been a point of contention between the U.S. and China over the past few years. Washington has sought to restrict China’s access to key technologies such as semiconductors, and U.S. export curbs recently targeted chips from Nvidia, which are used to train artificial intelligence models.

During the Biden and Xi meeting, the two leaders “affirmed the need to address the risks of advanced AI systems and improve AI safety through U.S.-China government talks,” according to a White House readout.

Smith and Wang’s meeting appears to have mirrored that.

Can China's ChatGPT clones give it an edge over the U.S. in an A.I. arms race?

Meetings between U.S. technology firms and the Chinese government have become increasingly rare in recent years, as Washington-Beijing tensions ramped up. In addition, there are very few U.S. tech firms operating in China, with the likes of Google parent Alphabet and Meta’s services blocked in the world’s second-largest economy.

However, this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China, which is the company’s third-largest market. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also made a trip to China, where the electric carmaker has one of its biggest factories. This has partly coincided with easier travel to China after the intense Covid-19 restrictions that were lifted in 2022, as well as Beijing’s desire to woo foreign businesses.

Smith said that Microsoft is willing to “actively participate in the digital transformation of China’s economy” and remains committed to promoting economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S., according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment about the meeting when contacted by CNBC.

Technology

China suspends some critical mineral export curbs to the U.S. as trade truce takes hold

Published

3 hours ago

November 10, 2025

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China suspends some critical mineral export curbs to the U.S. as trade truce takes hold

Crystals of gallium are seen in a laboratory at Freiberg University of Mining and Technology in Saxony, Germany on 13 September 2023.

Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

China has rolled back a number of restrictions on its export of critical minerals and rare earth materials to the United States, in a sign that a trade truce between the world’s two largest economies is holding.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said Friday that it would suspend some export controls on critical minerals used in military hardware, semiconductors and other high-tech industries for a year.

The suspended restrictions, first imposed on Oct. 9, include limits on the export of certain rare earth elements, lithium battery materials, and processing technologies.

The export relaxations follow talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30.

Beijing also reversed retaliatory curbs on exports of gallium, germanium, antimony and other so-called super-hard materials such as synthetic diamonds and boron nitrides. Those measures, introduced in December 2024, were widely seen as retaliation for Washington’s expanded semiconductor export restrictions on China.

China classifies such materials as “dual-use items,” meaning they can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

Beyond military applications, these critical minerals are used across the semiconductor industry and other high-tech sectors — sectors at the heart of U.S.-China trade tensions.

Beijing has also suspended the stricter end-user and end-use verification checks for exports of dual-use graphite to the U.S., which were imposed in December 2024 alongside the broader export ban.

China dominates global production of most critical minerals and rare earth elements and has increasingly used its export policies as leverage in trade disputes.

As part of the latest China-U.S. trade deal, the U.S. has agreed to several concessions, including lowering tariffs on Chinese imports by 10 percentage points, and suspending Trump’s heightened “reciprocal tariffs” on Chinese imports until Nov. 10, 2026.

The U.S. will also postpone a rule announced Sept. 29 that would have blacklisted majority-owned subsidiaries of Chinese companies on its entity list.

Technology

CNBC Daily Open: Too early to fret about tech pullback?

Published

6 hours ago

November 10, 2025

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CNBC Daily Open: Too early to fret about tech pullback?

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 07, 2025 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

November is historically the best month for the S&P 500, which gains an average of 1.8% during the period, according to the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

But the first full trading week of the month saw stocks caught in November rains.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each lost more than 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed around 3% — that’s its largest weekly loss since the tech-heavy index slumped 10% in the week ended April 4.

A few months ago, tariffs were the shadows that stalked stocks. Now, it’s fears that artificial intelligence-related stocks are trading at prices disconnected from what the firms are actually worth.

“You’ve got trillions of dollars tied up in seven stocks, for example. So, it’s inevitable, with that kind of concentration, that there will be a worry about, ‘You know, when will this bubble burst?‘” CEO of DBS, Southeast Asia’s largest bank, Tan Su Shan told CNBC.

Goldman Sachs’ CEO David Solomon also thinks choppy waters might be ahead.

“It’s likely there’ll be a 10 to 20% drawdown in equity markets sometime in the next 12 to 24 months,” Solomon said Tuesday at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong.

That said, a pullback isn’t necessarily bad for stocks. It could even present “buying opportunities” for investors, according to Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management.

After all, earnings have been “reassuring” despite worries about tech stocks’ high valuations, Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS, told CNBC. That means the rain might not last and the rally could find a way to run a little longer.

— CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan, Hugh Leask and Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.

What you need to know today

Major U.S. index were mixed Friday stateside. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up more than 0.1%, but the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.21% lower. The pan-European Stoxx 600 lost 0.55%. U.S. futures rose Sunday evening stateside.

China consumer prices pick up in October. The consumer price index, released Sunday, showed a 0.2% growth year on year. It beats analysts’ expectations of zero growth and is the first month since June that prices rose.

U.S. government on track to end shutdown. Enough Democratic senators had agreed to vote for a deal that would fund the U.S. government through the end of January, a person familiar with the deal told CNBC.

Another missed jobs report. The ongoing U.S. government shutdown — which is now the longest ever — means the Bureau of Labor Statistics couldn’t release its monthly employment data. Here’s what economists would have expected the report to show.

[PRO] Stocks that could bounce after sell-off. Using CNBC Pro’s stock screener tool, we found several names that are oversold, according to their 14-day relative strength index. This implies they could be due for a recovery in prices.

And finally…

Fluxfactory | E+ | Getty Images

A global wealth boom is fueling a rise in family office imposters

Fundraisers and fraudsters are presenting themselves as family office representatives, seeking to dupe gullible investors — and then there are also imposters who are in it just for an “ego boost,” several industry veterans told CNBC.

An information vacuum seems to have encouraged imposters. In many markets, genuine single family offices, or SFOs, are exempt from registering so long as they manage only family money. That privacy norm often makes verification hard, said industry experts.

— Lee Ying Shan