DATAPOINT OF THE WEEK: Passenger car retail sales in China totaled 1.46M units in July, down 20% Y/Y and 8.8M/M, according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), marking the tenth consecutive month of Y/Y declines. Despite the broader weakness, NEV penetration reached its highest recorded level ever at 65.1% of retail sales, up 11 percentage points Y/Y. NEV retail sales totaled 951k units, down 3.6% Y/Y and 5.6% M/M. Within that, BEV sales reached 647K units, up 6.6% Y/Y but down 5.5% M/M, while PHEV sales declined 20% Y/Y and 5.9% M/M. Notably, exports remained robust at 918K units, up 93% Y/Y, with NEVs comprising 58.8% of the total, growing 154% Y/Y.
Headlines:
Auto/Transportation
- China's heavy e-Truck exports more than double post-Iran war, according to Reuters
- Ford to relocate Lincoln Nautilus production from China to US in 2030 as 52.5% tariff makes imports untenable
- German auto workforce shrinks 5.8% Y/Y to lowest since 2005 as VW, BMW, and Mercedes cut costs against Chinese competition, according to Bloomberg
- Global EV sales diverge sharply in July as European subsidies drive 33%Y/Y jump while US tax credit repeal sinks NA volumes 27%, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
- GM sets up $4.5B off-balance-sheet parts purchasing facility with Procura to insulate production from supply shocks
- US new-vehicle inventory tightens to 75 days as July sales outpace replenishment and MY2027 launches lag prior-year cadence
- US new-vehicle average transaction price climbs to 2026 high of $49.9K as 2027 models lift stickers and incentives ease, per Cox Automotive
Datacenter
- CoreWeave lifts 2026 capex to $35-39B as backlog swells to $104B and near-term capacity sells out
- Foxconn's AI server segment tops 50% of revenue for first time as Nvidia Vera Rubin racks head to mass production in 4Q
- Super Micro guides FY27 revenue well above estimates as billion-dollar AI server customers more than double
Industrial
- Boeing July deliveries slip 17% M/M to 53 jets as Airbus outpaces with 67
- US President Trump implements 100% tariff on national-security-sensitive drone imports and 15% on allied suppliers, citing US over-reliance on foreign drones
Semiconductors
- Analog Devices planning second 2026 price hike for September with military chips up 30%, funneling revenue into fab and packaging expansion, per EE Times China
- Infineon and LS Electric ink MoU to co-develop DC power infrastructure for AI datacenters and next-gen grids
- Intel signals possible memory market reentry with XBM patent targeting interposer-less CPU-memory stacking after 2030, Tom's Hardware reported
- Microsoft reportedly planning its Maia 300 launch as it negotiates with TSMC for 300K-unit 2027 build to close gap on Google and Amazon silicon, according to The Information
- Navitas countersues Renesas over GaN patents as semiconductor legal battles intensify, according to Reuters
- SanDisk locks in eight customers including three US hyperscalers for two-thirds of FY28 output as High Bandwidth Flash tapes out
- Omdia triples its 2026 semi growth forecast to 94.1% Y/Y as HBM and advanced packaging bottlenecks push memory past half of industry revenue
- Global smartphone SoC shipments fall 15% in 1H26 as memory prices spike 300%, hitting MediaTek and Qualcomm hardest, says CounterPoint
- SMIC 2Q profit triples to $479M as AI chip demand tightens capacity, prompting new line ramp
- TSMC and Sony launch $4.69B Kumamoto JV for smartphone image sensors with volume production slated for 2029
Consumer
- iPhone 18 Pro 256GB BOM to jump 38% Y/Y as memory share of cost triples, squeezing Apple margins, according to TrendForce
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