Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) technology companies are gaining a growing foothold among international users, with their models topping rankings on some leading industry platforms, ahead of their US counterparts.

China saw robust exports in electric vehicles (EV), lithium batteries and photovoltaic products, known as the "new three," in the first half of this year. More notably, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and innovative drugs, which represent the future direction of industrial development, are also emerging as new calling cards for China's foreign trade.

The Spanish government's backing for a planned electric vehicle (EV) factory by China's SAIC Motor, despite some concerns, shows that rational commercial logic overrides unwarranted security fears. This move would help Madrid advance its electrification agenda and create new economic and industrial opportunities.

Trade via the China-Laos Railway surpassed 20 billion yuan ($2.96 billion) in the first seven months of the year, up 29.9 percent year-on-year, customs data showed. The infrastructure project is further expanding its spillover effects on trade and cooperation among ASEAN members.

China's rapid rise in innovation capabilities has drawn broad recognition and positive assessments from the international community. However, some have taken a different stance, expressing concerns over China's technological and industrial advancement and even promoting the so-called “China Shock 2.0” narrative for various reasons, including the unfounded claim that China's industrial development is limiting others' growth opportunities.

Starting Wednesday, home-made C919 aircraft will fly a daily international route from Beijing to Ulan Bator in Mongolia, marking the first routine international passenger service for the Chinese-built jet.

In recent years, some economies, anxious about their own industrial competitiveness and market position, have politicized economic and trade issues, taking turns to hype false narratives such as "China overcapacity" and a "China Shock 2.0," and using them as pretexts to roll out protectionist measures.

For some time, certain economies, anxious about their own industrial competitiveness, have shifted blame for domestic structural problems onto China. They have promoted the one-sided claim that "large export volumes and high trade surpluses equal overcapacity," using it to justify protectionist measures that pit industries against one another and disrupt global supply chains.

A Chinese shipping company is set to launch a regular container service to Europe via Russia's Northern Sea Route, probably this week, with eight weekly sailings planned during this year's Arctic navigation season - part of a broader push by Chinese carriers to move Arctic shipping from sporadic voyages toward larger-scale and more regular commercial operations.

For many overseas travelers arriving in Shanghai, the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower are no longer the first stops on their itineraries. Instead, they head straight to the South Bund Soft Spinning Material Market, where custom-tailored outfits have become a signature experience driving “China-maxxing,” a viral lifestyle trend popular among global travelers.

The designation of Deutsche Bank, a key and influential bank in Europe, to serve as the yuan-clearing bank will greatly facilitate and expand the use of the yuan in the EU market, providing more impetus to broader China-EU economic and trade ties, a Chinese analyst said on Tuesday.

A Chinese shipping company has confirmed with the Global Times the plan to launch a regular container service via Russia's Northern Sea Route to Europe this week, marking a new Arctic option for Asia-Europe trade once it sets sail.

China has granted marketing approval of its first drug for the prevention of acute mountain sickness, filling the long-standing gap in the domestic market where no such medications had been available, Science and Technology Daily reported on Tuesday.

Editor's Note: The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan called for building a modern industrial system, consolidating the foundation of the real economy, and accelerating high-level technological self-reliance and self-strength to lead the development of new quality productive forces. These goals have provided clear direction for industrial transformation and upgrading across various sectors, while injecting strong momentum into high-quality development. The Global Times has launched a new column titled "China Industry Close-up." Focusing on the creation of a new development pattern, the column will delve deeply into vivid examples of industrial transformation and upgrading across various sectors, aiming to showcase China's innovation-driven and high-quality development. This is the second installment of the series.

In a community in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, milk tea is not just a beverage. While a pot of milk tea simmers in a courtyard, local residents gather with cups in hand to discuss everyday issues -- faulty streetlamps, alleys in need of repair, or other minor neighborhood disputes.

The world's largest impulse hydropower unit successfully completed its rotor hoisting at the Datang Zhala Hydropower Station in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday, the CCTV News reported. The milestone marks China's entry into the world's leading ranks in innovating core technologies for ultra-high-head, large-capacity impulse hydropower equipment, which will support the development of clean energy in southeastern Xizang.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, has issued a reform and development plan for the 2026-2030 period, making work arrangements aimed at accelerating the building of a nation with a strong financial sector and improving the central banking system. The plan said measures will be taken to "prudently advance high-level financial opening-up," noting efforts will be made to expand the global use of the renminbi in international trade, investment and financing, deepen two-way financial market access, quicken steps to build Shanghai into an international financial center and enhance the role of Hong Kong as a global financial center.

China's cutting-edge industrial upgrade witnessed two major landmarks on Monday, marking the country's full-fledged global lead in humanoid robotics and further solidifying the rise of its "new new three" strategic sectors — robotics, artificial intelligence and innovative medicine.

The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government said on Monday that the central government will issue 6 billion yuan ($889.20 million) of sovereign bonds in Macao on August 20.

China is stepping up the intelligent transformation of its high-risk coal mines, as the country's top economic planner and energy regulator rolled out a new development plan during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period that calls for greater use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in hazardous underground operations.

Flights between China and South Korea remained at a high level in the past two weeks, supported by network expansion and rising demand, industry data showed on Monday.

Chinese autonomous-driving company Pony.ai said on Monday that its cumulative autonomous-driving distance worldwide has surpassed 100 million kilometers, marking the latest milestone as China's driverless sector moves from technology validation toward mass production and scaled commercial deployment.

Fireworks bloomed in golden-red sparks across the night sky, the hems of Hanfu skirts swaying gently in the glow of the lanterns, while the steam from soup dumplings mingled with the bustling sounds of the marketplace. Several foreign tourists held up their phones to capture the atmosphere. This was an ordinary day in Kaifeng, Central China's Henan Province, yet every corner brimmed with the lively atmosphere of Song-era life and an open, welcoming warmth.

Recent media reports have questioned whether a natural gas plant built to power an Amazon data center project in Texas could become the largest climate polluter in the US. The controversy, whatever the eventual outcome, offers a reality check for America's artificial intelligence (AI) drive.

Due to intense demand, the final online winning rate of Unitree Robotics' IPO - China's first humanoid robot A-share stock - is razor-thin 0.0181 percent, the company announced on Monday. In plain language: you needed to be one of the lucky 5,525 applicants to get shares.

The joint ventures (JVs) of General Motors (GM) will continue to build Chevrolet products in China and explore opportunities in non-US overseas markets, General Motors China confirmed the Global Times on Monday, in response to media reports claiming that the US brand is ending new car sales in China and retreating from the Chinese market.

Germany's industrial woes have increasingly become a hot topic of discussion. The latest Engineer Monitor report from professional association Verein Deutscher Ingenieure and the German Economic Institute offers a new look at the issue.

China's largest pork-producing province has introduced a genomic breeding tool designed for indigenous pig breeding, a sign that the province is shifting from expanding volume toward improving hog quality.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Monday it has made a preliminary ruling that imports of pecan (Carya illinoensis) from Mexico and the US are being dumped, causing material injury to China's domestic pecan industry.

Chinese robot maker Unitree Robotics on Monday opened subscriptions for its initial public offering (IPO) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market, putting a leading player in China's fast-growing humanoid robot industry in the capital-market spotlight.

After media reports saying that US tech firm Apple has been testing memory chips from Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) across product lines including iPhones and MacBooks, Chinese experts said on Monday that Apple may seek to adopt memory chips from CXMT to control rising costs for its electronic devices despite obstruction by some US politicians.

Consumer-oriented embodied AI model developer Noin Intelligence announced a 500-million-yuan ($74.1 million) Angel++ funding round on Monday, the company said in a statement, marking another major capital inflow into embodied AI models as investors turn their attention toward the “brains” behind robots.

China-made electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for 14.2 percent of European market sales in the first five months of 2026 despite the EU's steep tariffs. The growth showed that trade‑protectionist barriers can only serve as short‑lived obstacles, as consumers' purchasing choice ultimately hinges on product competitiveness and China's EV strengths will support the automakers' long‑term growth, Chinese experts said.

According to a Science and Technology Daily's Sunday report, China has discovered and named a new mineral, Wusihe germanium ore, with an average germanium oxide content of up to 72 percent, second only to germanite.

Heatwaves sweeping across Europe this summer have made air conditioners a hot commodity. For many European consumers, however, the challenge was not only purchasing a cooling device, but also having it delivered and installed quickly.

International businesses are taking a closer look at China's import market. The first batch of exhibits for the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) is now on its way to Shanghai, including equipment from an Austrian machine tool manufacturer, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.

China's market landscape experienced a structural optimization in the first half of 2026, powered by a lineup of emerging and future-oriented industries.

German exports to China fell year-on-year in the first half of 2026, pointing to a deeper restructuring of bilateral trade as China moves up the manufacturing value chain, Chinese analysts said. They also cautioned that the decline should not be read as diminishing China's importance to German businesses, given the deep economic ties and the continued benefits of cooperation for both sides.

Central China's Hunan Province, a key locality in developing trade ties with African countries, aims to ramp up its foreign trade with Africa to 80 billion yuan ($11.86 billion) by 2028, according to a three-year action plan posted on the provincial government's website on Sunday.

Global automakers are forging deeper and longer-term ties with China, as the country's role evolves beyond a key market into an increasingly important hub for automotive research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Chinese chipmaker Moore Threads, often described as "China's Nvidia" or "Nvidia alternative," reported fast revenue growth in the first half of 2026, which exceeded its entire 2025 full-year figure. The growth accompanied other domestic graphics processing unit (GPU) companies' gains, marking a clear shift toward profitability.

With just one day to go before Chinese humanoid robotics pioneer Unitree Robotics opens subscriptions for its initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai's STAR Market, investor attention has extended far beyond the company itself, highlighting a broader capital-market rush into embodied intelligence as the sector moves from technological breakthroughs toward commercialization.

Phase I Bozhong 19-6 gas field, China's first 100-billion-cubic-meter gas field in the Bohai Sea, has entered full operation, with daily oil and gas output surpassing 5,200 tons, CNOOC Tianjin Branch announced on Sunday. The project is of great significance for optimizing the regional energy structure and supporting high-quality economic and social development, the People's Daily reported.

“The takedown of the support‑guide page might signal pending tweaks to technical details amid ongoing regulatory progress,” Liu Dingding, a veteran tech analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 0.5 percent year on year in July, official data showed Sunday.

Apple Intelligence has been formally integrated with Alibaba's Qwen model on macOS, according to Apple's Chinese website on Saturday, enabling voice assistant and text-generation functions and marking a significant step forward in the rollout of Apple's AI services in the Chinese market.

A US federal judge on Friday temporarily "barred the Pentagon from including Chinese biotechnology group WuXi AppTec on a list of companies believed to support Beijing's military," according to Reuters. Chinese experts said the ruling sends a positive signal for Chinese companies operating in the US, showing that Washington's arbitrary, fact-deficient national security blacklists are not beyond challenge and that firms should make greater use of legal means to defend their legitimate rights.

China's largest AI computing industrial park was completed and put into operation in Ulanqab, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Thursday. Meanwhile, Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek is reportedly also planning a massive AI data center there.

China continues to be the leading destination for Brazilian soybeans, and the Brazilian soybean industry wants to further deepen this relationship, expecting historically high volumes in the coming months, the Brazilian Association of Soybean Growers (Aprosoja Brasil) told the Global Times on Friday.

Beijing's housing authority announced on Friday that the social insurance or individual income tax payment requirement for non-Beijing-registered families to purchase commercial residential properties within the city's fifth ring road will be reduced from "two years" to "one year," effective Saturday.

China's exports of integrated circuits (ICs) reached $216.02 billion in the first seven months of 2026, up 99.5 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Friday.

The 19th Annual Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (WAPE) opened on the afternoon of August 5, local time, at the University of Greenwich in London under the theme "The Wealth of Nations in the Multipolar Age".

In economic theory, “overcapacity” is inherently a recurring feature of the market economy's dynamic “balance – imbalance – rebalance” cycle, for which no universally accepted definition exists. The Western narrative that equates China's sizable production capacity directly with “overcapacity” defies economic logic and rigor; in reality, it represents a politicization of trade and economic issues

China rare-earth exports totaled 4,223.5 tons in July, and cumulative exports reached 34,706.3 tons in the first seven months of 2026, down 10 percent year-on-year, Chinese customs data showed on Friday.

Nearly two years after its launch, Chancay Port has entered a phase of rapid growth. As an important logistics hub in Peru, the port is accelerating the development of a new Latin America-Asia ocean shipping lane, while intensifying connection and cooperation between many Latin American countries and China.

Eight Chinese leading polysilicon producers have issued public pledges to stop selling solar products below a cost benchmark, in a fresh industry effort to curb “involution-style” competition and support healthier pricing in the country's photovoltaic supply chain, the Shanghai Securities Journal reported on Friday.

Chinese experts on Friday slammed the US move to impose a series of price floors and a 15 percent tariff on products made from polysilicon, saying it was another sign that the US is using trade tools to contain China's industrial growth and counter China's chip supply chain, with “industrial security” serving as a pretext for trade protectionism.

China's goods trade imports and exports sustained a sound growth momentum in the first seven months, with the total value reaching 30.13 trillion yuan ($4.46 trillion) of 2026, up 17.3 percent year-on-year, extending sound growth trend. The deep integration of tech and industrial innovation is being steadily translated into new competitive strengths and fresh growth drivers for foreign trade, official data showed on Friday.

China's goods imports and exports sustained a sound growth momentum in the first seven months of 2026, with the total value reaching 30.13 trillion yuan ($4.46 trillion), up 17.3 percent year-on-year. In July alone, exports of high-tech products – including industrial robots and 3D printers – grew by more than 50 percent year-on-year, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the month's total export increment, as the innovation trend of China's foreign trade kept rising steadily, official data showed.

A high-speed railway traversing a permafrost zone in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province entered trial operation on Thursday, bringing the country's northernmost bullet-train line one step closer to official service.

China's robust industrial chain and rapid iterative innovation have propelled its artificial intelligence (AI) hardware sector into a global leadership position, with Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei — the world's premier electronics hub — emerging as the core gateway for Chinese intelligent products to go global.

China's top internet regulator announced on Thursday that it has launched a cybersecurity review into products sold by US-based Palo Alto Networks in the country, a step that Chinese analysts said was necessary for national security as Washington increasingly engages in cyber activities seen as threatening national interests.

Workers assemble a transmission tower at the Gansu-Zhejiang ultra-high-voltage power transmission project in Wuhu, East China's Anhui Province, on August 6, 2026. Spanning 2,370 kilometers, the project is a key part of China's west-to-east power transmission program. It will deliver more than 36 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year to East China's Zhejiang Province, supporting optimization of the energy structure and green, high-quality development across the Yangtze River Delta.

Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics has set the price for its initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai's STAR Market at 150.80 yuan ($22.3) per share, seeking to raise 6.1 billion yuan, according to a filing made public on Thursday.

Chinese auto giant SAIC Motor and the US automaker General Motors (GM) have signed an agreement to extend their joint venture (JV) partnership by 20 years to 2047.

A new rule issued by US authorities has thrust certain used critical minerals into the spotlight of the key raw materials supply chain. The US is banning the export of lithium-ion battery and tungsten waste in an effort to curb its reliance on China and secure more of the critical materials its defense industry needs, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Beginning later this month, certain battery scrap and tungsten waste in the US must be sold domestically, according to a new rule issued by the US Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Industry and Security.

A 15 percent tariff on polysilicon products could become the latest symptom of Washington's deepening obsession with technology containment against China, as the US administration continues to expand its China-targeted restrictions from raw materials to finished products, ranging from chips and AI to critical resources such as lithium battery scrap and tungsten.

Temperatures in parts of East China's Shandong Province recently exceeded 40 C. In a grain storage facility in Jiyang, a district of Jinan in Shandong, the average temperature of stored grain remained at about 20 C. An internal air circulation system made this possible, helping preserve grain quality through the summer heat.

The global pharmaceutical landscape is shifting, and China's innovative drug industry is expanding overseas at speed. A clear supply-demand shift began in 2023 and peaked in 2025, marking a period of value realization for the sector.

Hydropower generated in Laos has for the first time been transmitted to China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) through the China-Laos 500-kilovolt (kV) interconnection project, marking a new milestone in cross-border clean energy cooperation between the two countries, according to Guangzhou Daily reports on Thursday.

The "new new three" - artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and innovative medicine -is now making global headlines as China's latest foreign-trade sensation. This change in export leaders reflects a clear industrial upgrade. While the "new three" (new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic modules) were about scale and efficiency, the "new new three" is about talent density and innovation ecosystems. Nowhere is this clearer than in innovative medicine, where the story is one of creation - and creation, from start to finish, is about people. From generics to breakthroughs, every step bears the mark of human ingenuity.

During the first six months of 2026, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and innovative drugs cemented their position as the emerging “new new three” driving forces in China's export landscape. The emergence of China's “new new three” reflects the development of high technology with a fundamentally new approach – one that rethinks how technology is integrated into society.

China's largest artificial intelligence (AI) computing industrial park has been completed and put into operation in Ulanqab, North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is also the single AI data center (AIDC) with the largest token output capacity in the world, the builder stated on Thursday.

The world's first 16-megawatt tension-leg platform (TLP) floating wind power facility, Haiyou Anlan, was connected to the Lufeng oilfield power grid on Thursday and began supplying green electricity directly to offshore oil operations, according to a statement China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) sent to the Global Times.

China's top internet regulator announced on Thursday that it has launched a cybersecurity review into products sold by Palo Alto Networks in the country.

China has the world's second-largest travel and tourism investment pipeline and is set to overtake the US in the next coming decade, with investment forecast to reach $402 billion by 2036, according to a report the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sent to the Global Times on Thursday.

A reported US plan to levy a 15 percent tariff on polysilicon imports, interpreted as a move to counter China's strengths in the sector, is another protectionist measure that would further strain bilateral trade and economic relations if implemented, Chinese analysts and industry experts told the Global Times on Thursday. The impact on the Chinese industry will be limited, while the new move will raise costs for related US industries, including its renewable sectors, they noted.

TuringQ, a Shanghai-based photonic quantum computing company, entered initial public offering (IPO) tutoring with the Shanghai branch of the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Thursday, intensifying the competition to become China's first listed quantum computing firm and highlighting a broader rush by Chinese hard-tech companies to tap public markets.

Chinese automaker SAIC Motor and General Motors (GM) on Wednesday announced a 20-year extension of their joint venture partnership to 2047.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on Thursday that imports of beef from Argentina reached 50 percent of the set annual quota on August 5. Once Argentina's beef imports reach the full quota, an additional 55 percent tariff will take effect three days afterward.

China and India have considerable scope for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), as their AI capabilities are complementary in many respects, a senior Indian expert told the Global Times in an exclusive interview.

China's main steel industry body on Wednesday called for wider use of a yuan-denominated iron ore price index, saying it would provide a more objective and transparent alternative to dollar-based benchmarks, curb speculation and better reflect market supply and demand.

China's green fuel industry has made phased progress, with production capacity steadily increasing. As of the end of 2025, the country had green fuel production capacity of about 8 million tons of oil equivalent (TOE) per year, according to a report released by China's National Energy Administration (NEA) on Wednesday.

Chinese robot maker Unitree Robotics began preliminary price inquiries on Wednesday for its planned IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market. Investment banks estimate its post-listing valuation could exceed 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion), while CCB International sees it being re-rated to 60 billion yuan to 100 billion yuan, with an optimistic target of 109 billion yuan.

This year, artificial intelligence, robotics and innovative medicines - dubbed the "new new three" - are expected to emerge as new pillars of China's foreign trade. This shift from last year's "new three" of exports - namely electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products - is not merely a policy signal, but a precise positioning of China's next wave of export competitiveness.

A US congressional report that accuses Chinese telecommunications companies of being linked to potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in US telecom networks once again exposes Washington's propensity to politicize technology and cybersecurity issues, Chinese experts said on Wednesday, noting that the claims lack factual basis and violate basic understanding of how global communications operate.

China's biggest technology companies are putting multidisciplinary artificial intelligence (AI) talent at the center of their 2027 graduate recruitment, with AI-related positions accounting for more than 80 percent of openings at Alibaba and more than 90 percent at Baidu, as rapid advances in large-language models and AI agents accelerate commercial deployment.

China firmly opposes the US overstretching the concept of national security, and abusing state power to go after Chinese businesses, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Wednesday, in response to reports of the US drafting a ban on imports of new Chinese optical transceivers and preparing price floors and tariffs on polysilicon and related products.

China's largest self-propelled pure electric-driven deep-sea cable-laying vessel completed its launching operation in East China's Jiangsu Province on Tuesday, marking a solid step toward formal delivery and operation for this major piece of equipment in the offshore wind power sector.

China on Wednesday announced a range of swift and decisive countermeasures in response to the US' continued escalation of unilateral protectionist moves targeting Chinese businesses and products, with restrictions spanning industries from cotton to drones and robotic equipment under the pretexts of “forced labor” claims, national security and other claims.

US automaker General Motors and Chinese auto giant SAIC Motor have signed an agreement extending their joint venture partnership by 20 years to 2047, the companies said in an official statement on Wednesday.

China's countermeasures against the negative measures taken by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are generally restrained, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday, after China announced a slew of countermeasures.

The National Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) has decided to suspend, effective immediately, the post-certification factory follow-up inspections conducted by US certification bodies entrusted by designated institutions for China Compulsory Certification (CCC)，according to CCTV News.

China on Wednesday decided to add US-based Compliance Testing LLC to its countermeasure list and prohibit organizations and individuals in China from conducting any transactions, cooperation, or other activities with the company, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on Wednesday.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced to initiate a foreign trade national security investigation into imported office equipment with printing and copying functions that is installed with foreign system software, effective Wednesday. This marks China's first national security investigation in foreign trade.

China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Wednesday announced countermeasures in accordance with the law against six US entities for assisting and supporting Washington's illegal sanctions related to Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with the measures taking effect immediately.

China released strengthened export controls on drone-related dual-use items to the US, in order to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced on Wednesday. The rule takes effect immediately from Wednesday.

The oceans, covering over 70 percent of Earth's surface, are both the largest repository of resources and the most challenging frontier for humanity to conquer.

The "new new three" — artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and innovative medicine — have rapidly gaining momentum and are poised to become the new pillars of China's overall growth. Amid global supply chain shift and growing tech competition, these sectors not only shoulder the important task of shifting the engines of growth but also mark China's manufacturing transition from quantitative expansion to qualitative leap.

The Trump administration is considering fresh restrictions on Chinese-made data center components and is also preparing possible tariffs and a price floor on polysilicon, a key material used in both solar panels and semiconductors, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.