☕️ Good morning, friends,

A heartwarming story to start: A Chinese schoolgirl woke from a coma after her father read her university entrance exam results aloud.

The photos from the hospital are both funny and touching. Take a look.

If Michael or Thomas ever fell into a coma, we’d probably find it more effective to hold lamb skewers or dumplings under their noses.

In other news: Chinese officials have been instructed by authorities to cut down on “unnecessary meetings” and keep speeches brief.

As you’ve probably noticed from our style, we’re big fans of the smart-brevity approach. The high open rates on our emails show you are too.

🤝 So we just wanted to say thanks. We’re glad you’re part of asiabits.

BENCHMARKS

NUMBER OF THE DAY

+25%

That’s how many more AI graduates ByteDance plans to hire from universities in 2026.

🚀 ByteDance PhD Salaries: Up to $5,200 per month for doctoral candidates; top AI engineers earn as much as $8,800/month.

💰 Talent-War Stakes: Meta paid a 24-year-old AI researcher $250 million—$100 million of it in the first year.

WATCH: Companies are pouring billions into AI talent because proprietary models can make or break market dominance. If you’re not in the bidding today, you’ll be left behind tomorrow.

TOP BIT

🍼 Billion-Dollar Baby Market – Beijing Forces a Turnaround

With new subsidies, China’s government aims to halt the birth-rate decline. Families will receive cash for their first child for the first time, and businesses are eyeing fresh opportunities. The baby and family market is massive, still growing, and now turbocharged by policy support. Estimated volume: over $640 billion.

The Details

💰 Subsidy for Every Young Child: Since July, the state pays ¥3,600 (≈ $500) per year for each child under three—including the first child for the first time.

🧃 High-Potential Baby Market: The baby-and-maternity sector is projected to reach ¥4.63 trillion (≈ $645 billion) in 2025, growing at about 7% annually.

🛍️ Gen-Z Parents as Premium Buyers: They demand smart apps, transparency in nutrition, and experiential offerings—ski vacations, golf lessons, or coding classes for kids outrank traditional baby goods.

🧃 Subsidy Side Effects: Immediately after the new family subsidies were announced, several Chinese producers hiked diaper and formula prices sharply—triggering a social-media backlash.

🎓 Business Opportunities in Transition: Smart services are now hot—parenting apps, digital early-learning, and innovative family insurance products are in high demand.

Why It Matters

• Shifting Consumer Behavior: Young parents make data-driven, critical, and public purchase decisions. Brands that fail to impress risk boycotts.
  

• New Growth Fields: Companies focusing on digital education, health services, and family-lifestyle offerings stand to gain from the demographic shift.
  

• Policy Tailwind: The government’s large-scale subsidy model also serves as an economic stimulus for struggling consumer sectors.

Background

China has faced seven years of falling birth rates and a shrinking population. This first nationwide child subsidy marks a strategic shift—from symbolic incentives to structural family support. Fees for the last year of public preschool have also been abolished.

📊 All Data & Details: SCMP, CNBC

PARTNERSHIP
Become Our Partner

Swap bot clicks and influencer blah-blah for genuine relevance.
asiabits reaches a growing daily community of young, international professionals who need to know Asia—before everyone else catches up.

Our native placements give you:

• High-quality attention in the right context

• 100 % format-audience fit

• Full brand safety—no BS, no distractions

Position your brand in the most relevant Asia newsletter in German-speaking markets.
👉 [email protected]

HEAD OF THE DAY

🇨🇳 James Liang

👶 From travel CEO to demography whisperer: James Liang, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Trip.com Group, grew the company from an offline travel agency into a global powerhouse with over 400 million users, took it public on NASDAQ in 2003, and authored bestsellers like “Too Many People in China?”. In that book he shows how China’s declining population endangers innovation and economic vitality—and he lays out concrete solutions.

The 55-year-old has already come to the aid of mothers in China with his playgroup app Moremom and even paid employees to have children. He calls the one-child policy a failure and criticizes economists who rely on private choice instead of accepting the state’s responsibility.

MARKET BIT

🔬 XTalPi Lands $6 Billion Mega Deal – AI Meets Cancer Research

Details

💸 Deal Volume: Harvard entrepreneur Gregory Verdine, through his start-up DoveTree, secures exclusive rights to future XTalPi compounds: $100 million upfront, up to $5.9 billion upon development and sales milestones.

🤖 Turbo Lab: XTalPi combines robotics with its proprietary language-model software; the company reports hit rates in chemistry soaring from 30 % to 90 %, cutting drug-candidate searches to one–two years.

🎯 Indications: Planned therapies target cancer, autoimmune and neurological diseases, and metabolic disorders—all markets with high unmet need.

📈 Market Reaction: The Hong Kong–listed stock jumped 23 % on the news and closed up 12 % on the day.

🌍 Trend: In 2025 alone, Chinese biotechs have already generated $66 billion in licensing value—more than in all of last year.

Why It Matters

• Validation for AI Pharma: An industry veteran like Verdine backing a Chinese AI lab signals that computational models in drug discovery are ready for billion-dollar bets.
  

• Risk-Free Cash: XTalPi receives immediate funding without bearing costly clinical-stage expenses; revenue follows later via royalties.
  

• Patent Race: Western pharma firms buy pipeline supply, while Chinese developers free up capital to build more AI platforms.

👉🏻 Full Story: Yicai Global, SCMP

TOP READS

⚛️ China Develops Super Steel for Nuclear Fusion: After ten years of research, Chinese scientists present CHSN01, a steel that withstands extreme cold of minus 269 degrees Celsius and massive magnetic forces. The material is already being used in the world's first commercial fusion reactor and solves a critical problem of the international ITER project, whose conventional cryogenic steel failed in 2011. Full story.

🔒 TSMC Discovers Potential Data Theft for 2-Nanometer Chips: The world's largest chipmaker detected "unauthorized activities" with several former employees suspected of accessing critical production data while still employed. TSMC launched legal proceedings and emphasizes its zero-tolerance policy to protect its over 200,000 trade secrets. Full story.

🐟 Mitsubishi Grabs Thai Union Stake for Seafood Dominance: The Japanese trading giant offers $205 million for 20 percent of the world's largest tuna can producer, paying 6 percent above market price. The partnership since 1991 deepens Mitsubishi's seafood strategy, after the conglomerate already bought Norwegian salmon farms for one billion dollars and became number two in global salmon production. Full story.

OPTIONAL READS

China: Shanghai plans five new data centers to boost national AI computing power. More on that.

South Korea: SK On is advancing the production of solid-state batteries in order to hold back Chinese competitors technologically. More on that.

Japan: Motor manufacturer Nidec drives motor innovation with new plant and R&D center in China. More on that.

FORTUNE COOKIE

🍕 Premium Pizza: Years in China have taught us one thing: most people here happily spend a big chunk of their salary on food.

In Shanghai, you’d sooner take a cold shower than skimp on dining out. An ingenious Italian pizzaiolo saw this and now sells pizzas for 498 CNY (about $70).

Now we know where 90 % of the newly introduced child subsidy is going…

📬 Got Something Funny, Interesting, or Noteworthy from Asia? Send it to [email protected] and we’ll feature it here!

As a thank-you, you’ll receive the exclusive asiabits China snack box filled with half a kilo of treats!

FEEDBACK

See you tomorrow in your inbox, 

Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits