5G phone shipments

SHIPMENTS of 5G phones in China surged 79.7 percent year on year to 168 million units in the first eight months of this year, latest data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) showed.

The volume accounted for 74.1 percent of the country’s total mobile phone shipments during the period, said the CAICT, a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. According to the data, half of the 296 newly-released mobile phone models during this period were 5G phones. In August alone, China shipped 17.69 million units of 5G phones, up 9.4 percent year on year, the data showed.

BMW investment

GERMAN carmaker BMW will invest 25 billion yuan (US$3.87 billion) in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province.

Oliver Zipse, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, made the announcement in a video speech Friday at an economic and trade cooperation promotion event for participants of the China International Import Expo. The new investment comes in addition to BMW’s total investment of over 64 billion yuan in Shenyang since 2009, Zipse said.

Tesla production

TESLA Inc.’s Shanghai factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars in the first nine months of the year, capped by a delivery rush in the end of the July-September quarter, despite a global semiconductor shortage, Reuters quoted sources as saying yesterday.

Around 240,000 vehicles were shipped from the factory in the first eight months, including many for export, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.