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September 20 - According to sources within the Chinese military, on September 18, the New Zealand frigate HMAS Temana and the supply ship HMAS Oteyarova transited the Taiwan Strait. The People's Liberation Army monitored and monitored them throughout their transit, and the situation was under control.

UBS predicts that AI capital expenditure will approach $1 trillion in 2026 and further climb to approximately $1.4 trillion in 2027, with the primary driver of this growth being a significant increase in memory costs. UBS estimates that memory-related spending will surge from $71 billion in 2025 to $367 billion this year, reaching $923 billion in 2027. Other AI-related costs are projected at $631 billion in 2026, declining to $525 billion in 2027. This means that rising memory costs this year will contribute approximately 60% of the increase in AI capital expenditure; and by 2027, with declining spending on other components, the increase in memory costs may even exceed the total net increase in AI capital expenditure.

September 20 - According to Australian sources, a knife attack occurred in Sydney, Australia on the 20th, resulting in the death of one child and serious injuries to two other children and a woman.

Emergency services in the Kyiv region of Ukraine say a Russian drone strike killed a mother and her two children overnight.

On September 20, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that 450 Ukrainian military drones had been repelled when approaching the city since September 19. One facility near a Moscow oil refinery was damaged, and one residential building was hit; no casualties were reported. Separately, Moscow Oblast Governor Sergei Vorobyov reported that between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM on September 20, 249 drones were shot down or suppressed in 17 districts. A fire broke out on the roof of a high-rise residential building in the Ramenskoye district, leading to the evacuation of 400 people and damage to 20 vehicles. In other areas, a warehouse complex caught fire, damaging several residential and commercial buildings. Two people were killed and six injured in the oblast.

September 20th – The 2026 World Manufacturing Convention opened in Hefei, Anhui Province on September 20th. Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, stated in his opening address that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will focus on next-generation intelligent manufacturing, continuously enhancing the innovation, competitiveness, and overall strength of the manufacturing industry to create new advantages for "Made in China." First, it will improve the efficiency of the industrial innovation system. This includes strengthening original innovation and tackling key core technologies, reinforcing the leading role of enterprises in technological innovation, optimizing the layout and construction of industrial innovation platforms, and promoting the transformation of more technological innovations into real productivity. Second, it will promote the expansion and quality improvement of advanced manufacturing, comprehensively advancing the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, the growth of emerging industries, and the cultivation of future industries, building a number of world-class advanced manufacturing clusters. Third, it will enhance advanced manufacturing capabilities, deeply promoting "artificial intelligence + manufacturing," cultivating intelligent factories in a tiered manner, vigorously developing open-source foundation models and vertical models, consolidating the software and hardware foundation for next-generation intelligent manufacturing, comprehensively promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing industry, and innovating and developing service-oriented manufacturing. Fourth, we will cultivate a group of high-quality enterprises, continuously optimize the innovation and entrepreneurship environment, accelerate the construction of world-class enterprises, promote the specialized, refined and innovative development of small and medium-sized enterprises, foster more "little giant" enterprises and single-item champion enterprises, and promote the integrated development of large, medium and small enterprises.

On September 20th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the theme of "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan," introducing the relevant situation regarding promoting high-quality development of market supervision during the 15th Five-Year Plan period and answering questions from reporters. Yang Sheng, Deputy Director of the National Medical Products Administration, stated that it is necessary to strengthen the legal framework and improve the regulatory standards system. He also emphasized strengthening the research and formulation of standards in cutting-edge fields such as brain-computer interfaces, using standard upgrades to drive quality improvement.

On September 20th, Venezuela and Total Energy signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday, paving the way for the French company's return to operations in Venezuela. According to a government statement, Venezuelan Acting President Rodríguez presided over the ceremony in Caracas, where Hector Ofregón, president of PDVSA, and Francisco Javier Lielow, senior vice president of Total Energy's Americas, signed the energy cooperation agreement. The statement said that Total Energy subsidiary TotalEnergies E&P New Ventures will participate in the energy project. Total Energy and its partner Equinor withdrew from the Petrocedeno oil project in 2021 amid a wave of foreign companies leaving the country. At the time, CEO Patrick Pouané stated that the move was unrelated to the political situation in Venezuela but was in line with the company's plan to reduce its carbon footprint.

On September 20th, the State Taxation Administration released the latest tax data, showing that in the first eight months of this year, tax revenue collected by tax authorities nationwide increased by 5.9% year-on-year. The data shows that in the first eight months of this year, the Producer Price Index (PPI), which is highly correlated with tax revenue, rose by 2% cumulatively, driving rapid growth in tax revenue calculated at current prices. Meanwhile, the capital market has been generally active this year, with the average daily turnover of A-shares reaching 2.7 trillion yuan in the first eight months, a 72.8% increase compared to the same period last year, leading to rapid growth in related taxes and industry tax revenue. Specifically, securities transaction stamp tax increased by 82%, and personal income tax on restricted stock transfers increased by 59.7%. Tax revenue from the securities industry increased by 65.6% year-on-year, while tax revenue from the insurance industry and other financial industries increased by 14.6% and 18.5% respectively. Tax revenue from other industries was also boosted by increased returns from stock market investments by related companies. Furthermore, since the beginning of this year, the government has also standardized some tax incentives that are not in line with high-quality development or the current situation, contributing to the increase in tax revenue.

On September 20th, according to Russian sources, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced on social media that over 150 Ukrainian drones had attacked Moscow and its surrounding areas since the early hours of the morning, with most being shot down by Russian air defense systems. Furthermore, according to the Kyiv Military Authority, air raid sirens were issued in the early hours of the 20th in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, due to the threat of missiles and drones.

According to TASS: The mayor of Moscow said that facilities at the Moscow oil refinery have been damaged by ongoing drone attacks.

September 20th - During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the State Administration for Market Regulation will accelerate the improvement of the national standards system, promote the transformation of industry standards into national standards, the transformation of recommended safety standards into mandatory standards, and the transformation of municipal-level local standards into provincial-level local standards, further strengthening the coordination and connection of standards at all levels. Regarding standards supply, it will continue to promote the updating and upgrading of standards for the ten traditional industries, advance the formulation of standards for emerging and future industries, strengthen the construction of national standards for the service industry, and formulate and revise no fewer than 20,000 national standards, including no fewer than 1,000 mandatory national standards.

September 20th - According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), from January to August, the top ten passenger car manufacturers sold a total of 4.014 million vehicles, accounting for 67.9% of total passenger car sales. Among these ten companies, SAIC Motor and Tesla saw varying degrees of sales growth compared to the same period last year, while the sales of the other companies all declined to varying degrees.

On September 20th, Orient Securities Research stated that the LPR (Loan Prime Rate) for both maturities remained unchanged in September, largely in line with market expectations. The stable LPR since the beginning of the year reflects the fact that first-half GDP growth reached 4.7%, falling within the annual economic growth target range of 4.5% to 5.0%, with accelerated development in new productivity sectors, represented by high-tech manufacturing. This means that although domestic investment and consumption have weakened since the second quarter, and economic growth momentum has declined somewhat, macroeconomic policies have maintained strong resolve, and monetary policy remains in an observation period. This is the fundamental reason why the LPR remained unchanged in September. We predict that the central bank may implement policy-driven interest rate cuts later, which will lead to a follow-up reduction in the LPR. The Politburo meeting on July 30th emphasized the need to "fully leverage the effectiveness of existing policies, promptly plan and introduce practical and effective incremental policies, and increase counter-cyclical adjustments," and required "comprehensive use and timely adjustment of monetary policy tools." Considering the economic and financial situation and price trends, the possibility of a new round of incremental policies cannot be ruled out.

September 20th - From January to August, total electricity consumption in China reached 7,173 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 4.3%. By sector, primary industry electricity consumption was 104.6 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 3.3%. Secondary industry electricity consumption was 4,529.7 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%; among which, industrial electricity consumption was 4,488 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%, and high-tech and equipment manufacturing electricity consumption was 845.1 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%. Tertiary industry electricity consumption was 1,425.6 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 7.1%; among which, charging and swapping services and internet data services consumed 114.7 billion and 69.5 billion kilowatt-hours respectively, with growth rates reaching 55.1% and 42.5% respectively. Residential electricity consumption was 1,113.2 billion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 0.3%.

SpaceX: 27 Starlink satellites have been confirmed for deployment.