Global Electricity Demand Hits 15-Year High, SaaS Sell-Off Widens, Indonesia Cuts Nickel Output 30%

Samsung's CTO expressed confidence in 6th-generation HBM4 leadership. First shipments to Nvidia are scheduled after the Lunar New Year holiday, with custom HBM (cHBM) and 3D-stacked zHBM also in development. Semicon Korea 2026 will host 550 global companies. (Source: Yonhap News)

China's largest foundry, SMIC, announced the industry has entered "crisis mode" due to memory chip shortages. Surging production of advanced chips for AI data centers is consuming global wafer capacity, intensifying memory chip supply constraints. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Series A expanded to $935M with participation from Google, Mercedes-Benz, and B Capital. Apollo robots are piloting at Mercedes-Benz, GXO, and Jabil factories, powered by Google DeepMind's Gemini Robotics AI model. (Source: CNBC)

French software firm Dassault Systèmes posted its worst day ever. Weak earnings coincided with a SaaS sell-off triggered by Anthropic's AI tool launch. (Source: CNBC)

A 5-year project to develop around 10 AI chips for autonomous vehicles, smart appliances, and humanoid robots. M.AX Alliance (Samsung, Hyundai, LG, and 1,000 companies/labs) participates. (Source: Yonhap News)

A joint public-private investigation confirmed 33.67 million accounts exposed, far exceeding the initial claim of 3,000. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has also launched an investigation into South Korea's "discriminatory targeting" of American companies. (Source: Yonhap News)

As 6 of xAI's 12 co-founders depart, SpaceX is pursuing a $1.5T IPO this summer. Musk has shifted short-term strategy from Mars to the Moon. (Source: CNBC, TechCrunch)

Exports totaled $21.39B, up 44.4% year-over-year. Semiconductor exports hit $6.73B (+137.6%), accounting for 31.5% of total exports. Exports to China rose 54.1%, to the U.S. 38.5%. (Source: Yonhap News)

3.6% annual growth projected for 2026-2030, with over 2,500 GW of projects stuck in grid connection queues. Global grid investment rose 16% to $470B in 2025, with the U.S. leading at $115B. (Source: OilPrice)

Total orders hit approximately 17.6B euros (+30%+), with 40% from the U.S. and 35% from Europe. The company announced a $1B investment to expand power grid equipment production. (Source: OilPrice)

PT Weda Bay, the world's largest nickel mine, saw quotas slashed 71% from 42M to 12M tons. Indonesia supplies roughly 65% of global nickel, and two years of price declines forced competitors in Australia and New Caledonia to close. (Source: Mining.com)

BP fully suspended share buybacks and scrapped its 30-40% operating cash flow return target. Equinor cut buybacks from $5B to $1.5B, TotalEnergies to $750M in Q1. Only Shell maintained $3.5B, marking 17 consecutive quarters of $3B+ buybacks. (Source: OilPrice, CNBC)

Nonfarm payrolls added 130,000 jobs, exceeding expectations. The household survey showed +528K, with labor force participation at 62.5%. Cleveland and Dallas Fed presidents both warned inflation remains a greater concern than unemployment, arguing for holding rates steady. (Source: CNBC)

Consumer prices rose for the fourth consecutive month but slowed sharply from December's +0.8%. Core CPI posted +0.8% YoY. Lunar New Year timing differences and falling oil prices were key factors. The path out of deflation remains unclear. (Source: SCMP)

China Vanke, a major property developer, warned of a record 82 billion yuan loss for 2025 and is downsizing its serviced apartment business. This signals the ongoing Chinese property crisis. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

Clean energy investment reached 7.2 trillion yuan ($1T), over 11% of GDP, with 315 GW of solar and 119 GW of wind installed. However, annual coal consumption exceeds 4 billion tons (over 50% globally), and 2024 saw 94.5 GW of new coal power construction—a 10-year high. (Source: OilPrice)

Cumulative tariff costs across U.S. states have surpassed $200B. A New York toy store operating for 44 years closed due to tariffs on Chinese goods, exemplifying retail damage. The Supreme Court may rule on tariff legality on February 20. (Source: CNBC)

A system error during a promotional event led to the erroneous distribution of 60 trillion won ($41.2B) worth of Bitcoin. Within 40 minutes, 1,788 BTC were sold, harming about 30 individuals. South Korea's Financial Services Commission announced bank-level internal control requirements for crypto exchanges. (Source: Yonhap News)

According to TankerTrackers.com, sanction-evading tankers (shadow fleet) number 1,468, representing 18-19% of international tankers and 17% of seaborne crude oil. (Source: BBC World)

The EPA has begun the process of revoking the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases. This finding was the legal foundation for all federal climate regulations. The EPA Administrator called it "the largest regulatory rollback in American history." (Source: CNBC)

Prime Minister Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured 316 seats, becoming the first single party in postwar history to hold over two-thirds of the lower house. (Source: Nikkei Asia)

The National Assembly formed a bipartisan special committee to track investment commitments, and the government set up a pre-screening team for candidate projects. President Trump threatened to raise tariffs on South Korea from 15% to 25%. South Korea also agreed to eliminate the 50,000-unit cap on U.S. vehicle imports meeting American safety standards. (Source: Yonhap News, Yonhap News)

The U.S. Department of Defense's new National Defense Strategy (NDS) shifts South Korea to "primary responsibility" for conventional defense against North Korea, with the U.S. providing "critical but more limited" support. South Korea has committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defense. (Source: Yonhap News)

Iranian official Larijani stated Iran is ready to engage in "realistic" nuclear talks with the U.S. in Oman. Prime Minister Netanyahu made his 6th U.S. visit since Trump's return—more than any other leader—to push for a comprehensive Iran nuclear deal. Trump is also considering deploying a second carrier strike group. (Source: Al Jazeera, BBC World)

The Bhumjaithai Party won an unexpected 193 seats, while the reform-minded People's Party took only 118. Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai lost half its seats. Fraud allegations have led to growing calls for recounts. (Source: SCMP, Nikkei Asia)

The first election since Hasina's ouster, with a quarter of voters casting ballots for the first time. A constitutional reform referendum (term limits for PM, stronger executive checks) is also being held. 157,000 police and 100,000 military deployed, with over 24,000 of 42,000 polling stations designated high-risk for violence. (Source: Al Jazeera)

Amid declining beer sales, Heineken announced layoffs citing AI "productivity savings." The IMF director warned that AI is impacting labor markets "like a tsunami." Amazon (15,000), Salesforce (4,000), and others are increasingly invoking AI in restructuring announcements. (Source: CNBC)

Employment rose 108,000 year-over-year, the smallest increase in 13 months. Youth (15-29) employment fell 175,000, manufacturing contracted for the 19th consecutive month, and construction for the 21st. The "resting" population rose 111,000, a record high for January since data began in 2003. (Source: Yonhap News)

A shooting at a school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, left 9 dead and 25 injured. It ranks among Canada's worst mass shootings. (Source: BBC World)

The UK secured 201 projects totaling 14.7 GW of new clean power in a CfD auction. Solar (4.9 GW, 157 projects), onshore wind (1.3 GW, 28 projects), and offshore wind (8.4 GW) all set records. Solar and onshore wind generation costs are less than half the cost of building and operating gas plants. (Source: OilPrice)

Using the Defense Production Act of 1950, Trump directed the Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired plants and plans to upgrade 6 coal plants with $175M in federal funds. The TVA also extended operations at two coal plants scheduled for closure in 2035. (Source: OilPrice)