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Trade Wars
Trump Orders Chinese-Controlled Firm To Unwind Chip Asset Deal, Citing National Security Risks
A company controlled by a Chinese national was ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to unwind a $2.9 million acquisition of chip assets from a U.S. manufacturer, citing national security concerns. The White House said in an executive order that HieFo Corporation, incorporated in Delaware, was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China.” The potential diversion of the supply of indium phosphide chips manufactured by Emcore’s digital chips business away from the U.S. was also identified as a national security risk, the Treasury Department added.
HieFo acquired the digital chips and related wafer design, fabrication, and processing businesses of New Jersey-based Emcore on April 30, 2024, which included a semiconductor manufacturing facility, the Treasury Department said in a separate statement. Emcore manufactures navigation equipment such as gyroscopes and sensors used in commercial, industrial and defense applications, including autonomous navigation and weapons systems, according to its website.
Read more at CNBC
How Kraft Heinz Lost Its Lock on Mac and Cheese—and American Shoppers
When Kraft and Heinz, two of the biggest names in American food, merged in 2015, the combined company was supposed to breathe new life into old brands. Instead, years of cost cutting, underinvestment and corporate chaos left Kraft Heinz’s $26 billion food empire—home to bedrock brands like Heinz’s Tomato Ketchup, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Kool-Aid—vulnerable to both buzzier premium ones and cheaper supermarket knockoffs.
Kraft Heinz sales have dropped for eight straight quarters. In September, the company said it would split in two, undoing the 2015 deal. Tensions flared in the company’s upper ranks. Many employees were uncertain who was calling the shots and which company they would end up working for, sowing further chaos. On Jan. 1, the company replaced its chief executive, Carlos Abrams-Rivera, with veteran food-company executive Steve Cahillane. Kraft Heinz executives overseeing a sprawling portfolio of cheese, cold cuts, lunch kits and boxed dinners face a dilemma shared by other legacy food companies: Fiddle with flagship products and risk losing the loyal customers who made them category killers, or stick with old formulas that don’t interest younger shoppers.
Read more at The WSJ
Tesla Loses Its EV Crown to BYD as Sales Keep Dropping
Tesla delivered 418,227 electric vehicles in the fourth quarter, down 15.6% from 495,570 in Q4 2024. The EV giant reported Friday that fourth-quarter deliveries included 406,585 Model 3 and Model Y EVs, as well as 11,642 "other" vehicles, which include the Model S, Model X and Cybertruck. Tesla produced 434,358 EVs in Q4. For 2025, Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles, marking an 8.6% decline vs. 1.79 million in 2024. Chinese rival BYD, which sold 2.26 vehicles last year, is now the world’s biggest EV maker.
For energy storage, Tesla deployed 14.2 gigawatt-hours of energy storage in Q4, surpassing the previous record of 12.5 GWh of energy storage in Q3. Broadly across the U.S., EV sales have taken a hit since the end of September when the $7,500 federal EV tax credit ended.
Read more at Investor’s Business Daily
Airbus To Beat Annual Delivery Goal Of 790 Aircraft
Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab delivered 793 aircraft in 2025, surpassing its revised annual target, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The world's largest planemaker accelerated deliveries during the final days of the year to meet the target, the report added. Airbus had previously confirmed that it would issue audited year-end commercial data on January 12.
The France-based planemaker last month cut its full-year delivery target from "around 820" jets to "around 790" after a glitch with fuselage panels.
Read more at Reuters
New York Expands Ban On Polystyrene Foam Containers, Single-Use Personal Care Bottles
As of Jan. 1, 2026, New York has expanded its ban on polystyrene foam food service containers and single-use plastic bottles for personal care products at hotels. The state Department of Environmental Conservation says the expansion means no covered food service business will be allowed to sell or distribute polystyrene foam containers that are not enclosed within a more durable container and are designed or intended to be used for cold storage, including, but not limited to, coolers and ice chests.
It also means hotels, apartment hotels, motels or boarding houses with fewer than 50 rooms are now prohibited from providing any small plastic bottle containing less than 12 ounces of personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, moisturizers and soaps/body wash. New York has already banned the sale or distribution of polystyrene foam disposable food service containers, including cups, bowls, plates and trays, as well as polystyrene foam packing peanuts, since 2022.
Read more at NY State of Politics
Joby Plans To Double U.S. eVTOL Manufacturing Capacity
Joby Aviation Inc. is making investments to double its manufacturing capacity in the U.S. to support the production of four aircraft per month in 2027. The news comes amid unprecedented support for advanced air mobility (AAM). Joby recently disclosed more than $1 billion in potential aircraft and service sales, while the U.S. government’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, announced in September 2025, aims to jumpstart air taxi operations. In May 2025, Joby announced the successful closing of the first $250 million tranche of a strategic investment from Toyota Motor Corp. The two companies are now working to finalize a strategic manufacturing alliance that will support the ramp-up of production.
In July 2025, Joby celebrated the completion of an expanded manufacturing facility in Marina, California, and, in October 2025, confirmed the start of propeller blade production in Ohio, ahead of planned manufacturing expansion in the state. To support the growth in output announced today, Joby has begun procurement of the capital equipment required to double manufacturing capacity from two to four aircraft per month, and is hiring to support round-the-clock manufacturing operations at its site in California.
Read more at Composites World
The Maker Of CoverGirl Cosmetics And Hugo Boss Fragrances Is Resetting Its Supply Chain
Coty, one of the world’s largest beauty companies, has struggled in recent years after supply-chain disruptions during the pandemic and amid an uncertain economy and changing consumer demand. Shoppers have gravitated recently toward newer, fast-growing brands such as Hailey Bieber’s cosmetics and skin-care line Rhode. The company makes products under brand names such as CoverGirl, Rimmel and Sally Hansen and manufactures fragrances under license agreements with luxury companies including Burberry, Hugo Boss and Marc Jacobs.
Chief Global Supply Chain Officer Graeme Carter spoke with the WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young about how the Amsterdam-based company has changed its production process, including shifting some manufacturing to the U.S., and speeding up product development. The supply-chain shifts come as Coty overhauls its leadership and reviews its consumer-beauty strategy.
Read more at The WSJ
Video: China’s Humanoid Robot Hits ‘Perfect Strokes’ In Tennis Practice With Human
Chinese robotics firm UBTech’s Walker S2 humanoid robot is pushing beyond scripted demos, demonstrating its ability to hit a moving ball with speed and precision in real-world conditions. What looks simple is technically demanding: tennis requires a robot to seamlessly combine perception, prediction, balance, and rapid motion. Recently, UBTech announced that it has rolled out its 1,000th Walker S2 humanoid, marking a shift from prototypes to scaled deployment, with over 500 units already in real-world use.
UBTech’s Walker S2 represents a new generation of industrial humanoid robots designed to operate continuously in real-world environments and perform complex, coordinated tasks. UBTech has opened 2026 by taking its Walker S2 humanoid out of the lab and onto a tennis court, rallying live against a human opponent. The demo goes far beyond a visual stunt, showing the robot managing real impacts, balance shifts, and split-second decisions in an uncontrolled setting.
Read more and watch at Interesting Engineering
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