Diversification in the face of geopolitical conflict: A feared China takeover of Taiwan in any potential reunification initiative by Beijing would have widespread effects on future chip production for TSMC’s international customers. In context, Herbert Raymond McMaster, a former national security adviser, cautioned that Chinese President Xi Jinping is “preparing the Chinese people for war.”.

In China, a market that American blockbuster films have increasingly relied on to drive revenues, 50% of movie theaters are closed due to a COVID outbreak.

Boycotting the games might please the US government and American consumers, but it runs the risk of losing ad revenues and upsetting Chinese consumers, whose boycotts have cost brands like H&M billions for distancing themselves from the country. Brands have remained quiet to avoid upsetting either side.

Chinese merchants need to enter product information, then ship their goods to a Guangzhou warehouse. TikTok will then handle everything else including marketing, logistics, and invoicing. The big takeaway: As TikTok prepares a large-scale ecommerce push in North America, it is competing with Temu, Shein, as well as Amazon.

Data harvesting accusations intensify: TikTok users have been warned about the company’s data practices and its links to China. US FCC commissioner Brendan Carr called for Apple and Google to remove the TikTok app from their app stores last month, noting national security concerns surrounding the company’s China-based parent company ByteDance.

The CFIUS is reviewing TikTok’s national security implications due to its China-based owner, ByteDance. The Department of Justice is leading negotiations over a security deal with the company.

LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, shut down its operations in China in October due to the “challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.” China was LinkedIn’s third-largest market, with 54 million users, but made up less than 2% of Microsoft’s revenues, according to Microsoft President Brad Smith.

Listeners will grow in the double digits this year in China, Argentina, France, and Germany—China and Argentina are expected to keep up double-digit growth throughout the next two years. 2022 was a fraught year for advertising, with historic channels like TV losing their throne, digital addressability falling to shambles, and regulation upending regular business.

One of the platforms where consumers can do this is Chinese-launched ShopShops, which recently entered the US. We spoke with Liyia Wu, founder and CEO, about why livestream shopping will take off in the US, challenges brands face when entering livestreaming, and the impacts of livestream shopping on ecommerce brands. Insider Intelligence: How is livestreaming in the US different from China?

There’s intensifying pressure for companies in China to match or surpass technologies like popular generative AI. The search giant is scrambling to catch up with the likes of Google and Microsoft, as well as Chinese startups in the AI space. Our take: Baidu has one opportunity to take the lead in generative AI, at least in China.

The news: TSMC plans to ramp up production of high-end 3-nanometer chips at its Arizona factory in a decision that backs the US in the tech cold war with China, per TechCrunch. Why this matters: TSMC is the world’s largest chipmaker by volume and is responsible for fabricating 92% of chips designed by US semiconductor companies, per Stimson.

TikTok and the US government have been negotiating a deal to allow the app to serve US users but concerns that the app is leaking user data to the Chinese government persist. TikTok uses an American company, Oracle, to manage user data and traffic in the country but maintains various backups overseas, including in China.

The ByteDance-owned app’s commerce monetization is different at its core, following sister-app Douyin’s road map in China. Douyin already runs ecommerce fulfillment centers in China, operating like a retail company. Its rumored fulfillment centers in the US will help Chinese sellers get low-cost products to its young US consumer base faster.

The top five countries for social media penetration among internet users will be in Asia—the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand. In the Philippines, 98.6% of internet users will be on social this year, 11.6 percentage points higher than the regional average. Social media usage in Asia-Pacific is unique.

Livestream shopping isn’t resonating in the US: Livestream shopping in China soared over the last few years. We expect retail livestreaming ecommerce sales via apps like WeChat, Taobao Live, and Douyin (China’s version of TikTok) to reach $514.20 billion this year.

Canaves expects the foray will be aimed at helping Chinese merchants to engage in cross-border selling, “perhaps especially those who have found it more difficult to sell on Amazon.”. Breaking into the US market may even prove difficult for the platform.

WeChat has 820 million users in China, per our forecast. It combines the features of apps like Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Substack into one integrated service. WeChat's mini-program economy was estimated last year to be valued at $240 billion, with 450 million users transacting through the program. Musk has claimed that developing an app similar to WeChat outside of China is possible.

China once again skews the global figures with its projected 83.4% share for mcommerce this year. Since China will account for 50.2% of all ecommerce spending in 2022, its metrics heavily weight the worldwide figures. Which Trends Will Stand Out Among Countries and Regions in 2022?

In 2020, we found China was by far the fastest-growing market for cross-border commerce. Of internet users ages 14 and older, 24.5% purchased from a foreign merchant in 2020, followed by Brazil (14.2%), while the US lagged far behind (5.4%). But the cross-border ecommerce market is expected to grow significantly outside China in 2021.

Similar trends will unfold in China, with outlays reaching north of $55 billion in 2022. After witnessing retailers’ advertising success in the US and China, many of Latin America’s top retailers began to monetize their shopping channels through retail media.

The news: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, addressing concerns about data privacy, the platform's influence on young users, and ties to China. Chew emphasized TikTok's commitment to user safety, data protection, and independence from government manipulation.

Programmatic ads will account for 91.1% of digital display ad spend in the US this year, compared to 80.7% in China, according to our forecast. Overall display ad spend in China is also far lower. It will hit $84.62 billion in 2023, about half of total spend in the US. 3. Native spend is high, but it’s losing share.