The Chinese stock market closed lower on Friday, mainly due to the impact of a global sell-off of tech stocks, according to China Global Television Network (CGTN) market analyst Timothy Pope.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 2.26 percent to 4,027.26 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 3.44 percent lower at 15,782.22 points.
The combined turnover of stocks on these two indices reached 3.55 trillion yuan (about 521 billion U.S. dollars), down from 3.59 trillion yuan in Thursday trading.
Shares in the education and pork sectors led gains, while those in technology, cobalt metal and the battery industry posted sharp declines.
The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 4.07 percent to close at 4,194.21 points.
The STAR Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 2.02 percent lower at 2,343.66 points.
Pope said Chinese markets, particularly the tech sector, were negatively impacted by Apple's announcement that it was raising the prices of its core products.
"A global tech sell-off really rocked the A-share market today. The Shanghai Composite was down about 2.3 percent, the Shenzhen Component lost 3.4 percent and the ChiNext board 4 percent. This was sparked in part by an announcement by Apple overnight that it is raising the prices on iPads and MacBooks because of surging memory and storage chip costs. This is actually a fascinating story, what’s happening in that sector at the moment, because it takes in some of the sky-high profit margins these companies have had in the past, and how that's being squeezed by AI - specifically their data center memory requirements. But that news sent big tech stocks sharply lower overnight in the US and Chinese tech companies followed suit today," he said.
Chinese stocks slip due to shake-up in US tech sector: CGTN analyst
AI-powered factories and wind-assisted cargo ships were among the solutions on display at the 4th China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE), highlighting how innovation is shaping the global green transformation.
The event, which ran from Monday to Friday, featured supply chain exhibitions in digital technology, advanced manufacturing, green agriculture, healthy life, smart vehicle and clean energy, as well as a supply chain service zone.
At the booth of leading solar manufacturer TCL Zhonghuan, a domestically developed AI large model is lifting both crystal pulling efficiency and stability by 20 percent. Trained on massive volumes of historical production data, the system continuously optimizes process parameters, directly boosting green energy output, according to officials.
"We built a vision-enabled AI large model. Trained on historical production data, it continuously optimizes product and process parameters to boost line performance and stability," said Shi Peng, senior manager of informatization of TCL Zhonghuan.
Beyond individual enterprises, the expo highlighted that China's industrial ecosystem is becoming a testbed and launchpad for global low-carbon solutions.
Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, presented an AI-powered logistics planning system first developed in China and now being rolled out worldwide. The tool enables customers to optimize container loading, cutting costs while shrinking carbon footprints.
"This is actually a local innovation in China and then now become global. So, this systems allow customers, for example, to optimize the loading of their containers, improving cost efficiency while lowering carbon emissions," said Silvia Ding, president of Maersk Greater China.
According to Ding, the AI system slashes container planning time from weeks to mere hours, significantly improving supply chain fluidity.
Meanwhile, Airbus, joining the Expo for the second year, displayed a specialized green-powered cargo vessel designed to transport aircraft components.
"Why I put this here is because this vessel has its unique shape with these six columns of rotor sails. This can take advantage of the wind energy. In the real operation, it can reduce as much as 50 percent of carbon emissions," said George Xu, CEO of Airbus China.
As the world's first national-level exhibition focusing on supply chains, the CISCE is an internationally shared public good. First held in 2023, the expo has contributed to building more secure, stable, open and inclusive global industrial and supply chains.
Global green transition solutions take center stage at China supply chain expo
