Review №23 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- Measures Issued to Accelerate Retail Development
- China's Chip Replacement Initiative
- How DiDi Is Transforming the Mobility Industry in Brazil
- Tackling Unfair Competition on Alcohol Sales Platforms
Measures Issued to Accelerate Retail Development
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) held a press conference following the release of the Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of the Retail Sector. Ministry spokesperson Li Jialu said the document calls for a transition to integrated multi-format retail operations combining online and offline channels, while promoting innovative omnichannel retail models.
The policy also aims to strengthen digital capabilities by supporting digital transformation and encouraging platform companies to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with technology and resources, enabling the full digitalization of inventory management, sales and logistics.
The Opinions also explicitly call for unified regulation to ensure equal treatment of online and offline retailers. The measures include promoting fair and transparent algorithmic recommendations and traffic allocation by platform operators, as well as prohibiting platforms from directly or indirectly forcing merchants to provide subsidies or participate in promotional campaigns.
China's Chip Replacement Initiative
Chinese developers of large AI models are quietly advancing a "chip replacement" initiative by gradually shifting from Nvidia GPUs to domestically produced Chinese chips.
On July 6, Meituan officially open-sourced LongCat-2.0, the industry's first 1.6-trillion-parameter model trained using Chinese computing infrastructure.
Government agencies and telecommunications operators are also joining the transition. China Telecom, for example, has launched an entire intelligent computing cluster built on Chinese technologies.
iFlytek, one of the first companies to adopt Chinese AI computing solutions such as Huawei Ascend, said Nvidia's main advantage lies not only in its chips but also in its mature software ecosystem, training framework and comprehensive development tools. The company noted that training large AI models on Chinese chips is technically feasible but requires close collaboration between model developers and chip manufacturers. Significant engineering optimization and further ecosystem development are still needed.
Meanwhile, France's antitrust authority recently said it is nearing completion of its investigation into Nvidia's alleged anti-competitive practices, while a similar investigation launched by China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) in December 2024 remains ongoing.
How DiDi Is Transforming the Mobility Industry in Brazil
At the 2026 U.N. High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York, ride-hailing platform DiDi shared China's experience in transforming mobility services in Brazil.
During the event, the innovation director of 99, DiDi's Brazilian platform, said that since acquiring the company in 2018 and entering the Brazilian market, DiDi has been exploring fleet electrification and green mobility initiatives. Over the next five years, DiDi 99 plans to help deploy more than 300,000 new energy vehicles (NEVs), supporting sustainable mobility and low-carbon logistics in Brazil.
DiDi's overseas green transportation initiatives have also expanded to Mexico. In 2024, the company announced plans to introduce 100,000 electric vehicles in the country by 2030. Its partners include Chinese automakers GAC, JAC, Changan, and BYD, as well as several Mexican companies.
DiDi's international operations now span 14 countries and regions across Latin America, the Asia-Pacific and Africa, serving more than 100 million users with ride-hailing, food delivery and digital banking services.
Source: WeChat
Tackling Unfair Competition on Alcohol Sales Platforms
The China Alcoholic Drinks Association has called for stricter antitrust regulation of e-commerce platforms selling alcoholic beverages.
According to the association, many of the sector's problems stem from regulations that have not kept pace with the specific characteristics of alcohol distribution. It also said that the industry's healthy development requires stronger enforcement against the online sale of counterfeit products, price fraud, data abuse and algorithmic discrimination, as well as unfair competitive practices such as forcing merchants into exclusive partnerships, restricting traffic and price gouging.
Source: WeChat
