--- date: 2026-07-14 subject: "31 firms sign China AI agent data pact | SASAC to SOEs on self-reliance | Huawei 5G back overseas" --- **China convened 31 firms** including Tencent, Baidu and Meituan on July 13 to sign a CAICT-led convention on data protection for AI agents, tied to the 15th Five-Year Plan's call for "safe and controllable" AI. **SASAC directed central SOEs** the same day to take on more national-level research projects, raise the basic research share of R&D spending, and deepen ties with universities and industrial chain partners. **Customs reported June exports** of $412.39 billion, up 27% year-on-year, with a $125.62 billion surplus and 32 billion integrated circuits sold abroad, though Caixin read the chip trade jump as mainly a price effect. # 1. Top Stories - **31 firms sign CAICT-led pact on AI agent data protection** — At a Beijing forum on July 13, 31 Chinese firms including Tencent, Baidu, and Meituan signed the Self-Regulatory Convention on Personal Information Protection for AI Agents. AI agents are software systems that carry out multi-step actions across apps and services on a user's behalf. The pact was convened by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), a research institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). CAICT tied the pact to the 15th Five-Year Plan, Beijing's 2026-2030 economic blueprint, and its call for "safe and controllable" AI. Signatories committed to full chain risk controls across data collection, storage and processing. [Leiphone](https://www.leiphone.com/category/ai/v2YZAxfAruNy41cX.html) - **SASAC tells central state firms to lift basic research share and take on more national projects** — The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) held a symposium in Beijing on July 13 with representatives of science and technology workers from central state-owned enterprises (SOEs). SASAC is the State Council body that owns China's largest state enterprises; central SOEs run the country's telecom carriers, aerospace primes, defense contractors and materials producers. SASAC directed the firms to "resolutely shoulder the mission of high-level technological self-reliance," take on more national-level research projects, and raise the share of basic research in total R&D spending. Basic research is the early-stage work that produces new methods and materials rather than immediate products; SASAC also told the firms to deepen collaboration with universities, research institutes and industrial chain partners. [Yicai](https://www.yicai.com/brief/103274443.html) [state-affiliated] - **June exports jump 27%, but chip trade rise is mainly a price effect** — China's June 2026 exports reached $412.39 billion, up 27% year-on-year, per customs data. Imports rose 36% to $286.76 billion, producing a $125.62 billion trade surplus, and China sold 32 billion integrated circuits worldwide in June. Caixin said integrated circuit and automatic data processing equipment export volumes grew only slowly or declined even as their values surged, making headline AI export growth mainly a price effect. Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, told Reuters that surging semiconductor prices, not domestic demand, are pushing up import values. June imports from South Korea rose 85% year-on-year, and imports from Taiwan rose 41.1%. [Caixin](https://economy.caixin.com/2026-07-14/102464126.html) [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-june-trade-tops-forecasts-buoyed-by-ai-boom-2026-07-14/) - **Huawei restores 5G to its overseas flagship spec sheet** — Huawei launched the Pura 90s Pro series internationally on July 14 at an event titled "Now is Your Moment," and its international product page now lists 5G NR for the series. 5G NR (New Radio) is the specification for standalone fifth-generation cellular networks. Huawei dropped 5G from its overseas spec sheets after Washington placed the company on the entity list in 2019, cutting it off from 5G capable modem supply. The last Huawei phone marketed abroad as 5G capable before now was the Mate 40, launched in October 2020, and Huawei first restored 5G at home with the Mate 60 in 2023. [ITHome](https://www.ithome.com/0/976/562.htm) # 3. AI & Foundation Models - **StepFun launches agent-native phone OS with Alipay, Meituan and JD.com among first partners** — Chinese frontier AI lab StepFun launched Step AOS, an agent-native phone operating system, on July 13 in Shanghai, alongside its Amoo personal AI agent and the STEPX Neo phone under a new STEPX hardware brand. Step AOS ties the phone's functions together via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open specification for exposing tools and services to language models. Launch partners span payments, ride-hailing, e-commerce and mapping, including Alipay, Meituan and JD.com, which connect through protocol interfaces rather than consumer app screens. Chairman Yin Qi told a media briefing that "China's LLM commercialization path is not coding," with StepFun betting on hardware-software integration instead. [Caixin](https://www.caixin.com/2026-07-14/102464043.html) # 4. Chips & Semiconductors - **Union Semiconductor commits 7.5 billion yuan to a Shanghai advanced packaging line** — Chinese chip packager Union Semiconductor (SHA: 688403) said on July 13 that its subsidiary Shanghai Zhenglong Xinchuang Microelectronics will invest at least 7.5 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in an advanced packaging line in Jiading District, Shanghai. Advanced packaging combines multiple chips or memory dies into a single package for faster on-package communication, a workaround for the leading-edge lithography Chinese fabs cannot fully access under U.S. export controls. The project, called the HITS Advanced Packaging R&D Industrialization Project, uses 2.5D and 3D stacking heterogeneous integration to combine different processors and memory into one package. Construction is expected to run about 42 months, and the project still needs shareholder approval before it can proceed. [Jiemian News](https://www.jiemian.com/article/14761108.html)