MCU Giant STMicroelectronics Hikes Prices Again—Second Time This Year
Hey, here’s something fresh from May 31: word on the street is that STMicroelectronics—the big name in MCUs and power semiconductors—just sent out a “price adjustment notice” to customers, announcing they’ll bump up prices on select products starting June 28, 2026. This marks their second price hike this year, following one back on March 24. And they’re not alone: global power semiconductor heavyweights like Infineon and Texas Instruments have also dropped similar notices recently. Over on the home front, Chinese MCU makers like Zhongwei Micro and Nations Technologies have followed suit with their own price increases.
3C Certification Rules Get a Major Refresh—New Safety Tests for Power Banks
Catch this from May 31: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) just dropped a new notice that overhauls the CCC certification rules. The big news? They’re adding a new mandatory national standard—GB 47372–2026, the “Safety Technical Specification for Mobile Power Banks”—as part of the CCC certification baseline. This means tougher testing for things like thermal abuse and nail penetration, making sure these gadgets are truly safe.
Here’s what else the notice spells out: First, they’re rolling out a fresh version of the CCC certification implementation rules. These are tailored to the industry’s quirks, safety quirks, and manufacturing flows, with stricter oversight on quality assurance and product consistency for manufacturers. Companies will get categorized and supervised based on risk, with beefed-up post-certification checks to keep everyone accountable.
Second, there’s a transition period until March 31, 2027. Certification bodies can choose to use either the old or new rules during this time, based on what companies prefer. But starting April 1, 2027, the new rules become mandatory. For power banks and their internal lithium batteries that already have certificates, they’ll need to be fully converted by that deadline.
Zhongji InnoLight: “Optical Interconnect Forum” and “Chairman’s Speech” Are Complete Fabrications
On May 30, Zhongji InnoLight issued a statement putting the brakes on fake news. They’re calling out certain online media outlets, self-media accounts, and social platforms for spreading a made-up article titled “Full Text of Chairman Liu Sheng’s Speech at the 2026 Optical Interconnect Forum (May 28, Shanghai).” After checking, the company says: they have no clue about any “2026 Optical Interconnect Forum (May 28, Shanghai)” event—never received an invite or even heard of it. The only event with a vaguely similar name and date was the “2026 China Optical Communications High-Quality Development Forum – ‘X’PO Empowering AI Data Center Optical Interconnection Forum,” but they didn’t attend or exhibit there. The article is pure fiction, they stress—neither the company nor Chairman Liu Sheng ever said any of that stuff. They’ve already gathered evidence and will take legal action against the perpetrators.
Meta and Others to Pay $27 Million to Settle Kentucky School District Lawsuit
Here’s a development from May 30: Meta, Snap, and YouTube have agreed to shell out roughly $27 million collectively to settle a social media addiction lawsuit brought by Breckinridge County School District in Kentucky. Some of these companies had already announced settlements earlier this month but kept the amounts under wraps.
According to public filings, Meta is paying the biggest chunk at $9 million. Snap is coughing up $8 million each (wait, “each” might be a typo—likely Snap pays $8 million total?), while YouTube negotiated a little over $2 million. Plus, YouTube will throw in training programs for the district’s teachers to help them use the platform more effectively in the classroom. All the companies involved have also pledged to invest more in protecting young users.
JD.com’s 618 Sale: Top Brands See Average Revenue Jump Over 5x in First Four Hours
Starting at 8 p.m. on May 30, JD.com’s 618 promotion kicked off. By midnight, the top 100 brands on the platform saw an average year-over-year revenue increase of more than five times. This year, the number of new merchants joining the 618 sale jumped over 62% compared to last year. In the first four hours alone, 51 debut merchants hit 10 million yuan in sales, and 1,516 new merchants crossed the 1 million yuan mark.
Tianya Community Officially Launches “Tianya Restarters Digital Badge”
On May 30, the New Tianya Joint Working Group, Chengdu Tianya Ke Network Technology, and Tianya Haodongxi (Hainan) E-commerce announced via the “Tianya Ke” WeChat public account that they’re launching the “Tianya Restarters Digital Badge” effective immediately. The perks? Holders of a specified number of these badges who are verified qualified investors can voluntarily apply to join a special limited partnership managed by Hainan Shiyuan Tongda Private Fund Management (a licensed private fund manager). This gives them priority indirect investment in New Tianya’s equity. Chengdu Tianya Ke Network Technology, as the core entity building New Tianya, will be a key strategic investor in the future restructuring plan of Tianya Community.
Alibaba and UEFA Ink Multi-Year Strategic Partnership
On the evening of May 29, Alibaba Group, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and UC3 announced a collaboration in Budapest, Hungary. Alibaba becomes the official exclusive AI, cloud computing services, and e-commerce partner for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League (for the 2027/2028 to 2032/2033 seasons), as well as for UEFA Euro 2028.
