The virtual world will change the way consumers in China interact online and shop.

We expect total retail sales in China will have grown by 11.0% in 2021, the strongest growth since 2017.

Closing the digital divide and improving investment in emerging technologies have been on President Joe Biden’s tech policy agenda since he began his term. The long-awaited Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act finally passed through Congress in early November with bipartisan support, and it includes funding for increasing the affordability and adoption of high-speed internet in remote and underserved areas. Although not without its problems and compromises, the package provides a strong foundation for lowering the cost of connectivity across the country.

Singles' Day—China’s annual shopping extravaganza in November—is the world’s biggest shopping event, with an estimated RMB 965.1 billion ($139.83 billion) in sales this year, according to the China e-Business Research Center.

China's ecommerce ad spending will reach $50.31 billion in 2021, which is nearly double that of the US.

Singles’ Day, the online shopping festival invented by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba and held on November 11, is widely known in the West. Now, a series of similar “double-digit” shopping festivals from digital powerhouses Lazada and Shopee are driving ecommerce growth in Southeast Asia.

The “metaverse” has become one of the hottest topics among marketers globally, especially after some major investments into the hardware and software segments by Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. And in China, tech companies are already staking their claim in the trend.

Top-down government intervention in China’s tech sector is not new, but the current blitz of new policy announcements is keeping even the most seasoned marketers on their heels.

The smartphone giant acquired AV startup Deepmotion for $77.4 million. Xiaomi could use its consumer electronic experience to create compelling entertainment-focused vehicles, but it will have to overcome manufacturing challenges and potential regulatory scrutiny.

Pentagon gives Intel a needed boost: Intel will lead a DOD program to bolster the US domestic semiconductor supply. The deal will benefit Intel and could have long-term strategic benefits for US manufacturing, but it will likely do little to alleviate the short-term chip crisis.

Regulators are finalizing rules that would limit the amount of data firms collect on Chinese users and require them to obtain prior consent. Though expansive, the rules won’t apply equally to government data abuse, and could ultimately be used to bring firms more in line with long-term government tech strategies.

Retail social commerce is already a multibillion dollar industry in the US, having earned $26.97 billion in sales in 2020. That figure will more than double by 2023, when we predict retail social commerce earnings will hit $56.17 billion.

From niche to emerging market status, podcasting is coming of age in China.

Alibaba’s quarterly earnings: The ecommerce giant posted strong growth in its retail and global businesses, even though we expect its share of China’s total ecommerce sales to dip slightly this year.

Alibaba’s quarterly earnings: The ecommerce giant posted strong growth in its retail and global businesses, even though we expect its share of China’s total ecommerce sales to dip slightly this year.