The Chinese city of Xian has reported an increase in daily Covid-19 infections and local companies have curtailed activity as the country's latest hotspot entered its third day of lockdown.

A consortium led by Alibaba Group has emerged as the frontrunner to take over Tsinghua Unigroup, a deal that could fetch more than CNY50 billion (US$7.8 billion) to help keep China's indebted chip champion afloat.

The video conference meeting between the two leaders, which lasted more than three-and-a-half hours represented their most substantial discussion since Biden took office in January, and comes at a time of particularly high tension.

The Japanese government said it will make an aggressive push to help domestic semiconductor companies expand globally, with a goal of increasing their annual revenue to more than JPY13 trillion (US$114 billion) by 2030.

Every major semiconductor company has pledged to comply with a US request for information pertaining to the global chip shortage, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on the day of a deadline set by the government.

Few people could have predicted the downward spiral for Alibaba, when founder Jack Ma delivered a blunt criticism of China's financial system last October.

The Biden administration is pressuring companies involved in the semiconductor supply chain to be more transparent as the global chips shortage continues to wreak havoc across many industries, officials said.

China's government on Wednesday summoned gaming firms including Tencent Holdings and NetEase to ensure they implement new rules for the sector.

China's regulatory efforts to increase control over its technology sector adds another "decoupling engine" to the global economy, which could weigh on Chinese growth prospects, the former head of the World Trade Organization said.

Chinese automobile-chip maker stocks tumbled after the government launched a probe into possible price manipulation, putting a brake on share surges buoyed by a global semiconductor shortage that's approaching the 12-month mark.

Twenty leading UK universities have collectively accepted more than 瞿40 million (US$55.66 million) in funding from Huawei and state-owned Chinese companies in recent years, sparking concern among Tory MPs.

Hong Kong pro-democracy paper Apple Daily has said its board will decide whether or not to close the publication at a meeting on Friday. This comes days after officials froze HK$18m (US$2.3m) of its assets over allegations that its reports breached a national security law.

Taiwan will allow Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Taiwan's Foxconn, and TSMC to negotiate on the government's behalf for COVID-19 vaccines, a spokesman said on Friday, but warned he couldn't guarantee success.

Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien, in an interview with Reuters late on Monday, said that he could not guarantee total safety for the city's tech firms, but that the government had rolled out rapid testing stations.

Stocks in Malaysia fell Monday trade as the government announced a nationwide "total lockdown" to curb the rapidly rising daily Covid-19 infections in the country.

Vietnam is asking Samsung Electronics and other foreign companies to find Covid-19 vaccines for their workers as the nation grapples with a virus surge, the government website reported.

Japan's government wants TSMC and Sony to invest JPY1 trillion (US$9.2 billion) to build the country's first 20 nanometre chip plant, the Nikkan Kogyo newspaper reported on Wednesday.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Monday a proposed $52 billion boost in U.S. government funding for semiconductor production and research could result in seven to 10 new US factories.

Jack Ma is reportedly stepping down as the president of an elite business school he founded, suggesting a further retreat from public life by China's most prominent entrepreneur in the face of government pressure on the tech industry.

Taiwan will increase curbs on the use of water from June 1 in the major chip making hubs of Hsinchu and Taichung in a battle on an islandwide drought, should there be no significant rain by then, the government said on Wednesday.

Taiwan - which has so far survived the pandemic almost unscathed - on Sunday reported 207 new infections.

Some of the world's biggest chip buyers, including Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet's Google, are joining top chip-makers such as Intel to create a new lobbying group to press for government chip manufacturing subsidies.

Xiaomi and the US government have reached an agreement to set aside a Trump administration blacklisting that could have restricted American investment in the Chinese smartphone maker.

Tsinghua University officially inaugurated its new school for integrated circuits on Thursday, striving to cultivate talents for the country's IC industry and make indigenous Chinese chips.

The regulators' moves show that under President Xi Jinping, nothing can be more powerful in the lives of ordinary Chinese than the Party.

Ant Group is exploring options for founder Jack Ma to divest his stake in the financial technology giant and give up control, as meetings with Chinese regulators signalled to the company that the move could help draw a line under Beijing's scrutiny of its business, according to a source familiar with regulators' thinking and two people with close ties to the company.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba said on Monday that it accepted a record penalty imposed by the country's anti-monopoly regulator.

The Biden administration on Thursday placed seven Chinese firms and government labs under US export controls for their involvement in China's effort to build supercomputers that help develop nuclear and other advanced military weapons. All seven are linked to China's ambition to build the world's first exascale computer, Commerce Department officials said.

Top US chipmaking equipment supplier Applied Materials said Monday it has abandoned a $3.5 billion deal to acquire Japanese peer Kokusai Electric from investment firm KKR owing to regulatory hurdles.

Japan has called on equipment makers to help one of its biggest chipmakers restore production, the latest government move aimed at easing a semiconductor shortage that has hit production at car companies and is now pressuring makers of electronic devices.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) said on Wednesday it planned to jointly invest in a US$2.35 billion project with the government of Shenzhen to make 40,000 wafers per month in the southern Chinese city from 2022.

The US president signed an executive order on Wednesday requiring federal agencies to conduct 100-day reviews of supply chains for semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, electric vehicle batteries and critical minerals used in manufacturing products such as cars and weapons.

China may ban the export of rare-earths refining technology to countries or companies it deems as a threat on state security concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Tata Electronics, Apple's contract manufacturer Pega簫tron, and Grasim and 25 other firms signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth over Rs 28,053 crore with the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday. These MoUs would create 68,775 jobs in the state, the government said.

Some see the move as a vengeful communist party lashing out at the company's outspoken founder Jack Ma. But analysts note that reforming the financial sector is a long-standing policy goal, and other companies could also end up in the crosshairs of regulators.

The government is also drawing up a long-delayed energy white paper that is expected to set out plans for decarbonising the sector.

All new vehicles sold in Japan by the mid-2030s will be hybrid or electric as the government begins to unveil concrete steps for reaching its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, broadcaster NHK said.

Huawei plans to sell budget-brand smartphone unit Honor in a 100 billion yuan ($15.2 billion) deal to a consortium led by handset distributor Digital China and the government of its home town of Shenzhen, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The Trump administration on Tuesday sued Google in what is the largest antitrust case against a tech company in more than two decades.

The U.K. government is drawing up plans to strip Huawei gear from Britain's 5G networks by the end of the year, The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph newspapers reported.