Haikou Customs reported offshore duty-free sales of 231 mln yuan from Sept 25-27, with 38,600 shoppers and 179,000 items. Families and travel groups drove demand; high-end skincare and luxury bags were the top categories.

SME Daily on the 28th cited industry sources saying SK Hynix has begun preliminary construction, including foundation work, at a wafer fab site in Japan’s Tohoku region. Sources say it is unclear whether the project would be run independently or in partnership with Kioxia. SK Hynix states the Japan memory-fab project remains under evaluation with no further progress. The company is also asking Korean component suppliers to ramp output to address memory-chip shortages. If confirmed, the site would accelerate deployment of memory capacity in Northeast Japan and, alongside TSMC’s Kyushu and Rapidus’s Hokkaido projects, form a Japan semiconductor production triangle.

State Council Information Office will hold a press briefing in the “Kick‑off for the 15th Five‑Year Plan” series at 3:00 pm Beijing time on Sept. 29, 2026. Ministry of Science and Technology Minister Yin Hejun will outline plans to advance China’s science-and-technology strengthening during the 15th Five‑Year Plan and take questions.