Top stories for the morning: US-Taiwan deal, Apple loses $200 billion, Xiaomi beats Tesla

The U.S. and Taiwan have struck a sweeping trade deal with duty reductions and multi-billion dollar purchases of U.S. goods amid disputes over shifting semiconductor supply chains. In China, Xiaomi surpassed Tesla in sales for the first time. Apple shares suffered the second biggest collapse in its history after the publication of the delay of Siri update. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of February 13.

The U.S. and Taiwan have signed a trade agreement under which duties on Taiwanese exports are reduced to 15%, and the island will eliminate or reduce 99% of duties on U.S. shipments and open the market for automobiles, agricultural products and industrial products from the U.S., CNBC reported. Taipei has also pledged to buy more than $84 billion worth of U.S. goods between 2025 and 2029, including LNG, oil, aircraft and energy equipment.

The deal follows a January promise by Taiwanese companies to invest at least $250 billion in U.S. manufacturing, but the two sides disagree on how to move semiconductor supply chains: Washington insists on large-scale localization, while Taipei believes this is impossible.

Apple shares experienced their worst day since April, losing 5% amid reports about the postponement of the launch of an updated version of Siri with AI features and regulatory questions about the Apple News service, CNBC reported. The company lost more than $200 billion in capitalization in one trading session, the second largest collapse in its history, MarketWatch calculated .

As a result, Apple's stock has squandered gains since the beginning of the year and is now trading down nearly 4%.

According to Bloomberg's sources, the internal launch of the Siri update has been delayed until Ma or even September, with the company insisting it is still planning a release this year. Additional pressure on the quotes came from claims by the head of the US Federal Trade Commission over Apple News' moderation policy, as well as a general cooling of investor interest in the tech sector due to high AI costs.

Xiaomi overtook Tesla in sales in China in January: crossover YU7 sold 37,869 cars, while Tesla delivered 16,845 Model Y to customers, CNBC reports. The Tesla model, which led in December, fell to 20th place in the overall ranking and seventh among electric cars. Xiaomi brought the YU7 to market in the summer of 2025 at a price 10,000 yuan lower than the Model Y, claiming power reserve advantages.

Car sales by month remain volatile, and in general Tesla traditionally shows more stable results, the TV channel notes. According to the results of 2025 among electric cars, it ranked fifth in China, Xiaomi - tenth, while the market leader was BYD with 3 million cars sold.

Singapore-based data center operator DayOne Data Centers has selected JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to prepare an IPO in the United States, which could raise about $5 billion, Reuters writes. Bank of America and Citigroup are also involved in the deal, and the company's valuation could reach $20 bln.

Backed by China's GDS Holdings, the company raised more than $2 billion in a Series C round in January to expand in Europe and Asia. DayOne was spun off from GDS International and assumed its current name in January 2025.

American Axiom Space, developing spacesuits for NASA lunar missions and building a commercial station to replace the ISS, has raised $350 million, writes CNBC. The round was led by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Type One Ventures, 4iG and 1789 Capital also took part, with Donald Trump Jr. among the partners. The funds will be used to develop spacesuits and the first modules of the station. Previously, the company was valued at more than $2.5 billion.

The capital raising comes amid growing interest in the space sector and SpaceX's preparation for a possible IPO, as well as U.S. plans to return astronauts to the moon, the channel points out.

- Japan's broad Topix index fell 1.6 percent, while the Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index collapsed nearly 2%, while mainland China's CSI 300 index lost about 1%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.2 percent and the Kosdaq was down 1.4 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.4 percent.

- Futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down about 0.2 percent, while Nasdaq Composite exchange-traded contracts were down 0.3 percent.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor