China’s military builds massive new wartime command centre

Good morning and comfortable Friday. In in the present day’s publication:

China’s army is constructing a large complicated in western Beijing that US intelligence believes will function a wartime command centre far bigger than the Pentagon, in response to present and former American officers.

Satellite tv for pc photographs obtained by the FT which might be being examined by US intelligence present a roughly 1,500-acre building website 30km south-west of Beijing with deep holes that army consultants assess will home giant, hardened bunkers to guard Chinese language army leaders throughout any battle — together with doubtlessly a nuclear warfare.

A number of present and former US officers stated the intelligence neighborhood is carefully monitoring the location, which might be the world’s largest army command centre — and 10 occasions the scale of the Pentagon.

One China researcher accustomed to the photographs stated: “This fortress solely serves one goal, which is to behave as a doomsday bunker for China’s more and more subtle and succesful army.”

Read the full story and view a satellite image of the site.

Right here’s what else we’re preserving tabs on in the present day and over the weekend:

• Financial information: Australia publishes December producer value index inflation fee information and Japan releases the most recent labour drive survey.

• Outcomes: Samsung Electronics, Tokyo Fuel, ExxonMobil, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Komatsu report earnings.

• Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal: Three Israeli hostages are because of be launched on Saturday in change for dozens of Palestinian prisoners.

5 extra prime tales

1. OpenAI is concentrating on a $300bn valuation in a large new SoftBank-led funding spherical. SoftBank is about to take a position between $15bn and $25bn into the ChatGPT-maker, an funding that would be the centrepiece of a wider funding spherical which may result in the factitious intelligence firm elevating as a lot as $40bn. The unprecedented measurement of the most recent spherical suggests investor willingness to again the highest US AI start-ups has not been undermined by China’s DeepSeek.

• Extra AI information: Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to spend “hundreds of billions” on AI to propel Meta to a dominant place, even after DeepSeek’s revelations shook markets this week.

2. India’s authorities is beneath strain to flip round a slowing financial system because it prepares to current one of the vital consequential budgets since Prime Minister Narendra Modi got here to energy greater than a decade in the past. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will unveil the primary full price range of Modi’s third time period on Saturday — here’s what to expect.

• Have questions in regards to the price range? Ship them to us and we’ll reply them in a particular weekend version of the publication. Hit reply or e-mail firstft@ft.com

• Extra India information: The billionaire Ambani household has won the bidding battle for a stake within the first of eight English cricket groups being put up for public sale by the game’s governing physique.

3. Rescuers don’t consider there are any survivors among the many 67 passengers and crew aboard a business jet and army helicopter that collided on Wednesday evening exterior Washington earlier than plunging into the Potomac River. Here’s what we know about the crash.

• Trump’s response: With out citing proof, Donald Trump blamed Democrats and variety, fairness and inclusion insurance policies for the deadly collision.

4. The US financial system grew at an annualised fee of two.3 per cent within the fourth quarter, a weaker than expected finish to a 12 months dominated by the resilience of American customers. Yesterday’s GDP determine comes after Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell stated there was no hurry to chop rates of interest.

• European financial system: The European Central Financial institution reduce rates of interest by a quarter-point to 2.75 per cent, a call that got here hours after new figures confirmed the Eurozone financial system unexpectedly stagnated within the fourth quarter.

5. The Trump administration’s embrace of cryptocurrencies helps gas a speculative mania that might trigger “havoc” when costs collapse, hedge fund Elliott has warned. The $70bn-in-assets agency took goal on the US authorities’s obvious enthusiasm for property which have soared in value however have “no substance”, according to an investor letter seen by the FT.

The Massive Learn

Simply final 12 months, Mistral was hailed as a possible international chief in AI know-how. However this week, China’s DeepSeek surprised Silicon Valley by releasing a cutting-edge open-source mannequin with what it claims is a tiny fraction of OpenAI or Meta’s sources and computing energy — beating the French start-up at its personal sport. Has Europe’s great hope for AI missed its second?

We’re additionally studying and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

Donald Trump this week ordered work on essentially the most bold missile protect in US historical past to start. Dubbed the “Iron Dome for America”, the missile protect might be constructed to destroy hypersonic missiles and forestall nuclear annihilation. Nonetheless nuclear consultants additionally warned the initiative may provoke China and Russia to embark on an accelerated arms race to be able to retain nuclear parity. Here’s how it will work.

FT information quiz 

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