OpenAI Considers Building Data Center in UAE, SHFE Tin Prices Surge and Stabilize [SMM Tin Morning News]

SMM Tin Morning News on May 14, 2025:

Futures Market: The most-traded SHFE tin contract (SN2506) showed a trend of surging and then stabilizing during the night session. The night session began to rally during the session, surging to 266,100 yuan/mt at one point, before consolidating at a high level and closing at 264,960 yuan/mt, up 0.62% from the previous trading day. The total open interest reached 29,800 lots.

Macro: (1) SoftBank: Its investment in OpenAI may reach $20 billion. OpenAI is considering building a data center in the UAE, and an official announcement may be made during Trump's Middle East trip. (Bullish ★) (2) The US Department of Commerce revoked the AI chip export control rules implemented during the Biden administration, possibly shifting to a bilateral negotiation model. (Bullish ★) (3) The US April unadjusted CPI year-on-year rate unexpectedly fell to a more than four-year low of 2.3%. (Bullish ★) (4) Tariffs - US Treasury Secretary: The US will bring pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and other strategic industries back home. ② India proposes to impose retaliatory tariffs on some US products. ③ Trump threatens to impose additional tariffs on countries that impose tariffs on the US. ④ US officials: About 20-25 agreements are currently on the trade negotiation table, and the next trade agreement will be announced when Trump returns to the US.

Fundamentals: (1) Supply-side disruptions: Alphamin Resources Corp.'s Bisie tin mine produced 1,290 mt of metal tin from April 15 to May 11, 2025, achieving the expected processing recovery rate. Tin production commenced by processing raw ore stockpiles from the mine, initially from the Mpama North plant, followed by the restart of the Mpama South plant on April 19, 2025. Blasting and transportation of underground ore began in the last week of April 2025, while the mine development rate also increased. Since the restart of the mine, the first batch of fully documented and approved tin concentrates for export was shipped by truck on May 9, 2025. (Bullish ★) (2) Demand side: After the Labour Day holiday, some downstream processing enterprises gradually resumed work, and the demand for restocking at low prices was somewhat released, but transactions at high prices remained sluggish. Solder enterprises had stable orders but no significant increase. The US policy of imposing electronic tariffs on China suppressed downstream restocking expectations.

Spot Market: Traders reported that transactions during the day were concentrated in the range of 261,000-263,000 yuan/mt. Most downstream enterprises chose to replenish their stocks at points when the futures market corrected, and transactions of high-priced resources were sluggish. Downstream orders were weak, and purchases by end-users were mainly to maintain rigid production needs, lacking incremental demand.