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Beijing has emphasised the safe and orderly development of artificial intelligence amid growing global anxiety about the disruptive impact of the rapidly advancing technology, as the country's leaders put the final stamp of approval on China's next five-year plan at this year's “two sessions”. The 15th five-year plan elevates China's AI Plus initiative as a top national priority, according to a draft version of the document submitted for review to the National People's Congress, China's top......

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com reported a 2.7 billion yuan (US$392 million) loss in the fourth quarter and a halving of annual profit amid an ongoing food delivery battle it ignited last year. The fourth-quarter loss contrasted with a profit of 9.9 billion yuan a year earlier, marking the company's first quarterly loss since the start of 2022, according to its earnings results on Thursday. Profit for last year dropped nearly 53 per cent to 19.6 billion yuan. However, by non-generally accepted......

Mainland China and Hong Kong should ease listing rules for biotechnology companies and lower takeover thresholds for listed firms to capitalise on renewed foreign interest in the healthcare sector, venture capitalist Nisa Leung said. “Besides artificial intelligence, Premier Li Qiang also highlighted biomedicine in the 'two sessions' annual government work report,” said Leung, a former managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, speaking in a sideline interview during China's annual meetings of......

More of the world's billionaires live in China than anywhere else, after stock market gains and artificial intelligence generated a record number of billionaires globally, according to the latest Hurun Global Rich List. China overtook the United States to recapture bragging rights on the annual report released by Hurun Group on Thursday, with 1,110 billionaires out of 4,020 globally. China added 287 billionaires since the previous edition of the report, more than recouping its losses over the......

China's top semiconductor executives have called for a nationwide push to build a domestic alternative to Dutch chip-equipment giant ASML, urging the industry to “abandon illusions and prepare for struggle” amid US sanctions. The current industry was too “small, fragmented and weak”, which was “dispersing numerous public resources”, according to an article co-authored by the co-founder of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) and leaders of Empyrean, Yangtze Memory......

Professor Pan Guang has spent decades focused on Jewish studies, the Middle East and its ties with China. Among his many roles, Pan is founding director of a research centre on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. Amid recent events in Iran, how do you assess the impact on China? Will China's “petroyuan” settlement encounter problems, and what of the risks to the Belt and Road......

Hong Kong lenders have only “insignificant” exposure to the Middle East, the city's banking regulator said, although analysts expect escalating tensions in the region could slow local banks' expansion plans in the near term. “The exposures of the Hong Kong banking sector to the Middle East are insignificant,” a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said in response to an inquiry from the South China Morning Post. “The HKMA does not comment on market rumours,” she added,......

The recovery in Hong Kong's property market has begun attracting overseas investors back to the sector, with the Hang Seng Properties Index rising more than 20 per cent this year. International investors, who have had limited exposure to Hong Kong property stocks over the past two to three years, had begun revisiting the sector and adding positions since the start of 2026, according to Citi. At a recent global investor conference hosted by the US bank, participants said they were showing greater......

For companies expanding beyond their home markets, growth across Asia rarely follows a straight line. Regulations vary, supply chains stretch across borders and capital needs evolve with shifting currencies. Hong Kong plays a critical role in simplifying this journey. Its connectivity to mainland China and its role as an international financial and trading centre make the city a natural command point for regional expansion. This is the space in which UOB Hong Kong operates. As the bank enters......

Alibaba Group Holding is forming a dedicated internal task force headed by CEO Eddie Wu Yongming in a bid to funnel greater resources into its foundational AI model development efforts. On Thursday, Wu said in a letter to members of the company's artificial intelligence research lab Tongyi that the task force would “jointly coordinate group-wide resources to accelerate foundational model development”. “In technology, standing still means falling behind,” Wu said in the letter, which was provided......

The momentum in China's venture-capital industry, which is recovering after years of decline, is likely to continue this year, mainly bolstered by government financing, but an expert warned that the lack of funding diversity poses a hidden risk. Fundraising picked up in 2025, with most of the gains coming from government sources, as central policymakers loosened rules to allow local governments to issue more bonds to finance government guidance funds, according to a report released on Tuesday by......

Hong Kong stocks rebounded on Thursday alongside other Asian markets from recent sell-offs triggered by surging oil prices, buoyed by robust economic data and the opening of China's annual “two sessions” meeting. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.2 per cent to 25,561.14 as of 9.38am local time. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 1.3 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index climbed 1 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.5 per cent. South Korea's Kospi led the gains in the Asia-Pacific......

Escalating tensions in the Middle East could strengthen Hong Kong's ambitions to become a global family office hub and gold trading centre, as wealthy investors reconsider their exposure to the region, industry figures say. “The war in the Middle East could benefit Hong Kong because wealthy individuals in the region may want to move part of their investments outside the conflict zone,” said Kenny Tang Sing-hing, chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Financial Analysts and Professional......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Chubb Investment Management (HK) Limited (“Chubb Wealth”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Chubb, has launched a new wealth management platform for high-net-worth investors, providing access to a selection of mutual funds and private market opportunities. The launch coincides with continued growth in Hong Kong's private wealth sector, where assets under management rose 15 per cent year on year to more than HK$10tn by the......

Alibaba Group Holding has recruited a research scientist from Google DeepMind to bolster development efforts for its Qwen artificial intelligence models, in an internal restructuring that has seen the departure of previous technical lead Lin Junyang. While no successor to Lin was announced, former Google senior staff research scientist Zhou Hao was joining Alibaba as head of post-training research, replacing Yu Bowen, who also departed this week, two sources said. Zhou, who holds a PhD from the......

Air freight costs for China-reliant shippers may rise by up to 30 per cent due to the suspension of Middle East air routes triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran, a Hong Kong-based logistics association said. The Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding & Logistics made the estimate based on “market feedback” since the strikes began on Saturday, the trade group told the South China Morning Post in an emailed statement. Most of the group's 303 corporate members operate in mainland......

Fewer Hongkongers withdrew funds from the city's mandatory pension plan in the fourth quarter of last year, as a stock market rally prompted more members to leave their investments in place even when they stopped working or left the city, according to analysts. The number of people taking their money out of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) because they were leaving Hong Kong permanently fell 39 per cent in the final three months of 2025 from the previous quarter, to 4,200 cases, according to......

Wang Jian, a prominent Chinese artificial intelligence scholar and director at Zhejiang Lab, said China had both the “resources and responsibility” to make AI more accessible globally at a time when other countries, such as the US, were increasingly acting in their own interests. Speaking to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday on the sidelines of China's annual annual legislative “two sessions” meetings in Beijing, Wang said the world remained far from the goal of turning AI into an......

The founder and chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) said his company plans to ramp up the use of artificial intelligence in research and take Chinese battery technology and standards further overseas, as the battery giant maps the next phase of growth. The world's largest maker of electric vehicle (EV) batteries would step up research and development spending and apply more AI methods to strengthen its technological edge, said billionaire Robin Zeng Yuqun at a briefing on......

The pace and size of outlicensing deals between Chinese drug makers and global partners have accelerated this year, highlighted by two agreements announced this week, each worth more than US$1 billion. The string of deals shows how China is becoming a sought-after source of drug candidates for multinational pharmaceutical companies, which are increasingly looking for long-term partnerships rather than one-off arrangements, analysts said. The latest deals, Sino Biopharmaceutical's agreement with......