SCMP Nachrichten

 

We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Geely beats BYD sales in first 2 months of 2026 to become China's top carmaker Geely Auto has gained the upper hand in mainland China's intensifying automotive sector, as its diverse product line-up pays off after electric vehicle (EV) king BYD suffered a setback following partial......

China has committed more than US$120 billion in direct investment in overseas mining and mineral processing projects since 2023 – covering the likes of lithium and rare earth metals – with that spending boosting clean energy usage in developing countries, a think tank said on Wednesday. It was helping to advance the “zero-emissions world economy” by offering mineral inputs for solar equipment, wind power, electric vehicles and industrial decarbonisation offshore, the Australian think tank......

The prospect of a meeting between President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Donald Trump has become a focal point for investors seeking some reassurance on growth and stability as the conflict in the Middle East dampens appetite for risk. Investors are awaiting clarity on the summit, viewing it as a potential sign of cooperation that could steady mainland China and Hong Kong equities. The meeting had been scheduled for the end of the month, but the White House said it would be postponed by five or......

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has integrated its QClaw AI agent as a mini-program in its flagship WeChat app as it pushes to expand adoption of its OpenClaw-based tool. It said QClaw was now accessible as a mini-program inside WeChat after an upgrade on Wednesday that allowed users to transfer files to their personal computers. QClaw was launched last week as an OpenClaw-based artificial intelligence agent for personal computers that users could control remotely from WeChat on their......

HSBC Holdings plans to raise US$2.5 billion by issuing two tranches of additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds, marking the reopening of such offerings after the US and Israel war on Iran rattled global financial markets. The biggest lender in Hong Kong and Europe by assets said in a stock exchange filing before the market opened on Wednesday that it intended to issue the AT1 bonds, officially named perpetual subordinated contingent convertible securities, on March 24 to strengthen its capital. The......

Hong Kong stocks rose for a third day on Wednesday as investors tracked overnight gains on Wall Street and took cues from stabilising oil prices, despite lingering geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Hang Seng Index added 0.2 per cent to 25,923.03 at the open, marking its third consecutive day of gains and the longest winning streak since January 29. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.1 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index were little......

Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding are set to report quarterly earnings this week, against a backdrop of an artificial intelligence boom that is reshaping the global economy and fuelling a frenzy in China around open-source AI agents such as OpenClaw. The South China Morning Post examines market expectations for their results and the key themes investors will be watching. What are the expectations for top line and bottom line performances? Shenzhen-based Tencent, operator of China's......

Artificial intelligence is stepping off the screen and into the physical world, as Chinese engineers integrate OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent that has taken China by storm, into robots capable of executing real-world tasks. Domestic robotics giant Ecovacs unveiled Bajie, a robot integrated with OpenClaw, at the Appliance and Electronics World Expo in Shanghai last week. Equipped with a robotic arm and gripper mounted on a round, vacuum-shaped wheeled base, Bajie demonstrated its ability to......

The wealth management businesses of Chinese investment banks in Hong Kong are growing faster than those of international rivals, as a buoyant initial public offering (IPO) market and rising cross-border flows strengthen their competitive edge. “Chinese investment banks are seeing accelerated growth … because [their] base is smaller and the current market environment favours them,” said Wang Lei, CEO of Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong), in an interview with the South China Morning Post,......

Nvidia is restarting ⁠the production of one of the company's chips that is designed to comply with US export restrictions on China, CEO Jensen Huang said at a press conference on Tuesday. The company had halted ‌manufacturing last year of its H200 chip, which is based on its ageing Hopper technology, because of increasing regulatory hurdles in the US and China, according to a report at the time. Since then, Nvidia has received licences to export the H200 from the US government ⁠and has taken......

In China this month, people have been lining up on streets to install an AI programme on their computers. Some had travelled from other cities. Others had waited for hours for engineers to set it up for them. There were even “birth certificates” given out upon installation. The programme is OpenClaw. Its logo is a red lobster. Chinese internet users quickly coined a phrase for the phenomenon: raising lobsters. The scene looks quirky, even amusing. But beneath the spectacle lies a revealing......

Nvidia's latest language processing chip, unveiled at the company's annual artificial intelligence conference, has opened a new frontier in the AI inference arms race, as the booming market for AI agents like OpenClaw presents a complex new reality for China's semiconductor industry, according to analysts. The Nvidia Groq 3 Language Processing Unit (LPU), introduced on Monday at GTC 2026 in San Jose, California, was described by the company as an accelerator with fast memory and low latency......

China leads the world in patent applications for anti-drone technology, which has drawn heightened attention during the wars in Ukraine and Iran and a spate of suspicious sightings in the West, according to intellectual property law firm Mathys & Squire. Patent applications for anti-drone systems rose 27 per cent over the past year, with China submitting 82 compared with 22 from the US, the second-largest filer, the 115-year-old UK-based law firm said on Monday. South Korea ranked third with six......

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is mounting a fresh challenge in the foldable handset market after launching the latest product in its Find N series, as the industry faces rising memory prices and anticipation builds around Apple's foldable iPhone. Find N6, launched globally on Tuesday, featured upgraded hinge technology designed to make the crease on the foldable screen “virtually imperceptible”, according to the company. “While foldables offer the advantage of a larger display, the crease has......

Chinese contract drug makers – including WuXi AppTec, WuXi Biologics and WuXi XDC – face a less certain long-term revenue outlook as US pharmaceutical companies bring production in-house and reconfigure supply chains amid rising US-China tensions. While near-term earnings remained largely locked in, visibility beyond that was limited, according to Cui Cui, head of healthcare research for Asia at Jefferies. “Earnings visibility for 2026 and 2027 is still very strong – revenue momentum is largely......

A memo circulating in mainland China's financial community has raised concerns that Beijing plans to ban certain Chinese companies from listing in Hong Kong via a red-chip structure, with analysts fearing that this could create uncertainty for new listings in the city. According to a memo seen by the South China Morning Post, some red-chip companies – entities registered overseas but with assets and businesses within China – seeking regulatory approval for an initial public offering (IPO) in......

A Shanghai-based start-up claims to have mastered a technique for producing synthetic petroleum at low cost from air and water, as China intensifies efforts to develop alternatives to traditional fossil fuels amid the US-Israel war against Iran. Carbonology announced it had created a process for converting carbon dioxide extracted from air and water into artificial fuel using solar and wind energy, Chinese media outlet Cailianshe reported on Tuesday. The company – co-founded by a former......

Details of the Shenzhen museum being built by Pony Ma Huateng, co-founder and CEO of internet giant Tencent Holdings, were unveiled on March 17 after months of speculation. In a public letter, Pi Li, the former head of art at Hong Kong's Tai Kwun, revealed that he is the founding director and first employee of Rong Museum, a cultural institution with around 4,500 square metres (48,400 sq ft) in total floor area that will open in 2027. The name Rong refers to the Chinese character for “blending”......

Shanghai has become the latest mainland Chinese city to lower the minimum down payment requirement for loans on commercial-use properties – including shops and business apartments – from 50 per cent to at least 30 per cent. Analysts said the move could help reduce excess inventory in the struggling commercial real estate market, though stronger measures might still be needed. “There is still a meaningful gap between the minimum down payment ratio for residential properties and that for mixed-use......

SmartMore, the first company backed by the Hong Kong government's investment fund, has applied for a listing, underscoring the city's crowded pipeline of technology initial public offerings (IPOs). The unicorn, founded in 2019 and specialising in industrial artificial intelligence, submitted its application on Monday night, with Morgan Stanley, China International Capital Corporation and Deutsche Bank as joint sponsors. SmartMore provides intelligent manufacturing and digital innovation through......