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A sweeping rule change for drones in Beijing, which bars sales in the Chinese capital and requires identity registration linked to each device from Friday, has left sellers and consumers scrambling to cope with some of the country's toughest regulations on the sector. At a flagship retail store operated by DJI, the world's largest drone maker, in Beijing's bustling Guomao area, a shop assistant said that the store had been preparing to clear its shelves of all drone products in accordance with......

China's latest electric vehicle (EV) innovations – from ultra-fast battery charging to headlights capable of projecting films – have drawn strong attention at Beijing's Auto China show, underscoring how the country's automotive technology is pulling ahead of global rivals. As domestic carmakers and key suppliers recast vehicles as “mobile living spaces” powered by artificial intelligence and digital systems, they are increasingly looking beyond the mainland to drive export growth. “We are......

Vigloo, a South Korean micro drama production company, has gone all-in on artificial intelligence this year, betting that automation can fundamentally reshape how content is made. The company has begun spending roughly 30 per cent of its budget on AI-driven workflows, and the change is already having a dramatic impact. It can now produce a show in just one month rather than three, and at one-fifth of the cost. That is not only allowing Vigloo to release far more shows, but also to experiment......

Gold bars, cruises, Dior beauty services and Rosewood Hong Kong vouchers are just some of the incentives Hong Kong's major lenders are offering in hopes of capturing wealthy clients, as visitors from mainland China descend on the city during the golden week holiday starting on Friday. HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong) – the city's three biggest banks – Citigroup, DBS Hong Kong, ICBC Asia, Bank of East Asia and Hang Seng Bank have all extended the hours of certain branches on......

Chinese property stocks are poised for a comeback, as investors believe that a rebound in tier-one city home prices is a sign that the sector's years-long woes are nearing an end. The pickup in home prices in mega cities such as Beijing and Shanghai has coincided with a spike in transaction volumes, indicating that buyers are piling in after prices have fallen to more affordable levels. In March, more than 30,000 lived-in homes were sold in Shanghai, the highest in five years, after the city......

As China's bear housing market enters its fifth year, a growing number of global investment bank analysts and property agents are increasingly optimistic on the sector, underscoring a positive view on its outlook fuelled by upbeat data in April. Bank of America holds a positive stance on the sector and believes the “green shoots” of a recovery are visible, it said in a report issued in late April. After five consecutive years of weakness, the bank said “market recovery sustainability is becoming......

Stablecoin payments into Hong Kong are surging on the cross-border payment network of Circle Internet Group, operator of the world's second largest stablecoin issuer USDC, as the US firm eyes regulatory approval in the Asian crypto hub, its CEO said in an interview. “Hong Kong remains a central trade hub, and cross-border payments and cross-border trade are major drivers in the adoption of stablecoins,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle. He said that payments into Hong Kong were......

Hong Kong police do a good job in combating cybercrime, but artificial intelligence (AI) is now driving a tsunami of losses with even the most savvy of individuals getting scammed. As a finance professional, I have attended courses about financial crime for decades, supported by continuous annual training. So how was I still taken in recently? Was my guard lower because it was in a private capacity? The scam thankfully concluded with no adverse results – only because people had fallen victim......

The Federal Communications ⁠Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to advance a proposal to bar all Chinese labs from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the United States. The agency says about 75 per cent of ‌all US electronics are tested in China and plans to adopt a streamlined approval process for devices tested in US labs or labs from countries not posing national security risks. In a separate 3-0 vote, the commission advanced a proposal to......

Artificial intelligence investments by US tech giants continue to soar, dwarfing those of Chinese AI firms, but China's rising appetite for AI applications will compel its tech companies to increase their AI spending this year, according to analysts. The largest US tech companies are on track for more than US$700 billion in AI capital expenditures this year, driven in part by rising memory costs and continuously growing demand for AI applications. Google and Microsoft on Thursday both said that......

Hong Kong homebuyers snapped up most of the new flats released on Thursday, with developers beginning to ramp up new construction amid sustained housing demand. All 120 units at the One Victoria Cove I in Hung Hom, jointly developed by Henderson Land Development, Hysan Development and Empire Group, were sold by 5.20pm, according to agents. Meanwhile, New World Development (NWD) and MTR Corp's Pavilia Farm III above Tai Wai MTR station found buyers for 19 of the 45 units as of 6.50pm. Most recent......

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea's two memory chip giants, are warning of a prolonged and severe global supply crunch, weeks after the two companies disclosed increased investments in their China wafer fabs to meet surging artificial intelligence demand. During Samsung's first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, the company said its order fulfilment rate had plunged to a “record low”. In a rare move, customers worried about shortages were already pre-booking memory capacity for 2027,......

Non-local residents in Shenzhen can now buy property in some of the city's core districts after the local housing authority eased restrictions and raised home-loan caps, a move likely to further improve the real estate prospects of mainland China's top tech powerhouse. Those holding a valid residence permit can buy one residential unit in Futian and Nanshan districts, and Xinan in Baoan district, without having to pay social security or individual tax for a year. The rules came into effect on......

Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of chipmaker Nexperia, is facing the risk of delisting from the Shanghai Stock Exchange due to an audit failure, as the company remains embroiled in a power struggle for control of its Dutch subsidiary. The risk was triggered after Wingtech's auditor issued a “disclaimer of opinion”, citing restrictions in verifying the financial records of Nexperia's overseas operations, according to a company filing to the Shanghai bourse on Wednesday. The audit failure......

China's largest state-owned banks delivered stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings, with rising interest income and steady asset quality pointing to improving credit demand as Beijing ramps up support for key sectors of the economy. The Big Four lenders – Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and Bank of China (BOC) – all reported growth in both revenue and net profit, marking a turnaround from the margin pressure......

Standard Chartered's first-quarter profit rose 19 per cent as it achieved strong wealth-management performance, which was offset by lower interest rates and rising bad debt provisions. Net profit rose 19 per cent year on year in the first three months of 2026 to US$1.9 billion, or 74.2 US cents per share, from US$1.59 billion a year earlier, the bank said on Thursday. The result was better than analysts' estimates of US$1.33 billion. The bank's pre-tax profit rose 17 per cent to a record US$2.5......

Ant International, the overseas spin-off of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, has connected more than 150 million merchants with over 2 billion consumer accounts around the world, as it positions its payments network as core infrastructure for the emerging AI commerce economy. The figures, disclosed at the company's MoMents 2026 forum in Kuala Lumpur, which ran from Monday to Wednesday, underscore the scale Ant is seeking to leverage amid the rising adoption of artificial intelligence agents. Ant......

China is bracing for a record surge in cross-regional travel over the coming Labour Day holiday, as the country's tourism sector continues to see strong demand amid government efforts to boost consumption. The domestic transport network is projected to handle 1.52 billion cross-regional trips – about 304 million trips per day – over the five-day public holiday, up 4 per cent compared with the same period last year, the Ministry of Transport announced on Tuesday. Public transport passenger flows......

Geely Automobile Holdings, Chery Automobile and BYD, the most profitable listed Chinese carmakers last year, all reported double-digit declines in net profit in the first quarter, highlighting a squeeze at home amid reduced purchase incentives. Hangzhou-based Geely, the country's second-largest carmaker behind BYD, said in a filing on Wednesday that its net profit for the January-March period slid 27 per cent year on year to 4.17 billion yuan (US$610 million). The profit slump came even as......

China's home-grown software and operating systems like Huawei Technologies' HarmonyOS are gaining traction, according to an official of China's technology ministry, as the country accelerates its push to cut reliance on foreign technology. More than 55 million smartphones ran on the HarmonyOS mobile platform as of the end of March, according to Ke Jixin, vice-minister of industry and information technology. “Domestic software like operating systems and databases has been improving steadily,” Ke......