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Mainland China's population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) – those with assets exceeding US$30 million – has grown by 23 per cent over the past five years to 121,677, and is projected to expand a further 18.8 per cent to 144,602 by 2031, according to Knight Frank. Despite that growth, China's share of global UHNWIs edged down by one percentage point to 17 per cent this year and was expected to fall further to 15 per cent by 2031, as rapid wealth creation in the United States......

Tencent Holdings has released a new flagship artificial intelligence model, the first since former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu joined the Chinese tech giant to lead its foundational AI development efforts. The Shenzhen-based company said on Thursday that the closed-source HY3-Preview was its most powerful model yet, on par with leading Chinese models, while still lagging top US models from the likes of OpenAI and Google DeepMind. Notably, the model is relatively small with only 295 billion......

Mainland Chinese investors have slowed their purchases of Hong Kong-listed shares this year after last year's record inflows, as more artificial intelligence investment opportunities have emerged in mainland markets, according to BNP Paribas. Southbound inflows via the Stock Connect cross-border system have reached about US$30 billion so far this year, a slower pace than 2025, when they hit US$180 billion for the full year, according to the French bank. The deceleration reflected changing market......

Daniel Gros is the director of the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University. Previously, he served as an adviser to the European Parliament, collaborated with the European Commission as economic adviser to the Delors Committee, which developed plans for the euro, and worked at the International Monetary Fund. In this interview, Gros examines the structural tensions shaping EU-China economic ties, draws lessons from the euro's experience to analyse the yuan's......

Alibaba Group Holding has struck its first external partnership for its flagship consumer artificial intelligence app, linking it with China Eastern Airlines in a move that pushes its agentic capabilities beyond the company's own ecosystem and into real-world services. The company said the fresh collaboration allowed users of the Qwen app to manage the full flight booking process – from search and ticket purchase to seat selection and check-in – within a single natural-language chat interface.......

Entrepreneur Justin Sun filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing a Trump family-backed cryptocurrency platform of fraud and alleging he was blocked from withdrawing his assets. In a San Francisco federal court filing reviewed by Agence France-Presse, the Chinese-born crypto billionaire and former Trump ally claims to have bought US$45 million worth of WLFI, an electronic currency launched by World Liberty Financial in October 2024. To thank him for the investment – at a time when WLFI was......

Fund managers investing in Asian and emerging markets added mainland Chinese and Taiwanese stocks to their portfolios in February and March, while cutting their exposure to South Korean equities, according to HSBC Holdings. The reallocation also came at the expense of Indian stocks during the period, with the country's weighting in Asian funds hitting a new low, HSBC analysts Prerna Garg and Herald van der Linde said in a report on Tuesday, without giving details. The report was based on data......

The most revealing fact about Hong Kong's stablecoin launch is not that licences were issued. It is who got them, and who did not. By handing the first approvals to HSBC and the Standard Chartered-led joint venture Anchorpoint Financial, regulators made clear from the start that digital money in Hong Kong will be bank-led. That choice matters because Hong Kong is not trying to become Asia's easiest venue for cryptocurrency experimentation. Rather, it is trying to become the most credible place......

As Chinese artificial intelligence companies continue to push for the adoption of their flagship models overseas, they have taken on a new role as a key source of so-called “token exports” to the global market. Chinese AI models accounted for four of the top 10 models in terms of token consumption on popular AI model marketplace OpenRouter from March 18 to April 18, highlighting their growing visibility in global developer usage of AI systems. Domestic token demand has been surging at an......

Global flexible workspace operator WeWork is expanding in Hong Kong as companies scale back long-term office commitments, opening its fifth site in Causeway Bay to tap rising demand for short-term, flexible space amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty. The new location at Soundwill Plaza II Midtown, owned by Soundwill Holdings, was previously occupied by another co-working operator. WeWork secured the site after competing with several rivals. “In the current uncertain market outlook,......

China's electric vehicle (EV) makers could introduce a lidar sensor-based intelligent driving system in models priced as low as 60,000 yuan (US$8,795) this year, reflecting intensifying competition and falling costs, according to AI-driven tech firm Robosense. This price point is the lowest for models on sale in China's market, excluding mini vehicles sold for less than 50,000 yuan, indicating fierce competition among Chinese carmakers amid the phasing out of policy incentives. Notably, light......

Hong Kong's technology cooperation with Shenzhen received a boost on Wednesday as Lenovo Group, the world's biggest personal computer maker, set up an innovation lab at the city's new Hetao tech hub and pledged to help firms adopt artificial intelligence and expand globally. Lenovo is the first multinational tech firm to publicly announce its presence on the Hong Kong side of the Hetao zone – the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park (HSITP) – which covers 87 hectares in the city's......

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) announced on Wednesday the joint establishment of the Northern Metropolis Financial Advisory Taskforce, which will explore financing solutions for the development of the city's flagship project. The Northern Metropolis, a megaproject designed to bolster Hong Kong's economic base and advance its integration with the Greater Bay Area, will transform 30,000 hectares (74,132 acres) of land near the city's border......

The bourse operators of Hong Kong and Malaysia are exploring a range of collaborations, from dual listings and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to Islamic finance, to forge closer ties between the city and the Southeast Asian country. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting and Boursa Malaysia CEO Dato Fad'l Mohamed unveiled their joint development plans in a media briefing in Hong Kong on Wednesday as HKEX hosted the 40th Asian and Oceanian Stock Exchanges Federation (AOSEF)......

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek has begun raising external capital for the first time, but is keeping its initial fundraising round deliberately small to limit equity dilution while retaining key talent, according to people familiar with the matter. The Hangzhou-based company, a spin-off from hedge fund High-Flyer, is seeking to sell no more than 3 per cent of its equity, said three investors with direct knowledge of the plans, who requested anonymity as the information is......

Eight mainland China-based companies – five of them biotech firms – passed listing hearings on the Hong Kong stock market in April, clearing the way for them to tap the city's deep liquidity. The influx, including an AI-driven drug discovery firm, a driverless technology developer and a maker of industrial robots, comes as the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has been pushing private firms to list in Hong Kong. The market regulator has required companies that established so-called......

In the first of a three-part series on Anthropic's new powerful Mythos AI model, we look at its impact on Chinese AI, cybersecurity and competition with the US. US start-up Anthropic announced its latest artificial intelligence model Claude Mythos Preview on April 7, sparking an unprecedented global response among policymakers and regulators due to its powerful ability to identify and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Instead of a public release, Anthropic released Mythos to a consortium of......

The State Council, China's cabinet, has published guidelines on innovative drug pricing that a bank analyst has described as “the most significant” in a decade, as they aim to reward drug innovation and ease pricing tension for domestic and multinational pharmaceutical companies. The framework document published this month said patented innovative drugs would be supported through value-based pricing, while the prices of generic drugs would be driven down through market competition and......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Hong Kong, April 21st 2026 — HashKey Group's asset management arm, HashKey Capital, today announced a comprehensive strategic upgrade to build an end-to-end boutique asset management company. The company expands beyond VC investment to asset management by covering diversified vehicles and asset types. This forms a full ecosystem spanning primary and secondary markets, yield strategies, customized solutions, and......

Hong Kong stocks fell in early trading on Wednesday, with other regional markets mixed, as investors remained wary of tensions in the Middle East despite US President Donald Trump saying he would extend a ceasefire with Iran. The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9 per cent to 26,242.56 as of 9.30am. On the Chinese mainland, the CSI 300 Index slid 0.4 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.3 per cent. The day before a a two-week truce with Iran was set to expire, Trump said he would......