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Tencent Holdings' super app WeChat has updated its content governance rules to ban non-human automated publishing, including the use of artificial intelligence and scripts, amid a surge in technologies that can replace human creators. “Official accounts and service accounts must not use AI, scripts, APIs or other automated methods to replace human involvement in content production and distribution,” WeChat said on Thursday via its official platform. The super app, marketed as Weixin on the......

A new video generation model quietly unveiled by Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding has overtaken Seedance 2.0, ByteDance's most advanced model, as the world's top-ranked artificial intelligence video tool based on an evaluation by a benchmark site, offering a glimpse into the AI talent race as the market heats up. The HappyHorse 1.0 model, which was still under internal beta testing, was developed by the Innovation Business Unit under the e-commerce giant's newly formed Alibaba Token Hub......

China will allow pre-profit technology companies to list on the ChiNext board in Shenzhen and introduce market makers to improve liquidity, as regulators step up efforts to bolster the mainland's second-largest stock exchange and advance the country's push for technological self-reliance. Under the new rules, emerging-industry companies with an estimated market value of at least 3 billion yuan (US$439 million) and revenue no less than 200 million yuan in the most recent financial year would be......

American fried chicken chain Popeyes made a comeback in Beijing on Friday, as its first new store in the city drew long queues of diners more than 20 years after the brand closed its original Beijing outlets in 2002 and exited the Chinese market in 2003. Building on its initial return to China in 2020, the chain was now ready to accelerate its expansion this year, as consumer tastes had evolved significantly and it was bullish about growth potential fuelled by young consumers, it said. Analysts......

HSBC and a consortium led by Standard Chartered have been awarded Hong Kong's first stablecoin issuer licences, marking the city's latest step towards embracing cryptocurrency's most-traded cash substitute in its bid to become a global digital asset hub. Eight months after Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance, one of the world's first such laws, took effect, two issuers were given the green light to conduct business, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced on Friday. The authority had......

Last week, on April 1 to be exact, Apple reached the grand old age of 50 (almost exactly a year younger than Microsoft), one of a tiny proportion of S&P-listed companies that have stayed the course for half a century. It is a company with which I have had a special connection and a love-hate relationship for most of my adult life. Not that I have ever owned an Apple product (I have always been a loyal Android man) nor any Apple shares; heavens, I wish I had. No. My special connection is more......

China's healthcare sector has been drawing offshore capital to Hong Kong-listed stocks as investors look for safe havens amid global volatility in commodities. The Hang Seng Healthcare Index, tracking some of China's most innovative pharmaceutical companies including Akeso and Innovent Biologics, has surged about 13 per cent since March 23, outpacing the benchmark Hang Seng Index's about 6 per cent gain over the same period. “Although the Middle East conflict has created a lot of uncertainty and......

Jardine Matheson is giving up its remaining office space in FWD Tower at Taikoo Place and plans to relocate staff back to Jardine House in Central as part of operational consolidation, sources said. The group's primary office at Jardine House, part of its own property portfolio, “is now undergoing renovations to create a modern workspace that will accommodate all head office employees from May”, allowing it to operate “more collaboratively and dynamically”, according to sources familiar with the......

China's stocks climbed on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index reaching the 4,000 level for the first time in 14 trading days, as broad-based gains and policy optimism lifted sentiment. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9 per cent to 4,006.40 as of 10am local time, its first move above 4,000 since March 19. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index climbed 1.1 per cent to 26,042.36, rising above the 26,000 mark for the first time since March 18. The Hang Seng Tech Index advanced 2 per......

OKX Ventures and Hong Kong-listed HashKey have agreed to invest in Vietnam's cryptocurrency trading platform CAEX, a move the exchange said would give it enough capital to join the country's regulated pilot scheme for digital asset trading. The combined capital injection from OKX Ventures and HashKey, which would be deployed in April, aimed to help CAEX – officially known as Vietnam Prosperity Cryptocurrency Asset Exchange Joint Stock Company – reach the minimum charter capital threshold of 10......

Alibaba Cloud captured more than 50 per cent of global open-source model downloads as of March following the release of its Qwen 3.5 model series, a new report has found. The finding underscores the dominance of Chinese models in the global open-source artificial intelligence landscape, though some US companies including OpenAI and Nvidia are also making early gains. Qwen reached nearly 1 billion cumulative downloads by March, far surpassing rivals like Meta Platforms' Llama and DeepSeek,......

Three solid-state battery developers across China and the US are moving towards initial public offerings (IPOs), as geopolitical tensions and elevated oil prices fuel demand for more energy-efficient technologies. Qingtao (Kunshan) Energy Development Group became the latest to join the queue, filing for a Hong Kong listing on April 8. Earlier, Beijing WeLion New Energy began the pre-listing tutoring process ahead of a planned application to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, while US-based Factorial......

Hong Kong developers are preparing to launch nearly 1,300 units in the coming days and weeks, with some edging up prices amid improving homebuying sentiment. On Sunday, 261 units at La Mirabelle I will be released, with average prices ranging from HK$15,335 (US$1,958) to HK$19,613 per square foot after discounts of up to 15 per cent, according to Sino Land, one of the project's developers. The pricing marks a 1 per cent increase on the previous batch, which Sino said reflected the quality of the......

China's leading battery makers have unveiled plans to add more than 600 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new production capacity for the energy storage system (ESS) market in just the first two months of 2026, underscoring surging global demand for renewable energy infrastructure. The planned facilities – spanning major players from Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) to Gotion High-tech – amount to roughly 10 times the 58GWh of total capacity installed across the United States in 2025. According......

Alibaba Group Holding's cloud and artificial intelligence unit is expected to remain a prime engine for the March quarter, with the growth rate forecast to accelerate as the company steps up AI monetisation and reshuffles its AI businesses, according to analysts. Cloud revenue growth was projected to increase to around 40 per cent during the period, up from 36 per cent in the December quarter, analysts said. The growth momentum was expected to be supported by “a robust surge in token usage”,......

Xin Hua Fund Management has been reprimanded by China's central bank for submitting inaccurate financial data and failing to rectify the issue in a timely manner, in a rare public rebuke of a mutual fund firm over compliance lapses. The Chongqing branch of the People's Bank of China summoned the firm for regulatory talks, according to a statement on its website, ordering it to strengthen oversight of raw data quality and improve its financial reporting practices. During the meeting, regulators......

Investment banking fees across Asia-Pacific excluding Japan reached US$5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2026, with China's Citic Securities ranking as the region's top earner. The total in the first three months fell 5 per cent from a year earlier, as growth in equity capital markets underwriting was offset by weaker debt capital market and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, according to an LSEG Data and Analytics report on Thursday. Helped by strong fees from its bond underwriting......

Unitree Robotics, one of China's largest robot makers, will debut the R1, its cheapest humanoid model, on the international market via Alibaba Group Holding's AliExpress marketplace next week, according to two sources familiar with the matter on Thursday. The launch would cover major overseas markets including North America, Europe, Japan and Singapore, one of the sources said. The product would later be available on other channels, the second person said. The R1, launched in mainland China last......

Several major Chinese banks have clawed back staff bonuses or cut salaries amid a sluggish economic recovery and Beijing's ongoing scrutiny of the financial sector. In their annual reports, an increasing number of lenders, ranging from state-owned institutions to commercial banks, are disclosing the amount of performance-based compensation reclaimed from their employees last year. State-owned Bank of China recovered 47.18 million yuan (US$6.9 million) from 4,630 individuals in 2025, according to......

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, or CATL, plans to buy a 45 per cent stake in the parent of a Shenzhen-listed renewable-energy company, as the world's biggest maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles seeks to expand its investments in green energy amid the global oil shock. CATL signed a framework agreement with two shareholders of Hangzhou Zhonhen Technology Investment on Wednesday, agreeing to pay 4.09 billion yuan (US$598.5 million) for the deal, Hangzhou Zhonhen Electric, the......