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Three in four multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in mainland China have maintained or increased their investments in 2025, according to a recent KPMG survey, despite Washington stepping up efforts to decouple from Beijing and its allies following suit. The survey published on Monday, polling 137 senior executives from global companies operating in the world's second-largest economy between June and September, revealed that only 1 per cent reported preparing to exit the market. About 20......

China Vanke, once the mainland's biggest developer before it succumbed to an unprecedented property crisis, won last-minute support from creditors to extend a bond grace period in a reprieve that helps it avoid default, at least for now. Holders of Vanke's 2 billion yuan (US$284 million) note voted in favour of a proposal to extend the grace period to January 28, according to a filing to Chinamoney.com on Monday. The company did not pay the security by its December 15 maturity, which left it in......

One of Hong Kong's oldest lenders is stepping up its push into digital finance, teaming up with newly listed digital asset exchange HashKey Exchange to launch a co-branded credit card in the first half of next year. Shanghai Commercial Bank (SCB), which marked its 75th anniversary this year, will partner with HashKey Exchange to issue a Visa credit card exclusively for investors trading on the digital asset platform, according to chief executive Wallace Lam Wing-ted. HashKey, one of 11 licensed......

Activity in Hong Kong's ultra-luxury residential market is picking up, with Swire Properties selling two homes in Deep Water Bay for a whopping HK$2.2 billion (US$283 million). The two three-storey units at 6 Deep Water Bay Road had saleable areas of about 9,600 sq ft and 5,300 sq ft, with the transactions set to be completed in the first quarter of 2026, the developer said. Both units were acquired by the same buyer. On a per square foot basis, the deal works out to HK$147,010, “one of the......

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Chinese tech giant Baidu is teaming up with US ride-hailing platforms Uber and Lyft to roll out robotaxi trials in London next year, highlighting the accelerated push among Chinese autonomous driving firms to expand globally. Baidu and Uber said they would begin pilot runs of robotaxi services in the British capital starting from the first half of next year, according to their respective social media announcements on Monday. In a separate post published on X the same day, Lyft chief executive......

China's ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has seen its valuation surge to US$500 billion on the private market as it advances a survival plan in the US, up sharply from US$400 billion earlier this year, according to two sources. With the deadline for a sell-or-ban law looming, TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi informed employees last week that the company had signed a binding agreement to divest its US entity into a joint venture controlled by American investors. “Investors are happy about the deal's terms as......

Huawei Technologies cut prices on its widescreen, flip-style Pura X handset over the weekend, as the foldable smartphone market braced for a new wave of high-profile launches from rivals Samsung and Apple. The Shenzhen-based smartphone giant said it was trimming as much as 800 yuan (US$114) from the Pura X, which debuted in March. The vertically folding model now starts at 6,899 yuan. The Pura X stands apart from Huawei's other foldables for its wider 6.3-inch display and 16:10 aspect ratio –......

Funds raised in Hong Kong reached nearly HK$275 billion (US$35.4 billion) from 106 initial public offerings (IPO) as of December 12, helping the city become the world's top listing venue, the stock exchange operator said in a year-end review. “2025 has been a year of momentum – global investors returned with conviction, and innovation from the Chinese mainland and across Asia kept our markets vibrant,” said Bonnie Chan Yiting, CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX). Four of these......

Hong Kong is putting gold at the centre of its push to become a global commodities trading hub, with officials prioritising plans for an international gold trading centre alongside a broader strategy to expand the city's role in physical trade, derivatives and logistics. The government's newly formed Commodity Strategy Committee held its first meeting on Monday under Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po, as Hong Kong looked to build out a commodities ecosystem that would generate new growth......

HarmonyOS, Huawei Technologies' self-developed operating system, has crossed the threshold of 27 million users, a sign that the company's efforts to take on Apple's iOS and Google's Android are paying off. In announcing the user numbers for its latest iterations – HarmonyOS 5 and HarmonyOS 6 – the Shenzhen-based tech giant referred to the milestone as a “survival line” for the company. The platform also boasted an ecosystem of over 10 million developers. User engagement crossed milestones, too,......

Charles Li Xiaojia, former CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), has suspended the initial public offering (IPO) plan of his investment company Micro Connect International Finance (MCIF), according to a letter sent to shareholders. “This decision stems from our recent recognition that the extended timeline associated with a proposed public listing has begun to outweigh its anticipated benefits, causing delays to MCIF's deployment schedule and impacting Micro Connect's broader......

China has unveiled new rules to rein in aggressive pricing tactics by online platforms, prohibiting e-commerce operators from forcing merchants to offer discounts or setting different prices based on user demographics without consent. The 29-article regulation – jointly issued over the weekend by the National Development and Reform Commission, State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and Cyberspace Administration of China – lays out detailed compliance requirements that target several......

Global collectors have given auction houses a Christmas present: a projected uptick in full-year revenue that marks a reversal from recent years of decline. The “Big Three” – Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips – have reported a combined projected total revenue of US$14.1 billion for 2025, up roughly 10 per cent from 2024. “The first half was solid and stable. I feel even better at the end of the year, as a great second half gave us an even stronger finish,” Christie's CEO Bonnie Brennan told the......

In a striking display of athletic robotics, six Unitree Robotics' G1 humanoids successfully executed synchronised front flips while performing as backup dancers at a concert in Chengdu last Thursday, a feat that quickly went viral and drew international attention after Elon Musk labelled it “impressive” on social media. Dressed in shimmering silver tops and black leather pants, the robots performed choreography for the song “Open Fire” in synchronisation with pop star Wang Leehom and his human......

Hong Kong stands at the crossroads of new opportunities shaped by a macroclimate of volatility, uncertainty and complexity. Now, its position as a superconnector between China and the world is more critical than ever. With this in mind, Standard Chartered's inaugural Hong Kong Business Summit 2025 considered how best to reassert the city's advantage to unlock the potential of emerging sectors and newer types of investment. It also looked at creating stronger links with enterprises in the Greater......

Chinese stocks are set to extend gains next year after rising for a second year on fading geopolitical risks, investors re-evaluating the technology sector and household savings finding their way into equities amid low interest rates. The CSI 300 Index of the biggest stocks traded on the mainland has risen 17 per cent this year, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index has advanced almost 30 per cent. The stellar gains have taken by surprise many global investment banks and asset-management firms,......

Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest stories about AI developments in China this year. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. DeepSeek's AI breakthrough could alter China's 'national fate' in US tech war DeepSeek, extolled by some as the “biggest dark horse” in the open-source large language model (LLM) arena, now has a bull's eye on its back, as the start-up is being touted as China's secret weapon in the artificial intelligence (AI) war with the US. 2.......

Shanghai Biren Technology has started bookbuilding for its Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO), aiming to raise up to HK$4.85 billion (US$624 million), as Chinese chipmakers rush to list amid rising investor interest. Biren, the mainland's first graphics processing unit (GPU) developer to go public in Hong Kong, will start trading on January 2 – becoming the first new listing of 2026. The firm was offering 247.7 million shares between HK$17 and HK$19.60 each, according to its exchange filing......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] The Asian Insurance Forum (AIF) 2025, hosted by the Insurance Authority (IA) on December 8 and attracting over 4,000 participants, closed on a reflective note as regulators, insurers, tech leaders and academics set out concerns about a future marked by compounding shocks. The event was held a week or so after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po. A moment of silence dedicated to victims affected was observed before......