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Memory price hikes are likely to become “the new normal” for the next few years, according to an executive at storage giant Seagate Technology, as the artificial intelligence boom of the past two to three years pushes the industry into what he described as a supercycle. “It's hard to tell if it will last forever,” Ban-Seng Teh, Seagate's chief commercial officer, told the South China Morning Post. The current cycle was “very unusual because in the past we went through cycles of shortage and......

China's cybersecurity agency on Tuesday issued a second warning about security and data risks tied to OpenClaw, despite a rush among local governments and tech companies to adopt the artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide frenzy. At a time when major Chinese cloud service providers were touting easy deployment of OpenClaw to capitalise on its popularity, improper installation and use of the agent had also led to severe security risks, said the National Computer Network Emergency......

Hong Kong family offices are showing rising demand for risk-management products, services and advisory support amid growing geopolitical and market uncertainty, according to an affiliate of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). “We see a general trend that demand for risk-management products and services has been rising, and family offices are strengthening these functions year after year,” said Enoch Fung, CEO of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance and executive director of the Hong Kong......

Hong Kong is set to challenge London's dominance in marine insurance as Middle East tensions highlight the city's ability to provide war-risk cover at a lower cost, according to the local insurance regulator's chairman. Stephen Yiu Kin-wah on Tuesday said the Insurance Authority had supported insurers in launching a special war-risk insurance pool last November, which now covered 10 mainland Chinese ships sailing in the Gulf. The pool, backed by five Hong Kong insurers, offers up to US$130......

Hong Kong's fragile retail recovery is clouding the outlook for shopping mall rents, with Wharf Real Estate Investment Company (REIC) warning that rising geopolitical tensions could add further uncertainty even as visitor traffic improves. The landlord of Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui and Times Square in Causeway Bay said the retail market showed gradual improvement in 2025 as tourism picked up. “Volume increase, however, was not often accompanied by commensurate yield increase,” the company......

Baden-Wurttemberg stands on the front line of Germany's “China shock 2.0”. A hub for carmakers including Mercedes-Benz, the region has faced a wave of job cuts over the past year as Chinese firms rapidly gain global market share. In the German media, some have warned the area risks becoming “Germany's Detroit”. Yet despite the economic strain – and polls showing the economy was the top issue for local voters – China barely featured in campaigns during the run-up to Baden-Wurttemberg's state......

Chinese technology firms, including internet giants Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance, are offering easy or inexpensive access to OpenClaw, the popular open-source AI agent software amid a “lobster fever” in the country. Tencent on Tuesday officially launched QClaw, an artificial intelligence assistant built on OpenClaw that can connect to the company's super app WeChat. After download and installation on a computer that takes about three minutes, users can remotely control......

HSBC Holdings is phasing out its remote-work flexibility as it tightens its post-pandemic policy in Hong Kong, requiring frontline employees to be in the office or meet clients five days a week. In an internal memo seen by the South China Morning Post, the city's largest bank asked client-facing staff, including traders and salespeople, to follow the new rules from April 1. Managing directors and senior managers with direct reports must attend the office at least four days a week, while all......

China's chip exports jumped in the first two months of the year, according to the latest customs data, underscoring how Beijing's push for semiconductor self-sufficiency is boosting both domestic demand and global market growth. Integrated circuit (IC) exports reached US$43.3 billion in January and February, an increase of 72.6 per cent from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. It far outpaced China's overall export growth of 21.8 per cent in the......

Beijing is planning “moderately proactive” technology infrastructure expansion covering artificial intelligence (AI), telecommunications and space internet, while emphasising strength in coordinating green energy planning in tandem with computing initiatives to solidify its advantage in infrastructure amid the AI race with the US. The infrastructure buildout plan forms a core pillar of the nation's draft 15th five-year plan, released last week during the legislative “two sessions” meeting and......

Hong Kong stocks rose and crude oil fell on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump signalled that the Iran war might be nearing an end. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.5 per cent to 25,799.39 as of 9.37am. The Hang Seng Tech Index surged 1.7 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index rose 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.2 per cent. On Monday, Trump said that the US objectives in Iran were “pretty well complete” and the war would end soon. “We took a little excursion” to......

A Singapore-rooted property family has put a rare residential estate in Hong Kong's Southern district up for tender at about HK$300 million (US$38.4 million), testing demand for trophy homes as the city's luxury housing market shows early signs of recovery despite soft prices. The tender for Belvedere, a low-density compound in Chung Hom Kok, would close at noon on April 28, according to marketing agent JLL. The property had been held by Remadour Estate since 1993, Land Registry records......

Mainland Chinese investors can now buy shares in more than a dozen newly added Hong Kong-listed biotech and pharmaceutical companies after a reshuffle of the Stock Connect southbound trading list took effect on Monday, reflecting the sector's growing role on the international stage. Foreign capital, however, remained cautious, analysts said. “Mainland buyers have been the main force behind the latest healthcare rally. They tend to chase smaller-cap names where a tight free float makes it easier......

China's semiconductor entrepreneurs – including artificial intelligence chipmaker Cambricon Technologies and testing-and-packaging leader Tongfu Microelectronics – have voiced support for the country's 15th five-year plan, which places renewed emphasis on the chip industry as a cornerstone of Beijing's technology ambitions. “National policy direction and planning are very well designed,” said Chen Tianshi, founder and CEO of Beijing-based Cambricon. Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of......

Around the world, news organisations are racing to create rules for artificial intelligence. Editors debate whether reporters may use AI to draft text, summarise documents or help in research. Some outlets promise readers they will disclose when a machine helps write an article. Others hope credibility will come from avoiding AI altogether. But this debate begins with a mistaken assumption: that journalism earns trust because journalists physically write the sentences themselves. That has never......

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) reported a 42 per cent jump in net profit last year to 72.2 billion yuan (US$10.4 billion) on strong battery sales and an expansion into new energy storage scenarios. The Chinese battery giant's sales volume of lithium-ion batteries – a key component for electric vehicles (EVs) – reached 661 gigawatt hours (GWh), up 39 per cent from the previous year, according to a filing released on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Monday night. China's EV industry......

Some local governments in China have rushed to support the adoption of OpenClaw, the artificial intelligence agent sweeping the country, even as warnings about privacy and security risks linger in the background. In Shenzhen, China's southern tech hub, the AI and robotics agency of Longgang district published a draft on Saturday proposing sweeping measures, including subsidies of up to 2 million yuan (US$290,000) for approved projects. The initiative came a day after nearly a thousand people......

Representatives of China's semiconductor industry are calling for stronger state backing in artificial intelligence chips and critical materials, aiming to fast-track core technology breakthroughs. During last week's “two sessions” – the annual meetings of China's top legislature and advisory body – scholars and entrepreneurs in the semiconductor sector urged Beijing to leverage the nation's advantage in strategic chip raw materials and accelerate the commercial application of AI chips to secure......

Private equity and other investment firms remain broadly optimistic about deploying capital in acquisitions and initial public offerings (IPOs) globally, supported by ample dry powder and diversification efforts while keeping a close eye on geopolitics, according to senior investment bankers. As geopolitical uncertainty had become a constant factor in the global market in recent years, “we are broadly optimistic about the opportunities”, Ashu Khullar, head of global asset managers at Citigroup,......

Crude oil's surge above US$100 a barrel could last longer than expected, reshaping investors' outlook for the global economy and injecting fresh volatility into risk assets as military tensions in the Middle East show no sign of easing, according to analysts. Brent crude jumped 23 per cent to US$114.14 a barrel in London on Monday, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 24 per cent to US$113.11. Traders are increasingly pricing in a prolonged supply disruption after Iran closed the Strait of......