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The OpenClaw craze is rapidly driving up prices and depleting stock of Apple's Mac Mini compact computer across China, according to local sellers, as consumers scramble to secure machines capable of safely running the open-source artificial intelligence agent amid a nationwide rush to “raise a lobster”. Beijing electronics seller Frank Chai said he was asking for a mark-up of at least 500 yuan (US$73) for a basic Mac Mini model, which comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of memory and 256GB storage and......

JPMorgan Chase has committed to leasing about 250,000 sq ft of space in the new Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) office towers in Hong Kong's West Kowloon district for 10 years, making the US investment bank the anchor tenant of the 700,000 sq ft mixed-use development, the Hong Kong-listed developer said on Friday. Artist Square Towers (AST) will house the bank's Kowloon office, which is currently located at The Quayside in Kowloon East, starting in the latter half of 2028, according to an......

In a landmark development, Neuracle Medical Technology has secured the country's first-ever approval for an implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) system designed to restore hand motor function in patients with spinal cord injuries, in a regulatory milestone that underscores China's accelerating push in neurotechnology. China's BCI start-ups, seen as potential rivals to Elon Musk's Neuralink, are gaining momentum as regulatory support and fresh capital fuel growth. Shares of BCI companies......

Li Xiaopeng is China's most decorated gymnast, having won 16 world titles, including four Olympic gold medals. Although he retired from the sport in 2009, the mindset and principles he carried as an elite athlete continue to apply to his other roles in life, namely those of a father and an entrepreneur. Li recently met with Victoria Tang-Owen – a Hong Kong-based designer and creative director as well as a fellow parent – to discuss how being a history-making, successful athlete has influenced......

Apple announced a reduction in the App Store commissions it charges developers in China ahead of the annual World Consumer Rights Day, drawing approval from the country's biggest gaming companies Tencent Holdings and NetEase. The US tech company said it would reduce the commission for standard in-app purchases and paid app transactions on iPhone and iPad to 25 per cent, from the current 30 per cent, according to a statement on its website on Thursday. Meanwhile, the commission rate for......

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has unveiled its biggest listing reforms since 2018, broadening its special listing regime for innovative companies and opening the door for smaller and more diverse firms to list in the city, the bourse operator said on Friday. HKEX proposed lowering the minimum threshold for companies to list under the weighted voting rights regime to a minimum valuation of HK$20 billion (US$2.6 billion), half the current requirement of at least HK$40 billion. It will......

This year's 'two sessions', China's biggest annual political gathering, featured the announcement of the lowest GDP growth target in decades and official approval for the 15th five-year plan. SCMP Plus hosted a webinar to discuss these developments with three experts from the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis. Other topics included the upcoming US-China presidential summit, President Xi Jinping's purge of the military and efforts to reshape the economy. The panel......

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group's recent launch of a series of high-priced gold-inlaid accessories on the mainland has sparked online debate amid China's slowing consumer market. Last week, the Hong Kong-listed jeweller showcased several items on its official Weibo account, including a diamond-studded gold AirPods case priced at 788,800 yuan (US$115,000) and gold-inlaid hair clips costing 2,080 yuan each, containing 0.42 grams of gold. The earphone case, made with about 350 grams of gold, was......

Cambricon Technologies, a Chinese semiconductor designer seen as a potential alternative to US giant Nvidia, will pay its maiden dividend after posting its first full-year profit since listing in 2020. Cambricon, dubbed “little Nvidia”, planned to distribute a cash dividend of 15 yuan (US$2.2) for every 10 shares held, totalling more than 632 million yuan, according to its filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Thursday. Another 20 million yuan would be allocated for share buy-backs, taking......

Tesla has emerged as a rare outlier in China's slowing electric vehicle (EV) market, posting a massive sales surge in February even as domestic leaders like BYD grapple with double-digit declines. The US carmaker's Shanghai Gigafactory delivered nearly 58,600 vehicles to Chinese buyers last month, up 91 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to data from automotive platform Dongchedi. Sales of Model Y stood at 41,404 units, while Model 3 accounted for 17,195 units. Starting......

Hong Kong stocks fell as the US-Iran war shows no signs of ending, with a hardline stance from both sides pushing oil prices up. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.5 per cent to 25,587 as of 9.40am. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.4 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index was little changed and the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.4 per cent. US President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Thursday that stopping Iran from having nuclear weapons and threatening the Middle East was of “far......

From assisting with office work to providing daily entertainment, arranging blind dates, and even helping with stock market investments, Chinese users are enthusiastically exploring the cutting-edge OpenClaw artificial intelligence tool for various purposes. While most early adopters are tech professionals, others are jumping in too, driven not only by speculation and the lure of quick gains, but also curiosity and fear of missing out on the latest AI craze. “Play OpenClaw right, and it can......

BMW could be approaching the end of the tunnel in China as signs of stabilisation raise hopes of a turnaround after the German carmaker reported that sales dropped by double digits in the key market in 2025. “Transaction prices in the market for our products have stabilised … and are actually improving slightly compared to [the third quarter],” said Walter Mertl, chief financial officer, during a press conference on Thursday. “If the run rate continues this way, we have the opportunity to go......

Arrests in a HK$315 million (US$40 million) insider dealing case underscore Hong Kong's commitment to upholding the integrity of its stock market amid a surge in new listings and share placements, according to industry players. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Thursday said it had arrested eight people after joining forces with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) earlier this week to raid premises connected to a hedge fund and two securities firms. The joint......

Chinese firms should prioritise regional political stability when they make overseas investment decisions, as mounting geopolitical tensions and currency fluctuations increase the risks of doing business abroad, a prominent Chinese entrepreneur has warned. “The current unrest in the Middle East, fluctuations of the US dollar and international complexities serve as a reminder for firms expanding abroad: we must go to locations that offer relative stability,” said Liu Yonghao, founder and chairman......

The escalating crisis around Iran is doing more than just shaking global energy markets. It is constricting the arteries of Asian growth. A massive share of the oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) that powers Asian economies passes through the Strait of Hormuz. When tensions rise around this narrow waterway, economic shock waves travel quickly across the region, exposing a development model whose foundations remain dangerously outside Asia's strategic control. Japan and South Korea, both heavily......

Swire Properties reported stronger underlying earnings in 2025, as the Hong Kong developer stepped up asset disposals and expanded its mainland China retail portfolio, though weakness in the city's office market dragged the company into a headline loss. Underlying profit rose 27 per cent to HK$8.62 billion (US$1.1 billion), driven largely by gains from the disposal of noncore assets including the Brickell City Centre retail mall in Miami and several properties in Hong Kong, according to the......

China's OpenClaw craze has taken an ironic turn, with social media platforms now flooded with paid services offering to uninstall the artificial intelligence (AI) agent after users initially paid to have it installed. On Xianyu, the second-hand marketplace under Alibaba, the keyword “uninstall OpenClaw” was trending on Thursday, based on a search by the South China Morning Post. Records showed that a Shanghai-based seller named “mojito lime water” charged 299 yuan ($43.55) to uninstall the agent......

As innovations arise from the artificial intelligence, robotics and biotechnology sectors, holders of family capital from around the world will convene in Hong Kong to discuss such investment opportunities at the city's fourth annual Wealth for Good Summit on March 23 and 24. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said the summit would showcase Hong Kong's position as a premier hub for family capital seeking long-term growth and multigenerational......

Hong Kong's export credit insurer is keeping premiums low and expanding support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), even as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East raise concerns about risks to global trade. Unlike the typical trade credit insurance model – where insurers raise premiums when geopolitical risks increase – the Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation (HKECIC) said it had continued offering concessions to exporters to help them weather uncertainty. “In the......