SCMP Nachrichten

 

Hong Kong-headquartered Toys 'R' Us Asia has pivoted to an experience-focused format and smaller stores in the city following an expansion programme that sought to increase its outlets as it navigates the changing retail landscape. The group planned to close the year with 20 stores in Hong Kong, representing a 40 per cent rise from 2025, said Leo Tsoi, CEO of the toys and collectibles retailer. The strategy allows the group to be more nimble and adapt to the demographic shift, as toys and......

Global retail investors have pulled back into cash amid uncertainties from Middle East conflicts, while high-net-worth clients have continued to pursue investment opportunities in Asia and alternative assets, according to the CEO of Schroders. “What we saw in March was a reversal of the trend that we had seen at the end of 2025 and in January and February, when people increased their interest in investing in stocks,” said Richard Oldfield, global CEO of Schroders. “What really happened in March......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] As global markets enter a decade shaped by geopolitical fragmentation, regulatory divergence and volatile capital flows, the ability to act with financial clarity in real time is a crucial advantage. Companies are increasingly global from day one—hiring talent worldwide, sourcing across borders and selling into multiple markets—yet many are still stuck with siloed legacy financial systems built for a slower era. Across......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] In a world defined by constant change, Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone, has spent four decades building an institution designed to perform across cycles. In this conversation, he reflects on Blackstone's rise to the world's largest alternative asset manager, the culture that shaped the firm, and the opportunities he sees in private markets, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Asia. Today,......

Hong Kong homebuyers' strong demand for new flats extended a streak of brisk sales for developers with one project selling out in a single day, underscoring the city's broader recovery in housing prices. All 88 units at the Pavilia Farm III project by New World Development and MTR Corporation in Sha Tin were sold on Saturday, prompting the developers to put 75 more flats on sale later that night. Elsewhere in Kai Tak, 133 units of KT Marina II were snapped up over the weekend, according to......

“State-of-the-art” (Sota) artificial intelligence models excel at solving complex Olympiad maths but still struggle with everyday enterprise tasks, according to an executive from a top AI unicorn in the US. David Meyer, senior vice-president of product at US data processing and analysis company Databricks, told the South China Morning Post in a recent interview that the very traits making models state-of-the-art could cause issues in basic office work. For instance, when tasked with identifying......

Chinese biomedical companies deploying cutting-edge technologies are emerging as serious competitors to Western dominance in the race to treat Parkinson's disease, in a market that could reach US$16 billion over the next decade. The firms are developing a range of approaches – from autologous cell therapies made from a patient's own cells and ready-made cell products to gene therapies and non-invasive ultrasounds – although many of these candidates are still in early-stage trials. Many patients......

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) powered by large language models presents a significant breakthrough. For the first time, humans are communicating with computers using language instructions. This has enabled the use of AI agents to perform intelligent tasks involving some degree of advanced reasoning and complex logic. Vibe coding – the use of AI for programming and software development by lay persons – empowers end-user application deployments. One-person companies using AI agents to......

The winner of a robot half-marathon held in Beijing on Sunday smashed the current human world record by more than six minutes in the latest display of the industry's rapid development. The humanoid device, known as Lightning, was developed by the Chinese smartphone and gadget company Honor, which only entered the sector last year. Its finishing time of 50 minutes 26 seconds was far quicker than the current men's world record of 57:20 held by the Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo and around 17 minutes......

The US-Israeli war on Iran has unleashed sharp swings across global energy and financial markets, fuelling demand for safe-haven assets, with Hong Kong emerging as a potential beneficiary across gold, property and capital markets. In the second of a three-part series, we look at Hong Kong's position as a stable base where demand for property has held firm despite the global turmoil. Hong Kong's property market is showing early signs of renewed safe haven demand, with a surge in luxury......

As the artificial intelligence race moves beyond language models into the physical world, Asia's manufacturing and supply chain strengths could give it an edge over the US, says Granite Asia's Jixun Foo. The veteran venture capitalist said the current wave of AI development, sparked by breakthroughs in foundation models over the past two years, had entered a new phase where physical applications – from robotics to industrial automation – were becoming increasingly important, playing to Asia's......

Growing public anxiety over artificial intelligence-driven job loss, especially in technology and other white-collar sectors, has weighed on housing sentiment in the US and India. Yet data remains insufficient to quantify the direct impact of AI-related job fears on China's sluggish home-buying sentiment, though analysts expect such concerns to make households more cautious about long-term housing purchase decisions. China's rapid AI adoption to boost automation and productivity had implications......

China's artificial intelligence model companies are unlikely to “eat up” the domestic software market because they lack the deep industry know-how and experience to meet enterprise needs, according to an HSBC analyst. Unlike the US, China's less developed software-as-a-service (SaaS) market stands to gain even as AI models continue to improve, with the most likely outcome being a collaborative approach where model companies and legacy software firms serve enterprises in tandem, said Yiran Liu,......

Homebuyers continued to signal confidence in Hong Kong's residential market on Saturday, with about three quarters of 248 new flats put up for sale snapped up by late afternoon. A total of 53 out of 88 units were sold at The Pavilia Farm III, while 129 of 160 units at KT Marina II in Kai Tak were taken as of 4.30pm, according to Midland Realty. The Pavilia Farm III, a project jointly developed by New World Development (NWD) and MTR Corp atop Tai Wai Station in Sha Tin, saw buyers throng the......

Huawei Technologies claimed the top spot in China's smartphone market in the first quarter with its highest share in five years, while Apple saw the strongest growth among the top six players, despite a global memory chip crunch. Huawei held a 20 per cent share in the first three months, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a Friday report by Counterpoint Research. Chinese government subsidies that offered a 15 per cent discount for gadgets under 6,000 yuan (US$880), along......

The US-Israeli war on Iran has unleashed sharp swings across global energy and financial markets, fuelling demand for safe-haven assets, with Hong Kong emerging as a potential beneficiary across gold, property and capital markets. In the first of a three-part series, we examine Hong Kong's bid to position itself as Asia's bullion hub. War in the Middle East has intensified global demand to diversify gold storage, creating a strategic window for Hong Kong to tap its unique status and evolve from......

A quarter featuring multiple eye-popping deals is no longer unusual for China's pharmaceutical industry – in fact, it may soon be considered a slow season. In recent months, companies including CSPC Pharmaceutical and RemeGen have struck out-licensing agreements worth up to US$18.5 billion and US$5.6 billion respectively, while Haisco Pharmaceutical Group has added two of its own — most recently a deal worth up to US$745 million. Under the terms of the deal, the Beijing-based Haisco granted US......

Hong Kong is better placed than many of its Asian peers to turn stablecoins into commercially viable products at scale, underpinned by its early lead in tokenisation and growing experience in moving financial infrastructure on-chain, according to HSBC's head of digital assets research. “Hong Kong already has examples of deploying the technology and can now look towards commercial applications and scaling,” said Daragh Maher, HSBC's head of digital assets research, in an interview on the......

As China's artificial intelligence sector accelerates, competition for top talent has intensified among major tech companies, with firms increasingly poaching from rivals while also attracting researchers from overseas hubs such as Silicon Valley. A reported high-profile personnel move involving DeepSeek researcher Guo Daya recently drew attention to the sensitivity surrounding AI hiring in China's tech sector. Guo, a lead researcher on DeepSeek's R1 model, joined ByteDance's Seed AI development......

The Trump administration and Anthropic's CEO on Friday discussed working together for the first time since a dispute earlier this year between the Pentagon and the artificial intelligence firm over how that company's models should be used. The meeting between CEO Dario Amodei and White House staff, which took place amid growing ‌fears the AI start-up's latest model will supercharge cyberattacks, suggests the two sides might be on a path to rebuilding trust. The Trump administration, central......