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Last August, Beijing hosted the world's first ever robotics competition, hailed as the Olympics for robotics, where human-shaped biped robots competed in sports events. Opening the grand show was a piano piece performed by a human pianist and a humanoid robot developed by Beijing-based start-up LinkerBot, which specialises in making dexterous hands for humanoids. The LinkerBot robot pianist was equipped with the company's L6 mode of dexterous hands, designed for refined and delicate operations......

Chinese insurers underwriting electric vehicle (EV) policies have a better chance of turning a profit this year, supported by higher premiums, intelligent pricing mechanisms and improved claims-handling efficiency. A turnaround in mainland China's EV insurance market, against the backdrop of a bearish outlook for the automotive sector, will accelerate the pace of electrification on the country's roads, according to industry officials and analysts. “Heavy losses in the insurance business used to......

Hong Kong stocks jumped on Monday as investors diversified from US assets amid trade uncertainty as US President Donald Trump signalled plans to raise global tariffs even after the US Supreme Court struck down his earlier duties. The Hang Seng Index advanced 1.5 per cent to 26,798.97 at the open, reversing the 1.1 per cent loss recorded on Friday. The Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 1.8 per cent. Mainland China's bourses, which have been closed since February 13, will reopen on Tuesday. Online-game......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] In today's business landscape, organisations are grappling with a multitude of technological challenges, including a shortage of IT talent, more stringent ESG regulations, and the accelerated progression of AI. Compounding these challenges are intrinsic practicalities – uncertainty about where to begin, difficulty in assessing return on investment, and the complexity of coordinating with multiple vendors. Many businesses......

May Chan is looking for a home that she can call her own. The freelancer wants to buy a flat, but high mortgage rates as well as uncertainty in the property market kept her from taking the plunge. “I would like to buy a flat, if I can afford it,” she said. “It would certainly help if there are discounts.” Now that mortgage rates have stabilised and there is less uncertainty about property prices, she hopes to find a reasonably priced home. With Hong Kong's residential property market stabilising......

Hong Kong's tech equity benchmark is struggling to balance the artificial intelligence frenzy and picking the right industry leaders, leading to its underperformance this year, according to analysts. The Hang Seng Tech Index, which comprises 30 technology-related companies including Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan, has fallen 5.5 per cent this year up to Friday, giving up some of last year's 23.5 per cent gains. In contrast, the broad-based Hang Seng Index has risen 0.3 per......

Some financial firms have stepped up hiring amid a market rally and a revival in initial public offerings (IPOs), though others continue to trim headcounts to rein in costs, industry participants say. Hong Kong's financial sector added about 4,800 jobs in the 12 months to the end of September, taking total employment across banks, asset managers and brokerages to 204,000, up 2.4 per cent from 199,200 a year earlier, according to the Census and Statistics Department. Including the insurance......

US software company OpenMind, according to founder and CEO Jan Liphardt, caused a commotion last year at a park in San Francisco where the firm shot a promotional video. “A crowd of people came, children came running, cars stopped and the police came,” he said, because “there was a robot in the park”. In an interview, Liphardt told the South China Morning Post that such a scenario would have been treated differently on the other side of the world. “If a [Unitree] G1 walked across the street in......

As political pressure on the US Federal Reserve intensifies in Washington, the reverberations are rippling across the globe. Gregory Peters, co-chief investment officer of fixed income at PGIM, has noted that bringing political pressure to bear on the Fed is an “own goal” – a self-inflicted shock that erodes confidence and is unlikely to deliver lower borrowing costs for the US. This reassessment – marked by quiet “sell America” trades – is beginning to surface. The damage extends far beyond......

US President Donald Trump lashed out at Taiwan for undermining the US chip sector, sparking renewed unease in the global semiconductor industry despite the island's earlier pledge to invest heavily in the US. “Taiwan came [into the chip sector and] they stole our chip business,” Trump said in a press conference on Saturday following the US Supreme Court's ruling that he had exceeded his authority by imposing sweeping tariffs under a law designated for national emergencies. Trump directed his ire......

When an ibuprofen dance challenge went viral on the Chinese social media platform Douyin in late 2022 during the Covid-19 pandemic, shares of the country's leading ibuprofen maker surged more than 200 per cent in two weeks. Now profits at Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical are plunging, and it is not alone, as drug makers are hit by oversupply and weakening demand. The net profit at Shandong Xinhua, a leading manufacturer and exporter of fever and pain medicines, including ibuprofen, fell 26 per......

Deeper regulatory ties and a shared push for new growth sectors are expected to give fresh impetus to cross-border investment flows between China and the Middle East, according to industry players and a United Arab Emirates (UAE) regulator. Hong Kong would benefit from the increased China-Middle East cooperation as the city develops into “a key hub for Middle Eastern capital to deploy in Asia and an important gateway for Chinese capital to go global to the Middle East,” said Linda Cai, inbound......

The surge in gold prices has brought a wave of new investment-focused bullion retailers to Hong Kong's prime shopping areas, adding a distinct segment alongside traditional jewellery merchants. These retailers – which sell gold coins and bars, rather than ornamental pieces – have taken up ground-floor store spaces that were left vacant during the city's post-pandemic recovery. Their rapid expansion has been followed by the return of high-end jewellery vendors, a development that has helped......

The 2026 Spring Festival Gala, one of the world's most-watched television events, featured a dazzling array of humanoid robots. They performed martial arts, executed intricate sword dances and even took part in a comedy skit alongside human celebrities. While parts of the world still view humanoid robots with a mixture of fear and suspicion, as potential job-stealers or sci-fi villains, China is increasingly embracing them as partners in work, entertainment and daily life. Amid the escalating......

Major Chinese technology companies, including ByteDance and Baidu, are aggressively expanding their US-based research and development teams, targeting high-level artificial intelligence and semiconductor recruits in key American tech hubs. The overseas hiring spree underscores these “big tech” firms' growing ambitions to build up their skilled workforce in AI systems development and semiconductor design amid increased competition in their home market. Social media giant ByteDance, the parent......

On a crisp January afternoon, the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre, just a stone's throw from Tencent Holdings' headquarters, was packed with employees gathering for a party featuring celebrity cameos and prizes. But before the fun started, they witnessed a round of sober self-reflection from their low-profile leader. The New Year address by co-founder, chairman and CEO Pony Ma Huateng is an annual tradition for the social media and video gaming giant, offering its 115,000 employees rare insight into......

For decades, China's role in the global economy was easy to define. It made things cheaply and at astonishing scale. “Made in China” became shorthand for industrial capacity. It was often contentious, sometimes admired, sometimes feared. In the years after China joined the World Trade Organization, its firms were deeply embedded in global supply chains, mostly at the lower end of the value chain. They produced for others. Western and Japanese companies controlled the premium segments and brand......

Chinese stock investors have found a new favourite that could possibly take over the artificial intelligence trade, scooping up so-called rocket shares on bets that commercial aerospace will become the next battleground in the rivalry between Beijing and Washington. A gauge of commercial aerospace companies trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges has risen about 10 per cent this year, adding to a 76 per cent increase in 2025, according to data from financial services provider Shanghai......

HSBC has cut about 10 per cent of its US-based debt capital markets team as part of an ongoing cost-cutting drive and broader restructuring announced in October 2024, according to media reports. At least six staff in New York were laid off on Thursday, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Those affected included a managing director, two directors, two associates and an analyst. Europe's largest lender by assets, and one of Hong Kong's biggest banks, unveiled a sweeping......

As American figure skater Ilia Malinin launched into a quad – a jump with four airborne revolutions – at this month's Winter Olympics, millions of television viewers witnessed something brand new: a replay of the jump separated into frames that appeared to orbit the athlete. It was just one of many new perspectives offered to viewers thanks to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, where the technology is not only enhancing broadcasts but also helping......