SCMP Nachrichten

 

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.]   More than 100 robots will roll, glide and gesture their way into Hong Kong this month as two of the city's biggest technology trade fairs open with a heavy focus on AI in action. From humanoid machines and health devices to smart-home systems and low-altitude applications, this year's InnoEX and Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) will offer a glimpse of AI as a commercial proposition through products that......

Chinese e-commerce and AI giant Alibaba Group Holding has set up a high-level technology committee led by CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, as part of a broader restructuring to sharpen its focus on artificial intelligence amid intensifying competition. The Hangzhou-based company formed the Alibaba Group Technology Committee as part of its efforts to accelerate AI development, according to an internal letter from Wu to staff on Wednesday. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The committee brings......

Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI open-sourced its latest flagship model, GLM-5.1, on Wednesday while raising application programming interface prices by 10 per cent, signalling a shift towards monetising advanced AI capabilities as competition with US rivals intensifies. The move marked Zhipu's second price increase this year, following a broader overhaul in February that lifted rates for its coding subscription plans by more than 30 per cent. While the latest adjustment was more......

The latest bill proposed by US lawmakers to further restrict China's access to advanced chipmaking equipment marks a fresh escalation in Washington's efforts to throttle the country's semiconductor ambitions, as it seeks to bring allies such as the Netherlands and Japan into closer alignment on export controls, analysts said. Introduced last week by Republican Representative Michael Baumgartner, the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls in Hardware (Match) Act aims to close “critical......

More companies are using Hong Kong as a platform to tap yuan funds to finance their operations, thanks to the city's active capital market and a new 200 billion yuan (US$28.68 billion) liquidity facility that provides steady, cheap yuan funding, according to a Standard Chartered report on Wednesday. Among companies that have yuan exposure, about 24 per cent said they would like to increase yuan financing over the next three years, according to Standard Chartered, citing the results of a survey......

DeepSeek has introduced new “instant” and “expert” modes to its chatbot, the most significant update to its user interface since the Hangzhou-based start-up gained global recognition. The changes come ahead of the much-anticipated release of DeepSeek's next-generation flagship model V4 this month, more than a year after its R1 version made it a household name. On Tuesday, the company added the two modes to its website and mobile app, giving users the choice of settings. Instant mode was designed......

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) batteries are set to become safer and more powerful, as carmakers including SAIC Motor and Chery Automobile outline road maps for the commercialisation of solid-state technology. Solid-state batteries – which use a solid electrolyte to conduct ions between electrodes – are widely seen as a superior alternative to conventional lithium-ion batteries that rely on liquid or gel-based materials. Analysts say the technology promises higher energy density, improved safety......

China's fast-growing energy storage sector is drawing fresh interest from capital markets, with Sigenergy Technology becoming the latest to tap Hong Kong for funding, as companies ride a global push for renewable energy. The Shanghai-based firm was seeking to raise about HK$4.4 billion (US$561.6 million) via an initial public offering (IPO), according to its prospectus on Wednesday, as investor appetite builds around battery storage and smart energy systems that complement solar and electric......

China is ramping up efforts in the AI race, as tech giants Alibaba Group Holding and Huawei Technologies deploy massive computing clusters in the push to develop home-grown infrastructure. E-commerce giant Alibaba has announced the deployment of a 10,000-card intelligent computing cluster powered by the Zhenwu AI chips developed by its T-Head semiconductor design arm. Launched in collaboration with China Telecom in the Shaoguan data centre in Guangdong province, the “fully domestic” cluster was......

ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has seen its valuation surge to a record high of more than US$600 billion after a proposed equity sale from one of the founding shareholders, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The deal aimed to transfer US$900 million worth of ByteDance shares, one of the sources said. The seller originally had the company's valuation at US$550 billion, in line with an earlier proposal by General Atlantic, one of the firm's earliest institutional......

When a friend received a text message from the mainland Chinese tax authorities asking her to ensure that all her declared income – including income from abroad – was accurate, Fan, a finance professional who asked that her full name not be used, was shocked. Her friend was now coordinating with the authorities to settle the outstanding taxes on her overseas trading, she said, adding that “there is no alternative but to comply” with such texts and that the incident had left her on guard about......

Hong Kong stocks surged alongside other markets in Asia on Wednesday, as the US and Iran struck a two-week ceasefire, reviving demand for risk assets that was pummelled by surging oil prices and fear of global stagflation. The Hang Seng Index rose 2.7 per cent to 25,801.54 points as of 10.38am local time, reopening trading after three days of public holidays. The mainland's CSI 300 Index climbed 1.7 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index added 1 per cent. The tentative ceasefire came just......

Global pharmaceutical companies posted mixed earnings in China last year, with some firms warning that 2026 will be another tough year as Beijing pushes for affordable healthcare through price bargains. Multinational corporations (MNCs) with innovative drug pipelines and the ability to quickly address unmet medical needs were expected to outperform rivals relying on mature and off-patent products this year, according to Bruce Liu, senior partner at global consulting firm Simon-Kucher. His......

UK lender Barclays plans to continue growing its investment bank in Hong Kong, using the city as a platform to capture the growing fundraising needs in Asia and the rising opportunities from the internationalisation of the yuan, according to its global CEO. “Asia and Hong Kong are very important areas for us,” said C.S. Venkatakrishnan, global CEO of Barclays, in an interview with the South China Morning Post during a recent visit to the city. “In Hong Kong, our investment banking team is......

China is looking to the ocean to power its artificial intelligence computing ambitions, as it seeks new ways to meet soaring demand for computing power through underwater data centres in eastern and southern China. Shanghai's Lingang Special Area, a government-designated free-trade zone designed to attract advanced manufacturing and hi-tech industries, recently saw an underwater data centre (UDC) begin operation, marking the first such facility in the world to be directly linked to an offshore......

White gloves are traditionally given to an auctioneer if every single lot in a sale finds a buyer, a ceremonial touch that adds to the drama of these infrequent events. In March, during Hong Kong art week, the city saw two “white glove” auctions, which certainly raised hope that its multi-year auction market slump is finally over. The first of these milestone events occurred on March 27, when Christie's 20th/21st Century Evening Sale was 100 per cent sold. The auction was led by Gerhard......

Government officials, sovereign investors, bankers and technology executives gathered at the South China Morning Post's China Conference: Southeast Asia 2026 to examine how collaboration across capital, policy and innovation is shaping the region's next growth phase. Held on February 10–11 at The St Regis Jakarta, the event coincided with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Indonesia. Discussions focused on supply chain diversification under the China+1 strategy,......

As the global memory industry rides an unprecedented “super cycle” fuelled by AI demand, China's leading memory chipmakers are leveraging lower pricing and expanding production to capture a bigger market share, according to analysts. “Chinese manufacturers often enjoy a price advantage of more than 15 per cent for products of the same specifications, which is highly attractive to the price-sensitive general-purpose server and consumer markets,” said Arisa Liu, chief director and research fellow......

Rokid, a Hangzhou-based maker of smart glasses, is preparing to file for a Hong Kong listing as early as the end of April, according to sources familiar with the matter, as artificial intelligence-powered eyewear gains traction in the mainstream market. The planned listing comes as global and domestic technology groups including Meta Platforms and Apple, as well as China's Alibaba Group Holding – through the brand name Quark – Baidu, Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies, all rush into the market.......

China has introduced new rules governing short-term trading, as the market regulator steps up oversight of the trading behaviour of major shareholders and listed company executives as part of a drive to bolster investor confidence. The rules apply to shareholders with a stake of 5 per cent or more in a single listed company, including foreign investors, executives of publicly traded companies, their spouses and siblings, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The rules......