https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/31742/feed Alibaba is China's largest e-commerce company, with holdings in a wide portfolio of businesses from logistics, cloud services and finance to media. The company provides business-to-business, business-to-consumer and other services through platforms including Alibaba.com, Tmall, and Taobao. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post. It was co-founded by Jack Ma, who retired as chairman in 2019 but is still a major shareholder. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Iris Deng Iris Deng Scalpers in mainland China are slashing prices on Apple’s newly released iPhone Duo after the US tech giant’s first foldable smartphone drew mixed early consumer reviews over durability and software glitches. In Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei electronics market, a vendor surnamed Shen on Monday cut the premium on a black iPhone Duo with 1 terabyte of memory – one of the most popular models – by 2,800 yuan (US$420), bringing the asking price down to 24,300 yuan from more than 25,000 yuan when the device... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3372169/apple-iphone-duo-price-premiums-evaporate-chinas-scalper-market https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3372169/apple-iphone-duo-price-premiums-evaporate-chinas-scalper-market Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:30:12 +0000 Hao Nan Hao Nan In October, two technology executives offered Europe similar advice. In Turin, Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai urged European companies to use open-source models and their proprietary industrial data to build AI capabilities. In Berlin, Nvidia chief Jensen Huang pressed German manufacturers to apply AI to factories, robotics and other physical industries. Both see opportunity in Europe’s engineering strengths, while their companies stand to benefit from supplying the technology. Recent... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/world-opinion/article/3372104/europe-can-still-shape-rules-ai https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/world-opinion/article/3372104/europe-can-still-shape-rules-ai Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:30:06 +0000 Ben Jiang,Ann Cao,Richard Chen Ben Jiang,Ann Cao,Richard Chen Long before artificial intelligence became the next big thing in the tech industry, Wang Jian was crafting the foundational infrastructure that would eventually power it. In 2008, he joined Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – as chief architect and founded Alibaba Cloud in 2009, convincing the company’s leadership to invest heavily in building a cloud computing infrastructure from scratch. Today, Wang’s purview has expanded considerably. As an academician at the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/tech-trends/article/3372106/alibaba-cloud-founder-how-ai-can-unlock-human-potential https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/tech-trends/article/3372106/alibaba-cloud-founder-how-ai-can-unlock-human-potential Mon, 26 Oct 2026 02:26:16 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Are China’s increasingly powerful open-weight AI models a cybersecurity threat, or could restricting them ultimately make the internet less secure? The dilemma has become a growing concern as Chinese developers including DeepSeek, Z.ai and Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – continue to challenge their American rivals by releasing models that anyone can download, modify and deploy. The growing impact of advanced AI on global cybersecurity has also forced governments... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371961/weapon-or-armour-contentious-debate-over-chinas-open-weight-ai https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371961/weapon-or-armour-contentious-debate-over-chinas-open-weight-ai Mon, 26 Oct 2026 02:00:12 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang While few dispute that China is narrowing the gap with the United States in developing artificial intelligence (AI) models, there is one area where Chinese firms are already the undisputed leaders: video. China has seen a proliferation of advanced generative AI video models – systems trained on visual data to generate or edit video content based on user inputs such as text prompts, images and audio. The country’s vast short-video ecosystems and looser copyright rules have helped give Chinese... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/big-tech/article/3371915/china-shoots-ahead-ai-video-models https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/big-tech/article/3371915/china-shoots-ahead-ai-video-models Mon, 26 Oct 2026 01:06:01 +0000 Ben Jiang,Ann Cao,Richard Chen Ben Jiang,Ann Cao,Richard Chen Long before artificial intelligence became the next big thing in the tech industry, Wang Jian was crafting the foundational infrastructure that would eventually power it. In 2008, he joined Alibaba Group Holding – owner of the South China Morning Post – as chief architect and founded Alibaba Cloud in 2009, convincing the company’s leadership to invest heavily in building a cloud computing infrastructure from scratch. Today, Wang’s purview has expanded considerably. As an academician at the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371979/why-cloud-computing-pioneer-wang-jian-thinks-space-next-ai-frontier https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371979/why-cloud-computing-pioneer-wang-jian-thinks-space-next-ai-frontier Sun, 25 Oct 2026 22:00:20 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Chinese technology giants are dangling annual pay packages approaching 1 million yuan (US$149,739) to attract artificial intelligence engineers who can turn AI models into commercial applications. Companies including ByteDance, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding are stepping up recruitment and training of the so-called forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), who work directly with customers to develop and integrate AI applications into business operations. Demand for such professionals has... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371925/chinas-tech-giants-are-paying-1-million-yuan-new-kind-ai-engineer https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371925/chinas-tech-giants-are-paying-1-million-yuan-new-kind-ai-engineer Sun, 25 Oct 2026 06:00:20 +0000 Howard Liu Howard Liu The artificial intelligence agent software market across Asia, Australia and New Zealand is set to expand more than 14-fold by 2030, according to research firm Omdia, as Chinese tech companies increasingly deploy automated tools across office and industrial operations. During its annual event in Beijing on Thursday, Omdia forecast that regional market revenue, which included mainland China and Hong Kong, would reach US$11.2 billion in 2030, up from an estimated US$782 million this year. Over the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371814/asia-pacific-ai-agent-market-surge-14-fold-us112-billion-2030-omdia-says https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371814/asia-pacific-ai-agent-market-surge-14-fold-us112-billion-2030-omdia-says Fri, 23 Oct 2026 02:30:10 +0000 Alice Yan Alice Yan Beijing-based smartphone and electric vehicle giant Xiaomi announced in mid-October that it would promote 31-year-old Luo Fuli to its highest-level position, once again putting the “AI prodigy” at the centre of heated discussion. The move came 10 months after Luo joined the company as head of its large language model (LLM) unit. Luo attracted significant public attention in late 2024, when Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said during a live-stream that he hoped to hire her at an annual salary of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3371581/china-ai-researcher-rises-xiaomis-top-level-10-months-talks-work-life-balance https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3371581/china-ai-researcher-rises-xiaomis-top-level-10-months-talks-work-life-balance Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:00:10 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Alibaba Group Holding’s research arm, Damo Academy, has seen more than 6 billion chips shipped based on its XuanTie RISC-V architecture, marking a milestone as the tech giant doubles down on the open standard in artificial intelligence and automotive systems. Meng Jianyi, chief scientist at Damo Academy, announced the figure on Monday at the annual RISC-V Summit China in Shenzhen. The achievement comes as Chinese companies seek to play a greater role in the global RISC-V ecosystem, an... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371402/alibabas-risc-v-ip-powers-over-6-billion-shipped-chips-tech-giant-targets-ai-autos https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371402/alibabas-risc-v-ip-powers-over-6-billion-shipped-chips-tech-giant-targets-ai-autos Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:30:10 +0000 Chong Ming Lee,Mandy Zuo Chong Ming Lee,Mandy Zuo When artificial intelligence agents first arrived, they came with a tantalising promise: autonomous “digital workers” that would finally free humans from corporate drudgery. As businesses across Asia are discovering, however, the reality is quite the opposite – more work, new friction and a whole new layer of management. When Xiao Mengjie, an AI product marketing manager at a Big Tech firm in Shanghai, recently assigned two AI agents what she described as a simple task, she expected efficiency.... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371246/ai-promise-was-automation-reality-managing-digital-workers https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371246/ai-promise-was-automation-reality-managing-digital-workers Sun, 18 Oct 2026 14:00:08 +0000 Ralph Jennings Ralph Jennings Artificial intelligence-powered glasses can act as tour guides, snap photos hands-free and translate foreign languages. The devices also sell at relatively affordable prices in China. But are they the perfect travel companion? Not yet. AI glasses were slowly catching on with travellers as the technology improved and more devices entered the market, analysts said, but technical hitches were slowing mass adoption of the smartphone-linked gear that could be worn like ordinary spectacles. “They can... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3370754/ai-glasses-travel-guides-cheaper-china-technical-hitches-slow-adoption https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3370754/ai-glasses-travel-guides-cheaper-china-technical-hitches-slow-adoption Sat, 17 Oct 2026 13:00:06 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Alibaba Group Holding’s two major domestic online marketplaces, Taobao and Tmall, plan to greatly expand the use of artificial intelligence across merchants’ operations next year, a senior executive said, as the e-commerce giant doubles down on the technology to drive growth amid a challenging consumer landscape. “Starting next year, AI will comprehensively enter the internal enterprise workflows of merchants,” Liu Bo, president of Tmall, said at the company’s Singles’ Day media briefing on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371203/alibaba-embed-ai-throughout-taobao-tmall-merchant-operations-2027-executive https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371203/alibaba-embed-ai-throughout-taobao-tmall-merchant-operations-2027-executive Fri, 16 Oct 2026 13:37:50 +0000 Themis Qi Themis Qi International investors will keep an eye on a forum next week for clues from China’s regulators on how they plan to further open its financial markets, after Visa’s long-awaited approval fuelled hopes for deeper participation in the world’s second-largest economy. Regulators could announce more measures at the Financial Street Forum to deepen the internationalisation of the yuan and optimise the Connect series of cross-border investment links between investors in mainland China and the rest of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/banking-finance/article/3371171/financial-street-forum-forecast-calls-more-opening-chinese-regulators https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/business/banking-finance/article/3371171/financial-street-forum-forecast-calls-more-opening-chinese-regulators Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:00:34 +0000 Alex Lo Alex Lo Americans are souring on artificial intelligence, so Washington is trying to convince them the old-fashioned way: by citing, ad nauseam, the China threat. US President Donald Trump, flanked by tech executives at the White House late last month, warned voters that if they rejected data centres, companies would “be forced to go overseas”. He added that “whoever wins superintelligence wins” and that “you’re probably not gonna have a second place”. The implication was that detractors would be... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/world-opinion/article/3370992/us-tech-bros-are-coming-asia-and-latin-americas-power-grids https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/world-opinion/article/3370992/us-tech-bros-are-coming-asia-and-latin-americas-power-grids Fri, 16 Oct 2026 08:30:06 +0000 Vincent Chow,Chong Ming Lee Vincent Chow,Chong Ming Lee A fleet of artificial intelligence agents operating on a Tencent Holdings cloud platform made thousands of attempts to circumvent security protections on Alibaba Group Holding’s mapping service, according to findings by third-party researchers. It is one of the first reported “rogue” AI events involving Chinese companies, following a string of recent high-profile incidents in the US, including from OpenAI and Anthropic, highlighting the risks of increasingly autonomous AI systems. Agents running... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371007/ai-agents-tencent-cloud-try-break-alibabas-amap-researchers https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3371007/ai-agents-tencent-cloud-try-break-alibabas-amap-researchers Fri, 16 Oct 2026 01:00:06 +0000 Ann Cao,Themis Qi Ann Cao,Themis Qi Alibaba Group Holding is gearing up for its annual Singles’ Day shopping festival on major online marketplaces Taobao and Tmall, with the company expecting a record one million global brands to take part this year. Pre-sales for the event open on Thursday, followed by the formal sale next Tuesday. The company projects more than 70 million products to feature, also a record for the festival. Created by Alibaba in 2009, Singles’ Day has grown into the world’s largest online shopping festival. Also... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371048/alibaba-sets-sights-record-breaking-singles-day-1-million-brands-joining-festival https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3371048/alibaba-sets-sights-record-breaking-singles-day-1-million-brands-joining-festival Thu, 15 Oct 2026 13:00:23 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng China has granted approval for Alibaba Group Holding’s artificial intelligence models to be integrated into several Apple handsets, including the new iPhone Duo, in the Chinese market, clearing a key regulatory hurdle for the long-delayed launch of Apple Intelligence in the country. Updated network access permits for the iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro and several earlier Apple models from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology now include three approved AI systems: Apple Intelligence... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370893/china-approves-alibaba-ai-models-use-iphone-duo-and-other-apple-handsets https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370893/china-approves-alibaba-ai-models-use-iphone-duo-and-other-apple-handsets Wed, 14 Oct 2026 11:06:20 +0000 Ni Tao Ni Tao A year ago, a Unitree robot kickboxing could light up social media. When DeepSeek released its latest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model, developers around the world rushed to test it. This year, however, Hangzhou’s latest technology bets have barely made a ripple. The city’s “New Eight Steeds” – eight deep-tech companies in fields ranging from smart glasses and inference graphic processing units (GPUs) to compute-in-memory chips and space computing – are a very different proposition... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3370174/hangzhou-doubling-down-tech-minus-viral-hype https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/china-opinion/article/3370174/hangzhou-doubling-down-tech-minus-viral-hype Sun, 11 Oct 2026 01:30:08 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Embracing the open-source approach is the only way for Europe to achieve technological independence, Alibaba Group Holding chairman Joe Tsai said, pointing to China’s own open-source drive as a blueprint for innovation under constraints. For Europe, which shares China’s deep roots in traditional manufacturing, the open-source approach presented a unique opportunity, Tsai said, highlighting that factories in the region possessed highly valuable manufacturing data. “You don’t want to feed it into... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3370428/open-source-ai-europes-only-path-tech-independence-says-alibaba-chairman-joe-tsai https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3370428/open-source-ai-europes-only-path-tech-independence-says-alibaba-chairman-joe-tsai Sat, 10 Oct 2026 05:34:09 +0000 Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Chong Ming Lee,Minxiao Chang Meta Platforms’ breakout Muse personal AI agent is shining a spotlight on a new battleground in artificial intelligence – one in which China’s biggest internet companies are already jostling for position. Launched on September 8, Muse surpassed 2.5 million downloads in its first two weeks and topped free-app rankings on Apple and Google’s US app stores. Its popularity has drawn fresh attention to the emerging market for what are known as agent harnesses. Unlike chatbots, which merely respond to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370123/can-china-match-metas-muse-race-harness-ai-agents https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370123/can-china-match-metas-muse-race-harness-ai-agents Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:08 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Alibaba Group Holding is expected to report a 50 per cent revenue surge for its cloud and artificial intelligence unit for the September quarter, driven by strong returns on its aggressive AI investments, according to analysts. Analysts across several financial institutions projected revenue growth for the Chinese tech giant’s AI Cloud and Compute Services unit to have accelerated in the three months ended September 30, up from the 45 per cent growth seen in the preceding quarter. The unit’s... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370209/alibabas-ai-cloud-revenue-set-surge-over-50-investment-blitz-pays-analysts https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3370209/alibabas-ai-cloud-revenue-set-surge-over-50-investment-blitz-pays-analysts Thu, 08 Oct 2026 11:30:22 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee On September 22, the global artificial intelligence landscape spun on its axis within a matter of hours. In Beijing, Xiaomi engineers went live with an unusual broadcast, streaming the training run of their new MiMo-V2.6 model. In San Francisco, Anthropic unveiled its frontier Opus 5.5 model. About an hour later, OpenAI crashed the party with the surprise release of its GPT-6 Sol and Luna models. For tech executives and developers trying to keep pace, it was just another overwhelming day in the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3369757/chinas-ai-race-accelerates-model-fatigue-becomes-next-challenge https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3369757/chinas-ai-race-accelerates-model-fatigue-becomes-next-challenge Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:07 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee An Nvidia-backed US start-up has unveiled an open-weight model to challenge China’s dominance in freely available artificial intelligence, releasing a system that early third-party testing suggests could be one of the most token-efficient open models in its class. Reflection AI on Monday debuted Beam, its first open-weight model built for coding, reasoning and agentic tasks. The US firm said Beam was “competitive” with GLM-5.2 from Z.ai – also known as Zhipu AI – and was “approaching” Alibaba... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369885/nvidia-backed-reflection-ai-challenges-chinese-dominance-open-weight-models https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369885/nvidia-backed-reflection-ai-challenges-chinese-dominance-open-weight-models Tue, 06 Oct 2026 07:00:07 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao As global adoption of the open-source RISC-V chip architecture accelerates, US intellectual property provider MIPS is collaborating with Chinese firms at an unprecedented level, according to a senior executive, highlighting how cross-border cooperation persists despite intense tech rivalry between Washington and Beijing. MIPS, which was acquired by US chipmaker GlobalFoundries last year, was driving RISC-V standardisation “very closely with China”, chief technology officer Yankin Tanurhan said... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369590/how-us-china-risc-v-collaboration-deepening-despite-chip-rivalry https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369590/how-us-china-risc-v-collaboration-deepening-despite-chip-rivalry Sat, 03 Oct 2026 13:00:16 +0000 Wency Chen,Howard Liu Wency Chen,Howard Liu China has set a five-year goal for the expansion of intelligent computing capacity to drive artificial intelligence (AI) that calls for a more than fourfold increase on what was in place at the end of June this year. To reach the 2030 target while being blocked by the United States from importing the most advanced Western-made AI chips will require innovation, adaptation and the application and coordination of vast resources. Judging by the 177 per cent increase in capacity achieved in the year... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/policy/article/3369537/chinas-ai-compute-ambitions-demand-innovation https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/plus/tech/policy/article/3369537/chinas-ai-compute-ambitions-demand-innovation Fri, 02 Oct 2026 07:05:21 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek on Wednesday open-sourced a suite of core tools tailored for Huawei Technologies’ Ascend AI chips, marking a step forward in the country’s push to end dependence on processors from US giant Nvidia amid US export curbs. Hangzhou-based DeepSeek released six software modules that mirror its prior open-source tools for Nvidia’s AI chips, aiming to build a new “independent and controllable” software ecosystem for graphics processing units (GPUs),... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369301/chinas-deepseek-open-sources-tools-help-huawei-chips-supplant-nvidia-ai https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3369301/chinas-deepseek-open-sources-tools-help-huawei-chips-supplant-nvidia-ai Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:31:08 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Hong Kong businesses are lagging behind their mainland Chinese peers in adopting artificial intelligence, as entrenched legacy systems and a risk-averse corporate mindset slow the city’s digital transition, according to a senior executive at consultancy Accenture. Only 10 per cent of Hong Kong firms surveyed by Accenture had integrated generative AI across multiple business functions, compared with about 21 per cent of mainland enterprises, said Robert Hah, Hong Kong office lead at Accenture... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3369205/hong-kong-firms-lag-mainland-china-ai-adoption-amid-legacy-system-burden-accenture https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3369205/hong-kong-firms-lag-mainland-china-ai-adoption-amid-legacy-system-burden-accenture Tue, 29 Sep 2026 12:00:10 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Alibaba Group Holding has become an official technology and cloud partner of NBA team Brooklyn Nets, as the tech giant pushes for a deeper presence in the sports industry. The collaboration was announced on Monday under a multi-year strategic partnership between Alibaba and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the basketball team. It would also see Alibaba become Brooklyn Nets’ official jersey patch sponsor ahead of the basketball team’s 60th anniversary season, according to a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3369124/alibaba-deepens-sports-tech-push-new-brooklyn-nets-partnership https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3369124/alibaba-deepens-sports-tech-push-new-brooklyn-nets-partnership Tue, 29 Sep 2026 01:24:03 +0000 Howard Liu Howard Liu ByteDance accounts for roughly one-fifth of China’s delivered data centre capacity, making the TikTok owner the country’s largest tenant and a main driver of its artificial intelligence buildout, according to new estimates by research firm SemiAnalysis. The estimate comes from the firm’s tracking of more than 1,000 facilities in China operated by over 60 companies. ByteDance rents nearly all of its data centre footprint, SemiAnalysis said. Its AI products include Doubao, an assistant that... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3369056/bytedance-grabs-one-fifth-chinas-data-centre-capacity-ai-drives-infrastructure-boom https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3369056/bytedance-grabs-one-fifth-chinas-data-centre-capacity-ai-drives-infrastructure-boom Mon, 28 Sep 2026 09:00:41 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Amid intensifying debate over the risks posed by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, Chinese developers dominating the open-weight ecosystem are grappling with a unique problem: how to ensure their user-modifiable models remain safe once they are released. To address the challenge, Z.ai and Beijing-based safety consultancy Concordia AI released a report on open-weight AI risk management on Monday that they said offered “the first comprehensive, evidence-based foundation” for balancing... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3369015/china-mulls-how-make-open-weight-ai-less-dangerous-report-proposes-6-stage-process https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/article/3369015/china-mulls-how-make-open-weight-ai-less-dangerous-report-proposes-6-stage-process Mon, 28 Sep 2026 06:00:05 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Late last year, Zhang Xuan’s small beef noodle joint in Shanghai suddenly began seeing a dramatic surge in orders. Sales over the past few months have been 50 to 60 per cent higher than normal, he estimates. The driver? The new Street Stars feature on Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding’s Amap mapping app, which listed Zhang’s eatery as the fourth best restaurant in Shanghai’s Changning district. Prominently displayed on Amap’s main page, the system uses artificial intelligence to rate... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368819/how-alibaba-using-ai-revamp-its-mapping-app-and-take-meituan https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368819/how-alibaba-using-ai-revamp-its-mapping-app-and-take-meituan Sat, 26 Sep 2026 07:00:08 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng As AI becomes an increasingly important part of China’s economic transformation, economists and industry leaders are raising concerns about two potential risks: inflated valuations for humanoid robotics companies and the technology widening the wealth gap between rich and poor. Daniel Zhang, managing partner of FirstLight Capital and former chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group Holding, said the sharp fall in some Chinese humanoid robotics stocks reflected expectations that had become... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3368887/chinas-ai-led-transformation-taking-shape-why-are-some-economists-urging-caution https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3368887/chinas-ai-led-transformation-taking-shape-why-are-some-economists-urging-caution Sat, 26 Sep 2026 05:45:04 +0000 Alice Li Alice Li After three weeks of travelling across China, Bojan Tomic and his wife found that one of the biggest conveniences of the trip was being able to pay for daily expenses almost entirely via smartphone. The Croatian couple’s journey spanned the cities of Beijing, Xian, Chengdu and finally Shenzhen. Visiting China for the first time, they quickly adapted to the country’s dominant mobile payment ecosystem, using Alipay and WeChat Pay, two of China’s largest payment platforms, for most of their... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3368810/how-chinas-mobile-payment-overhaul-helps-foreigners-spend-money-ahead-apec-meeting https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3368810/how-chinas-mobile-payment-overhaul-helps-foreigners-spend-money-ahead-apec-meeting Sat, 26 Sep 2026 02:00:10 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee For China’s elite artificial intelligence researchers, Silicon Valley no longer holds the unrivalled appeal it once did. A growing number are opting to stay home to build their careers, helping China overtake the United States as the leading workplace for top-tier AI talent, according to a study released this week by the think tank Carnegie China. China employed 41 per cent of the world’s leading AI researchers tracked by the study last year, pulling ahead of the US at 34 per cent, according to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368809/china-overtakes-us-top-workplace-elite-ai-researchers-study-finds https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368809/china-overtakes-us-top-workplace-elite-ai-researchers-study-finds Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:30:17 +0000 Khushboo Razdan,William Zheng,Nayan Seth Khushboo Razdan,William Zheng,Nayan Seth A small group of Chinese CEOs holding US visas has arrived in Washington after travelling separately from President Xi Jinping’s official entourage, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. But with the clock ticking and the business optics of the Chinese leader’s White House visit hanging on the final twists of diplomatic negotiations, the executives are still waiting to find out whether they will secure a seat at Thursday’s state dinner for Xi. “Beijing’s security protocol is... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3368683/chinese-ceos-fly-us-own-await-invites-trumps-state-dinner-xi-jinping https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3368683/chinese-ceos-fly-us-own-await-invites-trumps-state-dinner-xi-jinping Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:41:59 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen The artificial intelligence road map presented at its flagship Apsara Conference this week showcased a pragmatic pivot by Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding, offering a clearer path to monetisation despite a sharp escalation in capital expenditure, analysts said. The conference, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday under the theme “Intelligence goes beyond”, highlighted “Alibaba’s disciplined execution across its full-stack AI ecosystem”, said Cathy Chan, an analyst at CCB International. She... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368650/alibaba-unveils-pragmatic-ai-road-map-drive-monetisation-infrastructure-efficiency https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368650/alibaba-unveils-pragmatic-ai-road-map-drive-monetisation-infrastructure-efficiency Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:30:22 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud business unit, is set to launch data centres in Turkey, Finland and the Netherlands over the next 12 months, speeding up an overseas push as it seeks to win enterprise customers through its “full stack AI capabilities” spanning chips, cloud infrastructure and multimodal models. The first of these new data centres will open in the Netherlands in October. The cloud unit will also add to existing data centre capacity in Malaysia, Germany, the United Arab... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368454/alibaba-cloud-set-open-new-data-centres-europe-next-year-overseas-push-speeds https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368454/alibaba-cloud-set-open-new-data-centres-europe-next-year-overseas-push-speeds Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:00:10 +0000 Nayan Seth,Ji Siqi Nayan Seth,Ji Siqi Differences between Washington and Beijing over potential investment announcements have created roadblocks for a Chinese business delegation expected to accompany President Xi Jinping on his state visit to the US, according to sources. The window for travel is narrowing by the hour for these Chinese business leaders. Xi left China on Wednesday afternoon Beijing time for his first state visit to the US in more than a decade. He is accompanied by first lady Peng Liyuan, chief of staff Cai Qi, and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3368444/fissures-over-us-investments-stall-plans-chinese-business-leaders-join-xi-visit https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/china/diplomacy/article/3368444/fissures-over-us-investments-stall-plans-chinese-business-leaders-join-xi-visit Wed, 23 Sep 2026 01:40:13 +0000 Wency Chen Wency Chen Alibaba Group Holding has introduced what it called China’s most powerful artificial intelligence chip and teased plans to train an AI model with up to 10 trillion parameters, as top executives reaffirmed the tech giant’s ambition to pursue artificial superintelligence (ASI). Speaking at the company’s annual Apsara Conference in Hangzhou on Tuesday, group chairman Joe Tsai highlighted Alibaba’s commitment to building end-to-end capabilities. “Alibaba is firmly investing in building full-stack AI... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368338/alibaba-teases-10-trillion-parameter-model-debuts-chinas-most-powerful-ai-chip https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368338/alibaba-teases-10-trillion-parameter-model-debuts-chinas-most-powerful-ai-chip Tue, 22 Sep 2026 05:59:40 +0000 Iris Deng Iris Deng Chinese fintech giant Ant Group has revamped its online payments operations by creating a new business group for Alipay, as it sharpens its artificial intelligence focus on “agentic commerce” to drive new growth. Ant, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate, merged its Digital Payment Business Group, Alipay Business Group and Zhima Credit Business Group into a new business unit dedicated to Alipay, according to an internal letter from CEO Cyril Han Xinyi on Monday, as reported by Chinese media outlet... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368325/ant-group-consolidates-alipay-operations-big-bet-ai-agentic-commerce https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368325/ant-group-consolidates-alipay-operations-big-bet-ai-agentic-commerce Tue, 22 Sep 2026 03:41:25 +0000 Sylvia Ma Sylvia Ma When the presidents of the United States and China meet in Washington, the world will be watching to see whether their two countries can make good on their agreement to work towards “constructive strategic stability”. In the fourth part of this series, Sylvia Ma looks at the economic and technological levers available to both in their protracted rivalry. For years, Huawei Technologies has served as a central battleground in the contest between the world’s two largest economies. As Washington... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3368262/us-china-tech-war-has-evolved-last-xi-trump-summit-who-has-edge-now https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/global-economy/article/3368262/us-china-tech-war-has-evolved-last-xi-trump-summit-who-has-edge-now Mon, 21 Sep 2026 22:00:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Minxiao Chang,Chong Ming Lee Chinese artificial intelligence start-up Moonshot AI has begun supplying its flagship Kimi K3 model to Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the world’s largest cloud services providers, in a major test case for how open-weight AI models can generate higher revenue from third-party platforms. The model is now available on Amazon Bedrock, AWS’s tool for building generative AI applications, offering “a powerful new option for coding and knowledge work”, Amazon said in an announcement on Friday. While... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368274/moonshots-kimi-k3-lands-amazon-key-test-chinese-open-source-ai-revenue https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368274/moonshots-kimi-k3-lands-amazon-key-test-chinese-open-source-ai-revenue Mon, 21 Sep 2026 11:30:06 +0000 Minxiao Chang Minxiao Chang China’s top internet watchdog has drafted new rules to regulate how social platforms and game developers should protect minors, including a ban on offering “virtual intimacy services” to those under 18 as artificial intelligence-powered companions gain traction. The rules, titled “Ensuring minors’ safe and healthy use of the internet”, would ban online platforms from providing “virtual relatives or companions”, and prohibit them from offering services that “induce minors to become addicted or... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3368252/chinese-regulator-drafts-rules-protect-teenagers-intimate-ai-companions https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/policy/article/3368252/chinese-regulator-drafts-rules-protect-teenagers-intimate-ai-companions Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:30:21 +0000 Minxiao Chang,Wency Chen Minxiao Chang,Wency Chen Chinese artificial intelligence company Z.ai is facing a trust crisis after developers discovered that its coding assistant tool, ZCode, was silently uploading local workspace data to external servers without explicit user consent. Even though the company, also known as Zhipu AI, apologised and patched the vulnerability, developers said the incident was likely to weaken its reputation, especially at a time when cybersecurity is becoming a central issue in the AI industry. The issue came to light... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368159/chinese-ai-firm-zai-faces-reputation-hit-after-users-spot-unauthorised-uploads https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/tech-trends/article/3368159/chinese-ai-firm-zai-faces-reputation-hit-after-users-spot-unauthorised-uploads Sun, 20 Sep 2026 13:00:09 +0000 Xiaofei Xu Xiaofei Xu Taobao Instant Commerce, Alibaba’s on-demand delivery service that was revamped last year and is known as Taobao Shangou in Chinese, won a top French Design Award prize on Saturday for its delivery worker uniform, marking the first time the prize was awarded for a design for frontline workers. “We think the [Taobao Shangou] suit design would transform delivery workwear into a recognisable professional uniform, helping reshape how society sees this essential profession,” said Dario Olivero, chair... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3368121/first-top-european-design-prize-awarded-eu20-uniform-chinas-delivery-drivers https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/economy/china-economy/article/3368121/first-top-european-design-prize-awarded-eu20-uniform-chinas-delivery-drivers Sat, 19 Sep 2026 14:00:11 +0000 SCMP Reporter SCMP Reporter This weekend, Hong Kong mourns the loss of former chief executive and elder statesman Tung Chee-hwa. The shipping tycoon who became the city’s first leader after its transfer of sovereignty to China in 1997 died on September 8 at the age of 89, leaving a legacy of determined stewardship and dedicated public service. This weekend, a state funeral will be held to honour Tung, who was also a former vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). There will be a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368072/patriot-dedicated-hong-kong-business-heavyweights-remember-tung-chee-hwa https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368072/patriot-dedicated-hong-kong-business-heavyweights-remember-tung-chee-hwa Sat, 19 Sep 2026 05:00:07 +0000 SCMP Reporter SCMP Reporter Alibaba Group co-founder Jack Ma reflects on his ties to Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa. Those connections spanned both business and philanthropy, encompassing Tung’s eight years on Alibaba’s board of directors and his inspirational role in Ma’s youth entrepreneurship foundation for local youths. Ma’s reflections are part of the South China Morning Post’s special commemorative print supplement published on Saturday. You can also find other tributes from the supplement here,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368070/hard-times-your-honour-shines-jack-ma-pays-tribute-tung-chee-hwa https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/society/article/3368070/hard-times-your-honour-shines-jack-ma-pays-tribute-tung-chee-hwa Sat, 19 Sep 2026 03:00:10 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Alibaba Group Holding’s research arm, Damo Academy, has open-sourced an artificial intelligence model capable of identifying nearly 150 abdominal conditions – including cancers – by reading computed tomography (CT) scans, marking the latest step in the firm’s growing medical AI efforts. The vision-language model, called Damo Radar, was designed to analyse contrast-enhanced CT scans covering 18 abdominal organs and identify a broad range of diseases and other abnormalities, such as malignant... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368055/alibaba-open-sources-medical-ai-model-can-detect-cancer-and-nearly-150-conditions https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3368055/alibaba-open-sources-medical-ai-model-can-detect-cancer-and-nearly-150-conditions Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:30:05 +0000 Chong Ming Lee Chong Ming Lee Chinese artificial intelligence models from seven major developers combined generate only about 10 per cent of the revenue reported for OpenAI and Anthropic, even as investor enthusiasm remains intense, according to US-based research firm Rhodium Group. The Chinese AI models earned an estimated US$10.7 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) from March to August, a fraction of the more than US$100 billion combined for OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the Rhodium report published on... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367991/top-chinese-ai-models-make-10-openai-anthropic-revenue-despite-high-valuations-report https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/tech/big-tech/article/3367991/top-chinese-ai-models-make-10-openai-anthropic-revenue-despite-high-valuations-report Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:00:06 +0000