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Tencent has made a big bet on artificial intelligence and is pushing for the use of its Hunyuan large language model across various industries. Photo: Reuters
Tencent

Tencent fourth-quarter profit surges 90% as AI gamble pays off

Profit reaches US$7.1 billion for the quarter, while full-year profit rises to US$26.8 billion.

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Alibaba

Alibaba’s Quark draws positive reviews in China as AI agent race heats up

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Tech CEOs

Meet Jay Graber, the young female CEO of X alternative Bluesky

Books and literature

Tired of superficial dating apps? Bookmark is an app for book lovers

The Bengaluru-based founders are connecting people based on shared literary interests, with features like a virtual bookshelf and witty prompts.

Dating app Bookmark aims to foster connections through shared literary interests and unique profile features. Photo: Shutterstock
Hong Kong economy

Tech giant Tencent launches Hong Kong academy with pupils to get AI training

WeTech Academy will offer training on artificial intelligence and programming to tens of thousands of Hong Kong pupils.

Malaysia

One-minute wonders: Chinese micro-dramas fuel Malaysia’s streaming obsession

They’re like mini grenades of love, betrayal and revenge – and Malaysians can’t get enough. Now to cook up some home-made titles.

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Alibaba

Alibaba revamps Quark search engine into AI super assistant

The new version of the web-search and cloud-storage tool offers advanced capabilities such as AI chatbot, deep thinking and task execution.

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The new version of Quark is envisioned as a gateway to “endless possibilities where users can explore everything with AI”. Photo: Handout
Huawei

Huawei platform HarmonyOS expands China adoption, tops Apple’s iOS in 2024

The domestic market share of HarmonyOS was ahead of Apple’s iOS for four consecutive quarters last year.

Hong Kong economy

Explainer | It’s last orders at Deliveroo Hong Kong. What about the rest of the industry?

Deliveroo’s exit from Hong Kong market follows intense competition from Keeta and its own financial losses in the city.

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Artificial intelligence

AI agent Manus draws upbeat reviews of nascent service

Manus’ user experience is ‘what so many promised … but this time, it just works’, Hugging Face product head Victor Mustar says.

Artificial-intelligence agents like Manus represent a new avenue for Chinese tech innovation. Photo: Shutterstock
Apple

Apple prepares major interface revamp for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Loosely based on the Vision Pro headset’s software, the new design could help revive demand for Apple’s iPhones.

Apple is preparing a dramatic software overhaul for its smartphones, tablets and computers. Photo: dpa
Alibaba

Video | How Alibaba.com is betting on AI to transform e-commerce

In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Alibaba.com president Zhang Kuo discusses the next big shift in global trade: AI.

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TikTok

Trump says 4 bidders in play for TikTok’s US business in deal expected ‘soon’

ByteDance-owned TikTok faces a deadline of April 5 to strike a deal for its US operations or be banned from the country’s app stores.

US-China relations

US mulls ban on China’s DeepSeek from government devices, insider says

Trump officials are concerned about the AI chatbot’s handling of user data, which is stored on Chinese servers.

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US officials are reportedly considering banning the DeepSeek chatbot from app stores. Photo illustration: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

NetEase to close cloud service as AI boom heats up competition

The surprise retreat highlights NetEase’s lack of a competitive edge against rivals like Alibaba and ByteDance, analysts say.

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Chinese internet company NetEase is shutting down on of its public cloud services. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

Trump open to again extending TikTok deadline if necessary

The US president says there is ‘a lot of interest’ in the ByteDance-owned app, and he is hoping China will approve of a deal for its sale.

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E-commerce

JD.com nearly triples quarterly profit on back of revived consumer spending

JD.com reported a better-than-expected profit of 9.9 billion yuan in the fourth quarter, up from 3.4 billion yuan a year ago.

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ByteDance

ByteDance short video service Douyin offers users quick access to AI chatbot

The initiative could potentially widen the reach of Doubao, ByteDance’s AI chatbot, to the 880 million monthly active users on Douyin.

ByteDance recently allowed selected users of short video app Douyin to initiate conversations with chatbot Doubao, without having to log on to the AI assistant. Photo: Shutterstock
Australia

TikTok, Meta bristle at Australia’s plan to exempt YouTube from social media ban

Australia has proposed an exemption from its landmark social media ban so that children can use YouTube for school.

Fame and celebrity

Who is oil scion Michael Herd, husband of Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd?

Herd – president of Texas-based Herd Producing Company, founded by his grandfather – is a keen skier, restaurant owner and a real-life cowboy, having grown up on a ranch.

TikTok

TikTok Live set to make US$77 billion in annual sales, lawsuit shows

The app, which faces a US lawsuit alleging child exploitation, is said to have made $1.7 billion sales from TikTok Live in one quarter.

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TikTok is projected to generate US$77 billion in sales from its Live feature, according to a lawsuit. Photo: AP
Microsoft

Microsoft retires Skype, internet call pioneer

The platform revolutionised online communication with free calls between computers, before the rise of rivals like Teams, Zoom and WhatsApp.

Over the years, and as internet speeds improved, Skype evolved to include video calls, instant messaging, file sharing and group communication features. Photo illustration: Reuters
China technology

Opinion | From Ne Zha to TikTok, it’s a Chinese story of triumph over adversity

The successes of Ne Zha, Wukong, TikTok and DeepSeek show the tides are shifting for Chinese tech and entertainment, long dismissed as derivative.

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Artificial intelligence

Baidu’s US$2 billion DeepSeek-infused streaming app adopts meme-inspired name

Live-streaming platform YY Live has launched a chatbot called YYDS in a reference to DeepSeek and a popular meme used to express admiration.

Huawei

Huawei teases HarmonyOS Next smartphone with ‘new form factor’

Tencent, ByteDance, Alibaba and Meituan are all optimising their apps for the coming device, according to Huawei executive Richard Yu.

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Huawei is set to launch a new smartphone based on its self-developed mobile operating system next month. Photo: EPA-EFE
Wellness

Children’s mental health at risk from chatbots, advocacy groups say

An autistic boy urged by a chatbot to kill his parents? A teen driven to take his own life? Lawsuits make case for regulating AI companions.

An image from US start-up Replika shows a user interacting with a smartphone app to customise an avatar for a personal artificial intelligence chatbot, known as a Replika. Photo: Luka, Inc./Handout via Reuters
DeepSeek

China grapples with how to teach children to use AI, and how to use it ethically

40 per cent of respondents in a northern Chinese high school used apps such as DeepSeek, Doubao and Kimi for winter break homework: report.

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European Union

US demands EU antitrust chief clarify rules reining in Big Tech

US lawmaker demands EU antitrust chief clarify how the Digital Markets Act targets US tech giants.

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