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Technology
Latest news features and opinion on technology, covering everything from AI innovation to smartphone makers and apps.
Visitors take pictures of wafer samples at the Intel booth during Computex 2024 in Taipei last summer. US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on semiconductor chips has complicated Taiwan’s bid to remain a global powerhouse in the critical sector and stay onside with key backer Washington, analysts have said. Photo: AFP
China trade

With its chips on the table, Taiwan seen avoiding the worst US tariffs

Taiwan falls under the 15 per cent of the world Trump has flagged for its trade imbalance with the US, so tariff risk still looms in coming days.

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Banking & finance

Venture-capital club expands to Hong Kong, plans US$250m fund

Semiconductors

China’s top foundry SMIC reports revenue growth in 2024, but net profits plunge

Science

EV expert Xu Fuguo returns to China after leaving US$30 million project in Japan

Engineer returns as professor at Dalian university as Japan’s auto industry struggles to keep up with Chinese innovation and market momentum.

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Xu Fuguo, whose research has focused on EV control engineering, started as a professor in the mechanical engineering school at Dalian University of Technology after spending years researching in the Japanese auto sector. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

Trump, some Republicans differ on TikTok ahead of sell-or-ban deadline

‘If ByteDance stays involved in any way, the deal is illegal – plain and simple,’ said one senior Republican lawmaker.

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Icons and Influencers

Who are Signal’s co-founders, Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton?

The Signal Foundation’s co-founders Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton both have a background in tech: Acton created WhatsApp before selling it to Mark Zuckerberg for billions – but later regretted it.

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Robotics

US robotics firms push for national strategy to compete with China

Tesla, Boston Dynamics and others are pushing for US policies that would boost American companies in the global robotics race.

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Humanoid robots perform at the Zhongguancun Forum in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Artificial intelligence

Microsoft abandons data centre projects, sparking oversupply fears

Microsoft’s retrenchment in the last six months included lease cancellations and deferrals, analysts at investment bank TD Cowen said.

Malaysia

Will Malaysia’s chip rules satisfy US concerns over Nvidia diversions to China?

Malaysia is enhancing semiconductor tracking to reassure the US amid investigations into alleged Nvidia chip diversions to China.

US-China relations

US adds more Chinese firms to tech ban list. Is it just the start for Trump 2.0?

America has a sense of urgency about the way China is closing the technology gap, analyst says.

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The US has announced that around 60 Chinese tech companies and research institutions have been added to its “entity list” to prevent Beijing from advancing artificial intelligence for the military. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China tech war

Beijing AI research lab says inclusion on US export control list a ‘mistake’

The updated BIS list includes more than 50 new Chinese entities, including six units of cloud computing provider Inspur Group.

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Wang Zhongyuan, head of Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, speaks at the annual BAAI Conference on June 14, 2024. Photo: Ben Jiang
United States

US adds 80 companies, including over 50 Chinese firms, to export blacklist

Companies from Taiwan, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa and UAE also were included.

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Alibaba

Alibaba, Ant partner with home province to boost China’s AI drive

The two tech giants have become key partners in empowering government agencies with AI capabilities.

Hong Kong stock market

China’s narrower tech gap with US creates investment opportunities: fund managers

CEOs of Primavera Capital, Franklin Templeton tout long-term potential of Chinese stocks at first World Economic Forum event in Hong Kong.

Jenny Johnson of Franklin Templeton (left) and Fred Hu of Primavera Capital take part in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems 2025 Symposium in Hong Kong on March 26, 2025. Photo: Dickson Lee
Tencent

Tencent adds AI chatbot friend to WeChat to keep users glued to app

WeChat users can now add Yuanbao as a ‘friend’ and interact with the chatbot without downloading a separate app.

WeChat has added the Yuanbao AI chatbot to its messaging feature. Photo: Shutterstock
The Philippines

Filipinos find a new way to earn extra pesos – as virtual assistants

Driven by a desire for better pay and flexible hours, a million Filipinos hungry for opportunity are powering a virtual-assistant revolution.

Artificial intelligence

ChatGPT can now create charts for work and edit photos better

The new capabilities are available to both free and paid users via OpenAI’s GPT-4o model.

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Northern Metropolis

Opinion | Hong Kong must show why Northern Metropolis isn’t just another tech hub

Without a well-defined vision, developments risk becoming little more than clusters of real estate ventures devoid of distinctive character.

The Northern Metropolis is a megaproject located near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China. Photo: May Tse
China-EU relations

Unaffected by EU’s tariffs on EVs, China’s hybrid-vehicle exports surge to bloc

With Brussels’ tariffs not a problem, China’s plug-in hybrid EVs have become the fastest-growing Chinese export item to the 27-nation bloc.

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Banking & finance

Hong Kong deepens push into AI, tech to boost its edge over Singapore: Paul Chan

Artificial intelligence is the future, as it has the potential to boost Hong Kong’s competitiveness, financial secretary says.

Science

China aims to deploy maglev rocket launch pad by 2028, challenging SpaceX

Advances in rocket acceleration to supersonic speeds before ignition are part of plan to create hub of private rocket manufacture.

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Galactic Energy plans to debut the world’s first electromagnetic rocket launch pad by 2028. The platform is expected to allow greater payloads while reducing fuel and maintenance costs. Photo: Galactic Energy
Artificial intelligence

Letters | What young humans can do that AI can’t

Readers discuss how the education system must adapt to the advent of generative AI, and the use of the p-value in determining statistical significance.

A student uses ChatGPT on May 30, 2023, at a school in Hong Kong that has adopted the generative AI tool in the classroom. Photo: Edmond So
Semiconductors

US start-up PsiQuantum raising US$750 million in quantum computing race

Start-ups and major tech firms are chasing quantum computing, with Google, Microsoft and Amazon having unveiled new quantum chips.

Style Edit

Style Edit: Richard Mille’s latest RM 74-02 Automatic Tourbillon

Richard Mille worked with Swiss composite expert North Thin Ply Technology on the material for the case, while inside lies the CRMT5 calibre, also produced in house.

Robotics

Chinese start-up targets 5,000 robots this year, taking on Elon Musk’s Optimus

The robotics start-up co-founded by former Huawei ‘Genius Youth’ recruits has an ambitious 5,000-unit production target, far exceeding 2024 output.

One of Agibot’s wheeled robots working at a supermarket checkout. Photo: Agibot
Banking & finance

China to attract more private equity from Middle East and US: Bain & Co

Asia-Pacific deal value rose 11 per cent to US$176 billion in 2024, according to Bain & Company.

Workers walk past a mural depicting China’s history at the Zhongguancun No 1, an incubation platform for tech companies, in Beijing on March 19, 2025. Photo: AFP
China technology

My Take | DeepSeek has changed China’s AI model landscape – what’s next?

The start-up has emerged as the unlikely winner of a dizzying domestic competition. Can it reshape the global market as well?

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China's economic recovery

Is AstraZeneca’s new US$2.5 billion plan a blueprint for foreign firms in China?

British-Swedish drug maker has gone from Beijing’s scrutiny to its praise, hailed as a sign of doing business in China.

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