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Leaning into the open-source approach has helped developers build AI applications faster and at lower cost, company says. Photo: Shutterstock

Big Tech

Alibaba reaffirms open-source AI commitment as it hails successes

‘Building with the community’ is crucial to the success of the Qwen family of large language models, company says.

DeepSeek founder’s latest paper proposes new model training to bypass GPU limits

UBS projects rosy view of Chinese stocks in 2026 as investors diversify holdings

Banking & Finance

Chipmaker GigaDevice jumps 37% in Hong Kong debut amid China self-reliance push

GigaDevice shares surge as investors chase Beijing’s self-sufficiency theme, with retail demand oversubscribed more than 540 times.

Zhu Yiming, right, chairman of GigaDevice Semiconductor, and Hu Hong, deputy general manager, at the firm’s trading debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Photo: Handout
Zhu Yiming, right, chairman of GigaDevice Semiconductor, and Hu Hong, deputy general manager, at the firm’s trading debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Photo: Handout

Big Tech

Apple, Google strike Gemini deal for revamped Siri in major win for Alphabet

Alphabet has been jostling with OpenAI for the Apple deal, the financial details of which were not disclosed.

Business

Hong Kong stocks climb as yuan strengthens and investors broaden focus beyond US

Hang Seng Index advances as investors shift focus, boosting Asian equities, with pharmaceutical and healthcare shares leading gainers.

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China Business

China’s weight-loss drug war: prices slashed up to 80% as obesity crisis worsens

Foreign, local firms fight for market share as number of overweight or obese adults could top 630 million by 2050, from 400 million in 2021.

There were more than 400 million overweight or obese adults in China in 2021, according to a study. Photo: Getty Images
There were more than 400 million overweight or obese adults in China in 2021, according to a study. Photo: Getty Images

Tech Trends

DeepSeek founder’s High-Flyer ranks among China’s top hedge-fund firms in 2025

Hangzhou-based High-Flyer ranks second among China’s 10 top-performing large hedge-fund managers last year.

China Economy

China vows more support for ‘little giant’-like firms amid self-sufficiency push

Beijing also aims to collect more industrial data and push manufacturers to embrace digital solutions.

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Europe

UK launches probe into Musk’s X over Grok’s ‘disgusting’ sexualised AI imagery

UK regulator acts after users prompt AI to create sexually intimate deepfakes, fuelling fears of widespread image abuse on the platform.

Britain’s media regulator is investigating X over whether Grok AI’s sexually explicit deepfakes breach UK content protection rules. Photo: AFP

Tech Trends

Surging chip prices force Chinese smartphone maker Meizu to abandon launch

Memory-chip prices could jump between 40 and 50 per cent in the first quarter after rising by the same level in the previous quarter.

Meizu has cancelled the release of the Meizu 22 Air, a slim handset similar to Apple’s iPhone Air. Photo: Shutterstock
Meizu has cancelled the release of the Meizu 22 Air, a slim handset similar to Apple’s iPhone Air. Photo: Shutterstock

Tech Trends

Ant International teams up with Google on use of Universal Commerce Protocol

The endorsement of Google’s open standard comes as companies globally accelerate the integration of AI agents and e-commerce.

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Big Tech

Alibaba’s Qwen family hits 700 million downloads to lead open-source AI adoption

Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen family is the world’s most widely used open-source AI system as of January, Hugging Face data shows.

Business

Hong Kong stocks rise on tech, health as mainland China turnover hits record

Alibaba Health soars over paediatric drug deal as trading volume on Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges tops US$513 billion.

The Exchange Square in Central. Photo: Jelly Tse

Big Tech

China’s AI unlikely to surpass US soon despite progress, researchers say

China’s top AI scientists warn of chip deficits and resource limits, though some predict breakthroughs within five years.

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A humanoid robot is seen at the 2025 Global Industrial Internet Conference in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Photo: Xinhua
A humanoid robot is seen at the 2025 Global Industrial Internet Conference in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Photo: Xinhua

Companies

Nvidia, Tesla chase same self-driving goal via different paths

Tesla is betting on winning autonomy as a specialist, while Nvidia is positioning itself as an arms dealer, selling tools to the entire industry.

Companies

Elon Musk to open source X algorithm in 7 days amid global scrutiny

The company has been working to incorporate more AI into its recommendation algorithm through Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot.

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Tech War

How Nexperia saga exposes Europe’s waning influence in US-China chip war

The dispute around the Dutch chipmaker shows the erosion of Europe’s geopolitical neutrality in the face of escalating US-China rivalry.

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Nexperia is caught in a geopolitical tussle between the Netherlands and China. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
Nexperia is caught in a geopolitical tussle between the Netherlands and China. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Tech War

China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race

The AI war is increasingly waged among ‘hyperscalers’ – companies with full-stack capabilities across software, hardware and applications.

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Tech War

How Huawei and DeepSeek are tending the garden of China’s AI aspirations

Amid growing AI rivalry with the US, the two companies are leading China’s drive to shake off the nation’s dependence on Nvidia processors.

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Big Tech

Immediate gratification: instant commerce transforms China’s retail market

Instant commerce has developed over a short period of time, as providers expanded their on-demand delivery coverage beyond food.

Illustration: Henry Wong
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China Future Tech
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
China Future Tech

Tech

China’s Qwen and DeepSeek edge out US AI models in Christian values benchmark

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The questions in FAI-C were reviewed by a panel of Biblical experts, including theologians, pastors, psychologists and scholars of ethics. Photo: SCMP

Big Tech

Alibaba reaffirms open-source AI commitment as it hails successes

Leaning into the open-source approach has helped developers build AI applications faster and at lower cost, company says. Photo: Shutterstock

Markets

Chinese rocket shares slump after warnings on ‘irrational’ rally

A rocket sits in the factory of Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology, a private rocket developer, in Wenchang, in south China’s Hainan province on December 30, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

China Business

UBS projects rosy view of Chinese stocks in 2026 as investors diversify holdings

A Chinese trader looks at an electronic trading board at the Shanghai stock exchange. Photo: Reuters

China Business

Novartis, SciNeuro deal offers hope for 55 million suffering from Alzheimer’s

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Swiss drugmaker Novartis has gained global rights over SciNeuro’s novel amyloid beta targeted antibody programme. Photo: Reuters
MORE IN China Future Tech
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OPINION
Kun Tian

Opinion | Hong Kong’s fertile ground for AI IPOs aligns with China’s tech strategy

Kun Tian
Mark Purdy

Opinion | The global AI race: 3 scenarios the world must prepare for

Mark Purdy
Mark Pirie,Christopher Tang

Opinion | Why reducing AI harm requires more than tech firms’ empty promises

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Patrick Winter

Opinion | Asia needs AI talent to fuel its future growth

Patrick Winter
Anthony Rowley

Macroscope | Can AI deliver the economic goods and high returns? Don’t count on it

Anthony Rowley
Jake Sullivan

Opinion | US and China must get serious about AI risk

Jake Sullivan
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MULTIMEDIA
Video

Digital ‘Tamagotchi’ pets mark 30 years

The egg-shaped plastic toys that were a playground craze in the 1990s feature digital pets needing to be cared for like live household animals.
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Video

Hongkongers urged to use eMPF to ward off scams

Hongkongers urged to sign up for eMPF platform as defence against scams
Video

How a Shanghai start-up is digitalising Chinese tea

Safety, verification and trust behind start-up company Teakan Technology’s goal to make traditional Chinese tea digitally traceable
Video

Humanoid robots take centre stage at Shanghai summit

Competitions mainly focused on robotic applications in industrial assembly, home services, flower arranging, healthcare and elderly care, as well as restaurant services
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