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Alibabai

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.

 

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  • Damo Academy showcased the next iteration of its RISC-V processor at the XuanTie Partner Conference last week
  • Demand for high-end semiconductors in China used in electric vehicles, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence applications is growing

The reported cash injection comes as the Chinese tech giant and its rivals double down on overseas markets, even though fast growth is bringing some logistics challenges.

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The European Commission also is looking into whether the company did enough to prevent minors from accessing pornographic material via its online marketplace.

Official welcomes investment, while Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers spokesman Tenky Tin says funding is largest he can recall by private sector.

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Alibaba’s fresh push of AI tools comes amid increasing competiton among Chinese e-commerce players to woo consumers across the world amid sluggish growth at home.

Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay are enhancing operations to make it easier for foreign travellers to pay for goods and services on the mainland, the world’s largest cashless society.

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GSR Ventures’ Allen Zhu sees the current investor interest generated by artificial intelligence start-ups that are building large language models as based on a ‘fear of missing out’.

South Korea’s personal data protection watchdog has been investigating overseas e-commerce platforms since last month, after a parliament audit last year raised questions about data handling.

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The MiniMax deal would mark Alibaba’s second major artificial intelligence start-up investment this year after leading Moonshot AI’s US$1 billion funding round in February.

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Proposals like the one submitted by Zhihu CEO Zhou Yuan signal that policymakers are actively discussing how to boost the platform economy, analysts say.

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HKSTP and Cyberport signed memorandums of understanding to share knowledge and explore collaboration opportunities in Saudi Arabia at the Leap conference.

Shenzhen’s municipal government plans to boost the number of its native apps built on HarmonyOS and push for their adoption across major sectors, including education, healthcare, banking, transport and welfare.

Apple-authorised retailers are offering steep discounts on the latest iPhone series in China, where the US tech giant faces stiff competition from domestic brands.

The initiative seeks to ‘lower the threshold of cloud services for more enterprises and developers’ in mainland China, where artificial intelligence development projects are driving demand.

Employers in China are scrambling for workers with skills in generative artificial intelligence, as the nation loses some of its top talent to the US.

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Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai says e-commerce giant is poised to bounce back as restructuring process helps company improve competitiveness and customer service.

The introduction of Sora has forced China’s AI industry to again grapple with how it will catch up to the latest tech in the face of escalating US sanctions.

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High-risk, high-cost mega-infrastructure projects like those backed by Belt and Road Initiative decline in popularity, with developments now seen in sectors with faster returns and fewer operating costs.

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The Year of the Dragon may have signalled the return of the overseas Chinese tourist, with preliminary data from Alipay showing a 7 per cent increase in transactions this year compared with 2019.