https://www.scmp.com/rss/325778/feed Chua Kong Ho is a former technology editor at the South China Morning Post. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com AutoX Inc. is a high-tech company working on self-driving vehicles. It’s mission is to democratise autonomy and enable autonomous driving to improve everyone’s life. Dr Xiao Jianxiong is the founder and CEO of AutoX Inc and has over 10 years of research and engineering experience in computer vision, autonomous driving and robotics. Along with Pony.ai, AutoX recently received a robotaxi licence in California and it’s now in the process of applying for a permit to test drive without a safety... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3027433/inside-china-tech-leaders-technology-self-driving-cars-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3027433/inside-china-tech-leaders-technology-self-driving-cars-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Sep 2019 08:00:05 +0000 On a chilly day in February 1974, seven men gathered over breakfast at a soy milk stall in Taipei to map out Taiwan’s foray into semiconductor manufacturing. In an anecdote that is now legendary, Pan Wen-yuan, who was then a US-based research director at Radio Corporation of America (RCA), advised Sun Yun-suan, the minister for economic affairs, to develop integrated circuits. It would cost $10 million and four years for the technology to take root in Taiwan, Pan said. The plan was approved, and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/how-taiwan-became-global-force-chip-production/article/3026888?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/how-taiwan-became-global-force-chip-production/article/3026888?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Sep 2019 10:58:48 +0000 It was the first day after Lunar New Year in February 1974 when seven men gathered over breakfast at the Little Xin Xin Soy Milk stall in central Taipei and mapped out Taiwan’s foray into semiconductor manufacturing. In an anecdote that is now legendary, Pan Wen-yuan, a Chinese expatriate who was then a US-based research director at Radio Corporation of America (RCA), advised Sun Yun-suan, the minister for economic affairs, to develop integrated circuits. It would cost US$10 million and four... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-leaders-and-founders/article/3026766/taiwan-became-top-chip-manufacturer-us-help-can-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-leaders-and-founders/article/3026766/taiwan-became-top-chip-manufacturer-us-help-can-it?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Sep 2019 14:30:13 +0000 For nearly a century engineers have been working towards the goal of self-driving cars, a technological puzzle that has occupied some of the best minds in science and which has the potential to open up a multibillion-dollar market. Today we see hands-free valet parking and auto-pilot navigation in the US along with limited robotaxi services in the US and China but how close are we to seeing this technology become part of our everyday lives? Xiao Jianxiong, founder and chief executive of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3026544/chinas-professor-x-says-we-are-tipping-point-mass-roll-out-self?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3026544/chinas-professor-x-says-we-are-tipping-point-mass-roll-out-self?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Sep 2019 22:00:07 +0000 When Darius Cheung co-founded Singaporean mobile security start-up tenCube in 2005, the city state was not yet the start-up hub it is today, flush with venture capital or billion-dollar start-up companies with their eye trained on expansion throughout the Southeast Asia region. But back then the government had already put in place schemes and grants aimed at laying the foundations for Singapore to evolve into the regional innovation and start-up hub it is today, from encouraging private capital... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3026044/creating-innovation-culture-singapores-not-so-secret-formula?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/3026044/creating-innovation-culture-singapores-not-so-secret-formula?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Sep 2019 00:00:08 +0000 What kind of a company is Razer, the Hong Kong-listed company that is headquartered in Singapore and San Francisco and helmed by co-founder and chief executive Min-Liang Tan? I posed this question in different ways to Tan in a phone interview after the company released first-half results. If he was irritated at the question, he didn’t show it. After explaining the business model and several iterations of “ecosystem” later, Tan more or less settled on: “We’re a youth and millennial brand.” That... https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3024029/cult-mainstream-razer-ceo-min-liang-tan-youth-authenticity-and-fintech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3024029/cult-mainstream-razer-ceo-min-liang-tan-youth-authenticity-and-fintech?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2019 06:19:25 +0000 In 2018, the World Health Organisation classified “gaming disorder” as an official disease. That came 10 years after China officially recognised the broader concept of internet addiction. Since then, many so-called internet addiction treatment centres have since sprung up and controversies have ensued over how such diseases should be treated. In some places, treatments included not just counseling and medication but military-style discipline, hypnosis and even electroshock therapy. Stories have... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3023528/inside-china-tech-inside-chinese-internet-addiction-treatment-centre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3023528/inside-china-tech-inside-chinese-internet-addiction-treatment-centre?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Aug 2019 04:25:16 +0000 RedDoorz founder and chief executive Amit Saberwal describes his four-year-old budget hotel online booking start-up as a “combination of Uber and Marriott”. The Singapore-based firm is like Uber Technologies in the sense that the hotels listed on its app are owned by individual proprietors, just like many drivers own their cars and pick up bookings through the US ride-hailing giant. It is like Marriott International, the American hotel chain operator and franchiser, on the hospitality side... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3021572/singapores-online-hotel-booking-site-reddoorz-targets-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3021572/singapores-online-hotel-booking-site-reddoorz-targets-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Aug 2019 22:00:12 +0000 The trade war between the US and China has forced companies to diversify their networks of suppliers so that they would not be found wanting should crucial components suddenly become unavailable one day. At Huawei’s smartphone plant in Dongguan, China, the diverse origin of machinery used in the production lines for the P30, one of the company’s high-end models, provided a lesson in hi-tech global manufacturing supply chains. It literally takes a world to make one of these nifty devices, which... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3021125/how-120-metre-walk-down-huaweis-production-line-provides-lesson-global-supply?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3021125/how-120-metre-walk-down-huaweis-production-line-provides-lesson-global-supply?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Aug 2019 22:00:05 +0000 Venture capital investments are likely to pour into 5G-related areas in China in the next two to three years, as the next-generation mobile technology enables new businesses to emerge, according to Jixun Foo, managing partner at GGV Capital. It pays to understand how technology leaps unleash innovation, said Foo, who is consistently recognised as one of the top venture capitalists in China. He has invested in various unicorns – private companies valued at more than US$1 billion – including Didi... https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3018645/top-china-vc-sees-flood-money-5g-related-areas-next-36-months?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3018645/top-china-vc-sees-flood-money-5g-related-areas-next-36-months?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:00:13 +0000 Squirrel AI Learning, a Shanghai-based online after-school tutoring company, plans to expand into foreign markets in two years by developing an English-language curriculum for mathematics as well as Mandarin lessons for non-native speakers. “Why mathematics and Chinese-language lessons? Because there are so many foreigners who want to learn Chinese and they do not have good solutions,” Joleen Liang, partner at Squirrel AI Learning, said in an interview last week in Hong Kong. “So we’re going to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3018297/chinese-education-unicorn-squirrel-ai-targets-foreign-markets-plans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3018297/chinese-education-unicorn-squirrel-ai-targets-foreign-markets-plans?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Jul 2019 23:00:07 +0000 I stood on stage on Wednesday at the RISE conference in Hong Kong with Abacus editor Ravi Hiranand and Proof of Capital managing partner Edith Yeung to present the 2019 China Internet Report, a comprehensive 100-plus-page document painstakingly put together by a crack team at the South China Morning Post. During the course of the presentation, I observed that in writing headlines for our stories, we sometimes fall back to describing a Chinese start-up as “China’s (something)”, that “something”... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3018054/should-we-stop-calling-didi-chuxing-chinas-uber?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3018054/should-we-stop-calling-didi-chuxing-chinas-uber?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Jul 2019 11:30:13 +0000 The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp is on track to achieve its goal of attracting the first batch of research institutes to the city in health care, artificial intelligence and robotics, as part of a broader push by the city to build itself into a hub for innovation and technology, according to chief executive Albert Wong Hak-keung. The government-run company, which manages the Hong Kong Science Park in Sha Tin, has vetted and is poised to award successful applicants in the next few... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3017906/hong-kong-science-park-track-attract-top-notch-research-institutes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3017906/hong-kong-science-park-track-attract-top-notch-research-institutes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jul 2019 22:45:04 +0000 Want to know what new businesses Grab is thinking of going into next? Look at what start-ups they are investing in or helping to build. When Anthony Tan, co-founder and chief executive of the Singapore-based firm stood onstage a year ago at a conference in Singapore to announce the creation of a venture capital arm, he called it a “pay it forward” moment. The idea was to use the platform as a “launch pad” for start-ups in the region and to “mentor and share the huge mistakes that we have made so... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3017808/grab-invests-start-ups-farming-shared-kitchens-grow-its-super-app?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/3017808/grab-invests-start-ups-farming-shared-kitchens-grow-its-super-app?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jul 2019 03:39:14 +0000 In the first episode of SCMP’s revamped Inside China Tech podcast, technology reporter Zen Soo and tech editor Chua Kong Ho delve into what makes Silicon Valley the global hub of innovation and whether China can ever catch up. Why hasn’t China produced a Steve Jobs or an Elon Musk? Do you need political freedom to be creative? How important is individualism when it comes to producing great entrepreneurs and tech visionaries? And will the current technology war with the US help accelerate China’s... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3017747/inside-china-tech-china-still-cant-compete-silicon-valley-can-it-ever?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3017747/inside-china-tech-china-still-cant-compete-silicon-valley-can-it-ever?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jul 2019 10:50:54 +0000 The US Commerce Department placed Huawei and 70 of its affiliates on a blacklist in mid-May, a move that banned US companies from doing business with the Chinese telecoms gear giant without permission. Since then, American companies have scrambled to figure out the legal boundaries of their compliance. From Google and Microsoft to Qualcomm and Intel, the line-up of US suppliers laid bare the reliance that Huawei, and by extension, China, has on American technology. So when President Donald Trump... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3016927/why-us-may-be-supercharging-chinas-tech-ambitions-its-huawei-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3016927/why-us-may-be-supercharging-chinas-tech-ambitions-its-huawei-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Jul 2019 22:00:10 +0000 Singapore is actively studying whether to allow companies with no banking parentage to set up virtual banks, paving the way for start-ups like on-demand services operator Grab to potentially enter the formal financial services industry. “Some other countries have created frameworks to license new players with no banking parentage to set up digital banks, i.e. banks without branches or ATMs,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech at the Smart Nation Summit in the city on... https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3016201/singapore-actively-studying-virtual-banking-licences-says-countrys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3016201/singapore-actively-studying-virtual-banking-licences-says-countrys?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jun 2019 11:04:25 +0000 Singapore has not taken a specific position on any particular vendor when it comes to 5G networks but requires that any prospective operator must meet the standards for resilience and security set by the government, according to S. Iswaran, Minister for Communications and Information. Iswaran, speaking at a press briefing at the conclusion of the Asia-Pacific ICT Ministerial Meeting, was answering a question about Singapore’s plans for 5G and attitudes toward Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies,... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3016138/singapore-keeps-options-open-huawei-says-any-5g-vendor-must-meet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3016138/singapore-keeps-options-open-huawei-says-any-5g-vendor-must-meet?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jun 2019 07:23:23 +0000 The common stereotype of Silicon Valley is that innovation is often bottom-up, while in China it is state-led and therefore top-down. However, during our research and reporting for this podcast, we've found that Silicon Valley and China are more similar than we think. Listen to our latest trailer for the new episode, which comes out on July 8, as we find out if there is a set formula for success in innovation, and whether China can compete with the US in this arena. Listen and subscribe on... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3015133/inside-china-tech-does-top-down-state-led-innovation-work-trailer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3015133/inside-china-tech-does-top-down-state-led-innovation-work-trailer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jun 2019 04:03:49 +0000 Huawei Technologies scrapped the launch of a new laptop following its ban by the US government from doing business with American suppliers. Richard Yu Chengdong, chief executive of Huawei’s mobile business, told CNBC that the Shenzhen-based company has indefinitely put on hold the launch of a new product in its Matebook series. The US blacklist, which prohibits American companies from selling products and services to Huawei, was behind the cancellation, according to Yu. The company did not... https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3014203/huawei-scraps-first-product-launch-us-trade-ban-bites?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/gear/article/3014203/huawei-scraps-first-product-launch-us-trade-ban-bites?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2019 09:48:12 +0000 The Yue Hai district of Shenzhen is home to some of China’s biggest names in technology, including social media giant Tencent, telecoms maker ZTE and drone giant DJI. It’s often called China’s Silicon Valley. Amid the US-China tech war, Chinese netizens are joking that it seems the US government has started this war with Yue Hai instead of China - and therefore it should be district officer who should attend the negotiations with US President Donald Trump. In this week’s Inside China Tech... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3012644/inside-china-tech-talking-people-chinas-silicon-valley-midst-tech-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3012644/inside-china-tech-talking-people-chinas-silicon-valley-midst-tech-war?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 May 2019 10:01:56 +0000 China had about 176 million surveillance cameras in operation as of 2016. By 2022, the number is expected to reach 2.76 billion, in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, according to IDC, a market intelligence company. The technology, which uses biometric computer applications to automatically identify an individual from a database of digital images, is already being deployed at US airports. In China, for example, facial recognition is now being used not just at border checkpoints, but to... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3010673/inside-china-tech-how-facial-recognition-technology-facilitates-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3010673/inside-china-tech-how-facial-recognition-technology-facilitates-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 May 2019 08:56:26 +0000 This week technology reporter Zen Soo and SCMP's technology editor Chua Kong Ho gives listeners an exclusive inside peek into how China's live-streaming industry regulates its content with the help of a "content security" team, who describes the team as "sanitation workers" of cyberspace. This week an SCMP tech reporter Meng Jing got exclusive access to an office that is the frontline of China’s ongoing effort to patrol and control what is posted to its various social media platforms, and... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3005878/inside-china-tech-how-live-streaming-china-monitored-and-censored?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/3005878/inside-china-tech-how-live-streaming-china-monitored-and-censored?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2019 07:15:11 +0000 In the 1956 short story The Minority Report by American writer Philip K Dick, three “precogs” foresee all crime, allowing members of a special “pre-crime” squad to pick up suspects before the crime is committed. Sixty-three years and a Steven Spielberg film later, the line between science fiction and reality is blurring fast, according to Nimrod Kozlovski, whose many hats include law professor, law partner, venture capitalist and cybersecurity consultant. “Minority Report is becoming a reality... https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3004167/minority-report-style-crime-prevention-artificial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/science-research/article/3004167/minority-report-style-crime-prevention-artificial?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Apr 2019 22:00:08 +0000 The elderly man inside the doorway of the residential building, tucked in a tiny corner with his cup of tea, crumpled newspaper and transistor radio, is a common sight for residents in Hong Kong’s many high-rise flats. Usually in his 60s or 70s, he is sometimes the doorman, sometimes gives directions, almost always gruff, and is generally tasked with ensuring security for the building. He is also an endangered species. “Young people won’t want to sit there reading a newspaper all day, or even... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3002383/how-ai-facial-recognition-technologies-are-revolutionising-physical?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/3002383/how-ai-facial-recognition-technologies-are-revolutionising-physical?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Mar 2019 22:00:15 +0000 Israel has almost the same number of artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups as China, but with a population that is 159 times smaller. It is a global leader in cybersecurity, developed drip irrigation, the USB flash drive, long-shelf tomatoes and the pill cam. In short, Israel punches way above its weight class on the global stage in technology and innovation. Last week, I went on a trip organised by the Israeli foreign ministry and visited the country’s top university, promising start-ups and... https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/2189273/start-nation-are-there-lessons-be-learned-israels-tech-success?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/innovation/article/2189273/start-nation-are-there-lessons-be-learned-israels-tech-success?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Mar 2019 23:47:06 +0000 Did Ren Zhengfei just get an olive branch from Donald Trump? After the Huawei Technologies founder said in a BBC interview that there is no way the US can crush the Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier because it is “more advanced” in technology, US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that he wanted the US to “win through competition, not by blocking out currently more advanced technologies”. Ren also said in a CBS interview aired this week that “5G is not an atomic bomb” and that... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/2187204/did-donald-trump-just-give-huawei-pass?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/2187204/did-donald-trump-just-give-huawei-pass?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Feb 2019 01:00:01 +0000 Britain’s former surveillance chief has characterised the “chorus of voices” calling for a blanket ban on Chinese companies like Huawei Technologies from telecommunications networks in Western countries amid perceived cyber threats as being “short on technical understanding” of cybersecurity and the complexities of 5G networks. While the Government Communications Headquarters’ National Cyber Security Centre “has been blunt about Huawei’s shortcomings in security engineering and in its general... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2185916/former-uk-surveillance-head-says-calls-freeze-chinese-companies-out-telecoms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2185916/former-uk-surveillance-head-says-calls-freeze-chinese-companies-out-telecoms?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Feb 2019 02:15:30 +0000 Globe Telecom, a Philippines-based network operator that counts Huawei Technologies as a key supplier, said that concerns over the potential threat posed by the Chinese company to national security were overblown “to a certain extent” and that it was pushing ahead with a planned roll-out of fifth-generation (5G) commercial services in the second quarter of this year. “They may provide the equipment, but we run the network and so we know what passes over our network, what goes through it,” Globe... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2185816/huawei-gets-vote-confidence-philippines-globe-telecom-which-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2185816/huawei-gets-vote-confidence-philippines-globe-telecom-which-says?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Feb 2019 12:00:41 +0000 Increasing resistance by the US and other governments to Chinese hi-tech companies, such as Huawei Technologies and Hikvision, is providing opportunities for suppliers from other countries to win business from their lower-cost competitors. In Australia, Chinese security camera makers Hikvision and Dahua have faced increased scrutiny after a report by Australian Broadcasting Corporation cited concerns raised by experts about the potential for these networks to be used for espionage. The two... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2185252/us-led-backlash-against-chinas-huawei-hikvision-seen-giving-higher-cost-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2185252/us-led-backlash-against-chinas-huawei-hikvision-seen-giving-higher-cost-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Feb 2019 01:00:15 +0000 Tech reporter Zen Soo sits down with tech editor Chua Kong Ho for the first Inside China Tech podcast in the Year of the Pig to analyse how the Lunar New Year is changing with the impact of technology. They look at how some of China’s tech giants are using this traditional festival to gamify the giving of red envelopes of money to the young and unmarried, how the annual shopping for snacks and sweets at the New Year markets is now becoming an online exercise, and how the annual mass migration... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/2185478/inside-china-tech-how-technology-changing-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/2185478/inside-china-tech-how-technology-changing-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Feb 2019 12:16:23 +0000 One of the enduring traditions for Chinese communities globally is for adults to give the young red packets containing money during the Lunar New Year as a blessing of good luck and well wishes. Broadly speaking, many Chinese consider marriage as the definition of adulthood, and therefore those who have entered into matrimony earn the right to dispense red-paper packets to those who have not. Bosses also give “lucky money” to subordinates, while in many places, Chinese would give service staff... https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/2185297/chinese-tradition-giving-red-packets-gets-digital-update-keeping-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/2185297/chinese-tradition-giving-red-packets-gets-digital-update-keeping-it?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:01:54 +0000 Reddit, the self-billed “front page of the internet”, may be following the footsteps of messaging app Snap in getting China’s social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings as an investor. The San Francisco-based discussion website is seeking to raise as much as US$300 million in a new funding round and has landed Tencent as a lead investor, according to TechCrunch. Depending on how successful it is in raising money from other investors, Reddit could be valued at US$3 billion, according to the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2185280/reddit-said-land-chinas-tencent-lead-investor-funding-round-may?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/2185280/reddit-said-land-chinas-tencent-lead-investor-funding-round-may?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Feb 2019 07:22:04 +0000 SCMP tech editor Chua Kong Ho speaks with tech reporters Iris Deng and Celia Chen, who is normally based in Shenzhen, for a closer look at China’s social media environment. Iris talks about the recent rockstar-like reception given to WeChat's chief product developer Allen Zhang Xiaolong, who recently gave a four hour speech outlining the change of focus for China’s dominant social media app. Iris and Celia also take a look at some of the new competitors seeking to challenge Tencent's dominance... https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/2182688/inside-china-tech-wechat-changes-focus-new-social-media-players-and-short?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/podcasts/article/2182688/inside-china-tech-wechat-changes-focus-new-social-media-players-and-short?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jan 2019 10:00:45 +0000 Before Huawei became the telecoms equipment giant that it is today, its founder Ren Zhengfei was part of an army crew sent to China’s frigid northeast. The mission: build a synthetic fibre factory so that every Chinese person had new clothes to wear. “I joined the military during China’s Cultural Revolution. At that time, there was chaos almost everywhere, including in agriculture and the industry,” Ren, 74, told reporters at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen this week. “The country was facing... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2182332/huawei-founder-ren-zhengfei-why-he-joined-chinas-communist-party-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2182332/huawei-founder-ren-zhengfei-why-he-joined-chinas-communist-party-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Jan 2019 11:30:30 +0000 Last month while on holiday, I placed an order for a dumbphone made by this company called Punkt Tronics AG, headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland. The Jasper Morrison-designed phone arrived in a neat little black box via DHL a week later. The MP02, as the model is called, can handle voice calls and SMS text messaging and has a calendar, clock, notes, calculator and not much else. It does support 4G tethering so that one can connect other devices, such as a laptop or iPad, to the phone. The idea... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2180868/heres-what-happened-when-i-swapped-my-iphone-dumbphone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2180868/heres-what-happened-when-i-swapped-my-iphone-dumbphone?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jan 2019 22:34:47 +0000 Investors would have lost a lot of money if they had followed the investment advice of equity analysts following the fortunes of Facebook, the social media giant that has seen more than US$200 billion wiped off its market value in four months. The almost 40 per cent slump in its share price in four months means Facebook has lost in market value about the entire worth of Chevron, Intel or Coca-Cola. Through it all, analysts have largely stuck to their recommendations to buy the stock. A review of... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2174934/facebook-stock-wipeout-shows-how-analysts-lag-behind-market-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2174934/facebook-stock-wipeout-shows-how-analysts-lag-behind-market-their?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Nov 2018 01:53:49 +0000 It was looking pretty grim for ByteDance founder and chief executive Zhang Yiming back in April. He had issued a “self reflective” public apology after China’s central government ordered its news aggregation unit to close a popular app known for off-colour jokes. “We let our users down by over emphasising growth and scale over quality and responsibility,” Zhang said in an open letter reminiscent of the “self criticism” of “wrongdoers” during the era of Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Meet the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2170355/bytedance-founder-zhang-yiming-bounces-back-new-funding-round-win?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2170355/bytedance-founder-zhang-yiming-bounces-back-new-funding-round-win?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Oct 2018 03:33:06 +0000 Artificial intelligence will have a much bigger impact on society than the internet in the decades ahead because of its potential to transform the way businesses and industries work, according to Baidu chairman Robin Li Yanhong. “If the internet was the appetizer, then AI is the main course,” Li said onstage at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, where he was discussing technology changes with International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde. “The internet changed a... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2165932/baidu-ceo-robin-li-says-artificial-intelligence-will-have-much-bigger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2165932/baidu-ceo-robin-li-says-artificial-intelligence-will-have-much-bigger?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Sep 2018 05:00:00 +0000 Didi Chuxing’s founder Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu apologised for the death of a 20-year-old female passenger at the hands of a Didi driver, saying that “vanity” and “breathless expansion” had caused the Beijing-based start-up to lose sight of its original mission to build a better world of mobility. “The past few days have been days of immense pain,” Cheng and Liu said in a statement released on Monday. “As founder and president of this company, we are deeply grieved and remorseful. Words... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2161738/didis-founder-says-vanity-and-breathless-expansion-contributed-tragedy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2161738/didis-founder-says-vanity-and-breathless-expansion-contributed-tragedy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Aug 2018 13:30:45 +0000 Anthony Tan knew it was not going to be your usual business meeting when the taxi fleet boss he had arranged to meet in the Philippines entered the restaurant surrounded by burly bodyguards. “I remember thinking, Manila is hot, why is everyone wearing a jacket and sunglasses at night? What is going on?” said Tan, co-founder and chief executive officer of Singapore-based Grab, Southeast Asia’s most valuable tech start-up. Tan was there to sign up the taxi-fleet owner to his ride-booking app.... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2157177/how-grabs-ceo-steered-it-garage-malaysia-southeast-asias-most-valuable-tech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/2157177/how-grabs-ceo-steered-it-garage-malaysia-southeast-asias-most-valuable-tech?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Jul 2018 01:30:15 +0000 Jane Sun may be the head of a Nasdaq-listed Chinese tech company valued at $23 billion, but she’s not always treated like it. While attending a recent CEO conference in Silicon Valley, “people assumed I was there to accompany my husband,” said the 49-year-old head of Shanghai-based Ctrip, Asia’s biggest online travel platform. On a separate skiing trip to Canada, fellow skiers asked Sun’s husband what line of work he was in, but not her. “It’s not discrimination, but subconsciously you are... https://www.scmp.com/tech/ctrip-ceo-jane-sun-how-her-company-fighting-women-workplace/article/2156814?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/ctrip-ceo-jane-sun-how-her-company-fighting-women-workplace/article/2156814?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jul 2018 09:51:23 +0000 Jane Sun may be the head of a Nasdaq-listed Chinese tech company valued at US$23 billion, but she still sometimes feels slighted in the company of other CEOs. While attending a recent CEO conference in Silicon Valley, “people assumed I was there to accompany my husband”, said the 49-year-old head of Shanghai-based Ctrip, Asia’s biggest online travel platform. On a separate skiing trip to Canada, fellow skiers asked Sun’s husband what line of work he was in, but not her. China travel giant Ctrip... https://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/2156661/ctrips-female-ceo-gender-inequality-and-fighting-internet-platform?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/china-tech/article/2156661/ctrips-female-ceo-gender-inequality-and-fighting-internet-platform?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jul 2018 01:00:45 +0000 Ele.me plans to ramp up investments in its operations, following its acquisition by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding in April, amid increased competition from rival Meituan-Dianping for leadership in China’s multibillion-dollar on-demand delivery services market. Shanghai-based Ele.me’s investment strategy would expand its business beyond transporting meals to consumers into other on-demand services, potentially delivering flowers and over-the-counter medication from 30 minutes to an hour... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2156515/eleme-steps-investments-demand-delivery-battle-rival-meituan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2156515/eleme-steps-investments-demand-delivery-battle-rival-meituan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Jul 2018 02:00:00 +0000 Chua Kong Ho,Zen Soo,Iris Deng Chua Kong Ho,Zen Soo,Iris Deng When Singapore-based e-commerce start-up ShopBack decided to shift its business strategy, co-founder Joel Leong looked to China for direction instead of Silicon Valley. “When ShopBack first launched, we focused heavily on e-commerce via desktop,” Leong said. “But we later realised that companies in China were very focused on mobile apps.” That led the company to adopt a mobile-first strategy by launching its own ShopBack app, which directs users to buy products and services from the mobile apps... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2155155/chinas-internet-ecosystem-model-increasingly-being-copied-globally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2155155/chinas-internet-ecosystem-model-increasingly-being-copied-globally?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Jul 2018 13:30:30 +0000 Williams, the Formula One team, is on the lookout for technology companies that they can collaborate with in applying artificial intelligence (AI) to help improve their racing performance. “We’re looking for technology and if we can get access to the latest technology before our competitors, that gives us the edge,” Williams chief information officer Graeme Hackland said in an interview at the RISE technology conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday. “We handle a lot of data and as of now most of it... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2154640/williams-formula-one-team-race-adopt-ai-system?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2154640/williams-formula-one-team-race-adopt-ai-system?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jul 2018 11:30:41 +0000 Southeast Asia is becoming one of the focal points for global investors and Chinese technology conglomerates looking to expand outside their home market. The region’s diversity and population have made it both an attractive and difficult target to crack. Typically defined as the region east of India, west of New Guinea, north of Australia and south of China, Southeast Asia is home to some 655 million people in 11 countries that range from a city-state like Singapore to archipelagic nations like... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2153876/southeast-asia-becomes-target-china-technology-companies-tough-nut?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2153876/southeast-asia-becomes-target-china-technology-companies-tough-nut?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Jul 2018 22:00:00 +0000 Pomelo Fashion, the Bangkok-based fashion e-commerce site that counts JD.com as an investor, is looking to open its first micro-retail store in Singapore as it seeks to expand its online-to-offline business model in Southeast Asia. The company, started by former Lazada Thailand managing director David Jou, positions itself as a digitally native fashion brand that is vertically integrated – that is, it works with manufacturing partners and handles its own sourcing of materials to design to... https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2152678/jdcom-backed-thai-fashion-e-commerce-site-pomelo-expanding-its-online?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/start-ups/article/2152678/jdcom-backed-thai-fashion-e-commerce-site-pomelo-expanding-its-online?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Jun 2018 04:20:06 +0000 Chua Kong Ho Chua Kong Ho Wantedly Inc., the Tokyo-listed job recruitment networking company, is considering expanding into Malaysia and Vietnam after setting up in Singapore as it steps up its presence in Southeast Asia. “Finding a good country manager is key” to expansion, Akiko Naka, CEO of Wantedly, said in an interview at the Techsauce Global Summit in Bangkok. “We have made so many mistakes in the past,” she said, without elaborating. Wantedly differs from other job recruitment sites by connecting companies... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-leaders-and-founders/article/2152174/japanese-networking-site-wantedly-looks-expand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-leaders-and-founders/article/2152174/japanese-networking-site-wantedly-looks-expand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Jun 2018 23:03:26 +0000 Grab, the Singapore-based on-demand services company that bought out Uber’s Southeast Asian business, is working toward opening its platform to third-party providers as part of its stated aim to build an “everyday app” for consumers. The company may soon announce its first batch of external service providers, according to people familiar with the plan, who declined to be named because the information is private. Grab declined to comment. Singapore’s Grab gets US$1 billion from Toyota as... https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2152176/grab-include-third-party-providers-quest-build-everyday-app?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2152176/grab-include-third-party-providers-quest-build-everyday-app?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jun 2018 23:00:00 +0000