TOPIC

/ company

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is one of the world’s biggest software makers and manufactures and licenses a range of products and services related to computing. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company is probably best known for its Windows software, although it has begun an aggressive drive into the mobile sector seeking to make inroads on market share held by Google and Apple. It paid 5.44 billion euros for the handset business of Nokia in September 2013.

Chairman / President

Satya Nadella

CEO / Managing Director

Satya Nadella

CFO / Finance Director

Amy Hood

Industry

Computer software
Consumer electronics
Computer hardware

Website

microsoft.com

Headquarters address

One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052, United States

Stock Code

NASDAQ:MSFT

Year founded

1975

in partnership with:

C-SUITE MEMBER

Leo Liu

GM, HK & Macau

US President Donald Trump gestures as he departs Beijing Capital International Airport aboard Air Force One, in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Reuters

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ByteDance

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9 May 2026 - 2:00PM

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Google and Microsoft both expect 2026 capex to reach about US$190 billion. Photo: AP Photo

Millionaires and billionaires

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman approached Musk about co-founding OpenAI in May 2015. Photo: TNS

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An underwater data centre being developed by Highlander is seen under construction at a shipyard in Nantong, Jiangsu province on September 11, 2025. Photo: AFP

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IPO

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Snowflake Summit in San Francisco on June 2, 2025. Photo: Getty Images/TNS

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Microsoft

Trump poured millions into tech giants seeking China deal, ethics filing shows

In the first quarter, Trump made at least nine trades in Nvidia, with transaction values ranging from US$1,001 to US$5 million.

Does China’s Jiuzhang 4.0 computer herald the age of quantum supremacy?

Alibaba, Tencent present a tale of two strategies for AI spending

‘Basically a Chinese racket’: how China streaked ahead at a global AI conference

Mainland China accounted for 44 per cent of the top 50 institutions contributing to the ICLR in Rio de Janeiro, according to analysis.

China deepens footprint at AI conference despite NeurIPS dispute, US tensions

Alibaba, ByteDance, other Chinese tech giants top paper submissions in conference, quelling worries over geopolitics impacting participation.

Alibaba brings chat-style shopping to Taobao, Qwen amid AI gateway push: source

E-commerce giant is integrating Qwen with Taobao and Tmall, enabling shoppers to use natural-language commands instead of keyword searches.

ByteDance raises 2026 capex by at least 25% amid AI boom, sources say

ByteDance is allocating a proportionally larger budget to domestic AI chips to mitigate geopolitical risks and heed Beijing’s call.

Exiting China market a ‘self-inflicted wound’ for US tech, think tank warns

ITIF argues that regional sales help finance domestic R&D and block local rivals, while warning that a full exit would be a self-inflicted wound to innovation leadership.

US Pentagon signs AI deals with Google, Nvidia and SpaceX, focus on ‘lawful’ use

The deal comes even as some tech workers raise concerns about the use of AI for autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

Chinese firms face pressure on AI investments as US peers’ spending soars

Largest US companies on track for US$700 billion in AI capital expenditures this year, versus about US$105 billion in China.

Elon Musk’s trial against Sam Altman reveals power struggle for OpenAI

Musk, one of the original co-founders of OpenAI, is seeking US$150 billion in damages from the company and Microsoft, one of its largest investors.

China’s DeepSeek adds expert chatbot mode ahead of much-awaited V4 release

The Hangzhou start-up’s latest chatbot update sparks speculation over whether the expert mode is linked to the long-delayed V4 model.

As AI race with US intensifies, Alibaba launches 10,000-card computing cluster

Cluster in Shaoguan powered by domestically developed Zhenwu chips latest evidence that China is doubling down on home-grown infrastructure.

China taps offshore wind, subsea data centres to ease AI computing bottleneck

The underwater data centre, located 10 kilometres off Shanghai’s eastern coast, was built by Shanghai HiCloud Technology.

.css-1pcrwvc{color:#2aa191;}Opinion | The danger in the Global South’s pursuit of AI as a magical cure

Rushing in without local R&D, literacy or governance risks leaving countries as testing grounds and passive consumers of foreign tech.

China watching ‘like a hawk’ as US Artemis 2 crew embarks on moon trip

Eyeing a lunar landing by 2030, Beijing will be ‘looking attentively at everything they can glean’ from the American mission, expert says.

Iran says will target Apple, Google and Meta if more of its leaders are killed

A list of 18 US tech firms released by the Revolutionary Guards also included Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, Oracle and Palantir.

Breathing fire: Manycore first of the ‘Six Little Dragons’ to near Hong Kong IPO

Spatial intelligence firm moves ahead of tech peers after clearing a key Hong Kong listing hurdle.

ByteDance adds watermarking, IP checks to Seedance 2.0 ahead of global launch

TikTok parent ByteDance says guardrails will protect Seedance 2.0 as it expands globally despite intense scrutiny from Hollywood.

Tencent sponsors OpenClaw after creator’s complaints of copying

Chinese tech companies are aggressively promoting the deployment of the AI agent amid a nationwide frenzy.

My Take | A humane Chinese AI versus a dog-eat-dog American AI

From killing jobs to killing people, the vision of artificial intelligence supremacy in the United States is truly terrifying.

Dream or reality: can Hong Kong deliver on its AI ambitions?

Hong Kong’s AI revolution accelerates as policy funds skills training while industries and educators rush to integrate the shift.

Southeast Asia faces spillover cyber risk from Iran war as ‘blast radius’ widens

Many Asean firms are tied into the global network in the Gulf, Europe and the US, facing the risk of cyberattacks linked to the war.

Chinese investors pile into OpenClaw ‘lobster’ trade amid US-Iran war

Shares of companies seen compatible with the AI tool soar, while the broader CSI 300 Index languishes.

China ‘996’ culture goes back 2,200 years; work-life balance struggle is not new

From prison terms to the lash, punishments for laziness at work were harsh centuries ago when emperors and farmhands faced similar pressures.

Anthropic sues Trump administration as row over AI use by military deepens

The Pentagon blacklisted the start-up after it refused to let its technology be used for fully autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance.

OpenClaw fever: why is China rushing to ‘raise a lobster’?

Chinese consumers are using OpenClaw for everything from stock picking and report writing to slide decks, emails and coding.

Africa emerges as new arena in US-China competition over artificial intelligence

With a fast-growing digital economy and young population, the continent is becoming a critical front in the global race to shape AI’s future.

Opinion | The danger in the Global South’s pursuit of AI as a magical cure