Tencent adds 3,000 jobs in third quarter, signalling Big Tech growth in China amid AI race

Tencent adds 3,000 jobs in third quarter, signalling Big Tech growth in China amid AI race

Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings added more than 3,000 jobs in the third quarter, in a sign that the country’s most valuable technology company is on a new growth trajectory after the industry was beset by downsizing in recent years. The Shenzhen-based company had 108,823 employees by the end of September, up 3 per cent … Read more

Shenzhen’s soaring R&D spending rivals Beijing, dwarfs Hong Kong amid China’s tech drive

Shenzhen’s soaring R&D spending rivals Beijing, dwarfs Hong Kong amid China’s tech drive

China’s southern tech hub Shenzhen spent a record amount on research and development (R&D) last year, rivalling Beijing’s level and vastly exceeding that of neighbouring Hong Kong to cement its position as a national research mecca. Shenzhen’s R&D expenditure jumped to 223.66 billion yuan (US$30.93 billion) in 2023, surpassing the 200-billion-yuan mark for the first … Read more

Baidu boasts strong AI user growth alongside launch of first smart glasses

Baidu boasts strong AI user growth alongside launch of first smart glasses

Baidu CEO Robin Li Yanhong touted strong user growth for its Ernie large language model (LLM) at the company’s annual conference where it debuted a pair of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses, as China’s largest internet search firm jostles for attention in a sea of competitors. Li said at the event on Tuesday that its … Read more

Alibaba cuts ‘dozens of employees’ at metaverse unit as hype in sector cools down

Alibaba cuts ‘dozens of employees’ at metaverse unit as hype in sector cools down

Alibaba Group Holding is scaling down its metaverse operations, according to a source familiar with the matter, making it the latest Big Tech company to pull back resources from the once-popular sector. Dozens of employees at Yuanjing, the metaverse unit of e-commerce giant Alibaba, have been laid off, as part of a restructuring that aims … Read more

Ant CEO Eric Jing touts tokenisation benefits for cross-border transactions at FinTech Week

Ant CEO Eric Jing touts tokenisation benefits for cross-border transactions at FinTech Week

Tokenisation could drive real-time cross-border payments, Ant Group CEO Eric Jing Xiandong told an audience at Hong Kong FinTech Week on Monday, a topic he elaborated on while extolling the progress that Alipay has made in the city. “With tokenised deposits, that’s a really, really, really huge value for cross-border payments,” Jing said in a … Read more

China approves 128 titles in October, including hit Korean game Goddess of Victory: Nikke

China approves 128 titles in October, including hit Korean game Goddess of Victory: Nikke

China has given the nod to 128 Chinese and foreign video games for domestic release in October, a batch that includes the highly anticipated Goddess of Victory: Nikke, backed by Tencent Holdings, as excitement in the country’s gaming industry continues following the release of Black Myth: Wukong. The National Press and Publication Administration, the agency … Read more

China cybersecurity group seeks review of Intel products for possible breaches

China cybersecurity group seeks review of Intel products for possible breaches

A Chinese cybersecurity group has called for a review of Intel products sold on the mainland, alleging that the US semiconductor giant’s chips pose a threat for “frequent vulnerabilities and high failure rates”. The Cyber Security Association of China (CSAC) said in a WeChat post on Wednesday that Intel’s central processing units (CPUs) have shown … Read more

Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo launch campaigns for Singles’ Day shopping festival on same day

Alibaba, JD.com, Pinduoduo launch campaigns for Singles’ Day shopping festival on same day

Taobao and Tmall Group, Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce business unit, launched at 8pm on Monday the presale stage of its promotion for Singles’ Day – also known as 11.11 or Double 11, referring to the shopping extravaganza originally observed on November 11 – as the company anticipates a record-high volume of users taking part in this … Read more

Tencent’s WeChat Pay says transactions jump during ‘golden week’ after China’s stimulus bazooka

Tencent’s WeChat Pay says transactions jump during ‘golden week’ after China’s stimulus bazooka

Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay, one of China’s dominant digital payment platforms, saw a jump in transactions during the “golden week” national holiday, as consumer spending shows signs of recovery after Beijing rolled out its biggest stimulus package since the pandemic. Known as Weixin Pay on the mainland, the digital wallet recorded a 20 per cent … Read more

Chinese tech giants from ByteDance to Meituan see surge in ‘golden week’ consumer spending

Chinese tech giants from ByteDance to Meituan see surge in ‘golden week’ consumer spending

Chinese tech giants providing dining and travel-booking services saw consumer spending surge on their platforms during the “golden week” National Day holiday, according to data released by on-demand local services firms including Meituan and ByteDance-owned Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. During the first five days of the annual break, which ran this year from … Read more