# AI
Latest news and articles about AI
Total: 175 articles found
Why Hang Seng Tech Is Lagging: The ByteDance Problem for Hong Kong’s AI Story
The Hang Seng Tech Index has lagged regional peers as ByteDance, a private giant, siphons user attention and advertiser budgets through Douyin and new AI products. Seedance 2.0’s breakout and ByteDance’s unlisted status have heightened investor anxiety that the index cannot capture the country’s next wave of tech winners. The impasse reflects commercial disruption combined with genuine regulatory and geopolitical obstacles to a ByteDance listing.
Wahaha’s Heir Trims the Sails: Daughter Shutters Robot Unit, Reversing Father’s 13-Year Diversification Drive
Zong Fuli has shut Wahaha’s robotics arm, reversing her father Zong Qinghou’s decade-long diversification into industrial automation and other non-core ventures. The move reflects a strategic pivot back to Wahaha’s beverage business, prioritising capital discipline and focus over risky, long‑cycle R&D bets in robotics.
Tungsten Quadruples as Funds Rally and Beijing Eases FX Rules — Markets Reprice Risk After Middle East Shock
Heightened Middle East conflict has pushed oil and precious metals higher and unsettled markets, while China’s central bank cut its forward FX reserve requirement to zero to lower hedging costs and stabilise the yuan. Domestic equities have rebounded sharply, commodity prices — notably tungsten — have spiked, and big flows into robotics and AI are reshaping investment priorities amid a wider debate over the timing of returns from new technology.
Beaten-Up AI and Chip Stocks as Commodities, Oil and Gold Rally on Geopolitical Risk and Price Narratives
China’s stock market opened lower as AI, solar and semiconductor sectors pulled back while oil, natural gas and precious metals rallied, driven by price-rise narratives and renewed Middle East geopolitical risk. Brokers say the market is being steered by a combination of supply constraints and narrative-led sentiment, lifting commodity-linked names even as technology shares give back earlier gains.
Baidu Goes All‑In on AI After ¥16.2bn Write‑Down and 76% Profit Collapse
Baidu’s 2025 results exposed the costs of an urgent pivot: revenue slipped and net profit collapsed 76%, driven largely by a ¥16.2bn write‑down of obsolete compute assets. The company is reallocating around AI — reporting a fast‑growing ¥40bn AI new business — but faces intense competition, uncertain unit economics and the challenge of replacing evaporating search‑ad revenue.
When AI Is the Official Reason for Layoffs: How Block’s Cut Rewrites the Job Contract
Jack Dorsey’s announcement that Block will cut nearly half its staff and explicitly attribute the move to AI represents a turning point: profitable companies can now publicly justify large-scale layoffs on automation grounds. The market’s positive reaction and similar moves by major firms suggest a structural, not cyclical, shift in employment that erodes traditional entry-level pathways and disperses accountability for job loss.
Spring Gala’s Robot Debut Falters — A Public-Relations Setback for China’s Tech Showmanship
Robotic performers at China’s Spring Festival Gala experienced visible timing and control problems during a high-profile debut, provoking ridicule online and complicating a carefully staged narrative of technological prowess. The episode underscores the gap between lab demonstrations and live, large-scale applications and suggests a need for more cautious, incremental public deployments of robotics.
When Memory Becomes a Bottleneck: How the AI Chip Boom Is Driving Up Car Prices
A surge in DRAM and other memory prices sparked by AI demand and producers shifting capacity away from low‑margin chips has created acute shortages of car‑grade memory. The result is higher component costs for automakers, with some firms seeing DRAM expenses for a single vehicle nearly triple and potential upward pressure on EV prices unless supply rebalances or manufacturers absorb costs.
Meizu Retreats from In‑House Phone Hardware to Focus on AI and Flyme Ecosystem
Meizu has halted in‑house R&D for new domestic smartphone hardware and will seek third‑party manufacturing partners while shifting strategy toward AI‑driven software built around its Flyme platform. The move reflects mounting cost pressure and market contraction that favour software and ecosystem plays over standalone hardware efforts by smaller vendors.
Mixed US Market Open Highlights AI Winners and China Tech Weakness — Nvidia Slips, Baidu Sinks
US markets opened mixed, with the Nasdaq down modestly and the Dow higher. Nvidia’s stock dipped despite beating fourth-quarter expectations, while Baidu fell sharply after reporting a year-on-year revenue decline for fiscal 2025, underscoring investor focus on guidance and the uneven health of tech-driven growth.
Google Pushes Pro Image Capabilities Down the Stack with Nano Banana 2 — Faster, Cheaper, Default in Gemini
Google has launched Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash), a faster, cheaper image-generation model that brings many Pro-tier capabilities to the baseline offering and is now the default in Gemini, Search and Flow. The release reduces per-image costs by roughly half, broadens access to advanced features previously reserved for paying subscribers, and tightens Google’s grip on the creative AI stack while raising moderation and policy challenges.
After an 80bn‑Yuan Red‑Packet Spree, AI Still Can’t Hold China’s County‑Town Youth
China’s springtime 80bn‑yuan red‑packet push introduced millions of county‑town users to AI, producing dramatic short‑term metrics but little lasting adoption. Local young people delete trial apps once incentives end because most AI features are redundant, clumsy or fail to save time or money in their everyday lives.