7 d. ago China’s lead in global shipbuilding may already be fading, new data suggests

China’s dominance of global shipbuilding appears to have been eroded over the past six months, according to the latest industry data, suggesting that US efforts to rein in the country’s shipyards may be starting to bite. China has been by far the world’s largest shipbuilder for years, but its shipyards saw new orders plunge 68 per cent year on year to 26.3 million deadweight tonnes in the first half of 2025, according to a Monday report from maritime consultancy Clarksons Research. South Korea,...

Politics

8 d. ago Alibaba expert envisions AI agents transforming daily life in 5 years

Digital colleagues will be a part of everyday life in the next five years, according to an artificial intelligence (AI) expert from Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud computing unit, who envisions an ecosystem of application developers creating AI agents to cater to consumer and business demands. “Agentic AI is very popular in the industry right now,” said Huang Fei, vice-president of Alibaba Cloud and head of the company’s Tongyi Natural Language Processing Lab. Speaking at the China Conference 2025...

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1 week ago Alibaba seeks US$1.5 billion from exchangeable bonds for cloud, e

Alibaba Group Holding plans to raise HK$12 billion (US$1.5 billion) via exchangeable bonds to fund its cloud business and international e-commerce operations, the company said on Thursday. The bonds will not pay interest but will allow bondholders to exchange them for shares of its subsidiary, Alibaba Health Information Technology. “Alibaba Group intends to use the net proceeds from the bond offering for general corporate purposes, including investments to support the development of our cloud...

Economics

1 week ago Alibaba leads US$14 million funding round in Chinese AI agent start

A Hangzhou-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up specialising in enterprise AI agents has secured over 100 million yuan (US$14 million) from investors led by Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud unit, as Chinese companies strive to leverage the technology to raise business efficiency. BetterYeah AI, a prominent player in China’s enterprise AI sector founded by former Alibaba executives, said on Wednesday it had completed its latest financing round with contributions from Alibaba Cloud and venture...

Economics

2 w. ago Alibaba Cloud expands AI footprint with data centres in Malaysia, Philippines

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing services and artificial intelligence (AI) arm of Alibaba Group Holding, unveiled plans to launch new data centres in Malaysia and the Philippines, as it expands infrastructure investments to meet the growing demand for AI in the region. In a statement on Tuesday marking a decade of operations in Singapore, Alibaba Cloud said it had launched its third data centre in Malaysia, and planned to open a second one in the Philippines in October this year. The latest...

Politics

3 w. ago China breaks RSA encryption with a quantum computer, threatening global data security

China breaks RSA encryption with a quantum computer, threatening global data security  Earth.com

Events

3 w. ago Alibaba Cloud to bring AI capabilities to global data centres this year

Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud computing unit is set to extend its artificial intelligence (AI) services, including its Qwen family of models, to its overseas data centres this year, according to an executive, as the company seeks to enhance its infrastructure to meet growing demand from foreign companies and domestic clients looking for global opportunities. The company, owner of the South China Morning Post, planned to offer its flagship Qwen large language models, as well as Model Studio –...

Politics

3 w. ago Alibaba Cloud expands in South Korea with second data centre

Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) unit of Alibaba Group Holding, is set to launch its second data centre in South Korea to address growing demand driven by the rapid development of generative AI. The company said on Thursday that the new centre would be operational by the end of June, representing a significant step in its international expansion. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. “In line with the rapid advancement of AI-based technologies and...

Politics