Alibaba to add data centres in Europe, Middle East amid AI push, US-China tech race

The Business Times - Sep 23, 2026

It is increasingly going head-to-head with Western rivals Amazon and Alphabet in regions beyond Asia

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As China’s AI race accelerates, ‘model fatigue’ becomes the next challenge

Oct 6, 2026

As China’s AI race accelerates, ‘model fatigue’ becomes the next challenge

On September 22, the global artificial intelligence landscape spun on its axis within a matter of hours. In Beijing, Xiaomi engineers went live with an unusual broadcast, streaming the training run of their new MiMo-V2.6 model. In San Francisco, Anthropic unveiled its frontier Opus 5.5 model. About an hour later, OpenAI crashed the party with the surprise release of its GPT-6 Sol and Luna models. For tech executives and developers trying to keep pace, it was just another overwhelming day in the...

Sony teams up with Hello Kitty for limited-edition merch and drops

Oct 6, 2026

Sony teams up with Hello Kitty for limited-edition merch and drops

Even more stunning, the merch comes paired with already popular Sony products, like its flagship WH-1000XM6 headphones.

Nvidia-backed Reflection AI challenges Chinese dominance in open-weight models

Oct 6, 2026

Nvidia-backed Reflection AI challenges Chinese dominance in open-weight models

An Nvidia-backed US start-up has unveiled an open-weight model to challenge China’s dominance in freely available artificial intelligence, releasing a system that early third-party testing suggests could be one of the most token-efficient open models in its class. Reflection AI on Monday debuted Beam, its first open-weight model built for coding, reasoning and agentic tasks. The US firm said Beam was “competitive” with GLM-5.2 from Z.ai – also known as Zhipu AI – and was “approaching” Alibaba...

Hong Kong’s Hermitage Capital stays devoted to top-tier tech stocks amid jitters

Oct 6, 2026

Hong Kong’s Hermitage Capital stays devoted to top-tier tech stocks amid jitters

Even as geopolitical frictions and market swings unsettle venture investors, Hong Kong-founded Hermitage Capital is sticking to a global strategy of backing frontier technology companies wherever they emerge. With a US$1.5 billion war chest that is 80 per cent in US dollars, with the remainder in renminbi, the private equity firm is ramping up investments across artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics, mainly in the US and China, capitalising on a market turnaround triggered by the...

Nothing announces new flagship Headphone (1) Pro headphones with audiophile features *Updated*

Oct 6, 2026

Nothing announces new flagship Headphone (1) Pro headphones with audiophile features *Updated*

These headphones will likely sound different, thanks to a new tuning partner.

Apple reportedly planning two launches in October, and here’s what could be announced

Oct 6, 2026

Apple reportedly planning two launches in October, and here’s what could be announced

October looks like it could be crazy busy month for Apple and its users and fans.

NVIDIA introduces a cheaper 64GB DGX Spark for local AI development

Oct 6, 2026

NVIDIA introduces a cheaper 64GB DGX Spark for local AI development

The new DGX Spark retains the same GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip as the 128GB model.

LEGO’s F1 pop-up at Suntec City has a life-sized race car built from nearly 400,000 bricks

Oct 5, 2026

LEGO’s F1 pop-up at Suntec City has a life-sized race car built from nearly 400,000 bricks

The pop-up also features racing challenges, exclusive rewards and 10 life-sized LEGO F1 minifigures hidden around Suntec City.

Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo is coming to Gran Turismo 7 this October

Oct 5, 2026

Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo is coming to Gran Turismo 7 this October

Xiaomi’s wind-sculpted concept car will arrive alongside the PlayStation-exclusive game’s EV Experience mode.

PH drops to 52nd in innovation index despite connectivity gains

Oct 5, 2026

PH drops to 52nd in innovation index despite connectivity gains

MANILA, Philippines —The Philippines slipped two places to 52nd in the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII), as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) called for increased government and private-sector investment in research and development (R&D) to strengthen the country’s innovation capacity. The country ranked 69th in innovation inputs, down from last year, while it

TikTok rolls out AI controls and a family guide

Oct 5, 2026

TikTok rolls out AI controls and a family guide

At a TikTok Table Talk with the social media app’s local executives, I got the perfect chance to ask about brainrot content on the platform, and whether it’s getting in the way of children’s creativity in their most formative years. I described in detail how repetitive it was, like a looped version of children’s shows

Hong Kong lawmakers say 5-year tax incentive too short to entice major innovative firms

Oct 5, 2026

Hong Kong lawmakers say 5-year tax incentive too short to entice major innovative firms

Hong Kong lawmakers have backed the government’s proposed tax incentives for large innovative companies, but many said on Monday that the planned five-year concession period is too short to attract major firms to establish headquarters or expand operations in the city. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu in his policy address last month said the government planned to submit a bill introducing preferential profits tax rates of either 5 per cent or 8.25 per cent, which was half of the city’s standard...

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