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State-owned telecom giant China Mobile announced plans to use only homegrown chips for the nation’s largest artificial intelligence computing network by 2028, accelerating China’s efforts to become a leader in AI and reduce its reliance on foreign technology.China Mobile chairman Yang Jie outlined the ambitious target at the company’s Global Partners Conference in Guangzhou on Saturday.The telco, he said, planned to double its investment in AI and explore the construction of a computing cluster with 100,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), taking its national total to 100 EFLOPS of AI computing power.An EFLOP – a unit of computing speed equal to…

Thousands of Malaysian pupils will stay at home for up to a week, as schools were ordered closed after nearly 100 clusters of influenza infections were reported across the country.The sharp spike in infections of influenza types A and B comes just weeks before 400,000 students are due to sit for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) school-leaving exam – a crucial test for university placements and scholarships.Education Ministry Director-General Mohd Azam Ahmad said he had instructed several schools to close on the advice of district health officials to contain the spread of the virus, resulting in around 6,000 pupils being…

My top 10 things to watch Monday, Oct. 13 1. JPMorgan is launching a 10-year, $1.5 trillion plan to grow investments into industries that it deems critical to national economic security. The bank itself will invest up to $10 billion in companies in areas like defense, advanced manufacturing and “frontier” tech like AI. Shares rose about 1% this morning. 2. Wall Street is on pace for a sharply higher open, following Friday’s sell-off on rising trade tensions with China. In my Sunday column for Club subscribers , I said I wanted to take the other side of emotional selling Friday.…

“The US administration wants intellectual property owners to manufacture in the US, including drugs,” founder Roland Ong said on Monday.Nanyang Biologic’s latest initiative reflects its efforts to have its early-stage drug assets licensed to US manufacturers, which was in line with the Trump administration’s goals, while ensuring that US tariff issues would have little impact on the five-year-old start-up.The pre-revenue company, which had five drug candidates targeting cancer and cardiovascular diseases in the pipeline, this year planned to expand its research coverage to stress-related disorders and dementia, Ong said.Proceeds from the Nasdaq listing would be earmarked for expanding the start-up’s…

Across parts of Asia, a growing number of doctors and midwives are performing what is locally known as female circumcision, taking on a role once carried out mainly by traditional practitioners, in a shift rights advocates warn risks legitimising and entrenching a practice with no medical benefit.The World Health Organization and other UN agencies classify all forms of such cutting – often defended as a religious or cultural rite – as female genital mutilation (FGM), describing it as a violation of women’s and girls’ human rights with no health advantages and well-documented physical and psychological harm.Now, rights advocates say the…

TikTok owner ByteDance has initiated a new round of employee share buy-backs that give the company a higher valuation, even as it works on a deal to divest the video app’s US operations amid geopolitical uncertainty.The latest repurchase programme, initially open to employees based in the United States last month and the rest of the world last week, priced the vested restricted stock units (RSUs) at US$200.41 per share, up 5.5 per cent from US$189.90 during the round held in April, according to two employees. China-based staff received the repurchase email on October 10.For former employees, the price was US$180.37…

TikTok owner ByteDance has initiated a new round of employee share buy-backs that give the company a higher valuation, even as it works on a deal to divest the video app’s US operations amid geopolitical uncertainty.The latest repurchase programme, initially open to employees based in the United States last month and the rest of the world last week, priced the vested restricted stock units (RSUs) at US$200.41 per share, up 5.5 per cent from US$189.90 during the round held in April, according to two employees. China-based staff received the repurchase email on October 10.For former employees, the price was US$180.37…

Sales of pure-electric vehicles (EVs) in mainland China hit an all-time high last month as consumers rushed to take advantage of expiring tax breaks and subsidies.The country’s 50 or so EV makers delivered a total of 826,000 BEVs (battery electric vehicles) to domestic customers in September, 28.5 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The previous record was 762,000 in December 2024.The sales boom came earlier than usual, as newly launched models whetted consumers’ appetites.“An EV buying spree was expected to take place in the last two months of this…

Sales of pure-electric vehicles (EVs) in mainland China hit an all-time high last month as consumers rushed to take advantage of expiring tax breaks and subsidies.The country’s 50 or so EV makers delivered a total of 826,000 BEVs (battery electric vehicles) to domestic customers in September, 28.5 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The previous record was 762,000 in December 2024.The sales boom came earlier than usual, as newly launched models whetted consumers’ appetites.“An EV buying spree was expected to take place in the last two months of this…

Since the late 1960s, scientists have dreamed of placing solar panels in outer space. By the 1970s, it was already clear that generating solar energy from space was technically feasible. But the real race toward space-based solar power (SBSP) began only recently, driven by the world’s growing need to produce more electricity to meet the accelerating demand for energy.   As electrification expands across industries, artificial intelligence and big data continue to grow, and the deadlines for reducing carbon emissions draw nearer, innovative energy solutions are more urgent than ever. It now seems that space-based solar power is finally ready…