News

China’s Alibaba releases Wan3.0 AI video model in public beta with 30s clips, multimodal inputs

China's technology giant Alibaba has launched a public beta of Wan3.0, an AI video generation model supporting clips of up to 30 seconds and multimodal inputs including text, image, video, audio, web pages, PDFs, and PowerPoint presentations.

Fintech solution Bettr, under Singapore’s Ant International, launches Shariah-compliant Umrah financing with Muslim Pro in Malaysia

Bettr, the embedded finance platform under Singapore's Ant International, has partnered with Muslim Pro, an Islamic lifestyle app with more than 190 million downloads across more than 190 markets, to launch an Umrah financing solution in Malaysia for eligible Muslim users planning the pilgrimage.

Malaysia to host AI upskilling event, launch Rakyat Digital portal on August 11-12

Malaysia's Ministry of Digital and MyDIGITAL Corporation will co-host the AI Malaysia Takeover 2026 (AIMTO_26), a two-day event in Kuala Lumpur on August 11-12, to push Malaysia's AI readiness and digital adoption.

Indonesia’s Indosat jointly launches 1GW AI factory platform Zankore with Qatar’s Ooredoo, Finland’s Nokia, US’ NVIDIA

Indonesia's Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has launched Zankore by Indosat, an AI infrastructure platform targeting 1 GW of NVIDIA DSX AI Factory capacity, in collaboration with Qatar's Ooredoo Group as lead investor, Finland's Nokia, and US chipmaker NVIDIA.

Australia’s Firmus raises $2B from Blackstone, Coatue, NVIDIA, to expand AI factories in APAC

Australia's Firmus Grid has received full commitments for a $2 billion strategic equity investment round, bringing its total new equity raised over the past year to more than $3 billion and its post-money valuation above $10.5 billion.

Vietnam’s NAPAS links QR payments with China’s Weixin Pay, targeting over 1B users

National Payment Corporation (NAPAS), a payment platform in Vietnam, has connected its VietQRGlobal payment infrastructure with China's Weixin Pay, enabling Chinese visitors to scan QR codes and make payments in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s science ministry, Singapore’s NUS Enterprise to collaborate in AI, semiconductor, startup

Vietnam's Ministry of Science and Technology and NUS Enterprise, under National University of Singapore (NUS), will collaborate in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, technology transfer, startup development, and technology workforce training.

Japan Investment Corporation commits $12.7M to VC fund Red No. 1 Healthcare

Japan Investment Corporation (JIC) will invest JPY2 billion ($12.7 million) in Red No. 1 Healthcare Investment Limited Partnership, which focuses on biotech, medical devices, and healthcare services startups.

CoreWeave expands cloud AI platform to Indonesia, marking first move into Asia-Pacific region

US's artificial intelligence firm CoreWeave, Inc. announced Tuesday its expansion into Indonesia, the company's first data center presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mobile technologies and services to contribute $1.4T to Asia Pacific economy by 2030 – GSMA

Mobile technologies and services are projected to contribute $1.4 trillion to the Asia Pacific economy by 2030, a 40 percent increase from the US$1 trillion generated today, according to the GSMA’s new Mobile Economy Asia Pacific 2026 report revealed on Thursday.