Asia

Alipay launches agentic commerce platform in China to bring AI tools to merchants

Chinese payments and digital-services company Alipay launched China's first full-stack agentic commerce platform, giving merchants tools to move from digital operations to services run by AI agents, at a partner conference in Hangzhou.

Partners Group closes $1 billion private credit mandate in Asia

Partners Group, a global private markets investor, has closed a new $1 billion private credit mandate with a major institutional investor in Asia.

Southeast Asia’s financial services M&A deal volume remains stable in first half despite lower deal value – EY

Southeast Asia’s financial services merger and acquisition (M&A) deal volume remained stable in the first half despite lower deal value, EY said on last Thursday.

Vietnam, Australia sign 5-year digital economy pact covering AI, semiconductors, data flows

Vietnam and Australia will further collaborate in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, cross-border data flows, and undersea cable connectivity.

MRCB, TECO team up to develop AI-ready Modular Data Centers in Malaysia

Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and Taiwan-based TECO Electric & Machinery Co., Ltd. (TECO) have on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a strategic partnership for the development, deployment and operational validation of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI)-ready Modular Data Centers (MDC), designed to…

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.

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.

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.

AI can help portfolio managers work at “superhuman” level, says LinqAlpha founder [Q&A]

TNGlobal spoke with Jin Kim, Co-founder and Head of Forward Deployed Engineering at LinqAlpha, about how AI is reshaping institutional investing, the company's regional strategy, and what an "army of AI agents" means for the analysts who use them.

Honda’s EV losses to approach $12.5B across fiscal years 2026-2027

Japan's Honda Motor is set to book ¥1.97 trillion ($12.5 billion) in EV-strategy losses across fiscal years 2026 and 2027, equal to roughly three years of operating profit and more than a full year of total R&D spending.