Asia

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing up to $10 million in Highland Central Asia Fund II to increase small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) funding in Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.

AXS Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based payment solutions provider and NTT DATA Japan, a Japan-based artificial intelligence (AI), digital business and technology services firm, have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the development of secure and seamless cross‑border bill payment services.

Google and Telstra have announced a partnership to enhance the reach, reliability, and security of Australia's digital infrastructure through the integration of terrestrial fiber and subsea networks, as both companies move to support the growing demands of AI applications and workloads.

Google, AirTrunk, and European Energy Australia will soon connect the 25-megawatt Mulwala Solar Farm in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia to the National Electricity Market of the country.

Kyrgyzstan's Interbank Processing Center has partnered with Alipay+, the wallet gateway under Singapore-headquartered Ant International, to launch international QR payment services for users of the ELCARD Mobile app, with the support of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Singapore, data center operators are anchored by domestic, regional, and US players with demand underpinned by both western hyperscalers and regional fintech and enterprises, Credit Sights said Tuesday.

Highlighting the direction of this year's event, the BEYOND Expo 2026 exhibition area will feature nearly 800 exhibitors. This includes tech giants alongside smaller, innovative entities like OPCs (One-Person Companies) making their debut, allowing independent entrepreneurs and individual creators to showcase their innovations alongside leading brands.

Australasian venture capital firm Pacific Channel announced Tuesday the acquisition of ENGIE Factory Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd, along with the portfolio of securities it holds in seven early-stage climate-tech ventures focused on solar solutions, cooling, climate markets, sustainable housing, bioenergy, and data center efficiency.

China’s online and mobile payment platform Alipay  has introduced its full-stack AI payment solution to partners across industries, ranging from AI companies to traditional retailers, and debuted two new services, namely the world’s first AI Wallet and Token Pay, to support the agentic economy’s rapid growth.

Despite growing enthusiasm around autonomous AI agents such as OpenClaw, Asia-focused online travel platform Agoda has no plans to adopt the technology for now, with its chief technology officer citing security risks and a lack of control over the systems.