China

Chinese fintech player Ant Group and American payment firm Mastercard, along with 12 overseas payment partners of Alipay+ and other major international card organizations, have extended the International Consumer Friendly Zones program to facilitate inbound travel to China.

The panelists shared their views on the most promising sectors in Southeast Asia, the future development of the tech ecosystem, among others. These investors also shared their views on several issues related to the tech ecosystem in Southeast Asia from a foreign investor's and a regional investor's point of view.

Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, announced Tuesday the extension of its collaboration with Sarawak Information Systems Sdn. Bhd. (SAINS), an information and communications technology (ICT) systems integrator and solutions provider in Sarawak of Malaysia.

Chinese automakers are ramping up their investments in emerging EV markets overseas, especially in regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, at a time when competition remains intense at home and the US and Europe are imposing punitive tariffs on China-made EV imports.

US tech giants including Microsoft Corp, Google and Nvidia Corp had already announced plans to build data centers in Malaysia in the past year, and Chinese firms are interested in developing more to serve the nation’s tech companies which want to enter the Southeast Asian market

The entry comes at a time when Malaysians are seeing a rising number of local and international coffee chain brands and outlets in the country. Both local and international coffee brands are competing for a larger market share as US brand Starbucks faces ongoing boycott amid the Israel-Gaza war. In China, Luckin Coffee's home market, the entry also comes…

Among other things, the MoU will lead the scope of cooperation to include exchange programs of scientists and researchers, partnerships between research institutions as well as joint organisation of academic programs and conferences with the involvement of international scientists and researchers.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) has partnered with Hong Kong-based supply-chain services provider in the apparel and general merchandise industry Li & Fung and its affiliate LFX to support small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth and digitalization in Asia's supply chains.

Proton Car is the national car brand of Malaysia. The brand was established in the early 1980’s at the behest of the Malaysian government, and later reverted to semi-private ownership under DRB Hicom. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group purchased 49.9 percent of Proton Cars.

For the first time, BEYOND EXPO organizers hosted the SheTech Summit this year to celebrate the dynamism of women in technology. The panel brought together women leaders, showcased groundbreaking tech innovations, and prompted conversations on gender diversity in the tech industry.