China

China's online and mobile payment platform Alipay has launched a new AI-powered payment service that allows autonomous AI agents to make purchases and complete transactions based on user instructions.

BYD Electronics (Vietnam), under Chinese giant BYD, was granted a certificate to increase its investment in Vietnam's northern province of Phu Tho to $479.8 million.

Tencent Cloud, a leading cloud company, has launched its 2026 “AI CAN DO IT” Game Development Hackathon during the “Tencent AI Campus Tour” event held at the University of Hong Kong on April 16.

Vietnam's affordable airline Vietjet and China's SPDB Financial Leasing (SPDBFL), a subsidiary of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, have signed an agreement for the finance lease of 10 COMAC C909 aircraft.

Victory Giant Technology, a Chinese manufacturer of printed circuit board (PCB), posted a revenue of RMB3.23 billion ($473 million) in Vietnam in 2025, according to the firm's "Global Offering" filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on April 10.

J&T Global Express (J&T Express), a global logistics service provider affiliated with e-commerce platforms such as TikTok, Temu, SHEIN, reported first-quarter 2026 parcel volume of 8.33 billion, a 26.2 percent increase year-on-year, with average daily volume reaching 92.5 million.

Vietnam’s telecommunication giant Viettel Telecom (VTT) and China-based AI company iFLYTEK have signed a strategic cooperation agreement with to develop voice artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for the Vietnamese market, with a focus on speech processing and localization.

Furukawa Electric is set to invest at least JPY55 billion ($345 million) in expanding data center cooling production in the Philippines, Thailand, and China, the Japanese firm said in a release on Monday.

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Gobi Partners, a venture capital (VC) firm based in Malaysia and Hong Kong, have announced the first close of a joint investment initiative, the Gobi–HKU Fund I, during a ceremony marking its launch and initial investments.

China is advancing rapidly in next-generation manufacturing, while parts of Europe are struggling to keep pace due to legacy systems and structural challenges, according to the Industry 4.0 Barometer 2026, a study on industrial digitalization conducted by Germany-based management and IT consultancy MHP.