Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui tops Asia luxury retail rents, but Bond Street world’s priciest
Markets

Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui tops Asia luxury retail rents, but Bond Street world’s priciest

City’s luxury retail shows resilience with rising tourist arrivals and new store openings despite global slowdown, according to Savills London’s Bond Street replaced Tsim Sha Tsui as the top global luxury retail property market with rents of £19,228 per square metre per year, according to the ninth edition of the UK-based property consultancy’s Global Luxury Retail report released on Monday. Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone ranked third, with annual rents of £16,000 per square metre. The latest rental charges were based on data as of the fourth quarter of 2025. Based on 2024 data, Bond Street – the top shopping district in the British capital where French luxury fashion house Hermes is set to open a new four-storey flagship store next month – typically charged £15,333 per square metre per annum, placing it third among core luxury shopping destinations worldwide. It ranked behind Tsim Sha Tsui’s £17,132 and New York’s Madison Avenue’s £15,559. “After the strong rebound in 2024, luxury rental growth slowed sharply in 2025, highlighting a more normalised and cautious market environment,” said Marie Hickey, global retail research lead at Savills.

May 11, 2026
Alibaba taps into China’s ‘chat to buy’ trend via Qwen AI and Taobao integration
Innovation

Alibaba taps into China’s ‘chat to buy’ trend via Qwen AI and Taobao integration

Move underscores strategy by China’s technology firms to revamp their flagship e-commerce platforms via an accelerating AI push. Taobao has also launched a Qwen-powered shopping assistant, which was trained on the platform’s extensive product listings, and a massive database of customer reviews that can provide instant answers to shopping-related queries. The Qwen assistant also features virtual try-ons and a price-comparison tool that was designed to help users secure better deals and make more informed buying decisions, according to the statement. The move underscores Alibaba’s accelerating AI push, as it seeks to revamp its flagship platforms with new technology. Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce app and the firm’s crown jewel, boasted more than 950 million monthly active users as of February, according to analytics firm QuestMobile. In a test done by an SCMP reporter, the Qwen app was able to follow on an initial general inquiry for a laptop, and then narrow down the selection according to budget, performance, specs, and type of brand to provide a direct recommendation that could be ordered from the AI chatbot.

May 11, 2026
Why China’s new duty-free access is a lifeline for South African exporters
Industry

Why China’s new duty-free access is a lifeline for South African exporters

South African trade is pivoting to China as US tariffs bite, but Chinese industrial dominance poses a new dilemma The duty-free access for African partners from May 1, which saw the 10 per cent tariff rate for apples removed, arrived as a lifeline for South African exporters looking to diversify away from increasingly restrictive American trade channels. Latest data from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) shows the United States has lost its position as the No 2 export market to Germany, while long-time leader China held its top slot. While US share of South African exports fell to a decade-low 7.1 per cent, Germany’s rose to 8 per cent and China’s held steady at 10.7 per cent, the data showed. Trump ambushes South Africa’s Ramaphosa with false ‘white genocide’ claims But South Africa faces a dilemma: although the Chinese market offers huge opportunities for agricultural exports, it is unlikely to be a viable alternative for South African vehicles and industrial goods.

May 11, 2026
China ranks third in global index for AI competitiveness in life sciences
Innovation

China ranks third in global index for AI competitiveness in life sciences

China listed behind only the US and UK, reflecting the country’s ‘major scale’ in AI, biotechnology and talent, says data consortium The latest edition of the Global AI Competitiveness Index, released on Monday by Deep Knowledge Group, a consortium focused on deep-tech research, analytics and investment, ranked China behind only the US and UK in its country-level listing with a score of 85.3, which reflects “major scale in AI, biotechnology and talent”, followed by Switzerland and Germany. Under the plan, China will push for AI-assisted diagnosis and treatment in its primary-level institutions – hospitals and clinics distributed across localities that mainly provide primary care – by 2030, a goal that would effectively make AI-enabled healthcare available nationwide. Meanwhile, Hong Kong placed third among 20 city-level innovation hubs, behind Boston and San Francisco but ahead of London and New York City. The report said the city’s strengths lie in capital-market access, institutional credibility, governed deployment conditions and its strengthening interface with the Greater Bay Area.

May 11, 2026
Oppo issues renewed apology over Mother’s Day ad controversy, senior China head demoted
Technology

Oppo issues renewed apology over Mother’s Day ad controversy, senior China head demoted

Every Wednesday and Friday, TechNode’s Briefing newsletter delivers a roundup of the most important news in China tech, straight to your inbox. Your support helps TechNode continue to provide credible, on-the-ground journalism and industry insights about the Chinese tech industry. Oppo today issued a fresh apology over a controversial Mother’s Day marketing campaign, saying it deeply regrets the incident and acknowledging failures in both its content approval process and its initial response. In a statement, the company said the ad content and its dismissive handling afterward reflected a serious lack of values and respect. It will overhaul its internal review and approval mechanisms and reinforce alignment with mainstream values. Oppo also confirmed disciplinary measures against multiple executives. The head of its China operations, Duan Yaohui, has been demoted by two levels and will have his salary frozen for 36 months. Several other staff members, including a direct supervisor, a PR director, and project managers, have also been demoted and held accountable.

May 11, 2026
Huawei Pura X Max Sells Out; Collector Edition Outshines Standard Model
Technology

Huawei Pura X Max Sells Out; Collector Edition Outshines Standard Model

Huawei's premium foldable Pura X Max sells out with collector's edition (55%) outselling standard model (45%), a rare countertrend in China's contracting smartphone market where the more expensive variant outperformed despite overall industry weakness.

May 11, 2026
DeepSeek Seeks Up to $7.35B in First-Round Financing, Drawing Tencent, Alibaba, and State Fund Bidding War
Technology

DeepSeek Seeks Up to $7.35B in First-Round Financing, Drawing Tencent, Alibaba, and State Fund Bidding War

DeepSeek seeks up to $7.35B in first-round financing with Tencent, Alibaba, and state funds in a bidding war, while founder Liang Wenfeng insists on keeping DeepSeek independent—a key test case for China's AI startup ecosystem.

May 11, 2026
Inspired by crocodile scales, Chinese armour tech said to deflect projectiles
Industry

Inspired by crocodile scales, Chinese armour tech said to deflect projectiles

Diamond-shaped ceramic tiles arranged at 45-degree angles could be used for body armour, vehicles and armed helicopters, researchers say The team – led by associate research fellow Zhaoxiu Jiang at Ningbo University – based their design on the asymmetric, overlapping scales of crocodile skin, which provide a protective barrier against predators and other crocs. Their research findings were published on March 25 in the peer-reviewed Chinese journal Acta Armamentarii. “The asymmetric structure can indeed cause projectile deflection – that is an experimentally verified result,” Jiang said in an interview. Instead of the conventional hexagonal ceramic tiles common in composite armour, the team built a mosaic of diamond-shaped alumina ceramic units arranged at 45-degree angles, bonded with epoxy resin onto an aluminium alloy backing plate. Ceramic materials were used due to their hardness, high compressive strength and low density.

May 11, 2026
ByteDance boosts AI infrastructure spending by 25% to $28 billion this year
Technology

ByteDance boosts AI infrastructure spending by 25% to $28 billion this year

Every Wednesday and Friday, TechNode’s Briefing newsletter delivers a roundup of the most important news in China tech, straight to your inbox. Your support helps TechNode continue to provide credible, on-the-ground journalism and industry insights about the Chinese tech industry. TikTok parent company ByteDance has increased its planned spending on AI infrastructure by 25% this year, raising the total to RMB 200 billion ($28 billion), as rising memory chip costs continue to push up expenses, according to people familiar with the matter. The company had initially set its AI capital expenditure budget at RMB 160 billion ($22.5 billion) late last year, but has since revised it upward to RMB 200 billion ($28 billion). ByteDance is also planning to allocate a larger share of its investment toward domestically produced AI chips. A source said the budget increase reflects both the company’s deepening commitment to AI and the rising cost of memory chips. [IThome, in Chinese]

May 11, 2026
CATL-Backed SENASIC Passes Hong Kong Hearing, Becomes China’s Largest Auto Wireless SoC Company
Technology

CATL-Backed SENASIC Passes Hong Kong Hearing, Becomes China’s Largest Auto Wireless SoC Company

CATL-backed SENASIC passes Hong Kong hearing, becoming China's largest auto wireless SoC company with CATL's rare three-round consecutive investment signaling major EV battery giants' push into automotive sensing chips.

May 11, 2026
Huawei HDC 2026 Set for June 12–14: HarmonyOS 7 Officially Confirmed
Technology

Huawei HDC 2026 Set for June 12–14: HarmonyOS 7 Officially Confirmed

Huawei's annual developer conference returns June 12–14, with HarmonyOS 7 officially confirmed after months of speculation.

May 11, 2026
Xiaomi YU7 Entry-Level Version Spotted: 73 kWh Battery, 633 km Range
Technology

Xiaomi YU7 Entry-Level Version Spotted: 73 kWh Battery, 633 km Range

Xiaomi's YU7 lineup expands with a new entry-level variant featuring a 73 kWh battery and 633 km range, positioned as the most affordable model in the series.

May 11, 2026