Business — 1,827 insights
Chinese memory module makers ramp up production as CXMT DDR5 breakthrough hits market
Business

Chinese memory module makers ramp up production as CXMT DDR5 breakthrough hits market

Founded in 2016, CXMT is widely regarded as China’s only domestic DRAM maker to have achieved mass production Chinese memory module manufacturers are accelerating the release of consumer and enterprise storage products powered by domestic DDR5 chips, as breakthroughs by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), the nation’s leading memory chipmaker, filter through the supply chain. Powev, one of China’s major memory module vendors, recently said its Sinker-branded DDR5 server memories had entered mass production and delivery. The 64GB DDR5-5600 RDIMM product passed testing by multiple major customers and was ready for bulk supply to enterprise clients, channel partners and branded vendors, the firm said. The company also introduced the Sinker DDR5 memory modules, said to fully use domestic components, while other Chinese vendors, including Comay, have released DDR5 products based on CXMT dies for industrial and enterprise applications. In the consumer market, Powev’s Gloway and KingBank DDR5 models based on Chinese made DRAM chips were being sold as early as late 2024, marking one of the first visible signs that domestic DDR5 supply was moving beyond demonstration products and into commercial channels.

Hong Kong tech crimes are dropping. So why is hacking becoming more lucrative?
Business

Hong Kong tech crimes are dropping. So why is hacking becoming more lucrative?

Senior police officer says hacking and ransomware cases can ‘cause serious impact on organisations affected’ The number of reported technology-based crimes in Hong Kong dipped over the past year, but financial losses from hacking more than doubled to HK$62.6 million (US$8 million), prompting police to urge companies to bolster their cybersecurity checks. Carmen Leung Oi-lam, senior superintendent of the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, attributed the surge in money lost, despite the overall drop in technology cases, to several high-value cyberattacks on financial institutions and cryptocurrency platforms. “Even though [hacking and ransomware] cases may seem to only take up 0.3 per cent of all technology crime, each case can cause a serious impact on the organisations affected,” Leung warned. Police recorded 31,571 technology crime cases in 2025, a category covering a range of online crimes such as scams and hacking. The figure represented a 6.9 per cent drop from 33,903 cases in 2024. Among last year’s cases were 52 instances of hacking and 43 reports of ransomware, with reports of both crimes decreasing from 2024.

Hong Kong’s Central office rents set to reverse multi-year slump with gains in second half
Business

Hong Kong’s Central office rents set to reverse multi-year slump with gains in second half

Stronger demand has reduced grade-A vacancy rates in Central to a four-year low of 9.6 per cent Office rents in Hong Kong’s Central district are expected to rise faster in the second quarter of the year, according to analysts, a reversal of a multi-year slump that began in the second half of 2019. The latest forecast was made by US bank Citi, which said premium offices in the city’s main business zone had seen rents rise 1.7 per cent from a trough in October, with room for further increments between the second half this year and 2027. “Lease negotiation dynamics had started to favour landlords since the fourth quarter of 2025 and strengthening into 2026,” Citi property analysts Griffin Chan and Cindy Li said in a report released on Wednesday. The rental improvements would be spurred by broader capital inflows into Hong Kong, capital market activity and overseas expansion of Chinese corporates, they said. Stronger demand has reduced grade-A vacancy rates in Central to a four-year low of 9.6 per cent. Central is not alone in logging gains, with Admiralty absorbing demand outflow from the city’s main business district, while West Kowloon has also seen robust take-ups in rents.

Chinese-American found guilty in New York ‘secret police station’ case
Business

Chinese-American found guilty in New York ‘secret police station’ case

Lu ‘Harry’ Jianwang convicted of acting as an unauthorised Chinese agent and obstruction of justice in closely watched trial On the three charges Lu faced in the US Eastern District Court of New York, he was found guilty of acting as an unauthorised agent of China and of obstruction of justice but not guilty of conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. “We’re obviously disappointed by the verdict,” said John Carman, Lu’s lawyer, standing beside Lu outside the courthouse. “Harry’s motives were pure.” Lu was accused of using the fourth floor America Changle Association office, located in a building in Manhattan’s Chinatown, to establish an overseas Chinese police station that performed ordinary administrative tasks but also monitored and harassed overseas Chinese. The association is a prominent Fujianese-American community group.

‘Transactional’ but pivotal: how Xi-Trump talks could redefine US-China fault lines
Business

‘Transactional’ but pivotal: how Xi-Trump talks could redefine US-China fault lines

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the latest instalment of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we look at the likely outcomes from Trump’s trip. As Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday night for the first US presidential visit in nearly a...

Why stability must come before denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula
Business

Why stability must come before denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula

North Korea’s nuclear reality and the overlapping interests of the US, China and Russia make tension reduction a prerequisite From Pyongyang’s perspective, these moves are meant not only to gauge how far US military pressure could one day extend, but also to signal that North Korea’s deterrent is fundamentally different from anything Iran ever had. Comparisons between North Korea and Iran have important limits. Geopolitically and militarily, the Korean peninsula presents a vastly different environment. Applying military pressure to a nuclear-armed North Korea would be far riskier and less predictable. North Korea is widely believed to possess at least 50 nuclear warheads. That reality puts the peninsula beyond the point where military pressure alone can produce manageable outcomes. An Iran-style model is therefore unlikely to provide a workable solution for North Korea. Military options pursued in the Middle East cannot simply be replicated on the Korean peninsula, where different security dynamics could produce far more dangerous consequences. More importantly, the peninsula has long been governed by an informal logic of escalation control.

10 Hong Kong students hurt as self-heating hotpot pack explodes in classroom
Business

10 Hong Kong students hurt as self-heating hotpot pack explodes in classroom

Police received report from St Paul’s Co-educational College that self-heating hotpot pack exploded after being improperly heated Ten students from an elite secondary school in Hong Kong were injured or experienced ringing in their ears after a self-heating hotpot pack exploded in a classroom on Wednesday. A police spokesman said officers received a report from St Paul’s Co-educational College in Mid-Levels at 3.29pm, that a self-heating hotpot pack had exploded after being improperly heated. A source said a 15-year-old boy was preparing the hotpot pack at about 1pm when he poured hot water onto it and it exploded. Six boys and four girls, aged between 15 and 16, were taken to hospital. Two students – the 15-year-old boy, who reported burns to his left wrist and chest, and a 15-year-old girl who complained of eye discomfort – were sent to Queen Mary Hospital. The other eight students – three girls and five boys who reported tinnitus, commonly described as a ringing in the ears – were sent to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai, according to the source.

Owners push back as Wang Fuk Court administrator seeks to delay crucial meeting
Business

Owners push back as Wang Fuk Court administrator seeks to delay crucial meeting

Residents call for extraordinary general meeting to be held ahead of deadline on decision about whether to sell flats The government-appointed administrator of Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court has sought to delay an owners’ meeting, prompting calls from residents to hold it before the end of June to address concerns ahead of a decision on whether to sell their flats. The move by Hop On Management Company came after more than 240 owners, representing over 12 per cent of households at the estate in Tai Po, petitioned the administrator in late April to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM), warning they might seek legal action if the request was ignored. Hop On announced on Wednesday that it would apply to the Lands Tribunal to delay the EGM for residents. “Based on the unique circumstances of Wang Fuk Court, there might not be enough time for Hop On to complete the preparatory work,” it said in a statement. The administrator was appointed following the dissolution of the management committee of the owners’ corporation for the estate in the aftermath of last November’s fire. The inferno killed 168 people and left nearly 5,000 others displaced.

What does Pentagon chief Hegseth’s presence in China say about Trump’s military agenda?
Business

What does Pentagon chief Hegseth’s presence in China say about Trump’s military agenda?

US arms sales to Taiwan, nuclear weapons and military-to-military communication will be among topics discussed, experts say The summit might include discussion of nuclear weapons and restoring and expanding military-to-military communication channels, they said. Zhu Feng, dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing University, said Hegseth’s participation was likely to advance bilateral military communication mechanisms and crisis management. Since Hegseth was taking part, Zhu said China would “at the least” bring in Dong, its minister of national defence, to the summit.

EU won’t ban LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ but will push states to act
Business

EU won’t ban LGBTQ ‘conversion therapy’ but will push states to act

So-called conversion “therapies” involve methods that seek to change the sexual orientation or gender identity or expression of members of gay, lesbian, queer and trans people. The EU stopped short of heeding a call by over a million people, who signed a petition last May calling on the 27-country bloc to prohibit such methods. Conversion practices “have no place in our union”, said Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, which flew the LGBTQ flag outside its headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday. Instead, the EU executive said it would issue a recommendation next year for member states to adopt national-level bans.

Ex-HKUST professor admits taking HK$40,000 to secure student’s admission
Business

Ex-HKUST professor admits taking HK$40,000 to secure student’s admission

Liu Hongbin, 63, abused authority to help automotive engineering student secure admission into master’s programme in environmental health and safety A Hong Kong court has remanded a former university professor in custody pending sentencing for accepting a HK$40,000 (US$5,109) bribe and offering red packets to two colleagues to help a student gain admission to a postgraduate programme last year. Kwun Tong Court heard on Wednesday that Liu Hongbin, 63, abused his authority as chair professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s (HKUST) department of ocean science to help a mainland Chinese student majoring in automotive service engineering secure admission into the master’s degree programme in environmental health and safety between March and May 2025. As the programme director at the time, Liu was responsible for reviewing applications and interviewing candidates to determine their eligibility for the 2025-26 academic year. He was asked by a friend, insurance agent Priscilla Lam Pui-ling, to help Lin Zhengxi, a final-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a Shenzhen university. Lam, 60, reportedly informed Liu that “people connected to Lin” could pay “a few tens of thousands of dollars” in return.

France locks down 1,700 on cruise ship after 90-year-old dies
Business

France locks down 1,700 on cruise ship after 90-year-old dies

Food poisoning had not been excluded, and health officials say there is no connection with the hantavirus outbreak French authorities on Wednesday confined more than 1,700 passengers and crew on a British cruise ship docked in Bordeaux after an elderly passenger died, said officials, who played down any links to the hantavirus scare. Dozens also suffered from upset stomachs aboard the Ambition – most of whose 1,233 passengers are from Britain or Ireland – which arrived in the western port of Bordeaux on Tuesday, with 514 Indian crew members also on board. But health officials said there was no connection with the hantavirus outbreak, suspected of killing three passengers on the Dutch MV Hondius cruise ship that set sail from Argentina. One 90-year-old passenger on the Ambition, run by the Ambassador Cruise Line company, had died and about 50 people have shown symptoms of stomach issues, the officials said. Initial tests ruled out an outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious form of gastroenteritis which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, but secondary tests were still underway, they added. Passengers on board the Ambition showed peak symptoms on Monday when the ship was docked in Brest, the officials said.