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Over 9,900 ancient Dunhuang manuscripts are now searchable and readable via a new AI-powered platform launched by the Dunhuang Research Academy and Te…

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Over 9,900 ancient Dunhuang manuscripts are now searchable and readable via a new AI-powered platform launched by the Dunhuang Research Academy and <a href="/company/tencent">Tencent Cloud</a>. The “Digital Library Cave” uses smart indexing, LLMs, and multilingual support to offer summaries, translations, and real-time Q&amp;A, making millennia-old Buddhist and historical texts accessible for the first time.

TPG Angelo Gordon is backing a loan in a new debt package for Elon Musk’s AI firm xAI. Marketed by Morgan Stanley, the financing includes senior notes and floating-rate loans, with commitments due June 17. Proceeds may support the firm’s Memphis data center project.

Douyin has surpassed three million monthly users in Hong Kong, or 40% of the population, marking a 150% increase since 2022. The growth comes as <a href="/company/bytedance">ByteDance</a> prepares to expand the app’s e-commerce tools locally, nearly five years after pulling TikTok from the city over national security concerns.

<a href="/company/xiaohongshu">Xiaohongshu</a>, known internationally as RedNote, hit a USD 26 billion valuation in Q1 2025 secondary trades, up from USD 20 billion, per GSR Ventures filings. The lifestyle-focused social networking app has gained traction as a <a href="/company/tiktok">TikTok</a> alternative and is expected to double profits this year amid IPO speculation and easing tech oversight in China.

<a href="/company/nvidia">Nvidia’s</a> Blackwell chips trained Meta’s Llama 3.1 405B model in 27 minutes using just 2,496 units, per MLCommons benchmarks, more than halving the chip count versus the previous generation. The results reinforce Nvidia’s lead in training massive <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> systems amid rising competition from rivals like AMD and China’s <a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek</a>.

Singapore-based digital wealth firm Syfe has raised USD 80 million in Series C funding, comprising USD 53 million in new equity (Series C2) and USD 27 million secured in August 2024 (Series C1). The round, which follows its acquisition of Australian platform Selfwealth, includes backing from UK family offices and existing investors to support its APAC expansion.

Bolttech, a Singapore-headquartered insurtech firm, has closed its Series C round at USD 147 million, adding Sumitomo Corporation and Iberis Capital to its investor base while reaffirming a USD 2.1 billion valuation. Sumitomo will also launch an embedded insurance joint venture with Bolttech in Asia as the company expands globally.

<a href="/company/catl">CATL</a> repurchased 6.64 million A-shares for RMB 1.55 billion by May 31 under a buyback plan of up to RMB 80 billion. The shares were acquired via centralized bidding on the Shenzhen exchange, priced between RMB 231.50–237.38 per share. The plan aims to support equity incentives and runs through April 2026.

Chinese cloud tech firm Xunlei has completed its RMB 500 million acquisition of Kuanghui, the operator of Hupu. The deal includes an upfront payment of RMB 400 million, with the remainder to be paid in two equal installments over the next two years. The acquisition brings one of China’s top sports media platforms under Xunlei’s umbrella, strengthening its digital entertainment portfolio.

Zhipu AI's COO Zhang Fan will exit by the end of June to start a new venture, joining a string of core team departures as the <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> firm grapples with underwhelming model updates and limited commercial traction. Sources say Zhipu is shifting from enterprise to government clients amid rising costs and mounting pressure from open-source rivals like <a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek</a>.

<a href="/company/huawei">Huawei</a> said its Pangu <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> model outperformed peers like <a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba’s</a> Qwen 2.5 using a new mixture-of-grouped-experts (MoGE) method that improves efficiency and balances workloads on its Ascend chips. Researchers reported top scores on Chinese benchmarks and strong performance in long-context tasks.

Photo of Dhruv Arora, founder and CEO of Syfe.

How does finance become frictionless? Examine digital banking, payment innovation, and lending platforms redefining financial access.

The digital wealth platform is riding fresh capital and new hires as it scales across challenging investor terrain in the Asia Pacific.

With USD 80 million in funding, Syfe sets sights on APAC’s “mass affluent”

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With USD 147 million raised, Bolttech is pushing further toward its goal of embedding insurance into everyday experiences.

Bolttech closes Series C round, adds Sumitomo and Iberis to investor mix

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With USD 80 million in funding, Syfe sets sights on APAC’s “mass affluent”

Bolttech closes Series C round, adds Sumitomo and Iberis to investor mix

ASEAN tilts toward China and Gulf states as Trump tariffs bite