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Aspire has launched cross-border payments in Hong Kong powered by Wise, allowing users to transfer funds in more than 40 currencies directly from its …

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Aspire has launched cross-border payments in Hong Kong powered by Wise, allowing users to transfer funds in more than 40 currencies directly from its finance platform. The rollout builds on a partnership that began in Singapore in 2019, supporting payments for startups and SMEs worldwide.

<a href="/company/nvidia">Nvidia</a> has developed location verification software for its GPUs to help prevent smuggling to restricted markets. The optional open-source tool will debut on Blackwell chips, using telemetry data and confidential computing to estimate chip locations while ensuring there is no remote access or “kill switch” function.

<a href="/company/openai">OpenAI</a> warned that its upcoming <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> models could present a “high” cybersecurity risk, with potential to develop zero-day exploits or assist complex cyber intrusions. To mitigate threats, the company said it will strengthen defensive capabilities, launch tiered access for cyberdefense users, and establish a "frontier risk council" for expert oversight.

Chinese hotel chain H World Group plans to add more than 7,000 hotels over the next five years, targeting 20,000 worldwide by 2030. Despite China’s slowing economy, the company is betting on strong domestic travel demand and expanding through low-cost franchising to boost its presence in the budget and midrange segments.

<a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba’s</a> Qwen3-TTS, a speech synthesis model available via the Qwen API, has been updated to support over 49 voice profiles across ten languages and multiple Chinese dialects. The upgraded model is said to deliver more natural prosody, humanlike tone, and superior accuracy, outperforming leading systems in multilingual benchmarks.

<a href="/company/nvidia">Nvidia</a> has refuted reports that Chinese <a href="/industry/ai">AI</a> startup <a href="/company/deepseek">DeepSeek</a> used smuggled Blackwell chips to train one of its upcoming models, saying it has found no verified evidence of such activity. The advanced GPUs are banned from export to China under current US trade rules, heightening scrutiny of Nvidia’s role in the global chip race.

Chinese chipmaker Hygon has canceled its planned merger with top shareholder Sugon, citing changing market conditions and the scale of the transaction. Announced in May, the deal would have been one of China’s largest semiconductor mergers this year. Shares of both companies fell following the announcement.

<a href="/company/gac">GAC</a> will launch its Aion <a href="/industry/ev">EVs</a> in Japan next summer through local agent M Mobility, introducing the Aion UT and Aion V models priced at JPY 3.3 million and JPY 5 million, respectively. The company targets 2,000 orders by 2027 as it expands overseas to offset slowing sales in China.

<a href="/company/tencent">Tencent Cloud</a> has formed a partnership with Czech studio Madfinger Games to enhance network performance for its title <em>Gray Zone Warfare</em>. Using Tencent Cloud’s global application acceleration platform, the partnership has reportedly reduced median latency by up to 62.5% to 60 milliseconds, enhancing gameplay stability and connectivity for players worldwide, particularly in China.

Wondershare has upgraded its video platform Filmora with Google’s Nano Banana Pro for image generation, and Sora 2 and Veo 3.1 for video creation. The update aims to enhance creative precision and speed while equipping users with advanced tools for ideation, storyboarding, and professional video production.

<a href="/company/gac">GAC</a> launched its Aion and Hyptec new energy vehicle series at the Riyadh Motor Show, unveiling the Aion V, Aion ES, and Hyptec HT for the Saudi market. The company also announced enhanced after-sales services and an eight-year warranty, supporting its efforts to localize operations and boost competitiveness across the Middle East.

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Pan joins to lead the development of Meituan’s LongCat app and large model.

Meituan hires top talent Pan Xin as it doubles down on AI

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Aspire expands Wise tie-up to Hong Kong

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Meituan hires top talent Pan Xin as it doubles down on AI

Deals in brief: Airwallex raises Series G funding, Granite Asia completes first close for credit fund, 13 new China investments, and more

Chinese barriers rattle K-pop entertainment agency shares