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<a href="/company/alibaba">Alibaba’s</a> March 2025 quarter results suggest a company determined to prove its transformation is more than just rhetoric. Revenue rose 7% year-on-year (YoY) to RMB 236.5 billion (USD 33.1 billion), while adjusted EBITA surged 36% to RMB 32.6 billion (USD 4.6 billion). These gains stemmed from both top-line growth and tighter cost control, including a steep decline in share-based compensation expenses that lifted operating margins.
But market reception was tepid. Alibaba’s US-listed shares slid 7.6% on the day of the announcement, weighed down in part by a miss on EPS (earnings per share). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS came in at RMB 12.52 (USD 1.8), shy of  consensus expectations. For Alibaba, which is trying to reset investor expectations around long-term value creation, the shortfall served as a reminder that the path to regaining Wall Street’s confidence is still under construction.
Alibaba’s clearest growth story came from its cloud unit. Revenue here rose 18% to RMB 30.1 billion (USD 4.2 billion), with artificial intelligence-related products posting triple-digit growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. The launch of Qwen3, a suite of open-source and hybrid reasoning AI models, highlights a bid to win both technical credibility and broad developer adoption amid intensifying competition from the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Tencent.
Closer to home, the Taobao and Tmall businesses continued to provide ballast. Customer management revenue climbed 12% YoY to RMB 71.1 billion (USD 10 billion), helped by improved take rates and tools like Quanzhantui that use AI to help merchants target users more effectively. Alibaba’s 88VIP program grew at a double-digit rate, surpassing 50 million members.
This core commerce unit also delivered an 8% EBITA increase, despite heavier investment in customer service and AI-powered product upgrades. It's a sign that Alibaba still has pricing power and user stickiness in China’s competitive retail market.
Globally, the picture is more mixed. Alibaba’s international e-commerce arm grew 22%, driven by stronger cross-border sales through AliExpress and Trendyol. Segment losses narrowed, helped by improved monetization and better operating efficiency at Lazada, but the unit remains unprofitable. In logistics, revenue at Cainiao fell 12%, largely due to increased internal integration of services. Meanwhile, digital media turned a corner: Youku, Alibaba’s streaming platform, swung to profitability on the back of better ad sales and film earnings.
Alibaba also leaned on financial levers to reinforce its narrative. The company bought back USD 11.9 billion worth of shares during fiscal year 2025, achieving a 5.1% net reduction in outstanding shares. It’s also paying out USD 4.6 billion in dividends, including a one-time distribution from recent asset sales. These moves signal discipline and a willingness to return capital to investors amid ongoing uncertainty.
Overall, Alibaba’s March quarter offers signs of stabilization and ambition. Core earnings are up, its cloud and AI business is gathering traction, and losses in international commerce appear to be narrowing. But the EPS miss, coupled with uneven performance in segments like logistics, suggests Alibaba still has ground to cover.
The company’s next phase will depend on execution. Turning AI-fueled cloud growth into dependable profits, and clarifying the path ahead for its overseas operations, will be critical. For now, Alibaba has made its case. It’s what comes next that counts.

Cloud and AI gains boost Alibaba’s profit, but EPS misses

Taobao

Tmall

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Alibaba Cloud

East Asia

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Hardly a household name, 4Paradigm doesn’t come across as a company chasing hype. Yet its numbers are clean, its strategy focused, and its software is already quietly running inside banks, airports, power grids, and telecom control centers across China.
Don’t let the low profile fool you: 4Paradigm is a company aiming for the long arc of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Its plan? Build it from the ground up, starting with enterprise deployments that actually work.
In the first quarter of 2025, the Beijing-based company reported revenue of RMB 1.08 billion (USD 151.2 million), up 30.1% from the previous year. Most of that came from its core product, the 4ParadigmSage platform, which brought in RMB 805 million (USD 112.7 million), nearly three-quarters of total revenue and 60.5% higher year-on-year (YoY). That kind of growth is rare for <a href="/industry/ai">artificial intelligence</a> infrastructure firms, especially those pushing a heavy tech stack.
At the heart of 4Paradigm’s strategy is a framework that pairs AI agents with what it calls “vertical world models.” The idea is to move beyond monolithic AI models and one-off use cases. Instead, the company is developing intelligent agents—software entities designed to interpret goals, plan actions, and adapt to real-time conditions—that can interface with domain-specific models trained on enterprise operational data.
Each “world model” can be thought of as a dynamic simulation layer for a business vertical, such as manufacturing, retail, energy, or aviation. These models reflect the physical and logical constraints of their respective environments, continuously updated through streams of multimodal data. Layered on top are AI agents that navigate, interpret, and act within those simulated spaces.
That stack has started to yield real deployments. In Q1, Fourth Paradigm cited enterprise use cases like:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Retail store agents that manage floor operations and inventory logistics.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Bank account manager agents that automate financial advisory and client engagement.</li>
<li aria-level="1">3D aircraft design agents that interface with engineering tools to accelerate modeling and iteration.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Port supply chain agents that orchestrate dock scheduling and cargo handling.</li>
</ul>
These aren’t prototypes, the company says, but workflows that are already embedded into enterprise systems.
To support these applications, the 4ParadigmSage platform is evolving into a robust middleware layer. According to the company, it now offers integration with more than 150 large language models (LLMs) via a centralized hub, alongside agent frameworks, development pipelines, and vertical-specific toolkits.
What stands out underneath all this is infrastructure. This quarter, 4Paradigm launched SageOne IA, an all-in-one compute platform built around software-defined GPU pooling. By decoupling compute allocation from physical hardware, the system reportedly lifts GPU utilization above 30%, with major improvements in multitasking throughput and inference speed.
These efficiencies matter. AI agent systems are notoriously compute-hungry, especially when handling real-time data. To address that, the company introduced a “model autoscaling” feature that switches between full and distilled versions of a model based on load, eliminating the need for additional computing nodes. That cuts resource use without compromising performance.
Still, not every part of the business is scaling. Revenue from its “SHIFT” intelligent solutions unit, which delivers end-to-end applications, fell nearly 15% YoY. The “AIGS services” division, which focuses on developer tools, declined 22%. But management has reframed both as strategic extensions of the platform business, designed to accelerate client onboarding and feed product development instead of acting as standalone revenue drivers.
The most sweeping move came at the organizational level. 4Paradigm has restructured under a new parent, Paradigm Group, signaling a broader AGI ambition. Alongside its legacy enterprise arm, Paradigm now includes Phancy, a consumer-facing unit focused on edge AI hardware. Its aim: enable OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to embed AI agent modules into devices like phones, appliances, and wearables, delivering context-aware, task-driven interactions directly at the edge.
That puts Paradigm in rare territory. Few Chinese AI firms are developing both deep vertical enterprise AI and AGI-aligned consumer hardware simultaneously. While Baidu, Alibaba, and Huawei are rolling out LLM services, Paradigm is threading those models into operational, agentic workflows.
whereRelatedArticle
But questions remain. Can the company’s unique model stack scale fast enough across sectors? Will enterprise clients allow such deep integration into their core systems? And as it steps into edge computing, can it maintain the infrastructure advantage it claims?
The upside, if it works, could be significant. A system that replicates human decision-making could form the scaffolding of AGI. At that point, 4Paradigm may not just be offering “solutions,” but rather a piece of foundational architecture for intelligent enterprise systems of the future.
And unlike peers who may still be chasing benchmarks or user engagement, this company is doing it one customer, one vertical, and one agent at a time.

4Paradigm eyes AGI with 30% revenue growth, new compute stack

By all appearances, <a href="/company/jd">JD.com</a> kicked off 2025 with a financial win. Its Q1 revenue jumped nearly 16% year-on-year (YoY) to RMB 301.1 billion (USD 41.5 billion), while net income surged 52.7% to RMB 10.9 billion (USD 1.5 billion). But the bigger story lies in where JD is heading, not just what it’s earning.
In February, the e-commerce giant <a href="https://kr-asia.com/jd-com-steps-into-food-delivery-but-meituan-isnt-flinching-yet">ventured into food delivery</a>, boldly aiming to carve out space in China’s fiercely competitive on-demand meal market. While the move pits it against entrenched players like <a href="/company/meituan">Meituan</a> and <a href="/company/ele-me">Ele.me</a>, it also follows in the footsteps of other tech giants like <a href="/company/douyin">Douyin</a> and <a href="/company/xiaohongshu">Xiaohongshu</a>, both of which previously explored lifestyle services with <a href="https://kr-asia.com/low-commission-no-deposit-xiaohongshu-dives-into-fb-group-buying">mixed results</a>.
By comparison, JD’s current push appears more coordinated. According to internal accounts, JD Daojia, the company’s local services arm, reached out to restaurant operators in late 2024 with a clear message: food delivery is now a strategic focus, backed by founder Richard Liu himself.
<h3>Robust logistics and infrastructure</h3>
“JD has the right strength, culture, and advantage to address such opportunities,” the company wrote in its latest earnings report, pointing to its extensive fulfillment network and promise to stick to fair pricing with its self-imposed “35-cents” principle that insists on only reasonable margins.
JD isn’t building this from scratch. The delivery initiative taps directly into its existing infrastructure, from warehouses that store perishables to a last-mile network honed by years of e-commerce growth. Executives say this logistics backbone enables “synergetic effects” across JD’s business, from local product sourcing to user engagement and retention.
That’s critical because competition in the food delivery space hinges on speed, reliability, and price, which are all areas where JD can lean on its operational playbook. The platform’s motto of “better and cheaper” may resonate especially well in a market where customers are increasingly value-sensitive and merchants are looking for lower commission rates.
The broader supply chain upgrade is bearing fruit across JD’s segments. JD Retail saw its operating margin rise to 4.9% from 4.1% YoY, signaling improved efficiency and stronger cost management. Meanwhile, JD Logistics, while posting a lower margin of 0.3%, continued its international push with new cargo routes to Southeast Asia and additional warehouses in Europe, signaling its ambition to challenge global players.
<h3>A new battleground</h3>
Food delivery, like all platform businesses, relies on two key factors: merchants and consumers. But unlike e-commerce or group buying, it also hinges on fulfillment capabilities, an area where JD.com has a critical advantage. As of 2023, Dada Nexus, JD’s logistics affiliate, had 1.2 million active delivery riders, significantly fewer than Meituan’s 7.45 million. Nonetheless, JD’s infrastructure is capable of supporting high-frequency orders, which helps achieve economies of scale and maintain operational viability.
Another element working in JD’s favor: its people. The company now directly or indirectly employs around 700,000 personnel and is the first platform in China to offer full social insurance and housing fund coverage for its full-time delivery riders. Part-time riders also reportedly receive accident and health coverage. It’s a forward-looking labor policy that could help JD attract and retain a dependable, motivated delivery workforce. This constitutes an often-overlooked but critical component of service quality in the food delivery space.
Meanwhile, JD’s Q1 2025 report shows that user sentiment is trending upward. CEO Sandy Xu cited strong user growth as a sign of trust and mindshare, two intangible assets that matter just as much as logistics precision when customers are choosing where to order lunch.
Merchant response was swift. When JD announced its zero-commission policy in February, service providers and internal teams scrambled to onboard restaurants. Some teams even recruited hundreds of street-level sales reps within days. In many cities, the rollout took on the intensity of a land grab, mirroring earlier platform expansions by Meituan and Ele.me.
But such rapid expansion also led to onboarding issues. JD’s merchant backend was adapted from its grocery interface, requiring dish listings to include weight measurements and standardized categories—ill-suited for restaurant operations. Some merchants expressed confusion, while others reported receiving little post-onboarding support from service providers.
There’s also strategic coherence in JD’s launch timing. In parallel to its food delivery push, the company is rolling out a RMB 200 billion (USD 28 billion) export-to-domestic sales program aimed at bringing high-quality, cost-effective goods meant for overseas markets into Chinese homes. In essence, JD is turning border fluidity into a customer value proposition, whether that’s with imported cosmetics, smartwatches, or now, hot meals delivered in under 30 minutes.
Still, success is far from guaranteed. JD is stepping into a saturated market where rivals have long embedded themselves into daily consumer behavior. Meituan, for instance, delivers over 40 million meals per day and offers a comprehensive ecosystem that JD will be hard-pressed to replicate quickly.
Yet JD’s leadership is betting on integration, not imitation. Its food delivery service is unlikely to be a one-off project. Rather, it’s seemingly an anchor for a more fluid, omnichannel model of commerce. From health services powered by artificial intelligence to hyperlocal fulfillment initiatives, the company’s strategy centers on capturing everyday transactions that blend online ease with offline immediacy.
Taken together, these moves suggest JD sees a future where the boundaries between e-commerce, logistics, and services are increasingly blurred. In this model, delivering a hot meal is just another extension of the same system that’s already dropping off smartphones, diapers, and detergent.
If JD can continue scaling its logistics advantage while managing competitive pressure, it could move from late entrant to key player, redefining what leadership looks like in China’s omnichannel market.

JD.com sees surge in Q1, eyes food delivery as next big bet

JD.com

On-demand Services

… href="https://oymotion.com/en/indexen">OYMotion</a>, a developer of “non-invasive brain computer interfaces,” has raised nearly RMB 100 million (USD 14 million) in a Series B++ funding round. The round was backed by Infinity Group, Zhejiang Development Asset Management, and Womeida Capital. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate R&amp;D in dexterous hand technology, bring new products to market, expand production capacity, and scale operations. This follows a similarly sized Series B+ round completed earlier this year. —<a href="https://36kr.com/p/3289274517808006">36Kr</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.x2robot.com/">X Square Robot</a>, an embodied intelligence company, has secured a nine-figure RMB sum in a Series A funding round. Meituan led the round, with follow-on investment from its DragonBall Capital investment subsidiary. The funds will support development of AI models and robotic systems, along with application rollout across real-world scenarios. —<a href="https://36kr.com/p/3287546387669897">36Kr</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.ubix.cn/">Ubix</a>, a distributed storage solutions provider, has raised an eight-figure RMB sum in a pre-Series A+ funding round. Xinfang Capital led the investment, with participation from Liwan Industrial Investment. Hongbo Investment Management acted as the financial advisor. The funding will support product upgrades, system integrations, and sales expansion. —<a href="https://36kr.com/p/3282276166951813">36Kr</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.baiyiyuan.com/">Baiyiyuan Biotech</a>, a regenerative medicine company, has received an eight-figure RMB investment from China Medical System, which also enters a partnership with the startup. Baiyiyuan develops extracellular matrix (ECM) biomaterials for tissue repair and cosmetic regeneration. The capital will go toward product R&amp;D, market development, and production line enhancements. —<a href="https://36kr.com/p/3263534593621765">36Kr</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://inair.cn/">INAIR</a>, a smart device maker, has raised an eight-figure RMB sum in a Series A round of financing. The round was led by Weihai Industrial Investment Group, with continued support from Verity Ventures. —<a href="https://36kr.com/p/3283845806367623">36Kr</a></li>
<li aria-level="1">Hymaster, a provider of hydrogen liquefaction and cryogenic systems, has completed a pre-Series A+ funding round led by Roton Capital, netting an eight-figure RMB sum. Orient Jiafu Asset Management and Suzhou Chinese Consortium Holding also participated. Six Sigma Capital acted as the financial advisor. The capital will fund R&amp;D of cryogenic core components, prototype manufacturing, and team expansion. —<a href="https://36kr.com/p/3283767885816713">36Kr</a></li>
</ul>
whereRelatedArticle
<h3>Arysun, Nuevocor, ULS Robotics, and more made recent headlines:</h3>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Arysun, a Singapore-based climate tech startup, secured USD 575,000 in pre-seed funding to broaden access to rooftop solar solutions for Southeast Asian households. The round was led by Wavemaker Impact, with participation from the First Move Fund.</li>
<li aria-level="1">Nuevocor, a biotech firm focused on treating cardiomyopathies through mechanobiology, raised USD 45 million in a Series B funding round co-led by Kurma Partners and Angelini Ventures. The round also saw continued support from EDBI, ClavystBio, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Highlight Capital, and Seeds Capital.</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="http://ulsrobotics.com/en/">ULS Robotics</a>, an exoskeleton technology platform, raised an eight-figure RMB sum in a Series B round led by BeFor Capital, with follow-on investment from Guoyi Capital.</li>
</ul>
If there are any news or updates you'd like us to feature, get in touch with us at: <a href="mailto:hello@kr-asia.com">hello@kr-asia.com</a>.
<h3>
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</h3>

Deals in brief: Granite Asia leads investment in VFlowTech, Alterno and BrioHR raise funding, latest China deals, and more

Venture Capital

Private Equity

Investment

Merger &amp; Acquisition

Singapore

Thailand

Vietnam

South Korea

Central Asia

Southeast Asia

How do families stay connected to aging loved ones from afar? For Ding Yuguo, co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.qingleitech.com/">Tsingray Technology</a>, the question hits close to home. His company develops radar-based health monitoring systems that aim to make eldercare safer, smarter, and less intrusive—solutions born from his own experience with long-distance caregiving.
“Every morning at 9 a.m, I receive a sleep report for my parents,” Ding told attendees at an eldercare innovation forum in Chongqing. “It includes heart rate, breathing, and sleep quality data from the night before. I call it cloud-based filial piety,” he added.
Ding lives in Beijing. His parents are in Jiangsu. Like many middle-aged Chinese adults, he sees them infrequently. “Sometimes the data shows high heart rate and shallow sleep at 3 or 4 a.m,” he said. “I’ll call to ask if my father drank too much. He gets annoyed and threatens to turn off the system, but I think that’s the warmth of real life.”
The roots of Tsingray stretch back to 2019, when Ding and professor Li Gang of Tsinghua University launched the company. Their focus: millimeter-wave radar, a sensing technology that detects chest and heart micro-movements, enabling respiration and vital sign tracking without the need for wearables or cameras. The radar can scan through clothing and bedding, making it a fit for sleep monitoring. “It’s physical, not visual, so it doesn’t invade privacy,” Ding said. “It works silently in the background.”
The system’s precision has reached millimeter-level accuracy and was deployed in the Beijing Olympic Village in 2021 to track sleep and stress. Clinical comparisons have matched its performance to hospital-grade electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors. According to the company, Tsingray’s radar system was the first in China used for medical-grade vital sign monitoring.
What sets Tsingray apart from consumer sleep gadgets is its focus on clinical applications. Its devices are reportedly installed in more than 100 hospitals and over 600 eldercare facilities in China. The product suite includes in-hospital systems for monitoring sleep and cardiopulmonary function, home care tools for tracking chronic illness, and fall detection radars that can issue warnings based on posture before a fall occurs. The systems run continuously, requiring no contact or user input.
<figure id="attachment_153354" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153354" style="width: 480px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-153354" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tsingray-Technology-Deployment.jpg" alt="Photo of an eldercare facility with Tsingray Technology’s devices deployed, marked by red circles." width="480" height="320" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tsingray-Technology-Deployment.jpg 1080w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tsingray-Technology-Deployment-720x480.jpg 720w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tsingray-Technology-Deployment-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Tsingray-Technology-Deployment-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153354" class="wp-caption-text">Photo of an eldercare facility with Tsingray Technology’s devices deployed, marked by red circles. Image and header photo source: Tsingray Technology.</figcaption></figure>
Tsingray’s model functions like a triumvirate. It begins with edge intelligence, using radar sensors in beds or rooms to capture real-time metrics such as breathing, heart rate, and movement. Next is cloud intelligence, where algorithms build baseline models from one to two weeks of data and flag any deviations. Finally, application intelligence pushes alerts and guidance to caregivers, facility staff, or family members. The aim is to create a digital health profile for each person—a kind of shadow caregiver attuned to changes that are otherwise imperceptible.
The company has reported more than 200 instances of early risk detection and at least 100 confirmed interventions, including alerts ahead of cardiac events, strokes, post-Covid-19 complications, and mental health crises.
In eldercare facilities, Tsingray’s system is being used to optimize nighttime operations. It can identify abnormal signs or bed exits automatically, eliminating the need for patients to press emergency buttons. Staff can then focus on high-risk individuals, cutting down on the number of routine checks. Daily reports surface individuals whose data deviates most from their baseline, helping staff use limited resources more efficiently.
Tsingray’s technology has been added to procurement catalogs published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and civil affairs departments in Beijing and Shanghai. This formal recognition has helped speed up adoption in public eldercare services.
Tsingray is now refining its predictive algorithms and broadening its footprint to include community clinics and rehabilitation centers. “The more people use it, the better it gets. And the better it gets, the more people will use it,” Ding said.
Ultimately, his vision is to build a data-powered eldercare ecosystem, one that safeguards both the safety and dignity of aging individuals, without sacrificing comfort or privacy.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3020639772468744">article</a> was written by Linker (alias) for 36Kr.

How radar sensors—and a son’s worry—sparked a smarter eldercare system

Health Tech

President Donald Trump's sky-high tariffs on China have prompted many US importers to halt sourcing from the world's factory floor, causing disruptions in global shipping not seen since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Facing a 145% levy on most imports from China, many US companies have paused or canceled orders. In turn, global shipping companies are sailing between Chinese and US ports much less.
At the Port of Los Angeles, one of the busiest US ports handling containerized goods from China, executive director Gene Seroka on April 24 predicted a 35% plunge in import volumes over the coming two weeks as "essentially all shipments out of China for major retailers and manufacturers have ceased."
Container bookings from China to the US fell by 44% on the year in the week of April 14, according to shipping tracker Vizion, after Trump's April 2 "reciprocal" tariff announcement pushed the rival superpowers into a cycle of retaliation against each other. A gauge of container freight costs departing from Chinese ports dropped to the lowest level since January 2024.
Worldwide, container shippers skipped at least 80 planned sailings in April. That exceeds the 51 that were scrapped in March 2020, when Covid-19 lockdowns ensnarled global supply chains, data from Sea-Intelligence shows.
"Customers right now are very much in a 'wait-and-see' mode," said Christian Roeloffs, CEO at Container xChange, a Hamburg-based container operator.
Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm, warned in a note last week, "The consequence will be empty shelves in US stores in a few weeks and Covid-19-like shortages for consumers and for firms using Chinese products as intermediate goods."
The trade war-induced plunge in goods moving between the two largest economies is already dimming the world's prospects. Global growth is forecast to slow to 2.3% this year, below the 2.5% threshold that often marks a global recession, as manufacturers and investors delay decisions due to highly uncertain trade policy, according to United Nations Trade and Development.
China's factory activity index for April was the <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-s-factory-activity-contracts-in-April-as-new-export-orders-plunge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">weakest in more than a year</a> due to sinking export orders. Many economists expect exports to drag on China's growth from the second quarter.
Executives say the pinch is real.
Patrick Soong, who helps US companies such as Peak Design source goods like backpacks, tripods and toys from Asia, saw most of his clients pause orders in China after Trump's April 2 bombshell.
"The indefinite pause means no activity for manufacturers," said Soong, CEO of Portland, Oregon-based Allitra. "There's not a whole lot of margin typically involved in manufacturing. So when orders stop coming for one month, two months, six months, that's death for them."
Jacob Rothman, co-founder and CEO of Velong Enterprises, which makes kitchen and grilling accessories for retailers around the world including Walmart, said he has been losing sleep. He fears "Americans won't get goods" due to the high levies and that, in effect, "Trump canceled Christmas."
"Every day, our ability to execute orders is compounded by the need to balance cash flow, which means potentially laying off workers in China," said Rothman, who owns a factory in the southern Chinese city of Yangjiang as well as production sites in Cambodia and India. "I have this Faustian bargain between protecting my customers and my workers."
There are some signs that Beijing and Washington may be seeking to ease tensions. The US granted tariff exemptions on consumer electronics such as smartphones and computers from China, while Beijing is mulling excluding <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-war/China-weighs-excluding-some-US-products-from-trade-war-tariffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some US goods</a> such as chemicals and semiconductors from its 125% import levies.
Nevertheless, analysts predict negotiations will drag on, clouding the shipping outlook.
For eastbound trans-Pacific sailings alone, London maritime consultancy Drewry predicted that the number of cancellations rose to 65 during the three weeks from mid-April. The firm said that "uncertainty remains high, leading to a drop in export bookings from China and a surge in blank sailings."
Meanwhile, ZIM Integrated Shipping has suspended its shipping service between China and Los Angeles, launched less than a year ago, due to a lack of Chinese exports.
Hefty <a title="" href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-war/Trump-administration-unveils-phased-fees-on-China-built-ships-operators" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fees on China-linked vessels</a> calling at US ports are also set to take effect later this year, producing yet another headwind. And even if there is a sudden bargain between Washington and Beijing, the global shipping sector would be in for another round of disruptions, said Container xChange's Roeloffs.
"Major disruptions could happen quickly … almost like if you open a bottle with sparkling water too quickly after shaking it," he said.
Jimmy Ting, president at Great World Express &amp; Customs Service, a freight forwarder and customs broker based in San Francisco, has been busy submitting entries for shipments rushed in before the tariffs took effect. But he expects traffic from China to fall off sharply in the coming weeks.
"I'm very concerned that we'll see a Covid-19-like disruption again," he said, while echoing Roeloff's concern about a sudden influx of goods at US ports if trade normalizes.
Other countries could benefit from the shift away from China but are also at risk of congestion.
Port activity in countries from Vietnam to Mexico has picked up as Chinese exporters and US importers turn to alternative markets, after Trump offered a 90-day tariff reprieve for most other trading partners.
Shipping costs from Vietnam to the west coast of the US surpassed those from China on April 25, as shippers accelerated exports from Southeast Asia countries, according to data tracked by Xenta, an ocean and air freight information provider.
"We are now seeing the shifting global trade patterns caused by the tariffs play out in ocean freight rates," said Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xenta.
This article first appeared on <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-war/Trump-tariffs/Trump-s-China-tariffs-spark-shipping-disruptions-comparable-to-COVID">Nikkei Asia</a>. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with <a href="https://www.kr-asia.com/nikkei-teams-up-with-36kr-in-asia-tech-news-coverage/">Nikkei</a>.

Trump's China tariffs spark shipping disruptions comparable to Covid-19

Logistics

Consumer Economy

… text-heavy study materials. EduToon, developed by team Super4—Rochelle Chong Li Han, Lee Pei Xin, Neo Zi Ning, and Jodie Lim, was built to address that gap by transforming notes into comics and videos.
EduToon uses Qwen to extract content from written material, Wan 2.1 to generate visuals and videos, and AnalyticDB to store and manage the data. From a single input, it can produce both comics and short-form videos to match different learning styles.
The tool is designed for educators and students who benefit from visual formats and want to turn static information into engaging, interactive content.
<figure id="attachment_153445" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-153445" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-153445 size-large" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Alibaba-Cloud-Singapore-AI-Hackathon-2025-Super4-1024x514.png" alt="" width="1024" height="514" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Alibaba-Cloud-Singapore-AI-Hackathon-2025-Super4-1024x514.png 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Alibaba-Cloud-Singapore-AI-Hackathon-2025-Super4-720x361.png 720w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Alibaba-Cloud-Singapore-AI-Hackathon-2025-Super4-768x385.png 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Alibaba-Cloud-Singapore-AI-Hackathon-2025-Super4-1536x771.png 1536w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Alibaba-Cloud-Singapore-AI-Hackathon-2025-Super4.png 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-153445" class="wp-caption-text">Photo of the Super4 team presenting its solution Photo source: Alibaba Cloud.</figcaption></figure>
As part of <a href="https://www.alibabacloud.com/en/developer/global-ai-hackathon-series?_p_lc=1">a global hackathon series</a>, the Singapore AI hackathon brought together developers, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem partners to explore how AI can be applied to real-world challenges. With access to Alibaba Cloud’s AI tools, participants were able to build and test early-stage solutions across various domains.
This article was published in partnership with Alibaba Cloud.

AI in action: Inside the innovations from Alibaba Cloud’s Singapore hackathon

… licenses come in.
Yup holds Indonesia’s highest-tier electronic money license. It took the founding team nearly two years to acquire it, during a period when the Indonesian regulator had effectively paused new issuances since 2020. This license allows Yup to integrate with a QR code payment network spanning over 50 million merchants. The company’s physical card also supports transactions on millions of point-of-sale terminals across Indonesia.
In short, Yup’s product can be used for QR code payments at any Indonesian store. It has also sealed a strategic partnership with Visa, making it the only fintech company in Indonesia with that credential. Yup supports all online transactions in the country, integrated with every e-commerce platform. Its credit card identity ensures seamless compatibility in each of the major digital ecosystems.
By combining credit card transaction models with QR-based e-wallet payments, Yup naturally fits into every corner of Indonesia’s commerce landscape. “No platform rejects credit cards. No platform refuses QR payments. And no scenario excludes e-wallet standards,” Zhang said.
This full coverage of both online and offline transaction scenarios gives Yup a distinct edge in user acquisition. More than 80% of its users come through organic channels. They discover Yup in thousands of Indomaret convenience stores, at over 700 KFC locations, 60 CGV cinemas, hundreds of HokBen ramen shops, and countless family-run corner stores.
Not every team seeking to strike gold in Indonesia can do what Yup has done. “The product design, business models, and structures forged in China’s internet wave—we take these for granted. But here, nobody else knows them,” Guo told 36Kr. In this sense, Yup is disruptive.
Zhang started his career at Accenture, later becoming a VC and serial entrepreneur with a decade of fintech experience in Southeast Asia. Fellow founder Zou Zhili previously led credit card businesses for ANZ in Southeast Asia, and was chief risk officer at BNPL firm Atome. Before joining Yup, CFO Guo was vice president of investment banking at Merrill Lynch, with extensive experience across Asia and the US.
To start a global fintech company here requires living locally, speaking the language, understanding cultural norms, building a team, securing licenses, redesigning products, and implementing workflows. Some Western teams struggle to adapt. Meanwhile, Chinese teams rarely commit long-term, and local teams often lack the know-how. That’s how Yup has found itself with no real competitors—at least for now.
To take root in a market, the deepest moat may not be product or capital. It’s whether you’re earlier and more attuned to where the market is going.
<h3>Southeast Asia’s Nubank?</h3>
For a while now, the media has called Yup “the Nubank of Southeast Asia.” It may be a fair comparison. Like Brazil’s Nubank or Mexico’s Stori, Yup offers credit cards and consumer credit based on financial inclusion. The original inspiration was Capital One in the US, which served underbanked communities nationwide.
Back in early 2016, when Zhang was still an investor, he spent two weeks in Brazil conducting due diligence on Nubank. He was roused by founder David Velez and came away with a new view of how internet products could redefine credit cards. That was the spark for his entrepreneurial journey.
Across global markets, digital banks have reached massive scale: Revolut and Monzo in the UK, N26 in Germany, Chime in the US. These business models have proven themselves in mature economies. Reportedly, Nubank now serves over 30 million credit card users and generates billions in annual revenue, commanding a valuation above USD 50 billion.
But Indonesia, with a comparable population of nearly 300 million, poses a different challenge. Nubank aimed to displace loan sharks and clean up financial corruption. Yup’s challenge is more elemental. It seeks to introduce the very concept of credit to first-time users. Nubank fought legacy banks. Yup is building infrastructure from scratch: defining the rules and bringing users into the game.
That’s a harder job. And it helps explain how Yup has grown its revenue sixfold in less than a year since its Series B funding round in August 2024—because the playing field is still wide open.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3281849589146503">article</a> was written by Ren Qian for 36Kr.

Can Yup become Southeast Asia’s answer to Nubank?

Payments

Lending

Indonesia

… price, Iceland’s global supply chain also clashes with local tastes. While the company emphasizes that its frozen products are premium and sourced internationally, most of its items are Western-style, such as pizzas, desserts, and fried snacks. Chinese consumers, on the other hand, favor dumplings, sticky rice dumplings, and stuffed buns. Unless Iceland adapts its offerings to local tastes and supply chains, it risks becoming a niche option catering primarily to expats and international students.
That said, Iceland appears to be preparing for local adaptation. It has partnered with BTG-WeLink, a unit of Beijing Tourism Group (BTG), to manage its China operations. BTG-WeLink will build a supply chain by integrating BTG’s assets—including heritage Chinese brands like Quanjude and Donglaishun—and working with origin hubs like Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, and Ningbo, Zhejiang to develop locally suited meat and seafood products. Iceland will also continue importing goods from Japan, Spain, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand, but has excluded high-risk markets like the US due to tariffs.
A model worth watching is Aldi. Initially positioned as a boutique supermarket with community dining, Aldi pivoted toward affordability as China’s price-sensitive retail climate emerged. Today, it sources 80% of its products locally in Shanghai and emphasizes private-label items to maintain cost-efficiency and value.
Still, Iceland must wonder, can frozen food win over Chinese consumers who have traditionally preferred fresh options?
Frozen and precooked meals often carry a stigma in China, seen as less fresh or healthy. To combat this perception, Iceland is doubling down on its health claims, pledging that its private-label items contain no artificial coloring, flavoring, preservatives, or MSG. The real challenge isn’t the format, but convincing consumers that frozen doesn’t mean inferior.
Foreign supermarkets like Sam’s Club have already proven that there’s room to succeed in serving frozen goods in China, particularly when global supply chains bring in rare and novel seafood. The pandemic has further shifted consumer habits. According to iiMedia Research, China’s frozen food market is projected to reach RMB 213 billion (USD 30 billion) by 2025, up roughly 10% YoY. Women aged 31–40 with stable incomes and refined tastes are driving much of that growth.
Yet, China still lacks a dominant frozen food supermarket chain. Most retailers relegate frozen items to side aisles rather than making them a core offering. For Iceland, this focus could either carve out a unique competitive niche, or become a limiting factor. The opportunity is as real as the challenge.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <a href="https://36kr.com/p/3260954098990856">article</a> was written by Peng Qian for 36Kr.

Can Iceland crack China’s frozen food market?

Retail

Europe