NYSE delisting China telcos; Is Jack Ma missing?

#China #AlibabaGroup - Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma’s absence from public view in the past two months, including missing the final episode of a TV show on which he was to appear as a judge, has fueled media speculation over his whereabouts amid a Chinese regulatory clampdown on his business empire. (Reuters)

#China #AlibabaGroup - Jack Ma’s net worth has tumbled by almost $11 billion since the end of October as China stepped up scrutiny of his empire and the country’s tech behemoths. (Bloomberg)

#China #AntGroup - Global investors are running from Chinese tech stocks in the wake of the government’s crackdown on Ant Group and Alibaba, two high-flying businesses founded by Ma Yun (Jack Ma) that were once hailed as paragons of China’s new tech elite. (TechCrunch)

#China #funding - Horizon Robotics, a five-year-old unicorn specializing in AI chips for robots and autonomous vehicles, announced Tuesday that it has secured $150 million in funding. The proceeds are the first close of an over $700 million Series C round that Horizon is seeking to raise. (Techcrunch)

#Japan #startups - Japan is the world leader in artificial intelligence, according to a recent study conducted by US-based research firm ESI ThoughtLab. And why wouldn’t it be? The nation has been pushing for AI and machine learning (ML) innovation as part of its “Society 5.0” initiative. (Tech In Asia)

#China #AntGroupIPO - On Nov. 2, China suspended a blockbuster initial public offering of financial technology giant Ant Group Co. two days before its planned debut on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. Ant was on track to rake in about $34.5 billion (about ¥3.6 trillion) with investors already subscribing to the IPO. (Japan Times)

#China #FDI - Last week, China’s state planner expanded the list of industries in which it will seek to encourage foreign investment. China will seek to attract FDI in advanced manufacturing including artificial intelligence, semiconductors and 5G-related technology development. (Reuters)

#Japan #IPOs - SoftBank Group Corp. filed Monday to raise $525 million through a blank-check company, tapping into record investor enthusiasm this year for the listing vehicles. The special purpose acquisition company, SVF Investment Corp., will address sectors like mobile, AI, robotics, cloud technologies and software. (Bloomberg)

#Japan #US #FR - The U.S. unit of SoftBank-backed robotics startup CloudMinds has changed its name to distance itself from the blacklisted China-based firm, two people with knowledge of the matter said, and is selling face-scanning temperature monitors through T-Mobile US. (Reuters)

#Japan #smartcities - Japan’s government is planning to provide ¥250 billion ($2.4bn) in funding to Japanese companies to develop smart city projects in Southeast Asia. The fund will include ¥50bn ($483.5 million) from Japan Oversea Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport & Urban Development (JOIN) and ¥200bn ($1.9bn) from Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). (Pinsent Masons)

#China #US #tradewar - The New York Stock Exchange said it would delist China’s three big state-run telecommunications companies following an executive order from the Trump administration, in a symbolic severing of longstanding ties between the Chinese business world and Wall Street. (New York Times)

#China #US #tradewar - China said on Monday it firmly opposes the United States government’s behaviour of politicising trade issues after the New York Stock Exchange began delisting three Chinese telecom firms that Washington says have military ties. (Reuters)

#China #HongKong #US #tradewar - China’s Big Telcos slumped in Hong Kong trading before a late buying support helped pare losses triggered by the NYSE’s decision to delist their American depositary receipts from later this week. (SCMP)

#China #US #semiconductors - The U.S. is blacklisting Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. along with more than 60 of its peers deemed a threat to national security, depriving them of the American inputs from software to chemicals required to make their products. The key provision of the action against China’s largest chipmaker is a restriction on selling equipment and other items used to fabricate advanced chips, an area U.S. suppliers dominate. (Bloomberg)

#China #EU #Xinjiang #trade - With the European Parliament (EP) passing a resolution on forced labour and the condition of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China’s plans to have investment agreements with the European Union (EU) member states seem to be now under threat. (Devdiscourse)

#China #US #AIrace - With the weaponisation of AI considered inevitable ‘we need to find an appropriate governance path’, China’s ex-foreign affairs vice-minister Fu Ying says Nations ‘need not revert to the kind of brinkmanship’ that saw the US and Soviet Union stockpile nuclear weapons during the Cold War, John Allen, president of the Brookings Institution, says. (SCMP)

Carrington Malin is a UAE-based entrepreneur, marketer and writer who focuses on emerging technologies.