by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Investing, SMEs, World
Beijing : China on Tuesday said it is not threatened by growing American investments in infrastructure and other sectors of the Asian economy.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had announced on Monday that Washington would be investing $113 million in energy, technology and infrastructural initiatives in Asia, to possibly counteract growing Chinese influence in the region.
“It is a good thing that the US and other countries will increase imports to develop infrastructure and connectivity in this region,” Chinese Foreign Affairs spokesperson Geng Shuang was cited as saying by Efe news.
“We(…) will never seek domination in the Indo-Pacific, and we will oppose any country that does that,” Pompeo had said, in a fresh warning to Beijing in the face of growing tensions in the South China Sea, where countries like Vietnam and the Philippines have disputed China’s claim over a number of islands.
“We hope these countries make investments and carry out imports with the aim of increasing the benefits for the well-being of this region,” said Geng, adding that China was willing to work with the US and other countries to ensure economic growth and regional development.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Reports, Emerging Businesses, Finance, Investing, Medium Enterprise, News, Politics
New Delhi : Asian enterprises, especially those in India and China, are fast adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reinvent their business models and perceive AI as a complete disruptive force, a new Forrester research said on Wednesday.
Led by China (from 31 per cent to 61 per cent) and India (from 29 per cent to 69 per cent), the investment and adoption in Asia has jumped significantly between 2016 and 2017.
“Indian systems integrators are also actively participating in AI consortiums such as OpenAI,” the research added.
Government-backed AI is fuelling innovation in existing tech firms, startups and academic communities.
On February 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that with AI, bots and robots, productivity will increase, urging that AI should be “Made in India” and “Made to Work for India”.
In his budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government think-tank Niti Aayog will spearhead a national programme on AI, including research and development.
“Japan, Singapore and South Korea are following closely by expanding their existing technology industry strength in robotics electronics to compete against companies like Intel and NVIDIA,” said the research.
What stands out among Asian enterprises, noted the report, is the heavy focus on strategic, longer-term objectives and high outcomes compared with other regions and global enterprises.
“These firms prioritise industry disruption and new product development higher than other regions and global enterprises,” Forrester said.
Internal investments are driven by the marketing, sales, and customer support areas that are developing cognitive products and engaging with customers through intelligent agents.
Asian enterprises see AI as a complete disruptive force across technology, industry, product, go-to-market, academic, and economic dimensions.
The Chinese growth in the field of AI research has threatened US tech companies.
“Rather than develop incremental technologies, companies like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent are as active in self-driving car tech as Google is in the US, even to the point of pushing the boundaries of Chinese regulations while still testing their technology,” the research emphasised.
Universities are research resources for companies like Huawei, which recently invested $1 million with UC Berkley for research and development in AI.
The South Korean government announced $1 billion in AI funding in 2017 while Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has encouraged AI startups and venture capital infusion.
The national research foundation of Singapore’s government announced a national AI plan, “AI.SG”, to boost the country’s AI capabilities.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
London, (IANS) Stock markets in Asia on Wednesday started with more gains, continuing the positive lead set by the US and Europe.
Wall Street and bourses across Europe have been recovering some of the ground since Britain on June 24 voted to leave the European Union, BBC reported.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was up by 0.7 per cent to 15,436.07 points.
Carmaker Toyota saw an almost 3 per cent rise despite more recalls over faulty airbags.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.4 per cent to 20,243.67 while the mainland benchmark Shanghai Composite was 0.3 per cent higher at 2,918.53.
Across the rest of Asia, stock markets continued to see gains after the tumultuous losses and the uncertainty in the wake of Britain’s referendum on its EU membership.
