Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey resigned on Monday as the social media network’s CEO, after surviving an activist investor’s bid to oust him in 2020 and steering the firm during the tumult of Donald Trump’s presidency.Dorsey – who also is chief executive of payments company Square – confronted during his tenure thorny freedom of speech issues, ways to make the platform profitable and pressure he had spread himself too thin.With his recognisable look – shaved head and long beard, and his atypical…

China has been forced to make a course correction in its drive for semiconductor self-reliance, focusing instead on boosting production of mature technologies while putting the goal of catching up with the world’s most advanced chip makers on the back burner, according to analysts and industry insiders.The shift offers a cautionary tale on Beijing’s quest to cut its reliance on American technologies. Despite strong political will from President Xi Jinping, generous financial support from the…

WeChat, the super app run by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, said on Monday it will allow more links and content from third-parties to open directly within user chats, in response to Beijing’s push for interoperability among China’s Big Tech companies and after a recent ban on app upgrades by the company.In one-to-one chats, external links can be opened directly, WeChat said.Users will also be able to open shopping links shared from external platforms in WeChat’s group chats “on the…

Two Chinese internet companies are set to raise close to US$1 billion between them in Hong Kong initial public offerings.Microblogging platform Weibo, and NetEase-backed music streaming site Cloud Village are racing to complete their fundraising ahead of the long year-end holiday.Weibo, often dubbed the Twitter of China, is selling 11 million shares at a maximum price of HK$388 each (US$49.75), which could help it raise up to US$547.3 million ahead of what would be its secondary listing on Hong…

China has fined Tenpay, an online-payment unit of Tencent Holdings, 2.8 million yuan (US$438,000) for violating foreign exchange rules amid growing regulatory scrutiny of the nation’s fintech industry.The unit received warnings last week and was also ordered to rectify its failure to submit relevant materials and for carrying out foreign exchange business beyond the scope of its business registration, according to a statement published by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE)…

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is building its first electric vehicle factory in the outskirts of Beijing, according to a local government announcement, marking an important step for the firm as it vies for a slice of China’s booming EV market.The Beijing-based company inked a deal on Saturday with the committee of the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area to land its car project in Yizhuang, a suburb southeast of the Chinese capital, the local government said in a WeChat post…

The Shanghai Data Exchange opened for business on Thursday, marking China’s latest attempt to build a vast market for data – dubbed the new oil of the digital economy – which can be sorted, priced and traded like regular commodities.The new exchange, which started trading on Thursday, initially offered 20 data products, including flight information from China Eastern Airlines, and various data from telecommunications network operators China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.One of the…