Sorry, you have not enabled Javascript for your internet browser, so some of our website's pages may not render as fully as intended.
Please Click here for easy instructions on how to enable Javascript on your browser or consult your IT support staff for help.

Talking Point

1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9... 45

Goodbye Mr Chips

Why TSMC has become a hot topic amid talk of Sino-US ‘tech war’
May 4, 2018 (WiC 407)

You suspect that the moment of ‘peak oil’ might have passed when Saudi Arabia says it is diversifying away from the fossil fuel. The Saudis are even building the $500 billion Neom city (literally, ‘new future’) which is set to be served ...

Stakes raised in chip ban

Will sanctions on ZTE (and possibly Huawei) trigger a US-China tech war?
Apr 27, 2018 (WiC 406)

Chen Jin made a name for himself 15 years ago with the invention of the Hanxin computer chip, which means “the heart of Han [Chinese]”. The domestic media was ecstatic about his homegrown processor, predicting that it would allow every ...

Off to the races

Could Hainan’s free trade port plan see it outpace Hong Kong as a hub?
Apr 20, 2018 (WiC 405)

For forty years after the 1949 revolution, the island of Hainan was part of Guangdong province for administrative purposes. Its economy was rudimentary, relying on fishing, rubber production and coconuts. The planners didn’t push for much more, ...

The O2O wars intensify

How China’s biggest tech start-ups are gobbling each other up
Apr 13, 2018 (WiC 404)

Unicorns are supposed to be rare beasts. Mythical, in fact. But according to a study in March by an affiliate of the Ministry of Science and Technology and a Beijing consultancy, there are at least 164 unicorns in China. Of course, these are not ...

The Kim Jong-un Express

Say what you like about him but Kim Jong-un certainly has his mercurial moments
Apr 6, 2018 (WiC 403)

Such is his distrust of all things South Korean that even its pop music – or K-pop in everyday parlance – is forbidden. Kim Jong-un’s subjects risk imprisonment if they are caught playing it and Seoul has made a point of blasting K-pop ...

Ruling with an iron fist

Events at the Two Sessions confirm Xi Jinping’s new primacy
Mar 23, 2018 (WiC 402)

In Mandarin the word for the palm of the hand is zhang, which can also denote the action of gripping, while ‘fist’ (or quan) sounds the same as the word for ‘power’. That’s why in official portraits from the Qing ...

Setting the standards

How fears about Huawei scuppered Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm
Mar 16, 2018 (WiC 401)

In the struggle to establish global standards for new technologies the Chinese and the Americans are often on opposing sides. Things were different in the late 1990s when Qualcomm’s founder Irwin Jacobs was trying to commercialise CDMA, a ...

When duty calls

Tariffs shock makes Liu He’s debut trip to Washington a difficult one
Mar 9, 2018 (WiC 400)

Senior politicians in China rarely make public comments about their colleagues, although this etiquette was breached when Xi Jinping met Tom Donilon, Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, in Beijing in 2013. “This is Liu He,” the ...

Losing his cover

Wu Xiaohui to be charged as insurer Anbang is taken under state control
Mar 2, 2018 (WiC 399)

About 20 years ago, amid the bursting of an asset bubble, the Japanese government injected a huge amount of taxpayer money into a slew of troubled banks and brokerages. Some firms were temporarily nationalised. Chiyoda Mutual, the most leveraged ...

Who let the dogs out?

A new lunar new year ushers in the canine zodiac sign
Feb 15, 2018 (WiC 398)

February 16 marks the first day of the Year of the Dog. In Western parlance a ‘dog’ is usually the financial slang for something pretty terrible – think, for instance, of dog deals. In this, our guide to the Year of the Dog, we look at what ...

1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9... 45