China has tested a rail system that links multiple freight trains through a wireless system rather than physical coupling. On Monday, a test conducted on the Baoshen Railway in Inner Mongolia saw seven freight trains with a combined cargo capacity of 35,000 tonnes – 3½ times the weight of the Eiffel Tower – running together much more closely than would be usually required when they travel as single units. The technology could increase China’s railway freight transport capacity by more than 50 per cent without the need to put down…
Day: December 8, 2025
Hong Kong launches HKEX Tech 100 Index in pivot towards innovation-driven growth
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has launched its first equity index tracking Hong Kong-listed technology companies, underscoring the city’s ongoing shift from a market long dominated by property and finance towards innovation-driven growth. Unveiled on Tuesday, the HKEX Tech 100 Index tracks 100 large-cap and mid-cap companies spanning artificial intelligence, biotech and pharmaceuticals, electric vehicles and smart driving, information technology, internet and robotics, according to the HKEX website. Qualified mainland investors can buy and sell these Hong Kong‑listed stocks through Stock Connect, which links trading in Hong Kong with Shanghai…
Hitting China with tariffs should be ‘last resort’, German foreign minister says
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has warned that Europe must be “extremely cautious” about slapping tariffs on China, as it could prompt Beijing to take countermeasures that could turn into a “spiral”. The remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macron said he had told Beijing during his visit to China last week that Europe would be forced to take “strong measures” against Chinese goods if the trade imbalance was not addressed. “I told them that if they do not react, we Europeans will be forced, in the next several months,…
Trump clears way for Nvidia to sell powerful AI chips to China
Donald Trump has cleared the way for Nvidia to begin selling its powerful AI computer chips to China, marking a win for the chip maker and its CEO Jensen Huang, who has spent months lobbying the White House to open up sales in the country. Before Monday’s announcement, the US had prohibited sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China over national security concerns. “I have informed President Xi, of China, that the United States will allow NVIDIA to ship its H200 products to approved customers in China, and other…
How Hong Kong can distinguish itself as a climate finance hub
For decades, New York and London have defined the flow of global capital. But while markets still chase short-term returns in US equities, the next great wave of productive investment is taking shape in East Asia, led by China’s financing, manufacturing and export of the clean technologies that are remaking the global economy. That contrast has only widened. As the United States retreats from climate leadership, China has doubled down. A day after US President Donald Trump called climate change a “scam”, President Xi Jinping announced China’s first absolute emissions-reduction…
What IndiGo’s airport chaos says about Indian aviation
This article is an on-site version of the India Business Briefing newsletter. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning. As predicted by nearly half of you, on Friday the Reserve Bank of India cut benchmark interest rates by a quarter of a point. The central bank also revised its growth forecast up by half a percentage point to 7.3 per cent. Trade winds, on the other hand, are less favourable. This week a US delegation is in…
China’s open-source AI is a national advantage
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Artificial intelligence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is CEO of 01.AI, chair of Sinovation Ventures, former president of Google China and co-author of ‘AI 2041’ When Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek released its R1 large language model in January, America’s Nasdaq index fell 3 per cent in one day. The model rivalled market-leading US AI models in performance while using a fraction of their computing power, suggesting that America’s head start in generative AI might…
Flight chaos brings India’s biggest airline back to earth
Pieter Elbers took the job of chief executive of India’s largest airline IndiGo in order, as he put it earlier this year, to expand the low-cost carrier’s reach “towards new heights and across new frontiers”. The 55-year-old Dutch industry veteran, who was until 2022 the CEO of KLM, told the Financial Times that IndiGo’s rise and evolution was “one of the most incredible aviation stories in the world”. But that triumphant narrative has been devastated over the past week. The cancellation of thousands of flights by the airline, which controls…
The countdown to the world’s first social media ban for children
For individuals Discover all the plans currently available in your country For multiple readers Digital access for organisations. Includes exclusive features and content. Financial Times
‘A slap in the face’: some US farmers unhappy with Trump’s $12 billion bailout
US President Donald Trump has announced a long-anticipated US$12 billion farm aid package to assist farmers caught in US-China trade tensions, crediting his tariff strategy for making the bailout possible and asserting that his negotiations with China had led to the resumption of massive soybean sales. But the announcement has not pleased all farmers, particularly those still struggling with low prices and lost markets. Some said it was too little, too late, and that a bailout wouldn’t be necessary if there were no tariffs. John Bartman, a soybean farmer from…