China’s Pony.ai on Thursday saw its shares drop over 12%, while rival WeRide fell nearly 8% as the autonomous driving companies began trading in Hong Kong.

Pony.ai and WeRide, which are already listed in the U.S., raised 6.71 billion Hong Kong dollars (about $860 million) and HK$2.39 billion, respectively in their initial public offerings.

The companies are striving to keep pace with larger competitors such as Baidu‘s Apollo Go in China and Alphabet‘s Waymo in the U.S. amid growing interest in autonomous technologies.

Pony.ai and WeRide, both headquartered in Guangzhou, China, stated that funds would go toward scaling efforts, and the development of Level 4 autonomous driving — a measure of driving automation that does not require human monitoring or intervention under specific environments. 

WeRide CEO Tony Xu Han told CNBC that proceeds from the latest fundraising would also be used to boost the company’s artificial intelligence capabilities and data center capacity.

The listings in Hong Kong come as the companies seek to expand outside of China, where they have already begun operating fully autonomous robotaxis in some cities. 

The new regions include the Middle East, Europe and Asian countries such as Singapore. They have yet to receive full approvals to operate their robotaxis in most of those regions.

In the U.S., both companies are aiming for a partnership with California-based Uber to allow them to deploy their robotaxis on the firm’s ride-hailing platform after receiving regulatory approval.  

However, their U.S. plans face headwinds as earlier this year the government finalized a rule effectively banning Chinese technology in connected vehicles, including self-driving systems. 

“With the uncertainty in the markets around the world and the fact that there would be intense scrutiny on a Pony or WeRide trying to enter the U.S. market, a dual listing is a lot about risk mitigation,” said Tu Le, founder and managing director at Sino Auto Insights. 

He added that the listings were also an acknowledgement that it’s gonna take a lot of capital and an endorsement of a market outside the U.S. for Pony.ai and WeRide to succeed.

In U.S. trading on Wednesday, shares Pony.ai closed down about 2%, while WeRide fell 5.3%.

In May, Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company CATL completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong, raising $5.2 billion in the world’s largest IPO so far this year.

The growing trend emerges amid geopolitical tensions and regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. 

According to New Street Research’s Bulk, the Hong Kong listings for Pony.ai and WeRide will help the companies gain access to Asia-based capital and expand their presence in China and the region.

“However, it will do nothing to advance the progress of their technology stack and regulatory approvals in Western markets. If anything, gaining approval in Western markets may be more challenging with a HK secondary listing,” he added. 

The listings could also help the firms keep up with competitors such as Baidu‘s Apollo Go in China and Alphabet‘s Waymo in the U.S., which currently have larger fleets. 

“Pony and WeRide are right up there among the global leaders,” said Sino Auto Insights’ Le. “WeRide has diversified their service portfolio a bit more but they both see Uber and the Middle East as two viable partners in their ability to get more pilots launched outside of China.”

“Investors should pay special attention to how their technology evolves with AI and other new tools becoming more mainstream,” Le said.

— CNBC’s Elaine Yu contributed to this report.

Microsoft is giving employees a way to raise concerns about the uses of its technology after controversy emerged over the company’s work in the Middle East.

An internal portal for Microsoft’s 200,000-plus workers now includes an option to request a “Trusted Technology Review,” Brad Smith, the company’s president, wrote in a memo that was disclosed in a securities filing on Wednesday. It’s designed for bringing up misgivings about the ways Microsoft builds and uses technology, he said.

“Our standard non-retaliation policy applies, and you can raise concerns anonymously,” Smith wrote.

The move comes weeks after Microsoft stopped providing some services to an Israeli defense unit. In August, The Guardian said the Israeli Defense Forces’ Unit 8200 had built a system in Microsoft’s Azure cloud for tracking Palestinians’ phone calls as part of the country’s invasion of Gaza, leading Microsoft to investigate the newspaper’s assertions.

Employees protested the company’s work with Israel, leading to firings and resignations.

Microsoft’s business has been on a tear, with its stock reaching a record last week, as OpenAI and other companies have deepened their reliance on Azure for running artificial intelligence models. Yet there’s been internal stress due to layoffs, return-to-office mandates and controversy surrounding Microsoft’s contracts.

A media report in July also described the U.S. Defense Department’s dependence on Microsoft engineers located in China.

Microsoft, which celebrated its 50th birthday in April, now sees opportunities to boost its governance.

“We are working to strengthen our existing pre-contract review process for evaluating engagements that require additional human rights due diligence,” Smith wrote.

WATCH: Microsoft sees ‘huge’ challenge and great opportunity as global economy enters a new phase, president says

DoorDash reported third-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations and said it expects to spend “several hundred million dollars” on new initiatives and development in 2026.

The stock sank 9% following the report.

Here’s how the company did compared to LSEG estimates:

• Earnings: 55 cents per share vs 69 cents per share expected
• Revenue: $3.45 billion vs $3.36 billion expected.

“We wish there was a way to grow a baby into an adult without investment, or to see the baby grow into an adult overnight, but we do not believe this is how life or business works,” the company wrote in its earnings release to explain the boosted spending.

DoorDash said it is developing a new global tech platform that progressed in 2025 but is expected to accelerate in 2026, noting the direct and opportunity costs in the near term. The company announced its Dot autonomous delivery robot in September.

The food delivery platform’s revenue increased 27% from a year earlier.

DoorDash posted net income of $244 million, or 55 cents per share, in Q3, up from $162 million, or 38 cents per share, a year ago.

Total orders grew 21% over the prior year to 776 million during the quarter that closed Sept. 30, just above the 770.13 million expected by FactSet.

The company expects Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter in the range of $710 million to $810 million, a midpoint of $760 million. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $806.8 million for Q4.

DoorDash closed its acquisition of British food delivery company Deliveroo on Oct. 2, a deal that valued the UK company at about $3.9 billion.

The company expects a depreciation and amortization expense of $700 million for the fiscal year, exclusive of the acquisition. A stock-based compensation expense of $1.1 billion is also expected for fiscal 2025.

DoorDash expects Deliveroo to add $45 million to adjusted EBITDA in Q4 and about $200 million to adjusted EBITDA in 2026.