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Huawei spin off Honor had one of the most prominent booths at Mobile World Congress in February 2023. It was right next to Samsung’s stand in a sign that Honor is targeting the South Korean firm in the premium end of the smartphone market.

Arjun Kharpal | CNBC

Honor announced its first artificial intelligence assistant on Friday, as it looks to jump ahead of companies like Apple and introduce software it hopes will spur users to buy its latest devices.

Honor’s digital assistant Yoyo has got an AI upgrade and will be coming to users in China in the near future, with international markets to follow, the company said. Yoyo is not new — but the AI infusion is. honor is calling it the Honor AI Agent.

In one demonstration seen by CNBC ahead of the announcement, Honor showed how a user could ask Yoyo to find automatic subscriptions across WeChat and Alipay, the two most popular payment apps in China. During the exercise, Yoyo found the subscriptions, then asked the user whether to cancel them.

So-called AI agents have been touted by smartphone makers as way to make the experiences on phone devices more personal and efficient. The idea is that these agents could learn a user’s behavior and make suggestions based on that.

While digital assistants like Apple’s Siri or Samsung’s Bixby have been around for a while, their abilities have been limited. Companies are now looking at ways to infuse such virtual helpers with AI, following the emergence of ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), which are trained on huge amounts of data and underpin conversational chatbots.

Honor’s competitors are taking similar steps. TM Roh, the head of Samsung’s mobile division, told CNBC that the company will be unveiling a further upgraded Bixby this year that uses the South Korean technology giant’s own LLM. Apple is also gearing up to roll out Apple Intelligence which has an improved Siri, though it is unlikely to come to China this year.

With Yoyo, Honor is looking to get ahead of these major players as well as other domestic rivals.

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Shein reportedly weighs moving back to China to gain approval for Hong Kong IPO

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Shein reportedly weighs moving back to China to gain approval for Hong Kong IPO

Jonathan Raa | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Shein is considering moving its headquarters back to China from Singapore in a bid to convince Beijing authorities to approve the online fast-fashion company’s Hong Kong initial public offering, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. 

The report said that Shein had gone so far as to consult lawyers about setting up a parent company in mainland China, citing people familiar with the matter. However, it added that there was no guarantee that Shein would act upon the preliminary discussions.

Shein, which sources a significant amount of its goods from China, confidentially filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong last month, according to a Financial Times report

That comes after delays in Shein’s plans for an initial public offering in London that was filed over a year ago, according to Reuters, as the company struggled to secure regulatory approval.  

Shein did not respond to a request for comment from CNBC. 

A London listing had been seen as a potential boon for the Chinese-founded company, providing it more legitimacy for its international business and access to a deep and mature pool of Western investors.

However, the company has faced headwinds in Western markets this year, with the U.S. President Donald Trump removing a valuable tariff exemption that had helped it maintain low prices on small shipments from China. Lawmakers in some other Western markets are considering similar moves

Read the full Bloomberg report here.

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Trump administration weighs 10% stake in Intel via Chip Act grants, making government top shareholder

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Trump administration weighs 10% stake in Intel via Chip Act grants, making government top shareholder

Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, departs the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.

Alex Wroblewski | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Trump administration is discussing taking a 10% stake in Intel, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, in a deal that could see the U.S. government become the chipmaker’s largest stakeholder.

As part of a potential deal, the government is also considering converting some or all of Intel’s grants from the 2022 U.S. CHIPS and Science Act into equity in the company, the report said, citing a White House official and other people familiar with the matter.

At the embattled chipmaker’s current market value, a 10% stake would be worth roughly $10.4 billion. Meanwhile, Intel has been awarded about $10.9 billion in Chips Act grants, including $7.9 billion for commercial manufacturing and $3 billion for national security projects.

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Intel investors had initially welcomed news of the government investment, which resulted in a share rally of nearly 9% on Aug. 14.

The report noted, however, that it remains unclear if the idea has gained traction broadly within the administration or whether officials have broached the possibility with affected companies.

It added that the exact size of the stake remains in flux, and it remains unclear whether the White House will actually proceed with the plan. Intel and the White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s queries regarding the report. 

Intel, once a dominant force in the U.S. chip industry, has fallen behind global competitors in advanced chip manufacturing. Reviving the former U.S. chip champion has become a national priority in Washington, with reports about a potential government stake in the company first circulating last week.

The company has been the largest recipient of the 2022 Chips Act, passed with bipartisan support under the Biden administration, as part of efforts by Washington to revitalize U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing.

The bill allocated $39 billion in grants for American semiconductor manufacturing projects, with funding committed to many of the world’s chipmakers such as TSMC and Samsung, as well as American chip companies such as Nvidia, Micron and GlobalFoundries. 

U.S. President Donald Trump, though supporting the general goals of the Chips Act, has been a vocal critic of the bill and even called for its repeal earlier this year. While republican lawmakers in Washington have been reluctant to act on that call, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in June that the administration was renegotiating some of the bill’s grants. 

If Intel’s Chip Act funds were to be converted into a potential government stake in the company, it could decrease the total amount of capital infused into the company as part of any deal by Washington. 

However, it would serve as the latest example of the Trump administration’s interest in building government-backed national champions in strategic industries.

Intel has struggled to gain an advantage in the artificial intelligence boom and has yet to capture a significant customer for its manufacturing business despite spending heavily on it. 

Some analysts have argued that government intervention is essential for the struggling chipmaker and for the sake of U.S. national security. Others contend that Intel’s problems are deeper than funding, and it is not clear how the government can help with that. 

Analysts have also noted that Trump may be able to sway companies to buy Intel chips or assist indirectly, through tariffs and regulation.

On Tuesday, it was announced that SoftBank was investing $2 billion in Intel. According to LSEG, the investment is worth about 2% of Intel, making SoftBank the fifth-biggest shareholder. Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Group, said: “This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.”

Intel investors had initially welcomed news of the government investment, which resulted in a share rally of nearly 9% on Aug. 14. Shares of Intel fell over 3% on Monday on the Bloomberg report, but rebounded by more than 5% in overnight trading on the trading platform Robinhood following news of a Softbank investment.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who was appointed in March 2025, met with Trump at the White House last week, after the U.S. president had called for his ousting due to his past ties to China. 

After the meeting, Trump had changed his tune on the Intel chief, saying he had “an amazing story.” It’s unclear if a potential government stake in the company had been discussed at the time.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

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Intel is getting a $2 billion investment from SoftBank

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Intel is getting a  billion investment from SoftBank

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., speaks during the company’s annual general meeting in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday, June 27, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Intel and SoftBank announced on Monday that the Japanese conglomerate will make a $2 billion investment in the embattled chipmaker.

SoftBank will pay $23 per share for Intel’s common stock, which closed on Monday at $23.66. The shares rose about 6% in extended trading to $25.

The investment makes SoftBank the fifth-biggest Intel shareholder, according to FactSet. It’s a vote of support for Intel, which hasn’t been able to take advantage of the artificial intelligence boom in advanced semiconductors and has spent heavily to stand up a manufacturing business that’s yet to secure a significant customer.

“Masa and I have worked closely together for decades, and I appreciate the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment,” Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said in a statement, referring to SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.

Intel shares lost 60% of their value last year, their worst performance in the company’s more than half-century on the public market. The stock is up 18% in 2025 as of Monday’s close.

Tan took over as Intel CEO in March after his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, was ousted in December.

Intel has been a major topic of discussion in Washington of late, due to the company’s role as the only American company capable of manufacturing the most advanced chips.

However, Intel’s foundry business, which is designed to manufacture chips for other companies, has yet to secure a major customer, a critical step towards stabilization and expansion. Last month, Intel said it would wait to secure orders before committing to certain future investment in its foundry.

Tan met with President Donald Trump last week after the president had called for the CEO’s resignation. The U.S. government is considering taking an equity stake in Intel, according to reports.

SoftBank, meanwhile, has become an increasingly large player in the global chip and AI markets.

In 2016, SoftBank acquired chip designer Arm in a deal worth about $32 billion at the time. Today the company is worth almost $150 billion. Arm-based chips are part of Nvidia’s systems that go into data centers.

And in March of this year, SoftBank announced plans to acquire another chip designer, Ampere Computing, for $6.5 billion.

SoftBank was also part of President Trump’s Stargate announcement in January, along with OpenAI and Oracle.

The three companies committed to invest an initial $100 billion and up to $500 billion over the next four years in the AI infrastructure project. Two months later, SoftBank led a $40 billion investment into OpenAI, the largest private tech deal on record.

“This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role,” Son said in a statement.

WATCH: Intel’s message to Washington

Intel's message to Washington

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