Connect with us

Published

on

The logo of Alibaba’s e-commerce app Taobao is displayed next to mobile phones displaying the app, in this illustration picture taken October 25, 2023.

Reuters | Florence Lo

Singapore — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba‘s Taobao shopping app topped the Apple App Store charts in Singapore after releasing an English version on Tuesday — thanks to translations powered by artificial intelligence.

That’s according to Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm whose data shows Taobao shot to first place in Apple’s Singapore App Store across all categories, as of Sept. 11. On Tuesday, the day the English-language version was announced, the app rose from fifth to first place in the shopping category.

Prior to this, the Taobao app had still enjoyed relative popularity and was consistently ranked in the top ten shopping apps for iPhone users from mid-August onwards, according to Sensor Tower.

The new update “highlights Taobao’s dedication to serving its Singapore users, who have shown a strong desire for an English-language interface, reflecting their diverse language fluency,” Alibaba said in a press release Tuesday. It did not elaborate on the AI translation features. The company has its own AI model.

The release said the new platform “enhances accessibility for non-Chinese users, eliminating their need for manual translations that previously made shopping less convenient for them.”

U.S. companies in China don't think tariffs are the right tool for trade disputes: AmCham Shanghai

Taobao and Tmall are Alibaba’s biggest source of revenue by far, but to date have primarily sold to people in China using a Chinese-language interface. Taobao and Tmall Group’s revenue for the quarter ended June 30 was 26.55 billion yuan ($3.65 billion), a 6% increase year-on-year.

Alibaba has in recent years has also sought to ramp up its overseas e-commerce business with platforms such as Alibaba.com and AliExpress.

Singapore is the first market where Taobao will introduce this new update, alongside the city-state’s neighbor, Malaysia, according to Alibaba.

As early as last year, Singaporean Taobao users had previously made guides on how to purchase clothes, furniture and lifestyle items from Taobao. These video guides were posted on the ByteDance-owned TikTok platform, another Chinese app. Several videos amassed more than 10,000 views, with one accumulating 105,000 views.

Alibaba’s latest move reflects the growing trend of Chinese businesses striving to expand globally, and using Singapore as a cultural testbed to further their ambitions to reach the Western market.

Last week, consulting firm Bain and Company said in their study of Asia Pacific-headquartered consumer goods companies that Chinese companies have a significant advantage versus South Korean and Japanese companies in the race to go global: the large ethnic Chinese diaspora settled outside of mainland China.

“There are many of these Chinese companies that have really ambitious global mindsets and are able to take the sort of entrepreneurial, fast-innovation capability that they built domestically and use that to create new positions overseas,” David Zehner, senior partner at Bain, previously told CNBC.

According to a government report as of end-June 2023, almost three-quarters of Singapore’s 5.92 million-strong nation is of Chinese descent. About 20% of Malaysia’s population is ethnically Chinese.

Not a perfect English-language experience

Taobao users in Singapore and Malaysia can buy a range of products — from electronics, to shoes, to kitchen appliances — and have it shipped to their doorstep for a small shipping fee. Prices are listed in yuan.

The new version of Taobao can convert prices from yuan to the Singapore dollar, and product descriptions will also be available in English.

But as of Thursday, the user experience was far from perfect.

A check by CNBC found that prices were not converted from yuan to Singapore dollars despite changing currency display options. Translations were also quite literal. However, the English translation option was also available for product reviews.

Singapore-based social media users were quick to highlight the new features, despite their imperfections.

A TikTok by an individual user one day after the announcement showed users how to change the Taobao app display to English. The video garnered 947,000 views in a day.

Sensor Tower told CNBC that Taobao’s average monthly active users in Singapore reached 167,000 in the third quarter of 2024.

Continue Reading

Technology

Amazon extends Prime Day to four days, starting July 8

Published

on

By

Amazon extends Prime Day to four days, starting July 8

An Amazon worker moves boxes on Amazon Prime Day in the East Village of New York City, July 11, 2023.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Amazon is extending its Prime Day discount bonanza, announcing that the annual sale will run four days this year.

The 96-hour event will start at 12:01 a.m. PT on July 8, and continue through July 11, Amazon said in a release.

For the first time, the company will roll out themed “deal drops” that change daily and are available “while supplies last.” Amazon has in recent years toyed with adding more limited-run and invite-only deals during Prime Day events to create a feeling of urgency or scarcity.

Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 as a way to secure new members for its $139-a-year loyalty program, and to promote its own products and services while providing a sales boost in the middle of the year. In 2019, the company made Prime Day a 48-hour event, and it’s since added a second Prime Day-like event in the fall.

Prime Day is also a significant revenue driver for other retailers, which often host competing discount events.

WATCH: How Amazon is using AI to revolutionize robotics

How Amazon is using AI to revolutionize robotics

Continue Reading

Technology

SK Hynix shares extend gains to over 2-decade highs as parent group reportedly plans AI data center

Published

on

By

SK Hynix shares extend gains to over 2-decade highs as parent group reportedly plans AI data center

Illustration of the SK Hynix company logo seen displayed on a smartphone screen.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Shares in South Korea’s SK Hynix extended gains to hit a more than 2-decade high on Tuesday, following reports over the weekend that SK Group plans to build the country’s largest AI data center.

SK Hynix shares, which have surged almost 50% so far this year on the back of an AI boom, were up nearly 3%, following gains on Monday. 

The company’s parent, SK Group, plans to build the AI data center in partnership with Amazon Web Services in Ulsan, according to domestic media. SK Telecom and SK Broadband are reportedly leading the initiative, with support from other affiliates, including SK Hynix. 

SK Hynix is a leading supplier of dynamic random access memory or DRAM — a type of semiconductor memory found in PCs, workstations and servers that is used to store data and program code.

The company’s DRAM rival, Samsung, was also trading up 4% on Tuesday. However, it’s growth has fallen behind that of SK Hynix.

On Friday, Samsung Electronics’ market cap reportedly slid to a 9-year low of 345.1 trillion won ($252 billion) as the chipmaker struggles to capitalize on AI-led demand. 

SK Hynix, on the other hand, has become a leader in high bandwidth memory — a type of DRAM used in artificial intelligence servers — supplying to clients such as AI behemoth Nvidia. 

A report from Counterpoint Research in April said that SK Hynix had captured 70% of the HBM market by revenue share in the first quarter.

This HBM strength helped it overtake Samsung in the overall DRAM market for the first time ever, with a 36% global market share as compared to Samsung’s 34%. 

Continue Reading

Technology

OpenAI wins $200 million U.S. defense contract

Published

on

By

OpenAI wins 0 million U.S. defense contract

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Snowflake Summit in San Francisco on June 2, 2025.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

OpenAI has been awarded a $200 million contract to provide the U.S. Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools.

The department announced the one-year contract on Monday, months after OpenAI said it would collaborate with defense technology startup Anduril to deploy advanced AI systems for “national security missions.”

“Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Defense Department said. It’s the first contract with OpenAI listed on the Department of Defense’s website.

Anduril received a $100 million defense contract in December. Weeks earlier, OpenAI rival Anthropic said it would work with Palantir and Amazon to supply its AI models to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and CEO, said in a discussion with OpenAI board member and former National Security Agency leader Paul Nakasone at a Vanderbilt University event in April that “we have to and are proud to and really want to engage in national security areas.”

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Defense Department specified that the contract is with OpenAI Public Sector LLC, and that the work will mostly occur in the National Capital Region, which encompasses Washington, D.C., and several nearby counties in Maryland and Virginia.

Meanwhile, OpenAI is working to build additional computing power in the U.S. In January, Altman appeared alongside President Donald Trump at the White House to announce the $500 billion Stargate project to build AI infrastructure in the U.S.

The new contract will represent a small portion of revenue at OpenAI, which is generating over $10 billion in annualized sales. In March, the company announced a $40 billion financing round at a $300 billion valuation.

In April, Microsoft, which supplies cloud infrastructure to OpenAI, said the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency has authorized the use of the Azure OpenAI service with secret classified information. 

WATCH: OpenAI hits $10 billion in annual recurring revenue

OpenAI hits $10 billion in annual recurring revenue

Continue Reading

Trending