Technology

BLOOMBERG ByteDance Ltd’s revenue surged more than 30% to surpass $80 billion in 2022, matching the tally at archrival Tencent Holdings Ltd after twin video platforms TikTok and Douyin drew eyeballs and advertisers from social media incumbents. The world’s most valuable private tech firm told its investors in a recent memo that revenue surged from around $60 billion in 2021, ...

BLOOMBERG China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang urged Japan to refrain from supporting US efforts to suppress the Chinese semiconductor industry, while his counterpart pressed for the swift return of a Japanese citizen detained by Beijing. During a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi in Beijing, Qin said a chip blockade will only strengthen Beijing’s resolve to achieve self-reliance, according ...

BLOOMBERG Alphabet Inc’s Google is launching a tool to make its advertising service more transparent, following rivals like Meta Platforms Inc and Twitter Inc that years ago released public, searchable archives of the ads that run on their digital platforms. “Transparency breeds trust with people and with our partners, and helps keep us accountable for the work we do,” Dan ...

BLOOMBERG An India appeals court upheld a fine of about $160 million slapped on Alphabet Inc’s Google by the country’s antitrust regulator, amid growing scrutiny over the company’s ambition to expand the global reach of its Android mobile operating system. Yet in a relief for Google, the court allowed some concessions to corrective measures the antitrust regulator had sought. The ...

BLOOMBERG Apple Inc Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook returned to China to attend the high-profile China Development Forum to celebrate the iPhonemaker’s ties to the region even as tensions grow between Beijing and Washington. Apple and China have grown together, Cook said during an onstage discussion on technology and education at the state-sponsored showcase. He highlighted the company’s concerns about ...

BLOOMBERG How much energy does it take to play Xbox? Microsoft Corp is helping developers find out. At the 2023 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the company announced a new toolkit for developers to measure real-time energy consumption from Xbox games. The toolkit, which Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft calls the first of its kind in the industry, will allow developers ...

BLOOMBERG Adobe Inc unveiled new image-generating artificial intelligence (AI) tools designed for professionals to use without fear of plagiarising material or creating offensive artwork, addressing a key concern facing such technology. Dubbed Firefly, the tool creates images and text art based on user text prompts, drawing from Adobe’s portfolio of stock media and freely licensed images. It will be made ...

BLOOMBERG  Japan ended restrictions on exports to South Korea of three key compounds used in the manufacture of semiconductors and displays, in the latest step towards improving long fractious ties between the two US allies. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced the move to officially ease licensing requirements on fluorinated polyimide, hydrogen fluoride and photoresists, adding the move ...

BLOOMBERG  Tencent Holdings Ltd surged more than 8%, the most in about four months, as traders cited unsubstantiated talk that newly installed Premier Li Qiang toured the Chinese social media leader’s headquarters. Guizhou Party Secretary Xu Lin visited the Chinese company’s offices, according to the official WeChat account of a Guizhou state media outlet. Li, Xi Jinping’s top deputy, didn’t ...

BLOOMBERG  Toshiba Corp accepted a buyout offer from a Japanese consortium, according to people familiar with the matter, as the iconic conglomerate moved a step closer to ending a troubled chapter in its more-than-140-year history. The Tokyo-based company’s board approved a bid of about 2 trillion yen ($15.3 billion) from a group led by domestic private equity firm Japan Industrial ...