BBW Weekly: DataCanvas empowers industries as AI utility provider
INTERVIEW: DataCanvas empowers industries as AI utility provider
The infrastructure provider is aiming to deliver public-utility-style AI to core economic sectors underserved by traditional suppliers
By Lau Chi Hang
HONG KONG – AI models like Gemini, Qwen and ChatGPT attract all the headlines these days with their versatile large language models. But working in their shadows are hundreds of companies providing complex infrastructure to support the technology, which conducts trillions of tiny operations each day.
One such company, DataCanvas Co. Ltd., is positioning itself as a foundational computing utility, providing intelligent infrastructure and cloud solutions to deliver practical AI to a wider audience. Led by a founder with prior experience at Microsoft, the company uses a flexible business model that includes building actual infrastructure and providing hardware and design services to infrastructure builders.
One of its key focus areas caters to a growing number of companies building their own private “sovereign AI clouds” to better protect their data. Another helps traditional industries and other sectors take advantage of AI’s capabilities to build their own software infrastructure, something they never did in the past. Bamboo Works talked with Xu Jiang, head of international business, about those and other topics as the company rapidly expands at home and abroad.
Q: What’s your biggest competitive advantage compared with traditional cloud infrastructure providers?
A: Ultimately, the biggest difference is our underlying philosophy. If...
Is China’s express delivery price war over? The answer will lie in profits
China’s drive to stamp out cutthroat competition is starting to stabilize express delivery prices, but uneven earnings raise questions about the recovery’s sustainability
By Lee Shih Ta
Delivering more parcels while earning less from each was once the clearest illustration of the cutthroat competition – known locally as “involution” – plaguing China’s express delivery sector.
China’s express delivery parcel volume rose 13.6% in 2025 to 198.95 billion, while average revenue per parcel fell 6.3% year-on-year to about 7.51 yuan ($1.11). That trend has begun to change this year. Data from the State Post Bureau showed parcel volume rose 5.2% in the first five months of 2026 to 82.87 billion, while revenue increased 7.2% to 635.37 billion yuan. That implies average revenue per parcel edged up about 1.9% to 7.67 yuan....
Dekon swings to the red on Chinese pork glut
2419.HK | Latest close: 54.5 | 52-week range: 37.76-110
The major hog producer said it expects to report a net loss of up to 1.4 billion yuan in the first half of 2026, reversing a 1.23 billion yuan profit a year earlier
- Dekon swung sharply into the red in the first half of 2026, as prices for its core hog-raising business plunged 32.7% in June compared with a year earlier
- The company’s hog output rose 25.6% in June year-on-year despite the plunging prices, showing the industry remains heavily oversupplied
By Doug Young
Some serious crowding is happening in the Chinese pig pen.
That’s the central message coming in a new profit warning from Dekon Food and Agriculture Group (2419.HK), which said it fell sharply into the red in the first half of this year due to a...
Can crypto power supplier Boco plug into the AI boom?
The maker of power units for heavy-duty crypto computing is looking to raise IPO capital for a switch into systems for AI servers and data centers
- Boco Electronics has filed for a Hong Kong listing for a second time, citing plans to invest in R&D and strengthen its presence in the AI computing market
- Its power products for AI computing achieved a gross margin of 47.7% last year but accounted for just 0.7% of revenue
By Lee Shih Ta
At its core, the AI race is a competition for power, reliant on vast amounts of energy to drive servers and data centers.
With power supply at a premium, equipment manufacturers that serve the energy-guzzling crypto market are looking to adapt their technology to meet the rising demands of...
AI flap spotlights blue-collar image holding back China’s homegrown Red Bull
9980.HK | Latest close: 114.9 | 52-week range: 100.1-223.6888
Weak investor sentiment has dogged Eastroc since its Hong Kong IPO in February, even as the energy drink maker reports strong growth
- Eastroc lost over $1 billion in market cap over five days as its Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed stocks tanked after the release of an AI-generated video involving its chairman
- Sentiment towards the stock was already weak even before the selloff, possibly reflecting the company’s struggles to shed the working-class image of its signature energy drink
By Edith Terry
It was one of those incidents that should have been easy for a good legal or public relations team to quickly shake off. On June 22, a video went viral showing Lin Muqin, founder and chairman of Eastroc Beverage (Group) Co. Ltd. (9980.HK; 605499.SH), trading toasts with motorcycle...
Insilico revenue soars above $100 million on AI drug partnerships
3696.HK | Latest close: 49.02 | 52-week range: 29.98-80.9
The developer of the world’s first end-to-end AI drug has projected a big leap in half-year earnings, driven by lucrative collaborations with multinationals
- Insilico expects to power into the black after cashing in on drug partnerships this year with Eli Lilly, Takeda and SK Biopharmaceuticals
- Its flagship drug, which was discovered and developed using AI, has entered Phase Three trials but substantive results are not expected before late 2027
By Molly Wen
For years, artificial intelligence has promised to speed up drug discovery, but the research has rapidly burned through cash while struggling to get clinical or commercial traction.
That could be starting to change. A Chinese biotech that uses AI to discover and design new drugs for cancer and chronic diseases has just flagged up an impending...
JF SmartInvest harnesses AI in drive into lucrative financial intelligence services
9636.HK | Latest close: 30.4 | 52-week range: 23.7348-82.236
The company unveiled an AI-powered terminal at its new showroom in Hong Kong’s financial district as it chases high-net-worth individuals seeking investment advice
- JF SmartInvest opened a physical store in Hong Kong where visitors can try out its new AI-powered terminal for investment portfolio analysis
- The company is pivoting from its traditional focus on investor education to the higher-margin business of providing financial information and advice
By Warren Yang
If you’ve ever sought a chatbot’s advice on whether to buy Apple, short Tesla, or jump into an obscure biotech stock, you’re not alone. Across the globe, millions of retail investors are outsourcing their financial due diligence to AI-powered large language models. So, it comes as little surprise that the financial services industry is racing to capitalize on growing...
Kuaishou’s AI ace valued at $18 billion as countdown to spinoff begins
1024.HK | Latest close: 46.92 | 52-week range: 39.72-91.037
The short video giant is preparing to cut the financial cord with its Kling unit, opening up new valuation room for the popular AI video asset
- Kuaishou is promoting financial independence for Kling, with outside investors set to inject up to 20.45 billion yuan into the AI video unit to better gage its value
- Terms of Kling’s financing include a listing deadline, indicating expectation for a separate IPO for the company
By Lee Shih Ta
AI can do amazing things, but those things also come with huge costs. That combination is leading some companies to separately capitalize their AI business, insulating parents from constantly needing to pump new funds into their AI offspring.
Short-video and livestreaming e-commerce platform Kuaishou Technology (1024.HK) is the latest to take that approach,...
GigaDevice’s profit soars as celebrity founder sells down stake
3986.HK | Latest close: 600 | 52-week range: 219.5836-1248
The memory chip maker’s stock has risen exponentially since its IPO in January as its profit soared in the first half of this year
- GigaDevice said it expects to report its profit surged 11-fold year-over-year in the first half of 2026
- The memory chip maker’s founder and Chairman Zhu Yiming has reduced his shareholdings twice since the company’s January IPO
By Lau Chi Hang
A list of this year’s most prominent figures in Chinese financial circles will inevitably include Zhu Yiming, whose name is closely tied with two prominent companies in the hot memory chip sector. One of those, GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc. (3986.HK; 603986.SH), has been on a tear since its IPO in January, with its stock nearly quadrupling from its listing price just half a year later....
Beijing light aircraft crash slows China’s eVTOL ambitions
EH.US | Latest close: 5.47 | 52-week range: 5.265-20.45
The accident has put China’s low-altitude aviation dream under new scrutiny just as eVTOL pioneer EHang is struggling to turn flight certificates into passengers and sales
- A high-profile light-aircraft crash in Beijing exposed safety concerns that could slow development of China’s low-altitude economy, including for eVTOL makers
- EHang is China’s most advanced eVTOL company in terms of regulatory approvals, but weak deliveries and lack of ticketed flights show commercialization remains distant
By Hu Minghe
China’s low-altitude economy has spent the last few years riding a wave of policy slogans, high-profile local-government plans and investor hopes that electric aircraft could become the next electric vehicle (EV) story. The resulting vision paints a space-age scene of small aircraft lifting off from rooftops, scenic spots and transport hubs, carrying passengers over...
Jiumaojiu’s Tai Er chain builds momentum after major brand refresh
9922.HK | Latest close: 1.26 | 52-week range: 1.15-3.2255
Same-store sales for the ‘sauerkraut fish’ chain rose 6.1% in the second quarter, marking a second quarter of growth after a double-digit decline in 2025
- Jiumaojiu’s Tai Er restaurant chain posted a second consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth in the second quarter, as its other metrics were also generally positive
- The chain launched a major brand refresh last year, and has closed about a quarter of its outlets since the end of 2024
By Doug Young
After two difficult years of soul searching, restaurant operator Jiumaojiu International Holdings Ltd. (9922.HK) is finally showing some positive results with its new recipe for success. And after reaching a milestone with a return to same-store sales growth for its signature Tai Er chain this year, the company is now trying...
Kinwong runs hot on AI boom, cold on plunging margins
603228.SHG | Latest close: 70.79 | 52-week range: 51.12-89.9
The PCB maker’s Hong Kong IPO looks aimed at tapping demand for AI concept stocks, even though related high-end products make up a relatively low proportion of its revenue
- Kinwong has filed for a Hong Kong IPO, reporting its gross margin fell from 23.2% in 2023 to 18.7% in the first four months of this year
- The PCB maker’s revenue grew 18% in the first four months of this year, but its profit declined by 25%
By Cheng Shui Tong
The AI era has ushered in breakthrough growth for printed circuit board (PCB) makers, turning this formerly anonymous group into hot property on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The latest to jump on that gravy train is Shenzhen Kinwong Electronic Co. Ltd. (603228.SH), which filed its preliminary prospectus...
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