China’s largest e-commerce operator Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) is planning to offer its fast-growing bargains service on rival Tencent Holdings Ltd’s (騰訊) WeChat (微信) messaging platform in a major concession to regulators seeking to crack down on monopolies in the Internet sphere, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Alibaba and Tencent have long excluded each other’s services from their platforms, creating so-called walled gardens within their ecosystems.
Alibaba is now planning to set up a Taobao Deals (淘寶特價版) lite app on Tencent’s WeChat, and has already invited some merchants to participate, the people said.
Photo: Reuters
Selling through the WeChat super-app means the merchants would be able to accept payments made through WeChat Pay (微信支付), a service that had been barred on Alibaba’s marketplaces, the people said.
Tencent would have to approve the listing of any in-app platforms and it is not clear if the company plans to do so with Taobao Deals lite app.
More than 1 billion people use WeChat, which has evolved beyond chatting to offer ride-hailing, online shopping and payments on its platform.
The move is one of the clearest indications that Beijing’s crackdown on monopolies is taking effect. China’s antitrust watchdog has made regulating Internet firms one of its top priorities, cracking down on monopolistic behavior from alliances that squeeze out smaller rivals to forced exclusive arrangements and predatory pricing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Monday called for greater oversight of the “platform” economy, signaling that Beijing is preparing to amplify its campaign against its tech giants.
Alibaba and Tencent have created separate fiefdoms within China’s tech industry through their patronages, buying up promising start-ups and investing in others to expand their reach. Only a few companies — TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) is a notable exception — have thrived without forming an alliance with either giant.
Tencent has previously been accused of barring services by rival tech companies on its platforms. ByteDance last month sued Tencent, alleging its rival had contravened antitrust laws by blocking access to content from Douyin (抖音), TikTok’s Chinese twin, on WeChat and QQ.
Meanwhile, Alibaba’s UC Browser vanished from China’s largest app stores after China Central Television blasted the popular mobile browser along with other services for failing consumers.
App stores run by Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Xiaomi Corp (小米) were among the local app stores that have since pulled the app, although Apple Inc continues to offer UCWeb for iOS users.
The Alibaba unit pledged to set up a dedicated team to look into the allegations.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
RSS