E-commerce giant Alibaba Group (阿里巴巴) yesterday said it would spend 100 billion yuan (US$15.5 billion) to support Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) campaign to spread the nation’s prosperity more evenly, adding to pledges by tech companies that are under pressure to pay for the Chinese Communist Party’s political initiatives.
Alibaba said it would invest in 10 projects for job creation, “care for vulnerable groups” and technology innovation. Its 100 billion yuan pledge includes 20 billion yuan for a fund to “cut income inequality” in the company’s home province of Zhejiang.
Alibaba and other Chinese tech giants, including games and social media service Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) have announced plans to invest in social welfare, technology development and other ruling party priorities in response to pressure to align with Beijing’s political and economic plans.
Photo: Reuters
Xi’s “common prosperity” campaign calls for spreading the benefits from China’s economic growth more widely and narrowing one of the world’s widest gaps between an elite with more billionaires than the US and the poor majority in the 1.4 billion population.
“We firmly believe that if society is doing well and the economy is doing well, then Alibaba will do well,” CEO Daniel Zhang (張勇) said in a statement.
Beijing has launched anti-monopoly, data security and other crackdowns on Internet industries since late last year in an effort to tighten control over companies the CCP worries might be too big and independent.
The party tolerated a widening gap between China’s rich and poor as the economy boomed over the past three decades.
Xi, who took power in 2012, has called for renewing the party’s “original mission,” which includes eradicating poverty, raising incomes, and directing investment toward strategic technology and other initiatives.
Tencent last month promised 50 billion yuan for “common prosperity” initiatives in healthcare, education and rural development. That doubled the company’s spending on corporate social responsibility.
Another e-commerce company, Pinduoduo Inc (拼多多), last month promised to spend US$1.5 billion on agriculture and other rural development projects.
Alibaba reported a profit of 45.1 billion yuan in the quarter ending in June.
Founder Jack Ma (馬雲), who stepped down as chairman in 2019, has long been one of China’s most prominent charitable donors. His foundation shipped medical supplies to Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic and has given to education, health and environmental causes.
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: Alibaba is one of a number of Chinese firms that has answered Beijing’s call to invest in the development of cutting-edge technologies Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) yesterday unveiled a new server chip that is based on advanced 5-nanometer technology, marking a milestone in China’s pursuit of semiconductor self-sufficiency. The Chinese tech giant’s newest chip is based on micro-architecture provided by the SoftBank Group Corp-owned Arm Ltd, it said. Alibaba, which is holding its annual cloud summit in Hangzhou, China, said that the chip is to be used in its own data centers in the “near future” and would not, for the time being, be sold commercially. “Customizing our own server chips is consistent with our ongoing efforts toward boosting our computing capabilities with better
Production at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp’s (TSMC, 台積電) fabs was not affected by a fire at a construction site for a water recycling facility in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The world’s biggest contract chipmaker said that the construction site is not adjacent to its fabs, which were unaffected. CTCI Corp (中鼎工程) is responsible for the construction of the facility, which it is to operate itself once it is completed, the chipmaker said. The facility caught fire at about 11am, and the blaze was brought under control about 30 minutes after the incident was reported, the Southern Taiwan Science Park Administration
AGGRESSIVE STEP: With the new processors, Apple is aiming at the high-end chips Intel has provided for the MacBook Pro and other top-end Macs for about 15 years Apple Inc on Monday took the most aggressive step yet to strip Intel Corp chips from its computers, announcing more powerful homegrown Mac processors alongside a total revamp of its MacBook Pro laptop computers. The company showcased the chips at an event called “Unleashed,” which also included its latest audio products. The new components, called the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, are 70 percent faster than its M1 predecessors, Apple said. It also unveiled a redesigned MacBook Pro, adding larger screens, MagSafe charging and better resolution. With the new processors and devices, Apple is aiming squarely at the high-end chips that Intel has
‘NO NEGOTIATING’: Acer spokesperson Steven Chung said customers in India whose data were affected were informed, while no user data in Taiwan was compromised PC vendor Acer Inc (宏碁) yesterday confirmed that it was hacked twice in one week — once in Taiwan and once in India — but denied any damage or leak of customer data. Acer spokesperson Steven Chung (鐘興維) said that the customers in India whose data were affected were informed, while no user data in Taiwan was compromised. The hackers have tried to initiate communication, but Acer has not responded, Chung said. “We are not going to negotiate and it is not company policy to pay ransom to hackers,” he said. Upon detecting the hack, Acer initiated all security protocols and conducted
RSS