12/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | SEPT 12, 2025

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“The Zeekr 001 back then shocked quite everyone,“ said Stefan Poetzl, president of SAIC Audi Sales and Marketing. “We needed to do something about it.” To boost its EV lineup for Chinese consumers, Audi built the Audi E5 Sportback in just 18 months using technology provided by Chinese partner SAIC including batteries, electric powertrain, infotainment software and advanced driving assisted systems. Audi expects to start delivering the US$33,000 (RM139,000) EV to customers in China this month and its global rivals are now also looking to use Chinese intellectual property to roll out new models rapidly. Toyota and Volkswagen have joint development plans for China-dedicated models with technology from Chinese partners GAC and Xpeng, respectively. Renault and Ford want to go one step further and develop global models on Chinese EV platforms, sources said. Renault did not respond to a request for comment. Ford declined to comment. Such licensing deals make up relatively small but growing revenue streams for Chinese EV makers and, for now, offer a new quid-pro-quo. Global automakers need Chinese technology to leapfrog development hurdles and launch new EVs quickly. Meanwhile, Chinese companies desperately need additional revenue amid a bruising price war at home and intensifying trade war abroad. “It is a very smart, win-win solution,“ said Will Wang, general manager of Shanghai-based Alibaba to raise US$3.2b in bonds for cloud push SHANGHAI: Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba said on Thursday it plans to raise US$3.2 billion (RM13 billion) through the sale of a zero coupon convertible bond to fund international expansion and strengthen cloud computing. The bond will be the largest of its kind this year, showed Dealogic data, eclipsing DoorDash’s US$2.75 billion deal in May. Alibaba said it would use nearly 80% of the proceeds to expand data centres, upgrade technology and improve services to meet demand for cloud solutions. It will invest the remainder in enhancing market presence and efficiency in e-commerce ventures. Alibaba will offer the bond with a 27.5% to 32.5% conversion premium above its US-listed share price, showed a term sheet seen by Reuters. The bond will mature on Sept 15, 2032, and convert into US-listed shares. The firm’s Hong Kong-listed shares were trading up 2.3% at HK$146.10, after earlier falling as much as 2.6%, reversing in tandem with the benchmark Hang Seng Index. Its New York-listed stock fell 2.2% on Wednesday. The Hong Kong stock has risen 71.6% year to date and its US stock is up 71.1%. The technology major is one of China’s biggest spenders on artificial intelligence, pledging investment of 380 billion yuan (RM225 billion) over three years. In reporting quarterly earnings last month, it said AI was key to expanding cloud revenue, which grew strongly even as wider operations missed revenue estimates. “Our investments in AI have begun to yield tangible results,“ CEO Eddie Wu told analysts in an earnings call. “We are seeing an increasingly clear path for AI to drive Alibaba’s robust growth.” Alibaba raised US$1.5 billion in July via an exchangeable bond and US$5 billion in May last year through a convertible bond. On Thursday, China Pacific Insurance also announced a zero-coupon convertible bond, aiming to raise HK$15.55 billion. – Reuters

Musk’s richest title under threat from Oracle’s Ellison o Fortunes shift as cloud contracts and OpenAI partnership drive software giant to the top

NEW YORK: Billionaire Elon Musk is at risk of losing his title as the world’s wealthiest person to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose software giant appears poised for massive AI riches through a major deal with OpenAI. Ellison, 81, amassed about US$95 billion (RM400 billion) in additional wealth Wednesday as Oracle shares skyrocketed after the nearly 50-year-old company forecast massive revenue growth thanks to large contracts that will dwarf current revenue. That rise lifted Ellison’s overall fortune to nearly US$390 billion compared with Musk’s roughly US$436 billion, according to Forbes’ real-time billionaires index. A Bloomberg wealth index placed Ellison’s bounty slightly ahead of Musk’s, designating the Oracle chief number one at the moment. The difference in the tallies relates to how some of their huge holdings are estimated. Ellison and Musk are close friends, with the Oracle boss often coming to Musk’s aid during challenging periods in the Tesla tycoon’s career. He invested over US$1 billion in Musk’s buyout of Twitter and served on Tesla’s board for many years. Musk’s most easily estimated holding is Tesla, whose shares have fallen in 2025 amid languishing sales attributed partly to Musk’s embrace of far-right political causes. Tesla earlier this month unveiled a compensation proposal for Musk that could top US$1 trillion through 2035 if the company hits ambitious targets. Shareholders will vote on the plan in November.

to be a dominant force in “AI inferencing,” where the technology will lead to a more profound level of automation affecting everything from assessing medical lab results to placing bets in financial markets. “AI is going to automatically write the computer programmes that will then automate your sales processes and your legal processes and everything else in your factories and so on,” said Ellison, who emphasised the appeal of adopting the new AI capabilities to Oracle’s legacy business around secure management of proprietary company data. Ellison built his fortune through Oracle, which he founded in 1977 as a data server provider for the CIA, among others. Early on, the company competed with Microsoft, IBM, and Sun Microsystems to provide data infrastructure for the emerging digital economy. Ellison, who publicly sparred in earlier years with Bill Gates and other technology leaders, has also been known for heavy investments in professional sailing, with his Oracle team winning the America’s Cup in both 2010 and 2013. In 2009, Ellison became the owner of both the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and BNP Paribas Open, near Palm Springs, California, which is sometimes referred to as tennis’ unofficial “5th Grand Slam.” – AFP latter’s layout designs of electronics and software. Analysts say legacy automakers typically struggle to develop agile EV systems that can be rapidly updated, due to complicated organisational structures. That’s why Volkswagen is exploring whether Xpeng’s EV technologies can complement or replace its own, said Yale Zhang of consultancy AutoForesight. If successful in China, the strategy could be applied worldwide, he added. A Volkswagen China spokesman told Reuters its collaboration with Xpeng was focused on China for now. Xpeng’s He Xiaopeng has said the two automakers want to expand their partnership beyond China. That would boost Xpeng’s revenue without building plants overseas, said Autodatas’ Wang. Oliver Wyman analyst Marco Santino said traditional automakers could use “firepower” of fierce Chinese EV competition to jump ahead of the development curve. “You get a much more quality-proof product in the market in a shorter timeframe,“ Santino said. Inspired by Tesla, China’s EV makers have developed modular platforms that cut costs and accelerate development and lower barriers of entry. “They are quick learners from Tesla,“ said Forest Tu, a former executive at Chinese battery giant CATL who founded consulting firm Mapleview Technology. That advantage is now big enough to sustain “licensing and royalty service” as Chinese EV makers expand overseas, Tu said. CATL adopted that approach with Ford, licensing its technology for a battery plant. Exporting Chinese technology could help less industrialised countries build their own “national EV brands,“ Tu said.

Ellison, a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, holds more than 1.1 billion shares of Oracle, accounting for more than 40% of the company’s equity, according to S&P Capital IQ. Oracle CEO Safra Catz called the just finished quarter “astonishing” as the company signed “four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers.” Oracle projected that its cloud business revenues would grow 77% in the current fiscal year to US$18 billion. In subsequent years, revenues are expected to rise to US$32 billion, US$73 billion, US$114 billion, and US$144 billion. The bulk of Oracle’s new contracts comes from an agreement for OpenAI to purchase some US$300 billion in computing power over roughly five years, according to a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter. The publication described Oracle’s contract with OpenAI as a “risky gamble” for both companies that will likely require Oracle to take on additional debt to finance the AI chips. The contract will also tie Oracle’s future to the fate of a single company, the Journal said. On a conference call Tuesday, Ellison described the company as well positioned

How Chinese EV tech is reshaping global auto design SHANGHAI: When Audi executives first saw the Zeekr 001 in 2021, a long-range electric vehicle with European aesthetics, it was a wake-up call for the premium German auto brand – if it wanted to compete with the Chinese, it needed their technology.

Western automakers adopt mainland battery vehicle know-how for global models but face concerns over future reliance. – PEXELS PIX

industry experts say. Renault was an early adopter, building the low cost Dacia Spring EV on a platform from China’s Dongfeng for sale in Europe starting in 2021. Renault has gone one step further with the new electric Twingo under development at its research centre in Shanghai, with a Chinese EV engineering firm Launch Design providing technical support in developing an EV platform, according to two people familiar with the matter. Other “China Inside” models could be coming soon. Ford is seeking a Chinese partner to provide EV platform technologies, said two people with knowledge of the matter. CEO Jim Farley has frequently tested Chinese EVs and recently praised Xiaomi’s SU7 electric sedan. Volkswagen has expanded plans to develop China-dedicated models of all fuel types based on platforms co-developed with Xpeng, using the

consulting firm Autodatas, which provides teardown reports of best-selling EV models. This new strategy resembles the “Intel Inside” campaign of the 1990s – where US chipmaker Intel used state-of-the-art components to transform computers into premium products. In this case, Chinese automakers sell EV technology in a box: the underpinnings for ready to-build, white label battery-powered cars suitable even for low-volume manufacturers with small budgets. Leapmotor has partnered with Stellantis to sell its EVs outside China and is talking to other brands to license its technology, CEO Zhu Jiangming told Reuters. Using a ready-made Chinese EV chassis and software could save billions of dollars and years of development time and help traditional automakers catch up with Chinese rivals, auto