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Opinion | How Hong Kong can distinguish itself as a climate finance hub

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Opinion | How Hong Kong can distinguish itself as a climate finance hub

For decades, New York and London have defined the flow of global capital. But while markets still chase short-term returns in US equities, the next great wave of productive investment is taking shape in East Asia, led by China’s financing, manufacturing and export of the clean technologies that are remaking the global economy.

That contrast has only widened. As the United States retreats from climate leadership, China has doubled down. A day after US President Donald Trump called climate change a “scam”, President Xi Jinping announced China’s first absolute emissions-reduction target and called on the international community to stay focused on the green transition as the “trend of our time”. The message was clear: Beijing intends to lead in the clean technology industries of the future.

China is already deploying renewables, grid infrastructure and storage at a speed and scale unseen anywhere else, and can produce almost a terawatt of new renewable-energy capacity each year, enough to replace more than 300 nuclear power plants. In 2024 alone, clean-energy industries, including solar, wind, batteries, grids and electric mobility, accounted for more than 10 per cent of China’s gross domestic product.

The technologies developed and scaled in China have driven down global costs for everything from photovoltaics to grid batteries, making large-scale electrification economically viable across much of the developing world. As a result, China’s emissions may already be declining, and its exports of low-cost clean-energy systems are speeding up across the rest of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Hong Kong sits at the centre of this transformation, and Beijing has just reaffirmed its role, emphasising its importance as the bridge between China’s markets and global capital. At the recent Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit, senior Chinese regulators pledged to deepen Hong Kong’s integration with the mainland’s financial system and strengthen its function as a “superconnector” between Chinese capital and global markets.

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Huge solar farm at Mexico City market being built with 32,000 panels from China

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Huge solar farm at Mexico City market being built with 32,000 panels from China

Hong Kong already ranks among the world’s leading financial centres and leads Asia in green and sustainable bond issuance. Its asset and wealth management sector now exceeds HK$35 trillion (US$4.49 billion), supported by strong inflows.

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Why This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Is Gaining Attention From Institutional Investors | The Motley Fool

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Why This Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Is Gaining Attention From Institutional Investors | The Motley Fool

Alphabet is a favorite among a few hedge fund billionaires.

One artificial intelligence (AI) stock that has gained the interest of a lot of institutional investors lately is Alphabet (GOOGL 0.05%) (GOOG 0.02%). The stock was a top-three holding in the funds of several prominent hedge fund billionaires at the end of Q3, including Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, and Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management.

Alphabet has returned to its role as an AI leader

It’s easy to see why these billionaires have been drawn to Alphabet’s stock. The stock was very cheap at the start of 2025, as some investors fretted that AI would pressure the company’s core Google search business. Those fears, however, proved to be overblown, and Alphabet has flipped the script to be viewed as one of the best-positioned AI companies moving forward.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alphabet’s strength lies in the fact that it has the most complete AI stack. This starts with its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which are custom AI chips it developed over a decade ago and have been tightly integrated into its ecosystem and improved upon over the years. While other companies are trying to catch up in the custom AI chip race, Alphabet’s TPUs are battle-tested and highly regarded, giving it a structural cost advantage when it comes to running AI workloads. It has even begun to let customers begin to deploy its chips through its Google Cloud cloud computing business, creating another revenue stream.

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At the same time, Alphabet has trained its world-class Gemini large language model (LLM) on its chips. Gemini is now considered one of the world’s best AI models, and Alphabet has infused its capabilities throughout its products. In addition to its stand-alone app, which has been gaining market share, it’s also helping drive growth in Google Search through newer AI-powered features, such as AI Overviews, Lens, and Circle to Search. Perhaps the biggest game changer, though, is AI Mode, which lets users easily toggle between traditional search and an AI chatbot without having to switch apps.

Alphabet Stock Quote

Today’s Change

(-0.05%) $-0.16

Current Price

$338.09

Meanwhile, Alphabet’s distribution and ad network advantages remain. Through its ownership of the Chrome browser and Android smartphone operating system, along with a search revenue-sharing deal with Apple, the company is the gateway to the internet for most people. Meanwhile, its massive ad network can help it easily monetize both search and AI chatbot users.

Is Alphabet stock still a buy?

While not the bargain it was a year ago, Alphabet’s stock is still reasonably valued, trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of around 25.5 times 2026 analyst estimates. Given that its AI tech stack advantages should just grow with time, the stock is still a buy at current levels.

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Letter: Educate leaders, too, on finance and humanities | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Letter: Educate leaders, too, on finance and humanities | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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SB Financial Group Q4 Earnings Call Highlights

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SB Financial Group Q4 Earnings Call Highlights
SB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SBFG) management said fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results reflected continued execution across the franchise, with CEO Mark Klein calling it “one of the strongest earnings quarters and year in our history” despite ongoing pressure on mortgage activity across the indu
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