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TSMC (TSM, 2330.TW)
Shares in TSMC (TSM, 2330.TW) rose more than 2% on Monday, after it was reported that the chipmaker was considering taking a controlling stake in Intel's (INTC) US factories.
Bloomberg reported late on Friday that this had come at the request of officials from US president Donald Trump's administration.
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Officials reportedly raised the idea in recent meetings, with talks said to be in very early stages, and come after a challenging period for Intel (INTC).
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported separately on Sunday that chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO) was considering making a bid for Intel's chip-design and marketing business.
Spokespeople for TSMC (TSM, 2330.TW), Broadcom (AVGO) and Intel (INTC) had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing.
Tencent (0700.HK)
Shares in Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent (0700.HK) surged to their highest point since July 2021, after the company launched a beta test for search using DeepSeek in its Weixin messaging app.
The test is allowing some users of the messaging app to search via DeepSeek's artificial intelligence model.
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Tencent (0700.HK) is looking at integrating DeepSeek with other products, including Tencent Cloud AI Code Assistant and Tencent Yuanbao.
Fellow Chinese tech firm Baidu (9888.HK) reportedly said separately that it would connect its search engine to DeepSeek.
These latest developments come just a few weeks after DeepSeek's release of a lower-cost AI model rattled markets, as it sparked concerns about the level of spending by major US tech companies in this space.
Alibaba (9988.HK, BABA)
Another Chinese tech firm in focus on Monday morning was Alibaba (9988.HK, BABA), after the company's co-founder Jack Ma was among the top executives spotted meeting China's leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Other tech executives said to be in attendance at the meeting included Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, and BYD (1211.HK) CEO Wang Chuanfu.
The rare meeting with business leaders suggested that the government could be steering towards a more supportive approach to the tech sector, as China faces escalating trade tensions with the US.
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Alibaba (9988.HK, BABA) shares are already up nearly 48% since the start of the year, as investors have cheered the company's AI push.
Last week, Alibaba's (9988.HK, BABA) chairman Joseph Tsai confirmed reports that the company was partnering with Apple (AAPL) to bring AI to iPhones in China.