The study evaluated several leading open-source models from Meta, TAIDE, TAME, NVIDIA and OpenAI. Preliminary results showed that, under the testing framework, fine-tuned SLMs may reduce dependence on complex prompt engineering and vector retrieval modules, potentially simplifying system architecture while lowering future operational and maintenance complexity.

The findings indicated that, when combined with carefully designed financial-domain datasets and targeted model fine-tuning, SLMs can further improve model stability, inference efficiency, and deployment controllability. In customer intent classification, the fine-tuned SLM achieved performance close to mainstream closed-source LLMs, approaching that of leading proprietary LLMs, providing enterprises with a practical reference for evaluating AI model training and deployment strategies.

From a data governance and privacy perspective, the study adopted a fully synthetic data approach, ensuring that no real customer information was used during model training. Through techniques including service-function clustering, single-intent and multi-intent dataset design, Taiwan-context localization, and keyword expansion, Cathay FHC strengthened the model's ability to understand local financial service contexts, industry-specific terminology, and ambiguous customer queries.

Potential future applications include mortgage balance inquiries, credit card payment assistance, and branch service navigation, laying the groundwork for intelligent search, service routing, and next-generation customer engagement experiences.

From a technical architecture standpoint, Cathay FHC integrated NVIDIA AI tools—including NVIDIA NeMo Customizer, NVIDIA NeMo Curator, and NVIDIA TensorRT-LLM—together with NVIDIA Hopper architecture computing resources to support data generation, model fine-tuning, inference optimization, and experimental evaluation. Leveraging NVIDIA AI ecosystem, Cathay FHC continues to strengthen its capabilities in financial-domain model development, data governance, and application validation.

In recent years, Cathay FHC has steadily expanded AI innovation across a wide range of financial scenarios, building scalable technological foundations spanning internal process optimization, customer service enhancement, financial knowledge understanding, and model governance. As financial institutions navigate an increasingly regulated environment, stringent data governance requirements, and rapidly evolving customer expectations, Cathay FHC remains committed to advancing AI research in a compliant, secure, and resilient manner.

Looking ahead, Cathay FHC will continue exploring long-context classification, advanced financial document understanding, and cross-scenario AI applications. By developing model training and deployment approaches tailored to the financial sector, the company aims to accelerate innovation and create more intelligent, efficient, and customer-centric financial services.

The paper argues that the opportunity goes well beyond basic coverage. For enterprise customers and event organisers, technologies such as private 5G, edge computing and IoT can support critical event operations including broadcasting, video assistant referee systems, public safety, crowd management, digital signage, connected cameras, drones and ambulances. As major US operators continue rolling out 5G Standalone, the report suggests advanced capabilities such as network slicing are likely to underpin many of these differentiated connectivity services.

For consumers, the World Cup also opens up new monetisation opportunities. These include travel eSIM offers for international visitors, premium experience-based tariffs with features such as guaranteed speeds, priority access and low latency, and network-native services such as live translation that do not depend on app downloads or specialist hardware. GSMA Intelligence notes growing consumer interest in these types of connectivity-led propositions.

The report also highlights complementary revenue opportunities for operators that may not hold content rights directly. These range from partnerships with official broadcasters, to enabling immersive and adjacent content such as XR and multi-angle viewing and supporting fan journey services with location-aware information and integrated travel or venue access. Overall, the paper concludes that major sporting events such as the 2026 World Cup are becoming important showcases for operators to demonstrate the value of advanced networks, develop new service models and strengthen their role in the wider digital experience economy.

GSMA Intelligence has shared further insights via its recent LinkedIn post and podcast available on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, and Amazon Music

The Glovis Lighthouse is among a small number of vessels globally to exceed 10,000 CEU, representing the largest class of car carriers available to date. The vessel demonstrates the company's commitment to delivering next-generation vessels that combine scale, efficiency, and future-ready fuel capabilities.

Developed in collaboration with Hyundai Glovis, a global leader in automotive logistics, the vessel features 14 decks, including four liftable decks, and hoistable ramp systems that improve cargo flexibility and capacity and helps lower the emissions intensity per vehicle transported.

The Glovis Lighthouse is powered by dual-fuel LNG propulsion and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by approximately 24% when compared to conventional fuels. Its energy efficiency performance significantly exceeds current regulatory standards. The vessel is also equipped with next-generation engine and fuel systems, as well as a shaft generator, to improve overall efficiency and help minimize methane slip, positioning it among the most environmentally advanced PCTCs in operation today.

The vessel is methanol and ammonia ready, supporting longer-term emissions reduction strategies through alternative fuels, as availability expands.

"The delivery of the Glovis Lighthouse is a defining moment for Seaspan and a clear demonstration of our ability to deliver world-class assets at scale," said Bing Chen, Chairman, President and CEO of Seaspan. "This vessel sets a new benchmark for the PCTC market—bringing together size, efficiency, and fuel-transition readiness to help our customers lead through the next era of automotive logistics."

Delivered under a long-term time charter to Hyundai Glovis, the Glovis Lighthouse reflects Seaspan's focus on customer partnerships that combine technical innovation with reliable, long-term asset deployment.

"By combining scale, cargo flexibility, and fuel transition readiness, this series is well positioned to support the long-term evolution of global automotive supply chains," said Kun Li, Chief Commercial Officer of Seaspan.

This performance marks Lockton's sixth consecutive year of double‑digit organic growth, underscoring the strength of its client relationships, diversified business model, and long-term investment strategy.

"Fiscal year 2026 was another exceptional year for Lockton," said Ron Lockton, chairman and chief executive officer. "Our results reflect the trust our clients place in us, the quality of our people, and the advantages of our private and independent model. Our structure allows us to invest with a long-term horizon, adapt quickly to emerging client and market needs, and continually reinvest in the capabilities, insights, and innovations that help clients navigate an increasingly complex risk environment."

Resilient Performance in a Challenging Market

Lockton's results were particularly strong given market conditions during fiscal year 2026, which ended April 30. Global property rates softened as capacity improved and competition increased, while casualty lines in the U.S. continued to experience pricing pressure and elevated loss-cost trends. Against that backdrop, Lockton's diversified platform delivered balanced growth across regions and businesses.

• Lockton International and Lockton Re each delivered approximately 15% growth.
• U.S. operations delivered an eighth year of double-digit growth, despite uneven conditions across regions and product lines.

U.S. Highlights

Lockton's U.S. business delivered another strong year, continuing a pattern of sustained momentum across the market. U.S. revenue finished just under $3 billion, up 11% year over year, marking the U.S. business's eighth consecutive year of double-digit growth.

This performance was supported by strong client retention and continued growth in key parts of the business. Backed by one of the industry's strongest producer groups and highly collaborative service teams, Lockton achieved a 94% client revenue retention rate.

The firm also continued to strengthen its U.S. platform by expanding national industry verticals and specialty practices across Risk and People Solutions. In People Solutions, revenue surpassed $1 billion for the first time, reflecting sustained demand for integrated benefits, wellbeing, and advisory services. Together, these investments concentrate expertise, improve consistency, and make advanced capabilities more accessible to clients across markets.

International Highlights

Lockton's international business also delivered a strong year, continuing to build momentum across key markets. Despite uneven conditions across regions, the business achieved 15% growth, driven in part by 27% growth from People Solutions and ongoing strength in retail and specialty lines.

Lockton also continued to strengthen its international platform during the year, expanding operations in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Italy while further investing in its operating model, leadership, and client service teams across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific. Together, these investments reflect a deliberate strategy to be closer to clients, operate with greater local relevance, and deliver integrated expertise across borders as risk grows more global and interconnected.

Lockton Re

Lockton Re, the firm's global reinsurance business, continued its strong trajectory, delivering meaningful growth supported by expanded client relationships, geographic expansion, and targeted people, leadership, and capability investment. The business benefited from increased demand for sophisticated advisory support as insurers navigated evolving market dynamics, capital constraints, and portfolio optimization challenges.

Lockton Re continued to build out its capital markets and capital advisory capabilities, enhance global portfolio solutions, and invest in cyber‑ and credit‑related offerings, positioning the business to support clients across a broader range of risk transfer and capital solutions. These investments reinforce Lockton Re's role as a long‑term partner to clients amid changing reinsurance and capital markets conditions.

Technology, AI, and Innovation

Over the last year, Lockton made significant investments in data, analytics, and artificial intelligence to enhance client service, improve insight, and empower Associates across its global platform. These efforts are central to the firm's strategy to lead through advisory expertise while reducing friction and increasing consistency in how clients are served.

At the center of this work is Lockton SAGE, a proprietary, AI‑enabled technology ecosystem designed to connect data, analytics, and expertise to deliver smarter insights, faster decisions, and greater confidence across critical business decisions. Broader deployment of the platform will begin in fiscal year 2027, with continued investment planned across digital, analytics, and data capabilities.

"Artificial intelligence will reshape every aspect of risk and insurance," said Ron Lockton. "We see AI as an accelerator of human expertise, not a substitute for it. Our focus is on using technology to enhance judgment, insight, and the value we deliver to clients."

Culture and Talent

Lockton's performance continues to be underpinned by its unique culture and people. The firm employs nearly 15,000 Associates globally and is consistently recognized as an employer of choice. During fiscal year 2026, Lockton earned multiple workplace and industry accolades across the world, including Business Insurance's Best Places to Work in Insurance, Glassdoor's Employees' Choice Awards, Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal's U.S. Best Managed Companies, and Axco's Global Broker of the Year, among others.

For more information, visit www.lockton.com.

As organizations move beyond AI pilots and proofs of concept, a new challenge is emerging: AI agents struggle to retain memory, maintain state, and preserve context across sessions, workflows, tools, and teams. While many agents can perform tasks in isolated environments, scaling them into enterprise-grade systems often requires stitching together multiple disconnected components for memory, retrieval, file storage, and operational data.

The pressure to solve this is intensifying. According to Gartner, fewer than 5% of enterprise applications included task-specific AI agents in 2025, a figure expected to reach 40% by the end of 2026. Yet while 75% of organizations are piloting or deploying AI agents, only 15% are working with fully autonomous agents, a gap that points directly to the missing infrastructure layer beneath them.

The TiDB Agent State Stack closes that gap. It brings memory, state, and context management onto a single distributed SQL foundation, so the data an agent needs to act reliably lives in one place rather than scattered across systems that were never designed to work together.

"The agents our customers run in production spin up and discard millions of database instances a day. That starts with the database: Agents need a backbone that is ephemeral, concurrent, and stateful at once, and persistent and elastic enough to scale with them. TiDB is that backbone," said Max Liu, Co-founder and CEO of TiDB. "The TiDB Agent State Stack goes a layer further, adding specialized tools for memory, files, and artifacts on top. That is how teams finally move agents from prototype to production without stitching together a separate system for every kind of state."

The TiDB Agent State Stack combines three core components:

• TiDB Cloud Zero provides a zero-friction database foundation for agent workloads. With a single command, or an embedded skill inside the agent itself, developers provision a fully functional SQL backend to store session histories, task records, tool outputs, retrieval metadata, structured data, and runtime state.
• mem9 offers persistent memory for AI agents, letting them retain information across interactions, recall previous conversations, and build continuity over time. Rather than locking memory into a single model or framework, mem9 runs on TiDB Cloud as a portable memory layer.
• drive9 delivers a persistent workspace for files, artifacts, and agent-generated content. Agents can create, store, retrieve, and reason over documents and outputs while maintaining continuity across sessions and environments.

Together, these capabilities keep memory, operational data, retrieval metadata, files, and execution history connected as agent deployments scale. Most teams currently solve this with three or four disconnected systems, slowing time to market and creating multiple points of failure in production.

This launch strengthens TiDB's position as a foundational data platform for agentic AI. As model providers introduce their own proprietary memory and workflow features, the TiDB Agent State Stack keeps memory and state portable, governed, and independent of any single AI platform, giving enterprises the control and flexibility to own their agent architecture rather than renting it from a model vendor.

By bringing together TiDB Cloud Zero, mem9, and drive9, the TiDB Agent State Stack gives developers a practical path from prototype to production, so the next generation of enterprise AI agents can operate with the persistence, continuity, and reliability that real-world deployments demand.

Website: https://www.tidb.io/.

The partnership will support the deployment of Fox ESS's advanced residential, commercial, and industrial energy storage solutions throughout Australia, one of the world's most dynamic markets for renewable energy.

Anson Zhang, CEO of OSW, said:

"OSW and Fox ESS are both scaling rapidly across global markets, and this 5GWh two-year target reflects the strength of our shared vision. By combining OSW's global distribution network with Fox ESS's world‑class energy storage technology, we are well positioned to deliver greater value to customers in Australia and beyond. We look forward to deepening this partnership as both companies continue to expand worldwide."

Michael Zhu, CEO of Fox ESS, commented:

"OSW is an ambitious partner with a strong international footprint, and we are proud to strengthen our collaboration through this 5GWh agreement. Together, we will continue to expand the availability of high‑performance energy storage solutions across Australia while supporting the broader global transition to clean energy."

The agreement underscores Fox ESS's long‑term commitment to the Australian market and its strategy of partnering with leading distributors who share a strong global outlook and a dedication to delivering high‑quality renewable energy solutions.

For more information about Fox ESS, please visit: https://au.fox-ess.com/

Together, the companies will train a dedicated workforce of tens of thousands of forward-deployed, Claude-certified engineers and builders to bring Claude models into production inside the mission-critical technology infrastructure systems DXC operates for the world's largest banks, airlines, insurers, manufacturers, and government agencies.

The alliance builds on DXC's existing use of Claude in its own operations, including as the primary development tool used to build DXC OASIS, the company's AI-native orchestration platform for managed services. Using Claude models, DXC accelerated DXC OASIS software delivery by an estimated 10x, with more than 95% of code generated by Claude before human review. Claude now serves as the default foundation model powering DXC OASIS's agentic workflows. Launched in April 2026, DXC OASIS is currently deployed across more than 50 customers and will be rolled out across the DXC global customer base.

The alliance and its investments are built around DXC Xponential, the company's AI blueprint that connects technology with people and processes — while the Anthropic partnership strengthens it with certified Claude expertise and direct access to Anthropic's resources.

"DXC helps the world's largest banks, airlines, insurers, and government agencies put new technology to work. They proved Claude inside their own operations first, under the same security and compliance requirements their customers face. Now we're bringing Claude inside those environments together, industry by industry, with engineers who have already done it themselves." — Paul Smith, Chief Commercial Officer, Anthropic

"For more than fifty years, DXC and the companies it was built from run the systems that run the world. We know what it takes to deliver in these environments. This alliance with Anthropic combines trust and experience with the most advanced AI technology available and gives our customers something they cannot get anywhere else. We are already using Claude across our own operations and our new DXC OASIS platform. Now we are scaling that capability directly into the mission-critical technology systems we run for our customers. This is a defining moment for DXC and for the industry."

— Raul Fernandez, President & CEO, DXC Technology

Forward-Deployed Engineers: Recruited by DXC, Certified by Anthropic

At the center of the alliance, DXC is establishing a dedicated team of forward-deployed engineers to work directly inside customer environments. These engineers will be selectively recruited from DXC's existing engineering talent, trained and certified in 90 days through the Anthropic Partner Academy, receiving persistent, daily access to Claude and progressing through increasingly rigorous levels of proficiency in designing, deploying, and governing agentic AI systems. DXC has also developed additional certification curriculum to enhance its engineers' capability to operate in mission-critical environments.

The model reflects DXC's Customer Zero philosophy: the company validated Claude inside its own operations first, under production-grade security and compliance requirements, before bringing that capability to customers.

What's Next: New Offerings
Initial focus areas include insurance, cybersecurity, and application services, where DXC brings significant domain and operational expertise, and Claude's agentic AI capabilities can deliver value fastest inside customers' mission-critical environments.

• Insurance: Across organizations, DXC will leverage Claude to deploy agentic solutions and transform core systems aligned to each firm's unique context, operating model, and strategic intent.
• Modernization as a Service (MaaS): DXC is using Claude to accelerate large-scale code modernization for enterprise customers, applying agentic AI to analyze, refactor, and transform legacy codebases faster and with greater accuracy than traditional approaches.
• Cybersecurity: DXC OASIS security engineer sub-agent built on Claude Security will give DXC's cybersecurity team a decisive edge by deploying Claude across security operations centers (SOCs), realizing always-on, AI-driven cyber resilience.
• Application Services: DXC is leveraging Claude to develop Anthropic-certified DXC OASIS agents designed to embed Claude directly into the enterprise application maintenance and management environments DXC operates for its customers.

Learn more at dxc.com.

Originally launched as part of Madame Tussauds' biggest figure release in its 250-year history, this Taylor Swift wax figures celebrates the Lover era, showcasing the look that became the post image for the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film. The figure is dressed in a replica of the pink, blue and silver embellished Versace leotard. The look is completed with mesmerising, hand-applied strass Christian Louboutin knee-high boots, donated by the Maison, and bespoke embellished microphone created by Rebel Stage Gear UK, the specialist customisation company behind the original microphones Taylor used during the tour.

The campaign will run from 26 June to 27 September 2026. Designed as the ultimate fan celebration, it combines interactive experiences, limited-time activities and social moments inspired by Taylor Swift as one of the most influential and enduring artists of the 21st century.

Guests can enjoy an exclusive online promotion from 26 June to 12 July 2026, with 20% off tickets using promo code TAYLOR20; fans can also participate in a special social media giveaway activity following Madame Tussauds Singapore's Instagram account to win two pairs of attraction tickets.

Inside the attraction, Swifties will have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the experience through a series of themed activities, including:

• DIY Friendship Bracelet Booth (26 June to 12 July) – All ticket holders can create their own friendship bracelets inspired by the fan-favourite tradition made famous during The Eras Tour. Available while stocks last.

• Concert-Inspired Photo Props – Strike a pose with our exclusive concert-style blazer photo props for the ultimate concert-style photo moment.

• "Show Us Your Era" Challenge (26 June to 31 July) – Guests who take a photo with Taylor Swift wax figure, post it on social media and tag Madame Tussauds Singapore with #MadameTussaudsSG #MTSG will receive a free gift onsite, limited to the first 100 participants only.

Steven Chung, General Manager of Madame Tussauds Singapore said: "Last year's global Taylor Swift figure launch became a cultural moment in itself, and we're thrilled to bring one to Singapore. This summer, we welcome all Swifties to celebrate the joy, nostalgia and connection Taylor Swift has created for millions of fans around the world at Madame Tussauds Singapore."

The Taylor Swift touring figure will be available exclusively at Madame Tussauds Singapore from 26 June to 27 September 2026. For this limited time only, Swifties in Singapore will have the rare opportunity to step into one of her most iconic eras and create unforgettable moments of their own.

Madame Tussauds Singapore continues to bring fans closer to the world's biggest stars through immersive and interactive celebrity experiences, creating unforgettable memories for guests of all ages.

For more information, please visit www.madametussauds.com/singapore/

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

In the 2026–27 Budget, the Government allocated additional funding to schemes such as the "BUD Fund" to help enterprises strengthen competitiveness and expand into new markets through technologies like AI. Various initiatives will also be rolled out to support upgrading and development of enterprises. However, amid rapid market changes, many SMEs are unsure where to start. HKPC's "SME ReachOut" bridges policy resources with practical business needs, providing comprehensive, tailored support to address SMEs' challenges. This Expo is a key initiative by the team, offering a one-stop platform that guides SMEs step by step, from strategy formulation to execution, empowering brands to achieve borderless expansion through e-commerce.

5 Thematic Zones to Help SME's Going Global in One-stop

The Expo will feature 5 thematic exhibition zones, including Cross-border E-commerce Experience, New Retail Tech Application, Brand x IP Value-added, Smart Operations, and E-commerce Go-Global Support. Gathering 80+ exhibitors, the zones bring together e-commerce platforms, technology and business service providers, IP licensors, and Government funding booths. From platform selection and brand building to smart operations and worldwide expansion, all the key pillars of going global are precisely addressed.

10+ workshops and live showcases will be held, offering expert insights, success stories, practical examples, innovative solutions, instant consultations, and business matching opportunities to help SMEs develop effective plans for going global.

A dedicated Government funding zone will also guide SMEs on Government funding to accelerate their upgrade and expansion. To cater to the needs of relevant groups and stakeholders, exclusive guided tours will be arranged. Led by specialists, the tours will cover all five zones and help SMEs identify the most suitable support.

10 Seminars with Valuable Expertise Experiences for SMEs to Learn, Apply, and Go Global

To assist SMEs in grasping opportunities to go global, a total of 10 seminars will be hosted with various industry experts sharing insights on cross-border strategies, market trends, technology innovation, and inspiring IP brand collaboration stories. Details of the seminars can be found in Appendix I.

The sessions will cover key e-commerce topics, with highlights including:

• Cross-border E-commerce: How to convert online traffic into orders
• New Retail Technology: Utilising AI to save time and increase sales
• Brand x IP Value-added: Enhancing brand value and expanding into overseas markets through IP collaborations
• Smart Operations: Unlocking global payments and green supply chains, and leveraging logistics technology
• Go-Global Strategies: Avoiding cross-border trade pitfalls and opening up business opportunities with relevant Government funding schemes

HKPC cordially invites all SMEs to participate in this Expo, leveraging the rich cross-border e-commerce and funding information available on-site to capture opportunities for expanding brands and markets through e-commerce. SMEs are welcome to register and participate in the event with free admission.

[E-commerce Innovation Expo 2026]
Date: 25-26 June 2026 (Thursday to Friday)
Time: 10:00 – 18:00
Address: HKPC Building, 78 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon
Admission Fee: Free (Pre-registration required)
Registration Link: https://ecommexpo2026.com
Enquires: SME ReachOut Hotline: (852) 2788 6868; Email: sme_reachout@hkpc.org

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

In Asia Pacific (APAC), that pressure is even more pronounced as 37% of organizations admit investing aggressively with little evaluation – nearly double the global average, and well ahead of the US (10%) and Europe (13%). The pressure is most acute in Australia (45%) and Vietnam (44%), while in Singapore, more than one in three organizations admit the same.
The IDC InfoBrief, based on a survey of 800 technology leaders across APAC, Europe, and the US, found that AI has become one of the most prioritized technology investments globally, with 51% of organizations planning to prioritize AI or machine learning investment over the next 12 months – rising to 61% across APAC. However, returns are failing to keep pace with the hype. Just 19% of global organizations surveyed say their AI implementations have exceeded expectations, and only 5% report they have significantly exceeded them1.

Across APAC, 40% say implementations have exceeded or significantly exceeded expectations – ahead of the global average but still leaving the majority falling short. Globally, the most-cited reasons for underperformance are inadequate or poor-quality training data (51%), higher-than-expected costs or ROI not achieved (47%), and AI not performing as well as expected (46%). For APAC specifically, the picture is broadly similar – though costs bite harder: 49% cite poor-quality training data, 54% cite cost overruns or ROI not achieved (rising to 80% in Malaysia), and 46% say AI has simply not performed as expected.

Where organizations have the right foundations in place, the results speak for themselves. Across APAC, 87% report productivity improvements in the business units most affected by AI, and 82% say quality of work has improved.

Underpinning many of these challenges is also a network and infrastructure readiness gap. Globally, 26% of organizations whose AI implementations have failed to meet expectations cite inadequate network or connectivity performance as a contributing factor. Looking ahead, 54% of organizations say they need more flexible and scalable networks to thrive in an AI-driven environment, and 51% need greater resilience and reliability to maximize uptime2. In APAC, the gap is acute as only 9% of organizations describe their network infrastructure as fully ready to support new AI, cloud, and digital initiatives, and 37% say it will need upgrading or replacing soon. The need is most acute in Thailand (74%) and Singapore (58%), both of which rank above the regional average on demand for flexible, scalable networks. In Indonesia, nearly half of all organizations (48%) say their infrastructure will need upgrading or replacing soon.

Ben Elms, CEO, Expereo, says: "Every enterprise we speak to is investing in AI, yet the data shows a clear gap opening up between AI ambition and AI outcomes. More often than not, that gap comes down to the network underneath. AI only delivers on its promise when the infrastructure carrying it is built to support it.

Without resilient, scalable, cloud-optimized networks, even the most well-funded AI programs will struggle to deliver ROI. Getting the network right is no longer an IT decision; it is one of the most important conversations happening in the boardroom today to help fulfill AI ambition."

APAC is also leading on adoption, with 35% of organizations reporting extensive AI use across the business, against a global average of 25%3. Yet adoption alone is not enough without the right foundations beneath it.
Eric Wong, President, APAC, Expereo, says: "Asia Pacific is moving aggressively on AI adoption, but many organizations are discovering that scaling AI successfully requires more than just investment in applications and models. The underlying network, cloud connectivity, and operational readiness matter just as much. Across the region, we are seeing enterprises reassess whether their infrastructure is truly ready to support AI at scale, particularly around performance, resilience, governance, and visibility. Organizations that address those foundations early are generally seeing stronger outcomes and faster operational impact from their AI initiatives."

Boardrooms are also waking up to the longer-term risks of unchecked AI investment. According to the survey, 54% of global tech leaders cite the creation of new security risks as a significant potential future threat for their organization's use of AI, while 39% globally are concerned about losing track of AI-related costs and ROI once the technology is embedded across the business4. In APAC, that concern is sharper still as 41% of technology leaders in the region are worried about losing oversight of AI-related costs and ROI as adoption deepens – a figure that rises to 54% in Malaysia. Digital sovereignty is also moving up the strategic agenda, with 38% of APAC organizations rating it a high or top priority as they look to retain control over data and navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

For the full IDC InfoBrief, commissioned by Expereo, "Enterprise Horizons 2026: Where Innovation Meets Reality" (doc #EUR154457526-IB, May 2026)

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

According to Ly Nguyen, Market Research manager at Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, key transport arteries such as Mai Chi Tho Boulevard and the Saigon River Tunnel have played a pivotal role in shaping a 'core-to-core' urban structure, directly linking the city's existing financial centre in former District 1 with the emerging urban hub of Thu Thiem, creating a dual-core growth corridor of Ho Chi Minh City.

“Major infrastructure projects such as Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh–Suoi Tien), Ring Road 3, the An Phu Interchange, and the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway are reducing travel times while reshaping real estate values across the entire area. Both investors and end-users are reassessing the long-term potential of eastern Ho Chi Minh City within the context of the city's evolving urban landscape,” said Nguyen.

In Ho Chi Minh City’s broader urban planning framework, infrastructure development in the eastern area serves to enhance connectivity and plays a critical role in the city’s polycentric development strategy, aimed at easing the population and economic pressures concentrated in the traditional urban core, including former Districts 1, 3, and Binh Thanh.

This direction is clearly reflected in the city’s revised Master Plan to 2040, with a vision to 2060, under which Ho Chi Minh City is transitioning from a monocentric model to a multi-centre urban structure featuring several distributed growth poles. In this framework, the eastern is positioned as a centre for economic activity, innovation, and high-end urban services.

This strategic positioning provides a strong long-term foundation for real estate values in the area. When an urban growth pole is clearly defined through policy and supported by adequate infrastructure, the relocation of residents, businesses, and investment capital from the inner city to surrounding districts is no longer a spontaneous trend but rather a structured and increasingly irreversible process.

Eastern Ho Chi Minh City is also among the few urban areas that still possess significant development potential along major riverfront corridors, particularly the Saigon and Dong Nai rivers. This comes as the city accelerates plans to develop riverside corridors aimed at enhancing public spaces and improving overall urban quality. Combined with strategic transport connectivity, these natural landscape advantages provide a rare opportunity for the long-term development of high-quality residential communities.

Beyond transport infrastructure, the eastern area is increasingly establishing itself as a knowledge-based economic hub, anchored by two key growth drivers: the Saigon High-Tech Park (SHTP) and the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City more than 80,000 students are enrolled, as well as numerous research institutes and R&D centres operated by multinational corporations.

According to Cushman & Wakefield, this ecosystem provides a solid foundation for attracting sustainable foreign direct investment while fostering a high-quality residential community comprising expatriates, technology professionals, and a growing pool of knowledge workers.

This group typically prioritises housing close to employment centres and tends to have well-defined residential preferences, including completed infrastructure, a secure living environment, premium amenities, and spacious living areas. These are requirements that the current housing supply in the eastern corridor has yet to fully satisfy.

The gradual completion of infrastructure across the eastern region is also creating a new filtering mechanism within the local real estate market. As infrastructure transitions from a future expectation to a tangible and verifiable reality, buyers, particularly in the mid- to high-end segments, are becoming increasingly selective in their purchasing decisions.

In the real market, a clear movement in buyer behaviour is seen, which shifts from increased value towards a stronger focus on intrinsic value. Factors such as planning quality, legal transparency, the actual delivery and operation of amenities, and the long-term livability of a community are becoming key considerations in the decision-making process.

For high-income homebuyers, real estate is no longer viewed solely as a financial asset but also as a reflection of lifestyle quality. This requires consistency between a developer's vision and its ability to deliver on that promise in practice.

This poses a significant challenge for projects with incomplete internal infrastructure, unresolved legal procedures, or amenity development plans that are scheduled to be delivered over an extended period.

In contrast, projects that have achieved a high level of completion in terms of legal status, infrastructure, amenities, and connectivity are well positioned to benefit directly from this shift in buyer preferences.

Against this backdrop, IKI Village, developed by An Khai Hung Investment, is seen as a project that reflects the evolving preferences of the high-end end-user segment in eastern Ho Chi Minh City. The development enjoys direct access to the Go Cong-Ring Road 3 interchange, one of the city's most strategically important regional transport corridors for the coming decade.

IKI Village is being developed as a low-density riverside urban community, guided by a design philosophy that places people and long-term wellbeing at its core. Rather than competing on the sheer number of amenities, the project focuses on the attributes increasingly sought after by affluent owner-occupiers such as extensive green spaces, thoughtfully designed living environments that offer privacy and depth, and a sustainable residential setting suitable for multi-generational families.

This approach mirrors a broader trend emerging across more mature urban markets in the region, where real estate value is no longer defined solely by location or floor area, but increasingly by a project's ability to enhance residents' quality of life and deliver meaningful long-term livability.

IKI Village is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2028

With its people-centric positioning and the increasingly robust connectivity infrastructure of eastern Ho Chi Minh City, IKI Village represents a new generation of real estate developments that are gradually redefining market standards: not competing on short-term speculative appeal but genuine end-user value, long-term livability, and sustainable growth potential.

An Khai Hung launches IKI Village residential project in Ho Chi Minh City An Khai Hung Investment has broken ground on a residential project in Ho Chi Minh City, featuring private green gardens and direct access to Ring Road 3.

Over the past decade, Vietnam has rapidly scaled its renewable energy capacity, particularly in solar and wind. This expansion has reshaped the country's energy mix and positioned Vietnam as a reference point for clean energy development across Southeast Asia.

The context is also shifting. Across Southeast Asia, energy demand is projected to account for around 25 per cent of global growth by 2035. ASEAN has committed to raising the share of renewable electricity to 45 per cent by 2030, a target that demands more clean capacity and grids capable of managing it reliably at scale. Vietnam, as one of the region's most dynamic economies, sits at the centre of that challenge.

Minh Nguyen, Vietnam country manager of Global Energy Alliance (GEA), said, “The next phase of Vietnam's energy transition will be defined by how well battery storage, digitalisation, and grid modernisation function as a single system. Treating these as separate priorities risks missing what the transition requires: coordinated transformation that turns renewable capacity into reliable, affordable power.”

She noted that Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are central to that integration. They support renewable absorption, provide essential grid services, and allow operators the flexibility to manage variability at scale. Their value depends on how they are deployed alongside grid modernisation and digitalisation as part of a unified approach.

“The stakes extend beyond the grid,” she said. “As energy systems become more integrated with essential services such as healthcare and disaster response, their reliability directly affects how communities withstand climate shocks.”

Under the revised Power Development Plan VIII, Vietnam is targeting between 10 and 16.3 GW of battery storage by 2030. In the near term, around 1.2 GW of grid-connected BESS is being prioritised, with early deployments focused on system balancing and operational learning. These steps signal both progress and the scale of what comes next.

Reaching this level of deployment requires progress across regulatory frameworks, technical standards, market mechanisms, and investment readiness. Early projects are generating insights, but translating these into system-wide outcomes requires structured alignment and clear pathways for scale.

Tuong Do, Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) Energy project development specialist, said, “Deploying storage at this level is as much an institutional challenge as a technical one. Utilities are looking for support in commissioning, system configuration, and long-term asset management. Interest in digital tools, including digital twins, is also growing as a way to improve system visibility and performance across the asset lifecycle.”

This shift moves the transition from isolated pilots to integrated system transformation. The Grids of the Future approach reflects this, placing distribution-level modernisation, digitalisation, and storage at the centre, with a focus on how they enable utilities to plan, operate, and scale effectively.

A key part of operationalising this in Vietnam is the BESS Task Force, led in coordination with the GEA, which bridges early implementation with longer-term policy and market development. By drawing on EVN-led pilots and technical studies, it helps ensure that initial deployments contribute to scalable outcomes.

Do from JETP Energy noted that parallel efforts supported by the United Nations Development Programme demonstrate how these system-level investments translate on the ground. Distributed solar PV systems integrated with battery storage are being deployed in public health facilities, supporting uninterrupted care during power disruptions and strengthening local resilience.

“These initiatives are expected to directly benefit around 2,800 people and indirectly support approximately 64,000, with a focus on equitable access, including women and vulnerable groups in climate-sensitive areas. This approach reflects a broader effort to align energy systems with development outcomes, including stronger healthcare delivery, improved disaster preparedness, and more inclusive pathways for communities most exposed to climate risks,” he added.

According to experts, there is growing focus on how BESS participates in the broader power system, including ancillary services and integration into Vietnam's evolving wholesale electricity market. Clear participation models, pricing mechanisms, and revenue streams will be critical to building a bankable market for storage.

Capacity building remains a priority as utilities prepare to operate more complex systems. The proposed Battery Energy Storage Centre of Excellence reflects the need to strengthen technical expertise across stakeholders.

Institutional readiness depends on strong environmental and social governance. Structured stakeholder engagement, grievance mechanisms, and transparent benefit-sharing are increasingly integrated into project design to support long-term sustainability and trust.

This transition will be defined by how systems are planned, coordinated, and built to last. It requires alignment between policy and execution, and sustained collaboration between government, utilities, and partners, working alongside national institutions.

Vietnam has demonstrated what is possible when ambition is matched with coordinated action. The opportunity now is to build on that foundation, advancing storage, digitalisation, and grid modernisation as parts of a single system. Done well, this transition strengthens reliability, supports essential services, and reinforces community resilience within a broader agenda of long-term development and inclusion.

Coro Energy to launch BESS Pilot in Vietnam Coro Energy PLC, a Southeast Asian renewable energy developer, on December 3 announced that it has signed a deal with Mobile World Group (MWG) for the delivery of a co-located Battery Energy Storage System Pilot (BESS Pilot) at one of Coro's existing rooftop solar sites in Ho Chi Minh City.

ACCV signs BESS - rooftop solar MoUs with Korean manufacturers Asia Clean Capital Vietnam is partnering with South Korean manufacturers to advance battery energy storage and rooftop solar integration in Vietnam’s industrial sector.

Ministry backs local BESS production to boost renewable energy use Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hoang Long has said the ministry will support local firms in developing products for battery energy storage systems to help promote renewable energy.

Siddharth Deshpande, director of Industry Solutions at Palo Alto Networks in Asia-Pacific and Japan, shared with Vietnamese media on June 11

In today’s agentic era, AI agents are becoming ubiquitous across the enterprise, spanning customer-facing roles, backend systems, applications and browsers. While this rapid adoption accelerates innovation and productivity, it also creates a high-stakes reality by expanding the threat landscape. Attackers are weaponising AI to scale their operations with greater speed, volume and precision. According to the latest research from Unit 42, the fastest 25 per cent of intrusions reached exfiltration in just over an hour – down from 4.8 hours a year earlier.

This threat is becoming even more acute in Vietnam, where rapid AI adoption is simultaneously expanding the country's digital ambitions and its attack surface. In 2025, Vietnam recorded approximately 552,000 cyberattacks, with 52.3 per cent of organisations reporting damage, up from 46.15 per cent the year prior, as attackers grow more sophisticated and increasingly AI-assisted.

Against this backdrop, Vietnam's digital economy reached $39 billion in 2025, growing 17 per cent year-on-year. As organisations race to embed AI, including emerging frontier systems, into core operations, they are introducing vulnerability vectors that traditional security frameworks were simply not built to handle.

Driven by a surge in sophisticated, frontier AI models, cybersecurity has hit a critical turning point. The speed and scale at which these models can be weaponised pose a generational challenge to traditional security programmes. It has enabled attackers to rapidly discover new vulnerabilities and generate corresponding exploits almost instantly.

Siddharth Deshpande, director of Industry Solutions at Palo Alto Networks in Asia-Pacific and Japan, said, “Frontier AI will continue to accelerate this window, meaning attackers can discover and weaponise vulnerabilities at machine speed. To fight AI with AI, organisations must leverage Frontier AI models to find and fix vulnerabilities, remediate exposures holistically, ensure attack protections across their digital estate and deploy real time security operations.”

“The average organisation is juggling 83 security tools from 29 vendors, and this is not sustainable. Security is often treated as an endless game of whack-a-mole, but it is entirely solvable. By moving away from fragmented tools and embracing a unified platform - one that operates in real time to outpace modern threats, leverages AI to protect every user and application, and seamlessly integrates best-in-class, open technologies - we can transform security from a reactive struggle into a proactive, absolute defence.”

In Vietnam, where the rapid pace of digital transformation has opened up massive avenues for enterprise growth, it has concurrently expanded the digital surface available to malicious actors.

Over the past year, Vietnam has moved from early-stage experimentation to more scaled, practical deployment, with organisational adoption rising from approximately in 2025, positioning the country among the fastest-growing AI markets in Southeast Asia.

This momentum is reinforced by the Law on AI and the government’s plan to establish a National AI Development Fund for 2026–2027, aimed at accelerating research, innovation, and real-world application. By framing AI as core national infrastructure, Vietnam is not only advancing its digital economy, but also increasing the urgency to address the more complex and evolving risks that come with widespread AI adoption.

Safeguarding this expanding ecosystem requires moving beyond the mindset of simply deploying point products to block visibility gaps. Instead, Vietnamese enterprises must proactively secure the entire lifecycle of their data and models, ensuring national resilience aligned with evolving governance standards.

Hoang Quang Huy, country manager, Vietnam, Palo Alto Networks

Hoang Quang Huy, country manager, Vietnam, Palo Alto Networks, said, "Vietnam’s AI ambitions are among the most forward-looking in Southeast Asia, and the pace of adoption is remarkable. However, this rapid progress also requires a fundamental rethink of cybersecurity. True AI security is not about stacking disparate tools - it is about protecting AI across the entire supply chain in an enterprise.”

“Palo Alto Networks is committed to securing Vietnam’s digital future by giving organisations the guardrails to move fast and scale safely. Through an integrated platform approach, we ensure that every machine identity, AI agent, and workload is protected under a single, cohesive ecosystem, allowing Vietnamese organisations to lead the market with confidence.”

Palo Alto Networks ingests 500 billion events and blocks 30 billion attacks daily, providing customers with the security tools that match the lightspeed pace of AI innovation. For Vietnam, this means enterprises and local small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) alike have access to the same world-class security infrastructure deployed by the world's leading corporations, the foundation needed to pursue AI ambitions without compromising resilience.

In a fast-changing world, Palo Alto Networks ensures a level playing field, empowering Vietnamese enterprises and local SMBs with the same world-class security tools deployed by major global corporations.

Digital future for SMEs: no transformation without cybersecurity shield As digital transformation becomes a matter of survival for businesses, a forum held in Hanoi on April 15 underscored that digital growth cannot be achieved without robust cybersecurity, data protection and resilience in the online environment.

Cybersecurity and AI threats outpacing readiness, study says Fragmentation, alert overload, and rising AI ambition are driving a shift towards platform-based, AI-powered security, a new study says.

Fragmented systems, talent gaps are Vietnam's weakest cyber defence As AI-powered cyberattacks grow more sophisticated and disruptive, experts warn that Vietnam’s biggest vulnerability now lies in fragmented systems, talent shortages, and the lack of cybersecurity awareness across organisations and society.

Cyberattack risks on the increase The National Innovation Centre in collaboration with the Vietnam Innovation Network and Cybersecurity Experts Network and SUNEdu International Education JSC, held a training programme “Cybersecurity for Digital Transformation” from June 1-3 in Ho Chi Minh City.

What changes have you observed in guest expectations in recent years?

Travellers today are looking for experiences that feel more personal and authentic. Luxury used to be defined by physical elements, such as larger spaces, elaborate services, and formality. Those elements still matter, but they are no longer enough on their own.

Now people value emotional comfort and genuine connection. They want experiences that feel relevant to the way they travel and connect to the destination.

Sometimes the most memorable part of a stay is not something extravagant. It can be as simple as a colleague remembering a guest’s preferences, recommending a local coffee shop that they might never have discovered otherwise, or suggesting a small, family-run restaurant that only locals frequent.

For a hotspot like Nha Trang, there is a quiet shift happening. Long known for its coastline and relaxed beach lifestyle, the destination is gradually evolving into something more layered: a destination where business travellers stay longer, domestic travellers return more intentionally, and guests seek experiences that feel connected to local life.

This shift reflects a broader change happening across the hospitality industry. Travellers today still appreciate beautiful hotels and memorable destinations. But what they remember most is how a place made them feel.

With more than two decades of experience across the Asia-Pacific region, I bring a global perspective to hospitality. Yet my philosophy is remarkably simple. I do not talk much about luxury in the traditional sense. My focus is more on genuine care, human connection, and the emotional side of travel.

Long known for its coastline and relaxed beach lifestyle, Nha Trang is gradually evolving into something more layered: a destination where business travellers stay longer, domestic travellers return more intentionally and guests seek experiences that feel connected to local life. Photo: Hyatt Regency Nha Trang

How would you define luxury for today’s travellers?

To me, luxury today is about feeling understood. People travel more frequently now, and many guests have already experienced beautiful hotels around the world. What truly stands out is not necessarily excess, but how thoughtfully a place anticipates your needs and how naturally it connects you to the destination.

Modern luxury is becoming quieter and more intentional. Less about showing something and more about creating a feeling.

Rather than spending all their time within the hotel, many guests now want to engage with the rhythm of the city itself, explore neighbourhood coffee shops, discover local cuisine, and experience everyday interactions.

I see this as an opportunity rather than a challenge. I have always believed a hotel should not feel disconnected from where it is. The most memorable experiences happen when guests feel a genuine sense of connection with the place they are visiting.

This philosophy is reflected throughout Hyatt Regency Nha Trang’s daily operations, where local influences, cultural storytelling, and authentic experiences are thoughtfully woven into the guest journey.

Luxury in Nha Trang Photo: Hyatt Regency Nha Trang

Why is it important for a hotel to feel relevant not only to travellers, but also to local residents?

Because hospitality should feel connected to real life. When residents choose to spend time in a hotel, whether for dining, celebrations, or simply as part of their routine, it creates a different kind of energy. The hotel becomes part of the city rather than separate from it.

I think travellers feel that authenticity as well. They want places that feel vibrant and naturally rooted in the local community.

As Nha Trang continues to evolve, the future of hospitality will become increasingly people-centred, guided by emotional intelligence, cultural connection, and thoughtful care.

And perhaps that is what modern luxury ultimately means today: not simply creating impressive places, but creating places where people genuinely feel welcome, comfortable, and connected.

At the centre of that philosophy is Hyatt’s long-standing purpose: We care for people so they can be their best. Those “people” extend far beyond hotel guests. They include colleagues, business partners, residents, and the community surrounding the hotel.

For us, hospitality begins with people. In an industry often defined by flawless presentation and polished experiences, I believe genuine hospitality starts somewhere less visible. It comes from the people creating those moments every day.

The guest experience is never created by one person alone. It comes from the proactive and collective efforts of the team. It begins with whether colleagues feel respected, supported, and empowered to do their best work every day.

As travellers become more emotionally perceptive, authenticity matters more than ever. Guests notice warmth, recognise sincerity, and are drawn to places that feel human rather than overly curated.

Leadership is less about hierarchy and more about consistency, trust, and creating an environment where people feel confident enough to care naturally. When colleagues feel genuinely valued, that feeling always reaches the guest in a meaningful way. You cannot separate the colleague experience from the guest experience.

It is a mindset that shapes the culture I am cultivating at Hyatt Regency Nha Trang, one that feels welcoming, intuitive, and deeply human.

It is the small details that matter most. Despite overseeing a large-scale luxury hotel, I focus on these small details.

It can be a warm and genuine welcome, smiling eyes when greeting a guest, or the feeling of being remembered. These are the moments I believe guests carry with them long after they leave. People may forget certain things they saw, but they rarely forget how they felt during their stay.

My view is shaped by my own journey within Hyatt. Before becoming a general manager, I began my hospitality career unexpectedly as a steward in Australia, an experience I once described as the moment I discovered the joy of working with people from different cultures and backgrounds. More than 20 years later, that same curiosity and openness continue to define my leadership style.

“In addition, businesses need to stay abreast of green consumption trends, sustainable products, solutions to working capital challenges, and modern distribution channels,” Quyen said.

Alongside improving compliance capabilities and enhancing their ability to respond to trade barriers, developing modern distribution channels has also been identified as a key solution for businesses seeking to expand their presence in North America.

Huynh Le Dai Thang, director of Nghia Son Wood Furniture Co., Ltd., shared practical experience in leveraging cross-border e-commerce.

According to Thang, businesses need to shift their mindset from selling what they have to selling what customers truly need.

“To succeed on international e-commerce platforms, enterprises should make systematic investments in market research, brand protection, long-term capital planning, appropriate warehousing systems, and teams capable of advanced data management and analytics,” said Thang.

From the perspective of an e-commerce platform, Huyen Vu, senior account manager at Amazon Global Selling Vietnam, noted that the US furniture and home furnishing market is projected to reach approximately $265 billion in sales in 2026. Of this, e-commerce is expected to account for 34.61 per cent of total industry sales.

“Vietnam currently enjoys several competitive advantages, including abundant raw material resources, strong manufacturing capabilities, and the flexibility to fulfill orders that are well suited to the online business environment,” said Vu.

Amazon Global Selling has been implementing a range of specialised training programmes to help Vietnamese wood products manufacturers build global brands, covering everything from market research and product development to storefront operations and sales optimisation.

Alongside e-commerce, logistics remains a critical factor in export performance. According to Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh, E-commerce Business director at Vinalink Logistics JSC, North America continues to offer significant growth opportunities for furniture, home furnishing, and home decor products through cross-border e-commerce platforms.

“To optimise costs and ensure timely delivery, businesses should proactively develop transportation plans, prepare complete documentation, and thoroughly understand the importing country's specialised inspection requirements. For wood-based products, compliance with declaration requirements under the US Lacey Act is an important obligation that must be strictly observed,” Linh said.

According to data from Vietnam Customs, North America continues to be a high-consumption market and plays a particularly important role in Vietnam’s export activities. Over the years, the region has consistently accounted for approximately one-third of the country’s total export turnover.

In 2025, the US remained Vietnam’s largest export market, with export value reaching $37.85 billion. For the wood industry, 2025 marked a significant milestone as exports of wood and wood products surpassed $17 billion for the first time.

Vietnam also maintained its position as the largest supplier of wooden furniture to the US market, with export value reaching $9.46 billion.

Vietnam maintained its position as the largest supplier of wooden furniture to the US market. Photo: Le Toan

Nestle sells North American spring water brands for $4.3 bn Swiss food giant Nestle on Tuesday announced the sale of its regional spring water brands, plus two of its other North American efforts, to One Rock Capital Partners and Metropoulos & Co for $4.3 billion (3.5 billion euros).

Another 42 per cent cap their tolerance for tariff-related cost increase at 40 per cent–a threshold far lower than expected, according to the survey published on June 4.

This is Deloitte's fifth study on the evolving complexity of the tax and business environment of the region. With the evolvement of the business landscape, this year's study takes a sharper, more executive-focused lens, capturing perspectives from tax leaders and C-suite decision makers. The result is a concise view of what shapes business decisions today, and how tax and tariff considerations influence strategic decisions.

Deloitte's 2025 Asia Pacific Tax & Tariff Complexity Survey, conducted between August 1 to September 21, 2025, has received inputs from 363 senior executives from a diversified industrial background across the region.

Instead of relying heavily on price adjustments to absorb tariff shocks, executives now view them more as short‑term stopgaps rather than viable long‑term strategies. This shift in mindset reflects a broader recalibration: leaders are increasingly prepared to rethink their operating models when cost pressures intensify, signalling a more proactive and strategic approach to supply‑chain resilience.

Nearly 70 per cent of respondents indicated that their primary focus in supply chain decisions has shifted from minimising costs to focusing on reliability, stability, or strategic alignment. This integrated approach has encountered several key internal obstacles beyond macroeconomic volatility.

More than half of those surveyed cited operational challenges as stemming from internal gaps–insufficient processes, limited data capabilities, critical skill shortages, and workforce downsizing–making up 51 per cent of the total. As a result, transforming the tax operating model has moved rapidly up the C-suite agenda. Operational readiness is no longer a baseline expectation, but a true competitive differentiator.

“Vietnam is one of the markets directly impacted by shifts in regional supply chains, so the survey findings closely reflect what we have observed while working with businesses here,” said Bui Minh Tuan, Deloitte Vietnam Tax & Legal leader.

“Many business leaders are placing greater emphasis on reliability and operational readiness rather than focusing solely on tax costs. Amid significant changes to the domestic tax and legal framework, we believe that elevating the tax function from compliance to strategic decision support will help businesses respond more effectively to future uncertainties.”

To help organisations navigate this complexity, Deloitte introduces the Strategic Response Compass. The compass orients decisions around three critical pillars: Cost Signals (pricing and cash flow sensitivity as catalysts for change), Alignment (supply chain and stakeholder ecosystems as connective strength), and Enablement (digital and operational readiness as engines of transformation).

Eunice Kuo, Deloitte Asia Pacific Tax & Legal leader, said that at the regional level, “tax and tariff volatility has shifted from a background issue to a central factor for any business. Treat cost signals as early warnings, align ecosystems beyond cost, and embed digital enablement at the core. Those that act on these imperatives will not only withstand shocks but will transform volatility into foresight, momentum, and lasting competitive advantage.”

Tax sector eyes 20 per cent GDP revenue mobilisation in 2026-2030 The Finance Ministry has tasked the tax sector with boosting budget revenue mobilisation, expanding taxation in the digital economy and accelerating smart tax administration reforms for 2026-2030.

Tax circular amendments aim to ease import-export procedures The Ministry of Finance is accelerating reforms to modernise import-export tax administration, expand digitalisation, and create a more transparent regulatory framework.

Vietnam moves towards data-driven tax administration Vietnam’s tax system is being urged to accelerate the adoption of big data, AI and digital technologies across the entire tax management process. The long-term goal is to build a modern, intelligent and internationally aligned tax governance system.

Now in its 18^th run, HYLI continues to serve as Hitachi's flagship youth leadership platform, connecting promising university students with leaders from business, government, academia, civil society, and development sectors.

This year's theme reflected a timely call for collective action: the region's most urgent challenges, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), can only be addressed when countries, communities, sectors, and generations move together with shared purpose.

HYLI 2026 Opens in Cebu

HYLI 2026 formally opened at Crimson Mactan with ceremonies attended by delegates, mentors, senior Hitachi leaders, diplomatic and government representatives, private-sector leaders, sustainability advocates, partners, and guests from the University of San Carlos.

The opening ceremonies featured messages from Hitachi leaders and distinguished guests of honor, including Toshiaki Higashihara, Executive Chairman of Hitachi, Ltd.; Yudai Ueno, Consul-General of Japan in Cebu; Ms. Josephine Gotianun-Yap, Vice Chairperson of Filinvest Development Corporation; Ms. Lorena Dellagiovanna, Group Chief Sustainability Officer of Hitachi, Ltd.; and Honorable Nestor Archival, Mayor of Cebu City.

Their remarks framed HYLI 2026 around sustainability, shared responsibility, and the leadership values of ownership, engagement, and empathy.

These values were echoed by Philip Dy, President of the Metrobank Foundation and a HYLI alumnus from the 7^th batch in 2005. In his keynote speech, Dy reflected on his experience at HYLI and how it shaped the leader he is today. He urged delegates to connect meaningfully with their peers and explore what truly drives them.

Since its inception in 1996, HYLI has inspired over 400 talented university students, including Dy, to broaden their perspectives and discuss key global issues.

"Guided by our mission of contributing back to the society, I'm heartened to see HYLI delegates from diverse cultures gathered to solve societal challenges. HYLI 2026 reminded us that young leaders are not only preparing for the future – they are already helping shape it. Through the theme 'Flow as One,' we saw how dialogue, empathy, and collaboration can connect diverse ideas into meaningful action for society. I am confident that HYLI will continue to create more opportunities for these young social innovators and build a more inclusive society," said Kojin Nakakita, Chairman of Hitachi Asia Ltd.

Turning ideas into youth-led solutions

Throughout the week, delegates worked closely with mentors and peers to explore sustainability challenges from regional, social, environmental, and economic perspectives. Topics included access to clean water across Asia, the region's skills gap, sustainable bio-mining for a circular rare earth economy, and marine plastic pollution.

Delegates then translated these insights into their presentations, proposing solutions and receiving feedback from leaders, mentors, and fellow participants — reinforcing HYLI's role as a platform for critical thinking, bold communication, and cross-border solutions.

Learning sustainability through real-world experiences

HYLI 2026 also brought delegates beyond the conference room to explore sustainability across Cebu. At the Olango Marine Sanctuary, students took part in learning experiences that included fish feeding and mangrove viewing, deepening their understanding of marine biodiversity, coastal resilience, and the role communities play in protecting natural ecosystems.

Delegates also had immersions in two of Hitachi's key project sites: Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) System site and Seawater Desalination System (SWRO) site, showing how technology, infrastructure, and partnerships can contribute to more sustainable operations.

Leadership grounded in community impact

The week also included a purposeful community activity where delegates assembled back-to-school kits for local beneficiaries.

By taking part in hands-on community work, delegates were able to translate the spirit of "Flow as One" into a shared act of support for children and communities in need.

Building understanding across borders

Beyond sustainability and leadership sessions, HYLI 2026 showcased the diversity of its participating countries through a Cultural Night featuring performances from each delegation. The evening celebrated friendship and cross-cultural appreciation, reminding participants that collaboration begins with understanding one another.

As HYLI 2026 concluded, Cebu became a living classroom for sustainability, culture, innovation, and community in action - inspiring a generation of leaders to create positive change across Asia.

For more information and updates on the Hitachi Young Leaders Initiative, visit https://www.hitachi.asia/hyli/2026/.

Now in its sixth edition, AI+ Power 2026 brought together more than 10,000 business leaders and decision-makers, over 60 AI solution providers, and 150 industry experts under the theme "AI+ Power in Action." The event served as a platform for exploring how artificial intelligence is being translated from emerging technology into practical business applications.

At the event, Coremail demonstrated how AI is reshaping enterprise communication and collaboration through its AI-Native Secure Email System, highlighting new approaches to productivity, workflow automation, and secure AI adoption within the workplace.

As generative AI moves beyond experimentation and into day-to-day business operations, organizations are increasingly focused on how to deploy AI securely, efficiently, and at scale. The Coremail AI-Native Secure Email System was designed to address some of the most common challenges in enterprise communication, including information overload, time-consuming manual processing, and fragmented AI workflows.

"AI is evolving from a productivity assistant into a core component of enterprise operations," said Tim Lin, CTO of Coremail. "In the future, organizations will not simply use AI; they will work alongside AI agents. Email is no longer just a channel for communication. It is increasingly becoming a collaborative platform that connects people, data, applications, and AI agents. Through an AI-native architecture, we aim to help enterprises integrate AI more naturally into everyday workflows and unlock new levels of operational efficiency."

Six Core Scenarios Supporting Agent-Driven Workflows

Built on an AI-native architecture, the system uses large language models as its cognitive engine and AI agents as its execution layer, enabling a shift from traditional human-driven email management toward agent-assisted workflows.

The system supports six core enterprise scenarios: email classification, scheduling, approval workflows, email-based office operations, email analytics, and system administration. Powered by a multi-agent architecture, it can assist with meeting coordination, complex email retrieval, intelligent email analysis, and automated classification, helping organizations improve information processing and cross-functional collaboration.

User-Level Sandbox Model Enhances Security and Control

Security and governance remain central concerns for enterprises adopting AI. To address these requirements, Coremail combines its ReAct (Reasoning + Acting) execution framework with a user-level sandbox model, isolating AI execution environments from user data while enforcing the principle of least privilege.

This architecture enhances the security, traceability, and controllability of AI-driven actions, helping organizations balance innovation with data protection and compliance requirements.

Open Ecosystem Powered by MCP

Beyond security, the platform is designed to operate within an open and extensible ecosystem. The system supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling organizations to securely connect third-party tools and APIs within sandboxed environments.

By integrating business systems, data sources, and external services, enterprises can expand AI use cases according to their operational needs and transform email from a traditional information container into a business information hub.

Greater Visibility into AI Resource Usage

To help organizations manage AI adoption more effectively, the platform includes built-in monitoring capabilities for model consumption and token usage. Usage data can be analyzed across multiple dimensions, including model type, user, and request source, providing greater visibility into AI resource utilization and operational costs.

The user experience has also been redesigned with productivity in mind. Features such as a three-pane information layout, optimized grouping logic, and contextual floating prompts are intended to streamline navigation and improve day-to-day email workflows.

With more than 27 years of experience in enterprise email technology, Coremail today serves over 20,000 enterprise customers and more than one billion end users worldwide. Looking ahead, the company will continue to explore the convergence of artificial intelligence and enterprise communication, helping organizations build smarter, more secure, and more efficient digital workplaces.

For more information, please visit: www.coremail.ai

With armed forces increasingly facing radio-frequency jamming, GNSS disruption, and electronic attack, the MRM2-10AI sets a new standard in resilient communications, intelligent autonomy, and mission continuity, enabling it to succeed where conventional drone systems struggle.

At the heart of the platform is a hybrid communications architecture combining Orqa's proven IRONghost radio control system with native fiber-optic integration and automatic communications failover. This enables the MRM2-10AI to use either communication method without platform reconfiguration and instantly transition to the radio-frequency link if the fiber-optic connection is broken.

The MRM2-10AI features a powerful new Auto Pilot Board that unlocks a series of cutting-edge autonomous capabilities, including vision-based terminal guidance for GNSS-denied operations, advanced computer vision applications, battlefield analytics, and collaborative multi-drone operations.

A fully open development architecture and a supported third-party Developer Program (developer.orqafpv.com) provides a foundation for AI capabilities and software solutions, while ATAK compatibility supports seamless integration with existing battlefield management and situational awareness systems.

"As the nature of warfare continues to evolve, drone operators require systems that can remain effective in contested spaces," said Srdjan Kovacevic, co-founder and CEO of Orqa. "The MRM2-10AI combines resilient communications, onboard intelligence, and autonomous capability in a platform designed to keep missions moving. It represents the next step in tactical drone capability for today's armed forces."

Available in multiple configurations to meet a variety of mission requirements - including variants equipped with advanced thermal imaging and enhanced processing capabilities - the MRM2-10AI is being officially launched at Eurosatory 2026, the global event for defence and security in Paris.