GBA-ASEAN Push: Hong Kong’s tech-and-trade partners are looking south: the Philippines’ trade chief told the SCMP GBA-ASEAN Summit that Manila is ready to be the “gateway” for Greater Bay Area firms into ASEAN, pitching a mix of Hong Kong/GBA finance and tech with a young, digital workforce. AI Hardware & Markets: Asia tracked Wall Street’s rebound after a tech sell-off, with investors watching whether the AI boom can keep its momentum as the yen stays near multi-decade lows and geopolitics (US-Iran) keeps markets jumpy. Tencent Signals Confidence: Tencent is accelerating Hong Kong buybacks, spending over HK$9bn in June as investors question how WeChat’s heavy AI investments will translate into monetisation. Cross-border Chip Scrutiny: Taiwan raided Super Micro Computer and other firms in an expanded Nvidia AI chip smuggling probe tied to shipments to China, Macau and Hong Kong. Autonomous Driving IPO Watch: Momenta kicked off its Hong Kong IPO subscription process, targeting about HK$5.9bn (up to HK$751m cited elsewhere) to fund autonomous driving and robotaxi expansion. Health Tech Deal: Metis TechBio struck a deal with US biotech Boulevard Bio for its experimental autoimmune drug MTS-128, potentially worth up to $1.6bn. Human-Robot Reality Check: China’s humanoid robot “rental” trend is growing, but users still rely on human operators, underlining that today’s models are more like advanced toys than full replacements. Hong Kong Product/Policy Notes: WhatsApp in Hong Kong is moving toward username-based texting (no phone-number sharing needed), and Hong Kong is reviewing rules to expand distributed ledger use in fixed income markets.