Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) shares advanced in pre-market trading, while Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) plummeted, reflecting investors' differing views on the earnings results of the two tech giants.

Microsoft last spiked 8%, while Meta tumbled 8.5%.

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that revenue for 4QFY26 beat analysts' expectations, while its core Azure cloud business grew 43%, also above market forecasts.

However, Meta's earnings and revenue guidance for the quarter both fell short of investor expectations. Meta stated that it expects revenue for the quarter to be between USD61 billion and USD64 billion, with a median of USD62.5 billion. According to LSEG data, analysts had originally expected revenue guidance of USD63.15 billion.
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On the futures settlement day for Hong Kong stocks, the HSI last reported at 25,821 this morning (30th), up 13 points or less than 0.1%, with turnover of HKD132.3 billion. The HSTECH last reported at 4,795, down 69 points or 1.4%.

The three major A-share indices in Mainland China moved lower in the morning session. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 37 points or nearly 1% at 3,790. The Shenzhen Component Index and ChiNext Index, which are heavily weighted toward technology stocks, plunged 3.4% and 5.4% to 13,188 and 3,195 respectively. The STAR Composite Index also fell off 5.6% to 1,757.

Hijacked by the slump in A-share technology stocks, Hong Kong-listed techs also came under selling pressure. AI large-model stocks were notably weak this morning. Z.AI (02513.HK) opened 1.45% higher before reversing course and once nosediving 17.7% to a low of HKD850, the lowest level in more than two and a half months. It last reported at HKD870, down 15.78%, with turnover of HKD4.34 billion. MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) reversed lower after opening up 0.1% and last reported at HKD203.8, down 4.23%, with turnover of HKD517 million. Big data service provider XUNCE (03317.HK) last reported at HKD97.75, down 5.92%, with turnover of HKD105 million.

AI-related hardware stocks faced hefty selling. MONTAGE TECH (06809.HK) last reported at HKD254, down 5.79%, with turnover of HKD715 million. ILUVATAR COREX (09903.HK) last reported at HKD402.8, down 8.87%, with turnover of HKD671 million. LUXSHARE ICT (02475.HK) last reported at HKD55.55, down 6.09%, with turnover of HKD59.2541 million. LENS (06613.HK) last reported at HKD19.9, down 6.22%, with turnover of HKD179 million. YOFC (06869.HK) last reported at HKD92.5, down 10.02%, with turnover of HKD1.815 billion.

GIGADEVICE (03986.HK) last reported at HKD421.2, down 3.53%, with turnover of HKD1.623 billion. The company said Chairman Zhu Yiming had reduced his A-share holdings and cashed out a cumulative RMB4.4 billion, and planned to increase his A-share holdings by at least RMB1 billion starting from mid-December.

ZJ INNOLIGHT (03308.HK), the optical module giant listed in Hong Kong today, was last at HKD904.5, 7.7% below its listing price of HKD980, with turnover of HKD6.403 billion.
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that as the company acquires land to build large-scale AI data centers, it needs to strike a balance between selling excess computing capacity and retaining resources.

Among the four major hyperscale cloud service providers in the US, Meta is the only company that has not launched a cloud infrastructure and services business, despite having a capital expenditure scale comparable to peers.

However, Zuckerberg has recently raised the possibility of launching a cloud business to leverage its massive capacity reserves and address a resource-constrained market.

CNBC reported earlier this month that Anthropic is in preliminary talks to rent Meta's computing capacity.
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Arm Holdings plc (ARM.US)'s revenue for its 1FQ ended June added 22.4% to USD1.289 billion, while adjusted EPS was USD0.45, both beating market expectations.

Arm forecast 2FQ EPS of USD0.47, above the market consensus of USD0.43. Revenue was estimated at USD1.38 billion, also topping analysts' expectations.

However, the company predicted smartphone royalty revenue to decline in the coming quarter, dragging its share price down 5.73% to USD212 in after-hours trading.
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OpenAI is seeking to reassure employees that the business remains healthy as it competes with rival Anthropic for the enterprise market and faces new competition from cheaper open-source alternatives.

CFO Sarah Friar and Chairman Bret Taylor emphasized OpenAI's revenue growth and discussed competition with Anthropic during an internal staff meeting on Wednesday, CNBC reported.

According to portions of the meeting transcript reviewed by CNBC, Friar said OpenAI's ARR in July exceeded the total for the entire second quarter.
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Google announced the launch in Hong Kong of Gemini Spark, an AI agent powered by the Gemini 3.6 Flash model that can operate continuously in the background around the clock. Spark can execute complex and time-consuming tasks based on user instructions, helping users save time.

Google said it will progressively roll out the Gemini Spark experience to Google AI Pro subscribers in Hong Kong over the coming weeks, while Google AI Ultra subscribers in Hong Kong can already access the new feature.
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the Financial Times that the US government should not gain an advantage in the AI sector by blocking Chinese models, and warned leading US AI laboratories against using their influence to shape government regulation in ways that could stifle domestic competition.

After Moonshot AI released its powerful Kimi K3 model earlier this month, US government officials accused Moonshot AI of using "distillation" techniques to train models with US AI data, and threatened to impose sanctions.

Zuckerberg said banning advanced Chinese AI from use in the US would not be an effective solution. He believed US companies should systematically identify bottlenecks and obstacles in order to compete more effectively with China in the AI race.

Zuckerberg reiterated his support for open-source AI models and warned that AI could face the risk of being concentrated in the hands of a small number of powerful groups. The remarks appeared to target rivals Anthropic and OpenAI, which currently dominate the chatbot market with their proprietary "closed" AI models.
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The 2026 Fortune Global 500 ranking was unveiled, with Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) topping the list of the world's largest companies for the first time, ending Walmart Inc. (WMT.US)'s 12-year reign.

State Grid Corporation of China retained third place and remained the highest-ranked Chinese company. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH.US) and Saudi Aramco ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOG.US) ranked as the world's eighth-largest company, entering the top 10 for the first time. With net profit of USD132.17 billion, it reclaimed the title of the world's most profitable company from Saudi Aramco, ending the latter's four-year streak. NVIDIA and Apple ranked second and third respectively in the profit ranking, while Saudi Aramco slipped to fifth.

Chinese internet magnates JD-SW (09618.HK), BABA-W (09988.HK), TENCENT (00700.HK), PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD.US) and MEITUAN-W (03690.HK) continued to grow amid an increasingly competitive landscape, with all improving their rankings. JD-SW climbed three places from last year to rank 41st, remaining the highest-ranked mainland Chinese private enterprise.

BABA-W ascended seven places to 56th. TENCENT entered the top 100 for the first time this year, rising 19 places to 97th. PDD climbed 11 places to 255th, while MEITUAN-W advanced 16 places to 311th. Meanwhile, XIAOMI-W (01810.HK) made the list for the eighth consecutive year, ranking 232nd, up 65 places from the previous year.

Companies on this year's Fortune Global 500 generated combined revenue of approximately USD43.1 trillion, up 3.2% YoY and exceeding one-third of global GDP. The minimum revenue threshold for inclusion increased from USD32.2 billion to USD33.2 billion. Combined net profit totaled approximately USD3.4 trillion, soaring 14% YoY to a record high.
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After Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) exceled NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) on Monday (27th) to become the world's most valuable company by market cap, its market value briefly touched USD5 trillion for the first time on Tuesday (28th).

Apple's stock once reached a high of USD342.89 before trimming gains to close at USD340.08, up 0.94%. Apple shares have cumulatively gained 25% YTD.

Last year, the market was concerned that Apple's controlled investment scale, coupled with the delayed launch of the long-awaited upgraded Siri version, which will be released together with new iPhone hardware in autumn 2026, could cause the company to miss the AI boom and lag behind other trillion-dollar market cap peers.

However, market sentiment has recently shifted as investors focus on the substantial debt accumulation and negative cash flow among companies aggressively investing in technology, without a clear path to high returns.

In fact, while major technology companies including Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.US), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US), Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) are collectively splurging hundreds of billions of US dollars in capex this year to advance AI infrastructure, Apple has maintained relatively low capex and relied on Google's cloud infrastructure and AI technologies.
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Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus, who is set to become CEO, said the company will maintain the growth momentum of its entertainment business when he takes over Apple in September.

He said Apple currently has tremendous momentum on Apple TV, with many outstanding series, characters and stories, and therefore Apple will continue to maintain this momentum.
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