TAIPEI -- China's top contract chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. on Friday said its second-quarter revenue could jump as much as 40% on the year despite continuing uncertainty stemming from U.S. sanctions on the company.

SMIC forecast revenue of between $1.29 billion to $1.31 billion for the April-June period, 19% higher at the top end of guidance from the previous quarter, and 40% higher year-on-year, mainly due

GUANGZHOU -- The Chinese technology hub of Shenzhen has replaced the mayor and and other top officials in what has been seen as punishment for failing to cool the city's overheated real estate market.

The Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress announced in late April that it had accepted the resignation Mayor Chen Rugui. Qin Weizhong, vice governor of the surrounding Guangdong Province, was appointed acting mayor.

Chen had more than a year left in his five-year term before stepping down. Other replaced officials included the chief of the

TOKYO -- Seven-Eleven parent Seven & i Holdings faces growing pressure to spin off operations beyond its mainstay convenience store business after U.S. activist investor ValueAct Capital emerged as one of its leading shareholders.

ValueAct told investors in a Wednesday letter that the 7-Eleven business could be worth more than double what Seven & i is currently valued at if the parent focuses on the convenience store business, or if the business is spun off, Reuters reported. The fund now reportedly holds a more than 4% stake

SHANGHAI -- When award-winning Canadian-Chinese chef DeAille Tam went into the mountains of Yunnan to help pick highly prized matsutake mushrooms, she found more than the terroir -- the flavors imparted by the local environment.

"It was the hardship," she says. "I spent five hours walking and trying to find those mushrooms, with a group of women, all small so they could make their way through low bushes and brambles, up and down through the trenches. That gave me a new appreciation of

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that the United States would not leave Australia alone in the face of economic coercion from China, and that such behavior toward U.S. allies would hamper improvement in U.S.-Sino relations.

Washington has repeatedly criticized what it says are Beijing's attempts to bully neighbors with competing interests, and U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to bolster ties with allies in the Indo-Pacific to counter China

DETROIT (Reuters) -- Electric car maker Fisker Inc has finalized its vehicle-assembly deal with Foxconn Technology Co Ltd, including plans to open a U.S. plant in 2023, the companies said on Thursday.

The plant's location has not been identified, but Fisker Chief Executive Henrik Fisker said four states are under consideration, including Foxconn's plant site in Wisconsin. Foxconn Chairman Liu Young-way previously said electric vehicles (EVs) have a "promising future" in Wisconsin but

BANGKOK -- Thousands of inmates in Bangkok's two main prisons have tested positive for COVID-19, helping to bring Thailand's daily reported cases for Thursday to a record high.

The kingdom confirmed 4,887 daily cases, breaking the previous record of 2,839, reported on April 24. The cases found on Thursday account for 5.2% of the total 93,794 infections so far recorded in the country.

Thailand confirmed its first case in

HONG KONG -- Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming company and an active player in the nonfungible tokens market, said on Thursday that it raised the auspicious amount of $88,888,888 from investors that it claimed gives it a valuation of $1 billion, which will make it the newest crypto unicorn in Asia.

Both traditional financial institutions and crypto funds participated in the funding round, including RIT Capital Partners of the U.K., Australia's Ellerston Capital

TOKYO -- Rakuten Group Inc. netted a loss of 25.1 billion yen ($229 million) in the first quarter of the year, hampered by its year-old telecommunications business even as its e-commerce and fintech segments brought in a record rise in revenues.

Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani implored investors to focus not on short-term loss but on Rakuten Mobile's potential to deliver "big profitabilities" in the future. Revenue for the group rose 18.1% to