
Huqiao Games Establishes New Headquarters in Hong Kong, Appoints John Kavvouras as Managing Director
"Establishing our headquarters in Hong Kong positions us at the heart of Asia's gaming ecosystem, which is growing significantly faster than Western markets," says John Kavvouras, newly appointed Managing Director. "Hong Kong's proximity to key gaming markets provides the ideal platform to expand our services globally."
Mr. Kavvouras brings over 15 years of business experience to his role, with expertise in finance and emerging market development. His knowledge will be instrumental in developing new strategic initiatives to support the evolving needs of the gaming industry.
This transition also sees founder Wojtek Jaworski stepping into a new role, focusing on direct engagement with the dynamic Chinese gaming landscape, leveraging his deep understanding to foster innovation and growth.
"The future of gaming lies in Asia, where innovative monetization models, a massive user base, and a growing middle class create ideal conditions for growth," explains Mr. Kavvouras. "Our move to Hong Kong is a fundamental redirection of our strategy to better serve clients who are increasingly looking East for growth and inspiration."
The new headquarters will serve as the center of Huqiao Games' global operations. The firm plans to expand by recruiting local talent with experience in the Asian gaming market. Furthermore, Huqiao Games is actively seeking strategic partnerships with Chinese institutional investors to capitalize on the burgeoning PC gaming sector and empower Chinese developers to expand their reach globally.
About Huqiao Games
Founded in 2021, Huqiao Games specializes in helping Western game developers successfully enter Asian markets. The company has assisted over 96 studios from Europe and North America, including partnerships with Owlcat Games and Butterscotch Shenanigans.
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The Market Online
15 minutes ago
- The Market Online
Titans of tungsten: Securing the future of defense-grade metals
This article is disseminated in partnership with Allied Critical Metals Inc. It is intended to inform investors and should not be taken as a recommendation or financial advice. Tungsten's strategic importance Among critical metals, tungsten is one of the few recognized as such by Canada, the European Union (E.U.) and the United States, underscoring its significant roles across essential industries key to national security. Here's a breakdown: Because it's nearly as hard as a diamond, tungsten is a main component in industrial cutting machines, including for mining and construction, as well as in military equipment, including heat shields, missiles and armor-piercing ammunition. The metal is foundational to the aerospace industry thanks to its heat resistance, the highest among any metal at more than 3,000 degrees Celsius, contributing to the safety of satellites, aircraft and their underlying engines. Tungsten hexafluoride gas is central to semiconductor production, exposing the metal to booming demand in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Tungsten's unmatched hardness and heat resistance are also driving the proliferation of clean energy technology, improving battery performance and durability in electric vehicles, solar systems and wind turbines, as well as establishing a pathway for advancements in nuclear reactors. Tungsten's broad use-cases grant it a more than US$5 billion global market on course to double over the next decade, driven by tailwinds in defense, AI and renewable energy, compounded by increasing pressure on governments to sidestep export restrictions in China, which controls ~85 per cent of tungsten supply, by securing more reliable partners. In response to Chinese restrictions, the U.S. Department of Defense, as of 2027, will ban the military from dealing in critical metals, including tungsten, that were mined, refined or produced in the communist nation. This dynamic is placing the spotlight on miners in free markets, whose assets hold the potential to meaningfully undercut Chinese dominance and increase tungsten independence, while generating differentiated shareholder returns. Almonty Industries: The benchmark The blueprint for capitalizing on tungsten's ex-China tailwind is supplied by Almonty Industries (TSX:AII), a producer and developer active in South Korea, Spain and Portugal, whose market capitalization has grown by more than 7 times year-over-year to C$1.21 billion thanks to a consistent development track record and increasing alignment with U.S. interests, including a partnership with government relations firm American Defense International and subsequent U.S. Congressional recognition as a strategic partner. The company's flagship Sangdong mine in South Korea houses one of the largest tungsten deposits globally, including ~36,000 tons probable, ~41,000 tons indicated and ~218,000 tons inferred, granting it an operational life expected to surpass 45 years. With the price of tungsten averaging US$494 per MTU on FastMarkets as of August 8 – 1 MTU equals about 10 kg – the deposit represents more than US$14.5 billion in the ground. Slated for initial production in Q1 2026, and fully financed through offtake agreements with Plansee Group, Metal Tech and Tungsten Parts Wyoming, and SeAH Group, Sangdong is expected to increase capacity to 1.2 million tons of tungsten ore throughput per year as it ramps up to commercial production in 2027. This will be followed by in-house tungsten oxide refining in 2028 to supply the battery and semiconductor markets. Almonty's portfolio is complemented by two development projects in Spain, Valtreixal and Los Santos, each with established resources, as well as the Panasqueira mine in Portugal, one of the world's longest producing tungsten mines at more than a century, which generates over ~58,000 MTUs of tungsten trioxide (WO3) per year with expansion to ~124,000 MTUs envisioned by 2027. As detailed on slide 7 of the June 2025 investor deck, Almonty's operations put the company on track to become the leading Western tungsten supplier by the end of 2027. Backed by a leadership team that has guided Panasqueira through its past decade in production, this trajectory suggests that significant value may still be on the table, despite the stock's more than 360 per cent return year-over-year. By blazing the trail for micro-cap tungsten players, Almonty has set the foundation for competitors to follow its disciplined development, advancing robust projects in conflict-free countries, harvesting value from ex-China demand and potentially delivering exponential shareholder outcomes. One such prospect, Allied Critical Metals (CSE:ACM), market capitalization C$38.54 million, has posted a 75 per cent stock return since listing in April 2025 thanks to increasing conviction in its transformational growth plan and leadership team proven across the mining life-cycle. Allied Critical is in the midst of a 5,000-metre drilling program on its flagship Borralha project in Portugal, which produced 10,280 tons of wolframite concentrate from 1904-1985 averaging 66 per cent WO3, wolframite being the main tungsten ore mineral, while retaining a tungsten, tin, copper and silver resource estimated at more than US$600 million in the ground. Results, supported by ongoing metallurgical optimization work, will inform an updated preliminary economic assessment slated for the fall, keen on improving project economics and expanding the current resource estimate of 10,618 tons of WO3 indicated and 14,103 tons WO3 inferred. On track for near-term, low-cost production thanks to high grades and historical on-site infrastructure, Borralha positions Allied Critical for near-term cash flow and rapid scaling, aligning shareholders with the leading edge of tungsten demand. The company's value proposition only grows more asymmetric when we consider its Vila Verde project, a mere 45 km southeast of Borralha, whose inferred resource of 7.3 million tons with a cut-off of 0.05 per cent WO3 is headed towards pilot-scale production in 2026. The pilot plant will process about 150,000 tons of mineralization per year, yielding about 250 tons of WO3, with room to expand processing to 300,000 tons contingent on market conditions. Management intends to procure project funding through non-dilutive sources. Like Almonty, Allied Critical has not rested on its laurels, complementing its progress towards production and strategic E.U./NATO access with a letter of intent for the sale of tungsten concentrate to Global Tungsten & Powders, a Pennsylvania-based defense supplier, as well as an OTCQB listing and the founding of a U.S. subsidiary, increasing its attractiveness to potential U.S. clients. Backed by C$5.1 million raised through a recently closed private placement, and the appointment of veteran geologist Vítor Arezes as Vice President of Exploration, and former Commanding General, U.S. Army Intelligence Center, Major General (Ret.) James A. 'Spider' Marks, to the board of its U.S. subsidiary, it's only reasonable to suppose that Allied Critical will continue to demonstrate why it's the clear front-runner in the race to become Europe's next major tungsten producer. Feature Allied Critical Metals Almonty Industries Flagship Asset Borralha (Portugal) Sangdong (South Korea) Production Start Pilot-scale by 2026 Commercial-scale in Q1 2026 Offtake/Defense Tie-Ins LOI with Global Tungsten & Powders Offtake with Plansee, U.S. strategic partner Recognition E.U./NATO-aligned jurisdiction U.S. Congressional Recognition Asset Stage Brownfield, drill-active Near production Scale (Est.) ~250 tons/year WO₃ (pilot) ~4,000 tons/year WO₃ Market Focus Europe / North America Global / Defense / Technology Right-sizing expectations for future returns While Almonty's ascent to tungsten leadership has been exponential in terms of investor returns and production capacity, its future growth will now depend on its income statements, having already benefitted from the massive re-valuation that comes from thriving on the 15-year journey from exploration to production. This means that returns moving forward will likely be less volatile, capped by the cash the business is able to generate and the resources Almonty is able to add to its already globally relevant deposits. That said, the company's established path has room for more than one traveler, given China's outsized tungsten market dominance and the lengthy mining life-cycle, making it a sellers' market when it comes to high-quality resources, aligned with Western countries, of sufficient size to meaningfully strengthen domestic supply. This is where near-term producers such as Allied Critical enter the picture, offering exposure to a potentially more momentous re-rating, given its micro capitalization (31 times smaller than Almonty) and earlier stage of development, as ongoing offtake discussions with refineries across the world expedite the path to production, initial revenue and margin enhancement towards profitability. While both of these tungsten titans, the first-mover and the young gun, present strong data-driven cases for long-term value, the latter has yet to price this promise in, granting it greater near-term upside and making it the more attractive stock to invest in today. Look out for part two of this three-part series, where we'll examine Allied Critical Metals' business plan in more detail, crystalizing its high-conviction role in Western tungsten independence. Join the discussion: Find out what investors are saying about these tungsten mining stocks on the Allied Critical Metals Inc. and Almonty Industries Inc. Bullboards and check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. Stockhouse does not provide investment advice or recommendations. All investment decisions should be made based on your own research and consultation with a registered investment professional. The issuer is solely responsible for the accuracy of the information contained herein. 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Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
Trump says Intel CEO is ‘highly conflicted' owing to China ties and must resign
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the immediate resignation of new Intel Corp. INTC-Q chief executive Lip-Bu Tan, calling him 'highly conflicted' owing to his ties to Chinese firms and raising doubts about plans to turn around the struggling American chip icon. Reuters reported exclusively in April that Mr. Tan invested at least US$200-million in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms, some of which were linked to the Chinese military. Mr. Trump's comments came a day after Reuters was first to report that Republican Senator Tom Cotton had sent a letter to Intel's board chair with questions about Mr. Tan's ties to Chinese firms and a recent criminal case involving his former firm Cadence Design. 'The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem,' Mr. Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. Intel shares closed down 3 per cent on Thursday. A leadership change could pile pressure on Intel, which is a pillar of U.S. efforts to boost domestic chipmaking. Last year, it secured US$8-billion in subsidies, the largest outlay under the 2022 CHIPS Act, to build new factories in Ohio and other states. Mr. Trump's intervention marked a rare instance of a U.S. president publicly calling for a CEO's ouster and sparked debate among investors. 'It would be setting a very unfortunate precedent. You don't want American presidents dictating who runs companies, but certainly his opinion has merit and weight,' said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management. David Wagner, head of equity and portfolio manager at Intel shareholder Aptus Capital Advisors, said while 'many investors likely believe that President Trump has his hand in too many cookie jars, it's just another signal that he's very serious about trying to bring business back to the U.S.' 'Intel, The Board of Directors, and Lip-Bu Tan are deeply committed to advancing U.S. national and economic security interests and are making significant investments aligned with the President's America First agenda,' the company said in a statement on Thursday. 'We look forward to our continued engagement with the Administration.' Mr. Tan, who took over as CEO in March, did not immediately respond to Reuters's request for comment. In response to the Reuters story on Wednesday about a U.S. lawmaker questioning Mr. Tan's ties to China, an Intel spokesperson said the company and its CEO were deeply committed to the national security of the U.S. and the integrity of their role in the U.S. defense ecosystem. Reuters reported in April that Mr. Tan himself, and through venture funds he has founded or operates, invested in Chinese firms including contractors and suppliers for the People's Liberation Army between March, 2012, and December, 2024. The reporting was based on a review of Chinese corporate databases cross-referenced with U.S. and analyst lists of firms with connections to the Chinese military. Reuters identified 20 investment funds and companies where his venture capital firm Walden is currently a joint owner along with Chinese government funds or state-owned enterprises, according to Chinese corporate records. The government funds were mostly from municipal governments of Chinese tech hubs like Hangzhou, Hefei and Wuxi. A source familiar with the matter had at the time told Reuters that Mr. Tan had divested his positions in entities in China, without providing further details. Chinese databases reviewed by Reuters at the time had listed many of his investments as current, and Reuters was at the time unable to establish the extent of his divestitures. Mr. Tan, a Malaysian-born Chinese American business executive, was also the CEO of Cadence Design from 2008 through December, 2021, during which the chip design software maker sold products to a Chinese military university believed to be involved in simulating nuclear explosions. Intel says it's laying off 15% of workers as it grapples with manufacturing challenges Cadence last month agreed to plead guilty and pay more than US$140-million to resolve the U.S. charges over the sales, which Reuters first reported. 'We don't believe Lip-Bu is 'conflicted,' though given the nature of this administration the China ties are seemingly creating an increasingly bad look,' Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said. 'And unfortunately, unlike other tech CEOs Lip-Bu does not appear to have cultivated the kind of personal relationship with Trump that would help to assuage his ire.' A White House official said, 'President Trump remains fully committed to safeguarding our country's national and economic security. This includes ensuring iconic American companies in cutting-edge sectors are led by men and women who Americans can trust.' Once the bedrock of Silicon Valley's global dominance in chips, Intel in recent years lost its manufacturing edge to Taiwanese rival TSMC. It also has virtually no presence in the booming market for artificial intelligence chips dominated by Nvidia Corp. and has been losing market share in data centres and personal computer – long its stronghold – to rival AMD. How U.S. chip giant Intel spurned OpenAI and fell behind the times Intel shares have been nearly flat in 2025, after dropping more than 60 per cent last year. The company's market value has fallen below US$100-billion at a time when Nvidia has become the first US$4-trillion company. Intel's profit margins – once the envy of the industry – are also at about half their historical highs. Late last year, the company fired its then-CEO Pat Gelsinger well before the completion of his four-year roadmap to restore Intel's lead in making the fastest and smallest computer chips. The ousting followed a Reuters special report in October that Intel had failed to live up to the lofty ambitions he had set for manufacturing and AI capabilities, ultimately losing or cancelling contracts under his watch and scrapping a revenue forecast he made even though it exceeded Intel's own estimates. To revive Intel's fortunes, the board named former board member Mr. Tan as CEO, betting on his deep roots in the chip industry and track record as a longtime investor in promising tech startups. Tan has largely abandoned his predecessor's strategy, aggressively shrinking the company's workforce and putting on hold planned manufacturing plants globally. The production process that Intel hoped would pave the way to winning manufacturing deals and restore its edge in churning out high-end, high-margin chips is also facing a big hurdle on quality as it puts newer technologies to the test, Reuters reported earlier this month. Intel has also further slowed the pace of construction of a factory in Ohio, now expected to be completed around 2030 or 2031. Ohio Republican U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno said on X that it is 'pretty obvious' that Intel failed its commitments to the state and that Ohio should start a fraud investigation.


National Post
5 hours ago
- National Post
Kioxia Achieves Successful Prototyping of 5TB Large-Capacity and 64GB/s High-Bandwidth Flash Memory Module
Article content Enabling Advanced AI Processing at the Edge to Help Boost the Smart Transformation of Industries Article content TOKYO — Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, has successfully developed a prototype of a large-capacity, high-bandwidth flash memory module essential for large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) models. This achievement was made within the 'Post-5G Information and Communication Systems Infrastructure Enhancement R&D Project (JPNP20017)' commissioned by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan's national research and development agency. This memory module features a large capacity of five terabytes (TB) and a high bandwidth of 64 gigabytes per second (GB/s). Article content Article content To address the trade-off between capacity and bandwidth that has been a challenge with DRAM-based conventional memory modules, Kioxia has developed a new module configuration utilizing daisy-chained connections with beads of flash memories. We have also developed high-speed transceiver technology enabling bandwidths of 128 gigabits per second (Gbps), along with techniques to enhance flash memory performance. These innovations have been effectively applied to both memory controllers and memory modules. Article content The practical application of this memory module is expected to accelerate digital transformation by enabling the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analysis, and advanced AI processing in post-5G/6G Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) servers and other applications. Article content 1. Background In the post-5G/6G era, wireless networks are expected to achieve higher speeds, lower latency, and the ability to connect more devices simultaneously. However, transmitting data to remote cloud servers for processing increases latency across the entire network, including wired networks, making real-time applications difficult. For this reason, there is a need for the widespread adoption of MEC servers that process data closer to users, which is expected to drive digital transformation across a variety of industries. Furthermore, the demand for advanced AI applications, such as generative AI, has been rising in recent years. Alongside the performance improvements of MEC servers, memory modules are also required to have even larger capacity and higher bandwidth. Article content Against this background, Kioxia has focused on enhancing the capacity and bandwidth of memory modules using flash memory for this project. The company has succeeded in developing a prototype memory module with a capacity of 5 TB and a bandwidth of 64 GB/s, and has verified its operability. Article content 2. Achievements of This Project 2.1 Adoption of Daisy-Chain Connections To achieve both large-capacity and high-bandwidth memory modules, Kioxia has adopted a daisy-chain connection with beads of controllers connected to each memory board instead of a bus connection. As a result, the bandwidth is not degraded even when the number of flash memories is increased, and a large capacity beyond the conventional limit is achieved. Article content 2.2 128 Gbps PAM4 1 High-speed, Low-power Transceiver High-speed differential serial signaling is applied to daisy-chain connections between memory controllers instead of parallel signaling to reduce the number of connections, and PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 Levels) is utilized to achieve higher bandwidth of 128 Gbps with low-power consumption. Article content Article content 2.3 Technologies Boosting Flash Memory Performance To shorten the read latency of flash memory in memory modules, Kioxia has developed flash prefetch technology, which minimizes the latency by pre-fetching data during sequential accesses, and implemented this in the controller. In addition, memory bandwidth has been increased to 4.0 Gbps by applying low amplitude signaling and distortion correction/suppression technology to the interface between the memory controller and flash memory. Article content 2.4 Memory Controller and Memory Module Prototyping By implementing 128 Gbps PAM4 high-speed, low-power transceivers and technologies boosting flash memory performance, Kioxia has prototyped a memory controller and memory module that uses PCIe® 6.0 (64 Gbps, 8 lanes) as the host interface to the server. The prototyped memory module demonstrated that a capacity of 5TB and a bandwidth of 64GB/s can be realized with less than 40 watts of power consumption. Article content 3. Future Plans In addition to IoT and big data analysis and advanced AI processing at the edge, Kioxia is promoting the early commercialization and practical implementation of the findings from this research, exploiting new market trends such as generative AI. Article content 1 Article content PAM4 (Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4 Levels): data transmission technique using four voltage levels representing two-bit data. Article content * PCIe is a registered trademark of PCI-SIG. Article content * Company names, product names and service names may be trademarks of third-party companies. Article content * This announcement has been prepared to provide information on our business and does not constitute or form part of an offer or invitation to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for or otherwise acquire any securities in any jurisdiction or an inducement to engage in investment activity nor shall it form the basis of or be relied on in connection with any contract thereof. Article content * Information in this document, including product prices and specifications, content of services and contact information, is correct on the date of the announcement but is subject to change without prior notice. Article content About Kioxia Article content Kioxia is a world leader in memory solutions, dedicated to the development, production and sale of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). In April 2017, its predecessor Toshiba Memory was spun off from Toshiba Corporation, the company that invented NAND flash memory in 1987. Kioxia is committed to uplifting the world with 'memory' by offering products, services and systems that create choice for customers and memory-based value for society. Kioxia's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH™, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content