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- Carsley open to foreign England manager amid Guardiola links
- Pogba hungry to have his football cake after doping ban
- India and Canada expel top envoys in Sikh separatist killing row
- Mbappe says victim of 'fake news' after 'rape' report in Sweden
- Lebanon says 21 killed in strike on northern village
- Netanyahu vows no mercy after deadly Hezbollah drone strike
- Russia could be able to attack NATO by 2030: German intelligence
- EVs seek to regain sales momentum at Paris Motor Show
- Clarke backs Scotland to bounce back from 'tough' run
- Harris, Trump target crucial Pennsylvania as US vote looms
- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's icy moon
- Lebanese Red Cross says 18 killed in strike in north
- Mendy borrowed money from Man City team-mates for legal fees
- Palestinian officials say Israeli forces kill two in West Bank
- Football leagues, unions file EU complaint against FIFA in calendar dispute
- Nigeria boycott AFCON qualifier in Libya after 'inhumane treatment'
- India to recall top envoy to Canada: foreign ministry
- Hezbollah, Israeli troops in 'violent clashes' after drone strike
- China insists won't renounce 'use of force' to take Taiwan as drills end
- Painkiller sale plan to US gives France major headache
- Italy begins landmark migrant transfers to Albania
- Russia jails French researcher for three years
- 'Unsustainable' housing crisis bedevils Spain's socialist govt
- Stocks shrug off China disappointment but oil slides
- New Zealand 4-0 up in America's Cup but British show signs of life
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years prison for French researcher
- 'Innocent' British nerve agent victim caught in global murder plot: inquiry
- Afghan Taliban vow to implement media ban on images of living things
- Russian prosecutor demands 3 years, 3 months jail for French researcher
- England ready for Pakistan's spin assault in second Test
- New Zealand's Ravindra excited for India Tests with father in crowd
- India's capital bans fireworks to curb air pollution
- Stocks diverge, oil retreats as China disappoints markets
- FIFA to open 'global dialogue' on transfer system after Diarra ruling
- Trio wins economics Nobel for work on wealth inequality
- Starmer vows to cut red tape as he urges foreign investors to 'back' UK
- Ex-Stasi officer jailed over 1974 Berlin border killing
- 'Not viable': Barcelona turns against surging tourism
- Hezbollah says targeted Israeli naval base after deadly drone strike
- Rice praises 'unbelievable' England interim boss Carsley despite uncertainty
- Nepali teenager hailed as hero after climbing world's 8,000m peaks
- England captain Stokes back from injury for second Pakistan Test
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as markets rally
- Shanghai stocks gain after stimulus briefing as Asian markets rally
- South Korea military says 'fully ready' as drone flights anger North
- Pakistan 'vigilantes' behind rise in online blasphemy cases
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- With inflation down, ECB eyes faster tempo of rate cuts
Alibaba shares collapse after cloud service spinoff cancelled
Shares in Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba tanked 10 percent in Hong Kong on Friday after the firm's surprise decision to call off part of its high-profile restructuring because of the US-China chip war.
In a move that shocked investors, the Hangzhou-based tech giant said Thursday that US curbs on exports of advanced chips had forced it to call off the spinoff of its cloud computing arm.
The firm's stock dived 9.96 percent, tracking a collapse in its New York-listed shares.
Washington has moved to bar the shipment to China of powerful chips, including those from California-based Nvidia, which are crucial to the development of artificial intelligence, on national security grounds.
In one of its most wide-ranging restructurings, Alibaba said in March it planned to split the vast group into six distinct entities that would be able to separately pursue funding through public listings.
But on Thursday, it called off the creation of its Cloud Intelligence arm in light of "the recent expansion of US restrictions on export of advanced computing chips".
"We believe that a full spin-off of Cloud Intelligence Group may not achieve the intended effect of shareholder value enhancement," the company said in its earnings release.
"Accordingly, we have decided to not proceed with a full spin-off, and instead we will focus on developing a sustainable growth model for Cloud Intelligence Group under the fluid circumstances," Alibaba said.
Alibaba is a key player in China's expansive digital economy and the operator of a major online shopping platform.
The group's performance is considered a barometer of domestic consumption, which has flagged in recent months.
And the firm has faced new headwinds in recent years, with Beijing imposing tighter restrictions on the domestic tech sector and weak consumer spending leading it to record its third consecutive quarter of single-digit revenue growth earlier this year.
Alibaba has said it aims to achieve a "more nimble" structure in order to maintain competitiveness in the face of new regulatory challenges and mounting pressures on the global economy.
But it has now become one of the most high-profile Chinese firms to admit that trade tensions with Washington are affecting business.
The announcement took investors by surprise, with Kevin Net, head of Asian equities at Tocqueville Finance, telling Bloomberg News: "My initial thoughts are that the whole corporate restructuring... could be at risk."
Loop Capital Markets' Rob Sanderson said "Alibaba Cloud was the crown jewel within the restructuring plan".
And Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management warned it could throw the restructruing into doubt.
"The potential upside from the breakup appears to be diminishing, as none of the subsidiaries have robust financial health," he said in a note.
"There is a caveat -- if consumer confidence rebounds in China, it could potentially change the outlook for the subsidiaries, creating an opportunity for improved valuations. But broader economic factors, particularly consumer sentiment and confidence levels in the Chinese market, are not good."
C.Garcia--AMWN