Supply Chain

Canton Fair's 140th Edition Draws 220,000 Overseas Buyers Oct. 15

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Canton Fair's 140th Edition Draws 220,000 Overseas Buyers Oct. 15

Guangzhou – September 22, 2026 -- The 140th China Import and Export Fair, known as the Canton Fair, will run from October 15 to November 4, 2026, with more than 220,000 overseas buyers from 197 countries and regions already pre-registered, nearly 80% of them professional buyers.

Over 32,000 exhibitors mark the fair's 70th anniversary with a push toward innovation

More than 11,000 exhibitors qualify as "Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative" (SRDI) firms or industry champions. Some 64% of exhibitors now apply industrial internet or artificial intelligence technologies in their operations, while new and green products account for 23.2% and 26% of all exhibits respectively, both historical highs.

Nice Enters European HVM Market With CE-Certified HySecurity Line

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Nice Enters European HVM Market With CE-Certified HySecurity Line

London – September 22, 2026 -- Nice has formalized its entry into the European hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) market, rolling out CE-certified products from its HySecurity division after previously supplying the region only on a project-by-project basis.

Nice Establishes Structured European Route to Market for HySecurity

HySecurity, acquired by Nice in 2016, brings more than 60 years of expertise in hydraulic gate operators and crash-rated barriers for airports, government facilities and data centres. Nice will now support the division with local commercial and technical teams alongside its existing network of installers and system integrators, moving away from ad hoc project sales.

Indorama Secures $358M Loan to Double China Fertilizer Output

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Indorama Secures $358M Loan to Double China Fertilizer Output

Anyang – September 22, 2026 -- Anyang Indorama Gases Co., Ltd. has signed an RMB 2.4 billion (c. US$358 million) long-term loan facility with five banks to fund a Phase II fertilizer capacity expansion in Anyang City, Henan Province, China.

Financing will double urea capacity to 2 million tonnes annually by 2029

The subsidiary of Singapore-based Indorama Corporation Pte. Ltd. will use the loan to partially fund construction that will double its urea fertilizer capacity, produced from syngas and ammonia, to approximately 2 million tonnes per annum by 2029. The project follows Indorama's acquisition of the Anyang nitrogen fertilizer business earlier in 2026 and marks a brownfield expansion of its Chinese operations.

Temu Signs MoU with ABSL to Support Romanian Business Sector

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Temu Signs MoU with ABSL to Support Romanian Business Sector

Bucharest – September 22, 2026 -- Temu has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Business Service Leaders in Romania (ABSL), the country's leading body representing shared services, business process outsourcing, IT outsourcing and R&D companies.

Temu joins ABSL as an official E-commerce Partner

Under the agreement, Temu will take part in ABSL's programs and events, engaging directly with the association's network of startups and multinationals operating across shared services, BPO, ITO and R&D in Romania. Temu will also provide expertise and in-kind support to ABSL initiatives.

Volvo Cars Leads Accenture-Google Cloud Horizon Platform for Android Auto

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Volvo Cars Leads Accenture-Google Cloud Horizon Platform for Android Auto

Gothenburg, Sweden – September 22, 2026 -- Volvo Cars has become the lead industry partner for Horizon, an open-source software development platform built by Accenture and Google Cloud to speed up car software engineering for Android Automotive Operating System (AAOS).

Volvo Cars migrates global AAOS development to the new platform

As lead partner, Volvo Cars is moving its entire global AAOS software development environment onto Horizon, gaining access to cloud-native development tools, virtual testing environments and AI-assisted workflows. Gregor Zetsche, Head of Connected Experience at Volvo Cars, said the platform lets engineers directly tackle their toughest engineering challenges and deliver new experiences faster.

Skanska Signs USD 84M Deal to Build 48MW Data Center in Georgia

Stockholm – September 22, 2026 -- Skanska has signed a USD 84 million contract, about SEK 780 million, with an existing client to construct a data center in Georgia, USA, with the value booked into the company's US order intake for the third quarter of 2026.

Facility spans 22,700 square meters with 48 MW of designed capacity

The project covers approximately 22,700 square meters (244,730 square feet) and includes five colocation data halls plus administrative space. The build is engineered to support 48 MW of capacity.

Skanska's scope covers full delivery from civil works to commissioning

The contract encompasses civil, structural, utilities, electrical, mechanical, security, interior amenities and fit-out work, along with commissioning of major equipment through project completion.

Survey: 81% of Security Pros Face Rising Video Storage Costs

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Survey: 81% of Security Pros Face Rising Video Storage Costs

Hangzhou, China – September 22, 2026 -- A joint survey by asmag.com and Hikvision found that 38.2% of video security professionals call storage cost or capacity a "major challenge," while another 43.2% rate it "moderate," together accounting for 81.4% of respondents.

Storage costs have climbed over the past 12 months for most operators

Asked how the storage challenge has changed compared with a year earlier, 43.2% of respondents said pressure has "increased moderately," pointing to persistent upward cost trends across video security deployments rather than a one-time spike.

Bestzyme Opens First Automated Sweet Protein Plant in Jinan

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Bestzyme Opens First Automated Sweet Protein Plant in Jinan

Jinan – September 22, 2026 -- Bestzyme, a synthetic biology unit of GenScript Biotech, has completed what it calls the world's first dedicated, automated smart production line for sweet proteins at its Jinan facility, integrating R&D, mass production and application for the ingredient category for the first time globally.

Jinan facility delivers 100 tons of annual capacity equal to 300,000 tons of sucrose sweetness

The 5,000-square-meter plant runs a fully automated fermentation-purification-freeze-drying process for Bestzyme's flagship Mellia® Brazzein sweet protein. Once operational, the line will produce over 100 tons annually, a volume the company says matches the sweetness output of 300,000 tons of sucrose. Bestzyme expects capacity to potentially double within two years.

AI Hospitality Group Launches, Targets 500 BPS Margin Gains

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AI Hospitality Group Launches, Targets 500 BPS Margin Gains

Dallas – September 22, 2026 -- AI Hospitality Group (AIHG) launched with $7.5 million in seed funding and a pledge to deliver more than 500 basis points of gross operating profit margin improvement to hotel owners through a fully AI-native management model. The company, founded by former Remington Hospitality CEO Sloan Dean, signs hotel management agreements directly with owners and takes responsibility for the P&L rather than licensing software to existing operators.

Hotel EBITDA margins have eroded to 20% from roughly 30% over the past decade

AIHG says U.S. hotel EBITDA margins have fallen approximately 20% since 2019, while CMBS delinquency rates for limited-service hotels hit 8.35% in July 2025, more than double their 2022 low. The company cites 65% of North American hotels reporting staffing shortages in 2025, with labor costs rising 11.2% year over year.

Tethis Acquires See.d Platform from MACS, Taps Everex to Scale Production

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Tethis Acquires See.d Platform from MACS, Taps Everex to Scale Production

Milan – September 22, 2026 -- Tethis S.p.A. has completed the acquisition of the See.d software and engineering business unit from MACS S.r.l., gaining full control over intellectual property and engineering know-how behind its liquid biopsy platform. Alongside the transfer, Tethis signed a long-term manufacturing and supply agreement with Everex S.r.l., an Italian in-vitro diagnostic instrumentation maker, to handle production and future scale-up of the system.

Tethis consolidates full ownership of its liquid biopsy pre-analytical platform

See.d is the cornerstone of Tethis' liquid biopsy workflow, developed jointly with MACS to standardize pre-analytical blood processing. From a single blood sample, the platform generates plasma for cfDNA analysis and cytology slides preserving nucleated cells for downstream characterization, automating plasma separation, red blood cell lysis, and deposition onto Tethis' proprietary SmartBioSurface slides.