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The assessment evaluated multiple leading AI computing resource management platform providers in China and noted Phancy’s industry-leading technological maturity across heterogeneous accelerator compatibility and adaptation, large-scale cluster operations, and delivery in hybrid cloud environments. Drawing on its accumulated capabilities in heterogeneous computing resource management, fine-grained GPU virtualization and agent-oriented computing services, Phancy received full scores and outperformed the industry benchmark in four out of six evaluated dimensions[1].

According to the IDC report, as AI moves into large-scale deployment, the growing adoption of AI agents is reshaping cloud infrastructure. In the meantime, AI infrastructure is evolving beyond basic computing capacity to become a core part of the enterprise technology stack, supporting digital and intelligent transformation.

Dr. Dai Wenyuan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Phancy, said: “The AI industry is moving beyond the ‘model race’ and entering a new phase of large-scale deployment. For enterprises, the real challenge is no longer whether they can access large language models, but about how to translate agentic AI capabilities into sustained productivity while keeping costs under control and operations stable. IDC’s assessment reflects the growing importance of unified management, flexible scheduling and fine-grained operations for heterogeneous computing resources. Phancy will continue to advance its capabilities in heterogeneous computing resource scheduling and agent infrastructure, helping more enterprises unlock the value of AI with greater efficiency, cost-effectiveness and reliability.”

Five Core Capabilities Behind Phancy’s Vendor-Neutral Unified Management Platform

At the core of Phancy’s offering is vendor-neutral unified management software that supports large-scale training and high-concurrency inference for mainstream models across chips from over ten leading vendors[2]. Its core technological capabilities include:

• Code-compatible multi-chip virtualization: Phancy supports the partitioning of a single AI accelerator across multiple workloads, enabling mainstream frameworks and inference engines, including PyTorch, TensorFlow, vLLM and SGLang, to run without changes to application code. Resource quotas help maintain stability when multiple workloads run concurrently.
• Three-tier resource pools and intelligent workload scheduling: Phancy’s platform provides three types of resource pools: dedicated, shared and overcommitted pool. Resources can be intelligently scheduled based on four dimensions (workload priority, hardware topology, real-time load and resource requirements), enabling large-scale training and high-concurrency inference workloads to run on the same infrastructure.
• AI gateway and dual-track metering: The AI gateway provides unified management of model routing, API calls and audit activities. Usage is measured through both accelerator hours and token consumption, helping enterprises track costs and resource utilization from the perspectives of both resource consumption and model usage.
• Agent-oriented computing services: Phancy’s platform turns heterogeneous computing resources into standardized services that AI agents can call on demand. These services support partitioning, reuse and elastic scaling. Combined with intelligent routing through the AI gateway, this accommodates the frequent calls and fluctuating workloads associated with AI agents, while token quotas and circuit-breaking mechanisms also help enterprises manage usage risks and costs when predefined limits are exceeded.
• Operations and maintenance for heterogeneous computing resources: Phancy’s platform provides end-to-end observability spanning nodes, accelerators, workloads and model services. It supports fault isolation, workload rescheduling and private deployment in environments without public internet access, helping enterprises improve operational efficiency across complex heterogeneous computing environments.

The report highlighted a use case in which a Chinese policy bank significant improved resource utilization by using Phancy’s three-tier resource pool architecture to manage computing resources across three data centers in two locations, while also enabling a smooth business migration.

Looking ahead, Phancy will continue to advance its AI computing resource management platform as AI infrastructure shifts from traditional “cloud + AI” architectures toward greater cloud-native, agent-oriented integration. The Group will continue to help enterprises manage computing resources more efficiently, deploy AI across a wider range of production environments, and turn AI into sustainable business productivity at scale.

Hashtag: #Phancy

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

About Phancy Group

Phancy Group (6682.HK) is a leading full-stack AI cloud services platform, providing comprehensive solutions for the AI 2.0 era. Our offerings include SageAIOS, HAMi vGPU and ModelHub XC, delivering efficient and scalable AI infrastructure with end-to-end capabilities. We provide a complete solution from heterogeneous compute resource management and optimization to the deployment of intelligent agent models. These solutions empower digital transformation across a wide range of industries, supporting our vision of building a large-scale and efficient “Token Factory.”

Guided by the mission of “AI for Everyone” and positioned as the “Navigator of AI,” Phancy Group is committed to becoming a global leader in Artificial General Intelligence.

Coinciding with the historic milestone of the Pinglu Canal being completed and navigable, a canal opens up a physical trade corridor between China and ASEAN, opening a new chapter of digital economy collaboration. “Goods Flow Across Rivers and Seas, Digital Intelligence Connects ASEAN” has become the most distinctive symbol of the era at this forum. The forum closely follows the differentiated development path of “R&D in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou + Integration in Guangxi + Application in ASEAN”, solving problems through technological breakthroughs, gathering momentum through industry-finance linkage, and promoting effectiveness through scenario implementation, to deepen and solidify China-ASEAN AI cooperation.

Technology empowers the opening, creating a new paradigm of human-machine collaboration

The forum kicked off with Guangxi’s classic ethnic song “Folk Songs like the Spring River”, where human dancers, dancing robots, accompaniment robots, and a digital crowd performing the folk song collaborated across disciplines to perform group collaborations. Relying on millisecond-level cluster scheduling technology, ethnic culture and embodied intelligence were deeply integrated to create an immersive technological audiovisual feast. This forum innovatively adopted a three-party collaborative hosting model of “human host + digital human avatar + intelligent robot”. Yang Yanqing, Professor of ShanghaiTech University, coordinated with her digital human avatar and AGIBOT Lingxi X2 to jointly host the forum, empowering the forum scene through technology, which became a major highlight of the event.

Dr. Padapxay SAYAKHOT, Director-General, Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Ministry of Technology and Communications, Lao PDR, Sun Ruijun, Director-General, China-ASEAN Technology Transfer Center, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director-General, Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Secretary of the Party Committee, Guangxi Institute of Industrial Technology, delivered speeches in succession. Both sides stated that they will use this forum as a link to deepen the connection of scientific research and innovation, the implementation of industrial scenarios, and the coordination of policies and mechanisms, gather synergy for digital and intelligent development, and serve the building of a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

Industry authorities gather, anchoring regional AI development directions

The speakers at the forum combined international breadth and professional depth, bringing together industry experts, academic and cutting-edge research forces, industrial technology, and cross-border implementation capabilities from ASEAN countries, forming a core high ground for intellectual exchange and gathering top intellectuals for China-ASEAN AI innovation and development.

Industry experts from ASEAN countries: Dr. Wasan Pattara-atikom, Vice President, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand; Li Haizhou, Fellow of the Academy of Engineering, Singapore (SAEng), Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen; YAP Hwa Jen, Professor of Universiti Malaya, Managing Director of the UPUM Sdn. Bhd.;

Academic and cutting-edge research forces: Yang Chao, Professor of Peking University, Founder and Chief Scientist of Beijing 1011 Technology Co., Ltd.; Cui Peng, Professor of Tsinghua University and Chief Scientist of Stable AI (Xiong’an) Technology Co., Ltd.; Wang Shisong, Professor of Guangzhou University, Co-founder of Abelian (a quantum-resistant blockchain infrastructure);

Industry technology and cross-border implementation forces: Li Nan, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Maimai Technology Group; Yao Yuan, Vice President of the Middle East Asia-Pacific Region Division, AGIBOT Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.; Lyu Jun, Chief Scientist of Shanghai Noematrix Technology Co., Ltd.; Liu Liqi, General Manager of Data Strategy Department, X Square Robot Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.

The guests focused on three major directions, namely embodied intelligence, AI finance, and data circulation, exploring feasible paths for technological breakthroughs, ecosystem co-construction, and joint innovation. They covered the key stages of artificial intelligence from source research and development and technology transfer to industrial implementation and cross-border cooperation, achieving a two-way dialogue between cutting-edge academic theories and practical industry needs, and providing diverse perspectives and action ideas to bridge the regional digital divide and unlock the inclusive value of AI.

Five achievements released, strengthening the solid foundation for digital intelligence cooperation

At the forum, five scientific and technological innovation achievements were released together, constructing an AI innovation supply system oriented toward ASEAN from multiple dimensions including technology products, platform carriers, talent systems, and decision-making support.

1. The China-ASEAN Cross-Border Industrial Large Language Model: It covers multilingual capabilities and industry knowledge graph for ASEAN, integrates six major agents to collaboratively analyze business scenarios, and serves as a professional intelligent partner for Chinese enterprises to expand into the ASEAN market.

2. Achievements in AI Talent Development for ASEAN: Relying on the Guangxi Academy of Artificial Intelligence, a talent training model of “a dual-mentor system, dual-integrated teaching, dual training tracks, and an integrated master-doctoral program” has been created, achieving an international education pattern of enrolling at one university, earning credits from multiple universities, gaining practical experience in multiple countries, and strengthening talent support for cross-border AI cooperation.

3. “Guikerong” Sci-Tech Finance Digital-Intelligent Foundation Platform: Developed under the guidance of the Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, it uses data-driven technology credit evaluation to open the value transformation chain of “technology, industry, and finance”, supporting the innovative development of technology-based enterprises.

4. Lao-Language Large Language Model (LLM) for the Energy and Power Sector: China’s first AI overseas project in the power industry, implemented on Electricite du Laos, exploring a new model of “Retaining Computing Power in Guangxi, Exporting Services Globally” for compliant token going global, providing a practical example for cross-border services in the energy sector.

5. “2026 China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Industry Development Study Report”: A panoramic overview of regional industrial policy environment, market scale, and application patterns, analyzing core industry development trends, and providing decision-making references for China-ASEAN AI industry cooperation.

Exhibition and negotiation are working together to build a pragmatic platform for exchange and cooperation

The forum adheres to the principles of “promoting research through exhibitions, cooperation through meetings, and implementation through business matchmaking”, simultaneously hosting the Special Session on AI: Bank-Enterprise Matchmaking and the Industry Supply-Demand Matchmaking and Technology Achievement Exhibition, achieving precise coordination between exhibition displays and business negotiations, and building a cross-border cooperation ecosystem deeply integrating industry, academia, research, and application.

The Technology Achievement Exhibition showcased high-tech products such as the General Embodied Intelligent Robot, Fingertip 3D Force Sensors, Integrated Land-Sea-Air Inspection Equipment, Smart Wall-Climbing Industrial Robot, and AI + Embodied Intelligence Teaching and Experiment Platform, covering key tracks like humanoid robots, industrial intelligent equipment, and education and training, demonstrating the innovative strength of domestic AI technology adaptation to ASEAN scenarios.

The venue also set up an immersive AI experience zone, where interactive projects such as coffee-making robots, agile robotic arms, AI customized cultural products, and unmanned retail attracted attendees to stop and experience the vivid effects of AI empowering people’s services up close, highlighting the development philosophy of technology for good and digital intelligence benefiting the people.

Focusing on collaborative win-win cooperation to jointly build a new pattern of regional development

As an international platform for scientific and technological exchange aimed at ASEAN, the Forum on China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Cooperation has been held consecutively for four sessions, bringing together more than 4,300 guests from China, foreign government, industry, academia, and research, facilitating the connection of over a hundred industrial projects, and becoming an important platform for the exchange of ideas, interconnection of technologies, and mutual industrial support between China and ASEAN in the field of artificial intelligence.

Looking to the future, China and ASEAN will continue to deepen cross-border joint innovation, promote the orderly flow of AI innovation elements, cultivate a vibrant and inclusive regional digital innovation ecosystem, facilitate digital intelligence benefiting regional industrial upgrading and livelihood development, and jointly build a new mutually beneficial and win-win pattern of China-ASEAN digital economy.

This forum was supported by the Ministry of Technology and Communications of Laos and the ASEAN Secretariat, and co-hosted by Guangzhou University, Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank, Guangxi Academy of Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Academy of Guangxi.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Chief Executive John Lee’s 2026 Policy Address and the city’s first Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development set out measures covering finance, trade, shipping, aviation, innovation and technology, alongside efforts to attract capital, companies and skilled workers. The government said the programme is designed to reinforce Hong Kong’s international competitiveness and support longer-term economic development.

Gold will serve as the entry point for a broader commodity trading ecosystem. Hong Kong plans to formally launch its central clearing and settlement system for gold in the first quarter of 2027, following trial operations that began in July. The system is intended to support trading that meets international standards and strengthen links among clearing, settlement, storage and physical delivery.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing will announce details this year of new renminbi-denominated, physically settled gold futures contracts. The government also plans to explore tax concessions for qualifying activities across the gold and commodity trading chain, with proposals expected to be put to the Legislative Council for consultation next year.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is studying whether the Exchange Fund should moderately increase its gold holdings and participate in local spot and futures markets. Existing physical gold inventories could gradually be transferred to designated vaults appointed by the Hong Kong Precious Metals Central Clearing Company.

Authorities also plan to expand storage and related infrastructure. Since the London Metal Exchange added Hong Kong to its global warehousing network in 2025, approved storage space has exceeded 60,000 square metres and inventories have risen above 20,000 tonnes of metal. More LME-approved warehouses are planned for the Northern Metropolis.

A half-rate tax concession for physical commodity trading is also being pursued to encourage traders to establish or enlarge operations in the city. A joint working group led by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury will examine market opportunities and possible collaboration between exchanges.

The wider financial strategy seeks to strengthen Hong Kong’s role as an offshore renminbi business hub and an international centre for asset management and risk management. The government plans to deepen green and digital finance, widen financing channels for technology companies and strengthen trade finance, supply-chain finance, clearing, settlement and risk-management services.

A proposed Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund will receive HK$10 billion in government funding and is expected to reach at least HK$40 billion when market capital is included. Priority areas include life and health technology, artificial intelligence and robotics, semiconductors and smart devices, digitalisation, and sustainable development.

The five-year plan also calls for greater emphasis on high-value maritime services rather than relying mainly on traditional port logistics. Measures include reforms to ship registration, support for ship financing and marine insurance, and further development of maritime arbitration and other professional services.

Hong Kong also intends to build a broader aviation industry ecosystem. Plans include developing aircraft-parts processing and trading, participating in research and certification connected with domestically developed aircraft, and expanding sustainable aviation fuel supply chains across the Greater Bay Area. Authorities aim for sustainable aviation fuel to account for 1% to 3% of fuel used by departing flights at Hong Kong International Airport in 2030.

Trade policy will focus on digitalisation, diversification and higher-value supply-chain services. The government wants more companies to use Hong Kong for international orders, foreign-exchange transactions, treasury operations, trade finance and supply-chain management, while attracting regional and international headquarters.

The plan places innovation alongside the traditional pillars, with support directed towards artificial intelligence, robotics, life sciences, microelectronics and advanced manufacturing. It also identifies aerospace technology, marine technology, quantum technology and embodied intelligence as fields for longer-term development.

Ramesh Khandelwal, who represents Madhya Pradesh on the government-constituted board, said on Wednesday that the 0.4 per cent merchant discount rate, or MDR, on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 was at odds with the government’s stated emphasis on ease of doing business. The charge is due to take effect on October 15.

Khandelwal said he would raise the issue at the next meeting of the National Traders’ Welfare Board and sought an immediate rollback in the wider interests of merchants and customers. He argued that businesses operating on thin margins could struggle to absorb the additional transaction cost and that some of the burden might ultimately feed into retail prices.

The National Payments Corporation of India has said the revised framework will apply to specified person-to-merchant UPI payments above Rs 2,000. The fee will be borne by merchants rather than consumers and will be capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75,000 or more.

Person-to-person transfers, including payments between friends and family, will remain free. Merchant transactions up to Rs 2,000 will also continue without MDR, while small merchants receiving up to Rs 1 lakh a month through UPI QR payments are exempt under the framework.

Specified categories including railway tickets, fuel, agriculture, utilities, telecom, insurance, credit-card dues and tax payments will attract a lower flat charge of Rs 5 on eligible transactions above Rs 2,000. The government has also advised banks to ensure that merchants do not directly pass the MDR on to customers.

The opposition from Khandelwal adds to broader concern among traders over the return of merchant charges to UPI after more than six years of a zero-MDR regime. A nationwide LocalCircles survey of more than 32,000 merchants and businesses across 242 districts found that only 17 per cent of respondents were willing to bear a 0.4 per cent MDR on payments above Rs 2,000, while 41 per cent said they were unwilling to pay any such fee.

Merchants have raised particular concerns about sectors where high-value digital payments are common but margins are comparatively narrow. Textile traders in Surat, for example, said the levy could affect smaller businesses and workers who use UPI extensively for salaries, purchases and other routine transactions.

The policy change also marks a significant shift in the economics of the UPI ecosystem. Banks, payment applications and payment aggregators have long argued that the rapid expansion of transaction volumes requires greater spending on infrastructure, fraud prevention, cyber security and system capacity. The new MDR is intended to create a revenue stream to support those costs while keeping small-value and personal transfers outside the charging structure.

UPI has become the dominant retail digital payment system, with billions of transactions processed every month. That scale has increased the cost of maintaining the network even as users have become accustomed to making payments without a visible transaction fee.

The government’s approach seeks to confine the charge to larger commercial payments and to limit the exposure of small merchants and customers. Under the announced structure, a Rs 5,000 eligible merchant payment would carry an MDR of Rs 20, while a Rs 50,000 payment would cost the merchant Rs 200. Payments of Rs 75,000 and above would face the Rs 300 ceiling.

Khandelwal’s intervention puts the focus on whether traders will accept those costs or seek alternatives such as cash, bank transfers or other payment methods. His position is that even a small percentage charge, when repeated across large transaction volumes, can become a meaningful operating expense.

The dispute is likely to centre on merchant margins, enforcement and whether businesses can absorb the levy without changing prices or payment preferences. Traders also want clarity on how exemptions will be identified at the point of payment, particularly where a business accepts UPI through multiple bank accounts, QR codes or payment service providers across different locations.

The All India Petroleum Dealers Association, led by president Ajay Bansal, made the request in a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, seeking relief before the revised UPI merchant payment framework takes effect on October 15.

Under the new framework, person-to-merchant UPI payments above ₹2,000 will generally attract an MDR of 0.4 per cent, with the charge capped at ₹300 for transactions of ₹75,000 and above. Fuel, railways, telecommunications, insurance and agricultural inputs have been placed in a separate essential-sector category carrying a flat MDR of ₹5 on payments above ₹2,000.

The Finance Ministry has said person-to-person UPI transfers will remain free regardless of value, while merchant payments of up to ₹2,000 and qualifying small-merchant transactions will also continue without MDR. It estimates that about 96 per cent of merchant UPI transactions will remain unaffected by the change.

AIPDA, however, said petrol pump economics differ from businesses where earnings rise with the value of a sale. Dealer margins are determined by oil marketing companies under the petroleum ministry’s framework and are primarily fixed on a per-litre basis, leaving outlets unable to offset payment-processing costs through higher margins on larger transactions.

“Dealers therefore have no mechanism to increase their earnings in proportion to the value of a transaction,” the association said in its letter.

The dealers’ body said even a flat ₹5 charge could become material because fuel stations handle large transaction volumes every day. It argued that multiplying the fee across thousands of payments would create a recurring cost burden, while applying the general 0.4 per cent rate would be still more difficult for the sector to absorb.

AIPDA asked for an absolute exemption from MDR and associated transaction fees for all UPI payments at retail fuel outlets, irrespective of value. As an alternative, it urged the government to provide a specific exemption for petrol pumps from both percentage-based MDR and fixed per-transaction charges if the ₹2,000 threshold is retained.

The association also warned that imposing the fee could encourage some dealers to discourage or restrict UPI payments above the threshold to protect margins, a development it said would run against the government’s goal of expanding digital payments and improving transaction transparency.

The Finance Ministry, setting out the rationale for the framework, said MDR is not a tax and is not collected by the government or the National Payments Corporation of India. The fee will instead be distributed among banks, payment service providers and UPI application providers to support the operation and expansion of the payment network.

The ministry said the differentiated fee structure was designed to preserve free payments for individuals and small merchants while creating a sustainable revenue stream for the wider UPI ecosystem. The flat ₹5 rate for fuel and other essential services was intended to give businesses in thin-margin sectors greater cost certainty than a percentage-based charge.

Dealers contend that fuel retailing warrants stronger protection because the mode of payment does not change the underlying economics of a petrol or diesel sale. They also cited earlier concessions on card-payment costs as evidence that fuel transactions have previously received distinct treatment within the digital-payment system.

The association said its commissions had not received an upward revision since October 2017 even as expenses including electricity, wages and regulatory compliance had increased. It said discussions with oil marketing companies over dealer earnings had yet to resolve the pressure on operating margins.

The dispute comes as fuel retailers prepare for the October implementation of the revised UPI rules. Dealers’ groups from several states have also approached the finance and petroleum ministries, seeking relief from the new fee and warning that outlets could reconsider accepting higher-value UPI payments if they are required to absorb the charge.