Theme news

Tokyo – – September 29, 2026 -- Advanet Inc., a member of the Eurotech Group, has launched three new industrial computing products built on Renesas Electronics' RZ/G3L MPU, targeting OEMs in HMI, industrial automation, edge computing and building automation.

Three-tier platform spans module, motherboard and box PC

The lineup consists of the Adsmc7101 SMARC module, the AdiMB7103 industrial motherboard and the AdiCS7102 industrial Box PC, all designed, developed and manufactured in Japan on a shared hardware and software platform. The structure lets customers move from a System-on-Module to a fully integrated system without redesigning core architecture, cutting development risk for long-lifecycle deployments.

Los Angeles – September 29, 2026 -- Explore The Trades, a Minnesota-based nonprofit founded in 2005, has placed classroom poster kits reaching more than 1.3 million students since 2021 across over 3,400 U.S. school districts, roughly a quarter of the country, as part of a national push to rebuild the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical talent pipeline.

Public Television Feature Set to Film October 2 in Boca Raton

The organization will be profiled in an upcoming segment of "All Access hosted by Andy Garcia," a short-form documentary series distributed to Public Television stations nationwide. Filming is scheduled for October 2, 2026, at the program's Boca Raton, Florida studio, with the segment examining how the nonprofit works at the classroom level to reintroduce trades careers before students choose a path.

Irvine, Calif. – – September 29, 2026 -- Performance Brokerage Services has brokered the sale of Genesis of Glenview, Illinois, to Joe Ghaben, adding a fifth franchise point to the Chicago-area Ghaben Auto Group.

Ghaben Auto Group expands Chicago footprint with Genesis acquisition

Ghaben Auto Group, founded in 2004, already operates Volkswagen of Oak Lawn, Volkswagen of Orland Park, and the two-location Ultimo Motors luxury pre-owned brand in Northbrook and Westmont. The Genesis acquisition marks the group's entry into the Genesis franchise network.

Dealership will relocate to a new facility on Patriot Boulevard

Genesis of Glenview will retain its name but move operations to a newly built facility at 2929 Patriot Boulevard in Glenview, Illinois.

Shanghai – – September 29, 2026 -- Hengrui Pharma has licensed its investigational obesity and diabetes drug HRS-1596 to Novo Nordisk in a deal worth up to 2.6 billion US dollars, including a 300 million dollar upfront payment.

Novo secures global rights excluding Greater China

Under the agreement, Novo obtains exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise HRS-1596 worldwide, excluding the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan Region. Hengrui Pharma retains eligibility for royalties on net sales of the drug within Novo's licensed territory, on top of the milestone-based payments tied to development, regulatory and commercial targets.

Shanghai – September 29, 2026 -- YR Fitness plans to expand its one-stop commercial gym supply model by adding design and fit-out services, letting gym owners manage equipment sourcing and physical build-out through a single partner.

YR Fitness will phase in design and fit-out services based on market demand

The company, which has manufactured strength equipment in-house for nearly 30 years, said the rollout will occur in phases tied to specific market and project needs rather than a single simultaneous launch.

George Yang says the goal is consolidating more of the gym-build process under one team

"Opening a gym already means managing enough moving parts," said George Yang, founder and chief designer of YR Fitness. "If we can make equipment sourcing, planning, delivery and after-sales easier, we should. The next step is helping customers manage more of the project through the same team."

Shanghai – – September 29, 2026 -- Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. has signed a US$300 million portfolio credit insurance policy alongside an initial US$50 million non-recourse factoring agreement, creating a tiered financing structure for the company's overseas installment receivables. The deals were finalized at the Zoomlion 2026 Global Financial Partners Summit in Shanghai on September 11.

New framework converts overseas receivables into standardized, investment-grade assets

Developed over six months with international insurers and financial institutions, the arrangement lets overseas installment receivables covered by the credit insurance policy be factored with an overseas bank on a non-recourse basis. The structure replaces transaction-by-transaction handling of overseas receivables with a scalable, replicable financing model.

Copenhagen – September 29, 2026 -- NKT used its Investor Day 2026 in Karlskrona, Sweden, to unveil a formal capital allocation framework and confirm that commercial operation at its expanded Karlskrona facility will begin in Q2 2027, slightly ahead of the original schedule.

NKT ties cash generation to a four-priority capital allocation framework

The company said it will maintain a robust balance sheet, targeting net interest-bearing debt to operational EBITDA below 0x. Beyond balance-sheet discipline, NKT will direct capital toward organic growth and strategically aligned, value-accretive acquisitions, commit to a minimum annual dividend of 20% of adjusted net profit with an ambition for a stable payout per share, and return excess cash via share buybacks or extraordinary dividends when conditions allow.

Chengdu, China – September 29, 2026 -- iRegene Therapeutics has secured clinical trial clearances in both China and the United States for NouvSight001, an off-the-shelf cell therapy targeting retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a retinal disease affecting roughly 1.5 million people worldwide.

China's NMPA clears Phase I/III trial while FDA grants Phase I/II clearance with special exemption

China's National Medical Products Administration authorized a Phase I/III trial to assess safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of NouvSight001 in RP patients. The U.S. FDA separately cleared a Phase I/II trial for the same indication and granted a special exemption, building on the Orphan Drug Designation the agency awarded the program in 2024.

Changzhou, China – September 29, 2026 -- Segway Powersports brought 14 media representatives and creators from Canada, Chile, Peru, Panama, Brazil and Argentina to its Changzhou manufacturing facility and off-road testing grounds in Xinjiang from September 14-19 under the SEGWAY POWERSPORTS CHINA TOUR-2026 LATAM & CANADA EDITION program.

Factory tour exposes production, assembly and quality-control processes

Participants toured the company's manufacturing site in Changzhou, examining assembly lines, vehicle testing protocols and final inspection procedures used across Segway Powersports' ATV and side-by-side (SxS) product lines. The visit provided visibility into traceability practices tied to the company's vehicle output.

London – September 29, 2026 -- JOE Media Group has launched a heart-health awareness campaign built around a Viking folk character named Jordic, using erectile dysfunction (ED) as an entry point to warn men about underlying cardiovascular disease risk.

Campaign ties ED symptoms to a two-to-five-year cardiovascular warning window

The 'Listen to Jordic' campaign, created by Havas Lynx UK for JOE Media Group, launched on World Heart Day exclusively on JOE.co.uk. Medical literature cited in the campaign indicates ED can precede cardiovascular symptoms by two to five years, offering a critical window for men to seek diagnosis.

Cannes – September 29, 2026 -- KT&G's ultra-slim cigarette brand ESSE surpassed KRW 1 trillion (approximately USD 700 million) in global sales in 2025, the South Korean tobacco maker announced at TFWA World 2026 in Cannes, France, running September 27 to October 1.

KT&G products now reach 179 duty-free stores across roughly 110 airports worldwide

The company entered the duty-free channel in 1995 with the launch of 88 Light in China. Three decades later, its flagship brands -- ESSE, RAISON, and BOHEM -- hold shelf space at 179 duty-free outlets spanning approximately 110 airports, including facilities in South Korea.

Atlanta – September 29, 2026 -- Corgi Insurance has appointed Stephen Segroves as Head of Pricing, tasking him with building rating models for its trucking program and commercial lines nationwide.

Segroves brings nearly two decades of actuarial and pricing experience to Corgi's underwriting build-out

Segroves most recently served as Senior Director, Actuary at Nirvana Insurance, where he oversaw insurance analytics and pricing operations. Prior to that role, he spent three years as Senior Director of Data Science at VoyageWorks, leading a cross-functional team of data scientists, actuaries, and data engineers to develop predictive and machine learning models aimed at improving commercial auto profitability.

Singapore – September 29, 2026 -- MagPro, operating as Nanjing CIPU Technology Co., Ltd., has launched the AeroLev 1850, a 1.85 MW-class air-cooled magnetic-bearing chiller designed to cut water use in AI data centers built in arid, high-ambient regions.

Platform eliminates cooling towers to remove water dependency

AeroLev 1850 uses a cooling-tower-free, oil-free magnetic-levitation architecture paired with intelligent controls, removing evaporative cooling water as an operational constraint for facilities in water-stressed markets. The chiller is rated to operate at ambient temperatures up to 45°C.

London – September 29, 2026 -- Nearly a third of the most AI-capable employees say they are very or extremely likely to quit their employer within a year, even as access to learning and development resources for the broader workforce dropped 8 percentage points, according to PwC's 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey of nearly 50,000 workers across 48 countries.

AI use jumps 10 points while training access shrinks

Some 64% of workers report using AI at work in the past 12 months, up 10 points year on year, and daily Generative AI use rose from 14% to 22%. Yet only 51% say they have access to the learning and development resources they need, down from 59% last year.

St. Helier – September 29, 2026 -- Petrus Advisers, which holds roughly 3.8% of Iveco Group N.V. shares, has publicly rejected Tata Motors' all-cash voluntary tender offer of €14.10 per share, arguing the bid fails to reflect fair value for Iveco shareholders.

Petrus says the offer undervalues Iveco against industry peers

In a presentation released today, Petrus Legal Strategies (Jersey) Limited and Petrus Advisers Limited outlined three core objections to the transaction. The investment firm argues the €14.10 price sits below comparable valuations for peer companies in the commercial vehicle sector.

Seoul – – September 29, 2026 -- SEMIFIVE has signed a contract worth approximately KRW 70.3 billion ($52 million) with a U.S.-based AI fabless company to develop a next-generation AI inference accelerator, marking the South Korean custom ASIC provider's largest single contract to date.

Deal size dwarfs prior order volumes

The contract alone equals more than 40% of SEMIFIVE's total 2025 orders of KRW 168.4 billion and roughly 60% of the KRW 118.9 billion in new orders booked during the first half of 2026. It also marks the company's first "Spec Hand-off" engagement in North America.

Los Angeles – – September 29, 2026 -- Congress has passed the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies (ACT) for ALS Reauthorization Act of 2026 (H.R. 8205), sending the bipartisan bill to the President's desk just two days before the underlying program was set to expire on September 30, 2026.

Senate approval follows House passage, clearing the path for a presidential signature

The legislation cleared the U.S. House of Representatives before the Senate gave final approval, moving the bill to the President for signature. Once enacted, the law will extend core ACT for ALS programs through 2031, continuing federal support for ALS research infrastructure and expanded access to investigational therapies.

Singapore – September 29, 2026 -- Castrol has launched Castrol CORE, an integrated thermal management offer that shifts the company from selling standalone cooling products to providing end-to-end design, deployment and lifecycle services for data centres.

Castrol moves from product sales to full-service thermal management partnerships

Under Castrol CORE, the company will engage customers earlier in data centre infrastructure development, adding design capabilities to its existing deployment, start-up, operation and maintenance support. Castrol says the change responds to industry research showing growing demand for integrated thermal management solutions that cut the complexity of coordinating multiple suppliers, alongside concerns over supply chain disruption and the high cost of cooling-system failure.

Kaohsiung – September 29, 2026 -- Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co., Ltd., known as SUNON, will present a full chip-to-rack liquid cooling portfolio at the OCP Global Summit 2026, running October 12-15 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in California.

SUNON targets rising AI chip power densities with a three-tier cooling architecture

Under the banner "Build to Chill," SUNON's booth A19 display spans chip-level, server-level, and rack-level liquid cooling technologies. The company positions the integrated stack to address a range of power densities, operating environments, and system requirements as AI accelerators push thermal loads beyond the limits of traditional air cooling.

Atlanta – September 29, 2026 -- Hitron Technologies and Airties unveiled a joint connectivity platform at SCTE TechExpo26 designed to help internet service providers monetize small and medium business customers, a segment the companies say has been underserved by existing residential and enterprise offerings.

The solution pairs Hitron's high-performance SMB gateways with Airties Pro software, targeting the gap between low-cost residential broadband and complex, expensive enterprise-grade systems. Hitron and Airties are already working with several service providers to bring the combined offering to their SMB customer bases.