The inside story on the Asia tech trends that matter, from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times
Hi everyone! This is Lauly, still trying to recover days after the conclusion of Computex, the largest and most important tech expo in Asia. If any of you visited this year's trade show in Taipei, you will understand what I mean when I say I am exhausted.
Rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence has driven the popularity of Computex in the past four years, as Taiwan's tech supply chain is the epicenter of AI hardware. This year was the most challenging one so far for me and my colleague Annie Cheng Ting-Fang to cover, largely because of the earlier-than-expected arrival of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, which made the one-week Computex feel like it lasted two weeks.
But this year's event was also one of the most satisfying, as we had the chance to get hands-on with some of the latest innovations powering the AI revolution. I was really excited, for example, to see the co-package optic (CPO) switch tray showcased by Nvidia at GTC Taipei, which cuts the use of copper and pluggable transceivers, and reflects a dynamic shift from electrical connection to optical connection. We were also able to see and touch the upcoming Nvidia Vera CPUs, the company's challenger to Intel and AMD in the server CPU market.
You can take a look at these innovations yourself in these two short videos -- here and here.
The Computex event itself, along with Nvidia's GTC Taipei, was a marathon of reporting. We covered Huang's announcement that his company is spending $150 billion a year on Taiwan's supply chain, his keynote at GTC Taipei and his news conference about Nvidia's ambitions in the CPU market. On top of that, we stood for hours outside of two restaurants in downtown Taipei, squeezing shoulder-to-shoulder with other global and local reporters to doorstep Huang during Nvidia's "partner nights" with its Taiwanese and South Korean suppliers.
And that was just covering Nvidia. We also wrote about Intel's latest move, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's first public appearance in Taiwan in years, and countless CEO keynote speeches and media briefings by major tech companies. I ran back and forth between the venue's two halls five times on the first day of Computex alone.
Through it all, we could feel the omnipresence of Huang. On one day, he joined Marvell CEO Matt Murphy on stage during the latter's keynote address, calling the American chip developer the "next trillion dollar company." I was still jotting down notes on his comments when -- less than 30 minutes later -- Annie messaged me from the other side of the city to say that Huang had just joined Arm CEO Rene Haas on stage for his speech, too. I think that was the manifestation of "everything, everywhere, all at once."
When Huang did his exit interview at the Songshan Airport on Friday, he told the reporters, "I'd like to come back as soon as possible. When do you want me to come back? I think Taiwan needs to rest, all of you need to rest, you need to get some sleep, right? I think the restaurants also need to rest."
Leading American chipmaking equipment maker Applied Materials is betting big on Southeast Asia by opening a $500 million manufacturing campus in Singapore, the heart of its strategy to nearly double its global production capacity to meet the robust demand from the AI-driven chip boom, Nikkei Asia's Cheng Ting-Fang reports from the city-state.
Applied Materials President and CEO Gary Dickerson said its chip business will grow more than 30% this year and by a similar amount in the coming years, thanks to the strong demand for AI computing power.
To capture this growth opportunity, Applied Materials' new campus in Singapore will expand from one to three facilities, doubling its capacity there and making the Southeast Asian hub home to nearly 50% of its total capacity. The American chipmaking tool supplier also aims to increase its workforce in Southeast Asia by 1,000 people, mainly in Singapore, to support the expansion, Nikkei Asia reported earlier.
India's once-booming stock market has lost ground to Asian rivals this year as AI-hungry investors are put off by the country's lack of businesses able to capitalize on the sector's boom, writes the Financial Times' Krishn Kaushik.
Foreign investors have pulled a net $30 billion from Indian stocks this year, including a record $2.3 billion on June 1, according to securities depository NSDL, pushing the market down to seventh place globally by market value from fifth place just a week ago.
"Global investors are thematic investors," said Arvind Chari, chief investment strategist at Quantum Advisors India. "If you're trying to play AI as a theme, there is literally nothing to play in India."
India's stock market capitalization was recently overtaken first by Taiwan and then by South Korea, as the value of Indian equities held by foreign investors slumped to a 10-year low of 6.9 trillion rupees ($72 billion) on June 9.
The value of Indian stocks was more than double that of Taiwanese stocks and roughly 3.5 times that of South Korean stocks 18 months ago, according to analysts at Bernstein. "Fast forward just five months into 2026, and that lead has evaporated," they added.
Foreign investors have reduced their exposure to India's vast information technology services sector by more than a third since the start of the year, in a sign of nervousness over how AI could disrupt an industry that is the largest white-collar employer in the country.
Japanese companies are aiming for a bigger role in Asia's subsea cable market, as booming artificial intelligence demand transforms the construction and ownership models of these vital pieces of communication infrastructure, writes Nikkei Asia's Tsubasa Suruga.
Doubling construction costs, prolonged project timelines due to regulatory and geopolitical factors, as well as complex consortiums, are pressuring the entire undersea cable industry to move faster.
