Welcome back,
This week we look at why DeepSeek moved markets in the US and came to the aid of China’s Big Tech but it hasn’t moved the needle for VC investments on Chinese soil. In brief: it’s complicated and might take some time.
Elsewhere, Softbank is busy splurging on AI again and that Grab-GoTo deal looks like it might be driving ahead. We also round up the highlights of Q4 reporting for China’s top publicly traded companies, there’s a flurry of news on North Korea’s crypto hacking chops, a tech IPO is moving along in the Philippines and X and the Indian government are involved in a lawsuit. I also poured one out for TechCrunch, my old home on the internet, after it got sold in an underwhelming deal.
That’s all for this week—have a great one and we’ll see you in our next edition.
Best,
Jon
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The rise of DeepSeek had a big impact on the US, where big tech company stocks were rocked by the notion that Chinese tech can still be competitive despite the efforts of US sanctions to hinder them. The impact was felt in China too, where the largest tech firms saw their share prices rise and sentiment become more positive, but the glow hasn’t been seen in venture capital in the country yet.
That’s according to data from PitchBook as reported by Nikkei Asia:
As of March 11, China had logged 100 deals in the AI and machine learning space, with a total value of $917.8 million. Although the quarter is not yet over, the pace of investment this year is well behind the $2.6 billion from 196 deals seen in the first three months of 2024.
China led Asia for AI and machine learning deals last year—its 715 deals for $7.3 billion was “far surpassing any other country in the region”—but PitchBook sees the DeepSeek effect on its VC world taking a couple more quarters or even years.
“China’s VC market is still in decline, and AI investment in the country is less than half the amount from the high in 2021,” Kyle Stanford of PitchBook told Nikkei Asia.
The composition of investors may also explain the lag. National funds are providing billions of dollars in investment for AI companies, while overseas investors are also hamstrung. The US released specific regulations to prevent its funds doing deals in China, which explains why many global funds have been forced to break up their US and Chinese units, despite decades of stellar results.
Government funds operate under greater scrutiny, and the involvement of the state in DeepSeek, for instance, has meant potential investors are screened by local authorities. All of which makes a sudden uptick in deals unlikely.
On a more positive note, PitchBook did see a surge in AI and ML deals in India, which jumped to second place in Asia.
Asia still very much lags the US, however:
Overall, Asia still trails the U.S. in AI venture investment, with the American market logging a peak last year of 4,369 deals totaling $100.5 billion. This dwarfs the $13.53 billion in transactions for all of Asia in 2024, according to data from PitchBook.
So Silicon Valley is king again?
We’ve written about the potential for Grab-GoTo (Gojek) coming together and reports suggest a merger may finally be on the horizon.
Bloomberg reported that Grab is doing due diligence on GoTo’s financials, reviewing accounts, contacts and operations. The duo are also said to be evaluating how the deal might be structured and at what valuation. The latter has always been the challenge, as we’ve written before. Given the long-standing rivalry and ego, getting a deal that works for everyone isn’t going to be easy. Even just the narrative of whether the deal is a Grab acquisition or merger could be a sticking point, let alone the finer details.
Stay tuned!
The Japanese tech giant is continuing to pour billions into its AI chip ambitions with the deal to buy Ampere Computing, which has designed chips for SoftBank-owned ARM and was founded by a former Intel executive in 2017.
SoftBank previously held a minority stake in Ampere through an investment that valued the company at $8 billion. Carlyle and Oracle were its two largest stakeholders with a combined 90%-plus ownership, but they’ve agreed to sell in this deal which will see Ampere become a SoftBank subsidiary.
Oracle was often touted as a potential buyer for Ampere—its CEO previously sat on the Oracle board—and the company never did make it to IPO, as had been planned. Now, SoftBank is likely to put Ampere to work more directly with ARM, and potentially put its 1,500 staff to work on projects with OpenAI, which has signed agreements with SoftBank.
It was a big week for Chinese stocks with a number of major names announcing their Q4 results:
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PDD, the parent of Temu, missed market estimates for quarterly revenue blaming intense competition and economic weakness in China—Temu has also stuttered overseas and may face a challenge in the US if the de minimis policy (exempting items worth under $800 from import tax) is altered by President Trump
Tencent itself had a busy week, giving plenty of focus to its AI efforts:
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Tencent unveiled AI services that generate 3D visuals from text and images, powered by its Hunyuan3D-2.0 model—it plans to open-source the tools, which will enhance its 3D engine for games and other content
The US Commerce department bureaus banned China’s DeepSeek on government devices, according to sources link
Huawei has built and sourced China-based components for its smartphones following US sanctions and now it is developing computer chips to move away from a reliance on Intel and Windows link
FCC chief and Senate Intel chair push European telecoms to cut ties with Huawei, aiming to ‘castrate’ the company in Europe, a spokesperson says. link
Oracle is considering a proposal to acquire TikTok’s US operations, offering security assurances and taking a small stake in a new US entity, while potentially leaving the app’s algorithm under Chinese control link
The FCC is investigating Chinese telecom firms, including Huawei, ZTE, and China Telecom, over alleged violations of US operating restrictions link
The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware is yet to pick up steam two years after launch, as major brands remain reluctant to scale up production and push exports link
Uber India revenue rose 41% and losses narrowed by 71% link
Edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah has confidentially filed for an IPO link
Google introduced Appu, a GenAI-powered learning companion designed to transform early childhood education in India by making learning more engaging and accessible for young children link
Rest Of World looks at “the chaotic demise” of Dunzo, which pioneered on-demand services and raised money from Google and Reliance but ultimately shut down in January 2025 link
X has sued India’s IT ministry, alleging it unlawfully expanded censorship powers and enabled widespread content removal by officials link
OpenAI and Meta are reportedly in talks with Reliance for AI partnerships link
Thailand has approved $2.7B of investments in data centres and cloud services from vendors including China-based Beijing Haoyang Cloud&Data Technology, Singapore Empyrion Digital, and local company GSA Data Center link
Philippines-based Mynt, the owner of top financial services business GCash, is looking to reduce its IPO float from 20% to as little as 10% in its planned IPO link
Bukalapak, one of Indonesia’s original e-commerce players, has exited physical product sales to focus on utility bill payments—it went public in 2021 becoming the first unicorn to do so link
South Korea’s chip exports to China fell 31.8% last month, worsening concerns over weakening global demand amid rising US tech restrictions link
Samsung vowed to pursue “meaningful achievements” in deals this year to revive growth after losing market share across core businesses in 2024 link
JX Advanced Metals, which supplies chipmakers, raised $3B from Japan’s largest IPO in nearly 7 years link
Google is partnering with Taiwan’s MediaTek to design and produce next-gen Tensor Processing Units for AI—the release is aimed at next year, according to reports link
Taiwanese firms like TSMC and Foxconn are moving production to the US, driven by sanctions, export controls, and trade threats link
Nvidia plans to spend hundreds of billions on US-made chips and electronics over the next four years, shifting its supply chain from Asia amid Trump’s tariff threats link
Foxconn is close to securing a contract to produce electric vehicles for Mitsubishi Motors, marking a major step in its push into the auto industry link
The US Bitcoin Reserve has put national ownership of crypto in the spotlight: by virtue of its $1.5 billion ByBit hack, North Korea now owns more crypto than El Salvador (a famous buyer) and Bhutan (well known for Bitcoin mining) link
Hacking is so lucrative that North Korea is reported to have set up a new unit dedicated to using AI to develop “offensive hacking technologies and programs” link
Meanwhile, popular exchange OKX has closed down its decentralized exchange (DEX) after saying North Korean hackers had attempted to use—the EU has been investigating usage of the OKX DEX link
Kazakhstan’s Kaspi, the country’s most valuable company, is raising $650M in a bond sale to grow its payment and banking services, with potential acquisitions on the table link
