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- 💡 China Chip Challenges Nvidia
💡 China Chip Challenges Nvidia
Reading time: 4 min 22 sec
☕️ Good morning comrades,
we need to correct our travel tip from yesterday—sorry!
Don’t go to Japan this July, come to Shanghai instead. You might just run into Kanye West. His last show here was back in 2008, and the rumors are swirling that he’s coming again this July. We’re taking bets on how long it’ll take before he gets canceled in China too.
Our community keeps growing, and we’ve noticed a number of respected journalists are now among our readers. A warm welcome 😉
🚀 Benchmarks
| Index | Current | 24 h | YTD | 52W High |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇩🇪 DAX | 23,498.33 | –0.61 % | +17.35 % | 24,479.42 |
| 🇺🇸 NASDAQ | 19,930.48 | +0.09 % | +3.37 % | 20,204.58 |
| 🇰🇷 KOSPI | 3,108.25 | +0.15 % | +29.57 % | 3,105.04 |
| 🇯🇵 Nikkei | 38,942.07 | +0.39 % | –0.93 % | 42,426.77 |
| 🇭🇰 Hang Seng | 24,474.67 | +1.23 % | +24.72 % | 24,874.39 |
| 🇨🇳 Shanghai | 3,455.97 | +1.04 % | +5.93 % | 3,674.41 |
🔢 Facts & Figures
80,900
People evacuated in China’s Guizhou province due to severe flooding.
1.2 billion USD
Estimated annual revenue of Thailand’s cannabis industry, now at risk as the government plans to recriminalize the drug.
101.7%
Year-on-year surge in Japanese rice prices in May 2025 – the steepest rise in over 50 years, and a major driver of stubborn inflation above 2%.
Top Bit:💡China’s Light-Based Chip Takes On Nvidia
China unveils Meteor-1, the first commercial processor that computes using light instead of electrons.
The result: performance and energy efficiency rival Nvidia’s top GPUs – but without any U.S. technology.
Details
🔍 How it works: Over 100 optical channels compute in parallel on a single silicon chip.
⚡ Performance: Up to 2,560 trillion operations per second – approaching RTX 5090 levels.
🔥 Power efficiency: Photons generate minimal heat, so the chip consumes just a fraction of the usual energy.
🏭 Manufacturing: Can be produced in standard 90 nm CMOS fabs – no special equipment required.
Why it matters
Bold challenge to Nvidia: For the first time, the U.S. GPU giant faces a serious Chinese rival.
Energy advantage: As AI models grow, lower power usage means billions saved in data centers.
Tech sovereignty: Beijing is cutting its reliance on imported high-performance chips.
Background
U.S. export controls are limiting China’s access to Nvidia hardware.
With Meteor-1, Beijing is betting on photonic tech that has, until now, mostly lived in labs. If mass deployment succeeds, the global chip market could enter a new era – at the speed of light.
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Head Of The Day
Frank Wang
🚁 The Drone Emperor: In 2006, Frank Wang was a student tinkering with flight controllers in his dorm room. Today, his company DJI commands around three-quarters of the U.S. drone market.
The Phantom series (launched in 2013) became wildly popular among YouTubers thanks to its plug-and-play camera. Suddenly, everyone wanted to “fly.” Now, the engineer runs a drone empire and is listed by Forbes as the world’s first “drone billionaire” (net worth approx. $4.8 billion).
Market Bit: 🕶️ Google Invests $100 Million in Gentle Monster
Details
💵 4% Stake: Google is investing around $100 million, valuing Gentle Monster at approximately $2.7 billion.
🖥️ XR Glasses Coming in 2026: Designed by Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, built by Samsung, running on Android XR with Gemini AI onboard.
🎨 Fashion First: A stylish accessory, not a tech gadget – a key lesson from the flop of Google Glass.
🌍 Global Appeal: Gentle Monster posted $571 million in revenue in 2024, with 38% coming from outside South Korea.
⚔️ Tough Competition: Meta/Ray-Ban, Apple, and Samsung are all working on their own smart glasses.
Why it matters
Design meets Tech: Only fashion-forward wearables stand a real chance in the mass market
Google’s Second Try: A more calculated comeback after the failure of Google Glass
Value Chain Power: Asian manufacturing, AI software, and global fashion influence in one package
Further reading: Fashion United, KED
Top Reads
🇯🇵 Japan’s Moon Mission Fails Due to Laser Miscalculation: During descent, ispace’s Resilience lander failed to receive reliable altitude data from its laser rangefinder, braking too late and crashing. Likely causes: weak laser reflection or radiation damage. Ispace plans stricter sensor tests and will equip future landers (Apex 1.0) with additional optical navigation. More on this.
🇮🇳 Audit Reveals Maintenance Chaos After Air India Crash: India’s aviation authority DGCA found ignored defect reports, worn-out tires, outdated simulator software, and crumbling ground equipment in surprise inspections. Airlines and airports now have seven days to fix the issues. Meanwhile, New Delhi is drafting a law to forcibly demolish buildings that breach flight path height limits. More on this.
🇬🇧 “Prince of Wales” Deploys to Indo-Pacific: The Royal Navy’s 65,000-ton flagship docked in Singapore before an eight-month voyage to Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Mission chief James Blackmore emphasized safeguarding free navigation and the rules-based order, adding that encounters with Chinese vessels are expected to be “professional and safe.” More on this.
Optional Reads
South Korea: Court rejects new arrest warrant for ex-President Yoon in martial law case. More on this.
Singapore: Prime Minister Wong: “ASEAN does not want to be a pawn in the US-China rivalry and aims to cooperate with both sides.” More on this.
China: Hypersonic glider passes test flight – combined propulsion and autonomous flight confirmed. More on this.
🐕 King Charlie, the Paw Alpha: At a shelter in Hebei, this calm dog gently places his paw on quarreling companions – bringing peace without growling or barking. His composure has made him a viral alpha on Douyin, YouTube & co., sparking memes, fan theories, and even parody crypto coins.
The most popular video has a staggering 59 million views! Check it out.
Wisdom from the comment section: “The toughest person in the room is not always the loudest.”
Yes, this category is slowly turning into a pet special. But we’re allowed – the asiabits team owns three dogs and four cats. 😻
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Spotted something funny or noteworthy about Asia? Mail it to [email protected] and we might feature you here.
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See you tomorrow,
Thomas, Michael & the Team of asiabits.
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Editors: Michael Broza, Thomas Derksen, William Hu, Eva Trotno, Cindy Zhang
Content responsibility: Thomas Derksen
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