Monday, 2 February 2026

3Before9

3 must-know AI stories before your 9am coffee

Who should pay attention

AI leaders, founders, enterprise decision-makers, and teams deploying AI across Asia.

What changes next

Regulatory expectations tighten, infrastructure buildout accelerates, and enterprise AI governance matures.

1

Nvidia CEO praises suppliers, signals continued AI hardware focus

Nvidia’s chief executive told media in Taiwan that business remains strong and that suppliers will be crucial to meeting ongoing demand for AI chips, even as memory shortages present challenges.

Why it matters for Asia

sustained investment in Asia-based hardware supply chains supports GPU and memory production, which are critical to AI training and inference infrastructure across the region.

2

South Korea’s exports driven by demand for AI servers

South Korea’s export data for January showed the fastest growth in more than four years, with demand for components tied to AI server builds cited as a key driver of trade performance.

Why it matters for Asia

stronger exports of AI-related hardware indicate rising global demand and bolster Asia’s position as a core node in the semiconductor and AI compute ecosystem.

3

Alibaba and Baidu advance AI chip IPO plans

China’s two largest tech groups, Alibaba and Baidu, have begun IPO processes for their semiconductor design units, signalling Beijing’s push to strengthen homegrown AI hardware capabilities.

Why it matters for Asia

public listings for domestic chip designers could attract capital toward Asia’s AI silicon industry, reducing dependency on overseas suppliers and accelerating regional compute advancements.

That's today's 3-Before-9.

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Recent Editions

Wednesday

1 April 2026

3 must-know AI stories before your 9am coffee. The signals that matter, delivered daily.

Tuesday

31 March 2026

1.Asia now accounts for 62 per cent of global AI hardware trade, with US tariffs shifting supply chains to Southeast Asia and India.
2.Southeast Asia faces significant challenges from tropical heat and humidity as data centre demand is projected to grow 20 per cent annually.
3.Singapore is investing in liquid cooling, underwater data centres, and sustainable energy to boost capacity and address environmental hurdles.

Monday

30 March 2026

1.OpenAI is discontinuing its Sora AI video generation app, approximately one year after its public release.
2.Vietnam's FPT AI Factory will integrate NVIDIA HGX B300 systems, enhancing its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
3.New research suggests generative AI tools are considerably contributing to an increase in academic dishonesty.

Saturday

28 March 2026

1.OpenAI appoints JioStar CEO Kiran Mani as its first Asia-Pacific managing director, based in Singapore from June
2.FPT AI Factory deploys NVIDIA's Blackwell HGX B300 chips across Vietnam and Japan for reasoning and agentic AI workloads
3.Forrester projects 9.3% Asia-Pacific tech spending growth in 2026 but warns AI cost inflation and regulatory fragmentation will erode real value

Thursday

26 March 2026

1.OpenAI created a brand-new APAC managing director role and filled it with JioStar CEO Kiran Mani, starting June in Singapore
2.Boao Forum report declares Asia is evolving from AI followers into frontrunners with full-chain industrial maturity
3.SuperAI 2026 expects 10,000+ attendees at Marina Bay Sands with OpenAI, Google, and AWS confirmed

Wednesday

25 March 2026

1.Arm launches its first in-house chip, the 136-core AGI CPU, with SK Telecom, Rebellions, and Meta among launch customers for AI data centres
2.SK Hynix files confidentially with the SEC for a potential $10 billion Nasdaq listing to fund AI memory chip expansion
3.Boao Forum report declares Asia the new global epicentre of AI development, with China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore leading distinct niches