Manus is moving to Singapore to get access to Nvidia tech again
The up-and-coming AI startup is closing its China offices and moving to escape the impact of US-China tensions—will it catch on?
Welcome back,
This week’s main story is how an up-and-coming Chinese AI startup is fully porting to Singapore in an effort to get easier access to Nvidia and other top US tech which is limited on the mainland.
We often see Chinese firms forge links with Singapore for fundraising, branding and more, but this major shift sees its China office close and dozens of employees moved. Might it catch on? We shall see.
To counter this, China has hatched plans to import more than 115,000 Nvidia chips to power huge data centres in deserted parts of the country. That’s a plan that’s unsurprisingly unpopular in Washington, at least until Nvidia has its own China chip that doesn’t break strict export limitations.
In case you missed it: we wrote last week about a major breakthrough for incubator firm Antler, after the Singapore-headquartered company landed its first unicorn graduate as eSim startup Airalo raised $220 million.
That’s all for this week—catch you soon,
Jon
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News in Focus
Chinese AI startup Manus relocates to Singapore to duck fallout of US-China tensions
It’s impossible to ignore the US-China tech war and its impact on startups wanting to access US tech. One company's solution is to leave China entirely.
Manus, an upcoming AI startup from China that develops agents, is taking that route after it relocated its headquarters to Singapore.
It’s not uncommon to hear of companies ‘moving’ to Singapore, only to retain and even grow their operations in the mainland. But Manus is in the process of shuttering its China-based teams and is hiring extensively in Singapore, and moving staff, so that it will not be subject to the effects of the trade war, trade limits and more.
The startup has offices in California and Tokyo, but by domiciling in Singapore, it will be freely able to access Nvidia chips and other US tech. It may also find raising from non-Chinese investors to be easier, too. It already counts US fund Benchmark among its investors.
Manus didn’t quietly announce this move, it gave its reveal on stage at a major AI event in Singapore.
Time will tell whether it will quietly retain significant ties to China, and whether others in its position take the same approach.
TikTok is developing a new, US-only app
We wrote previously that TikTok is stuck in limbo with the future of its US-based business, but the Chinese firm is developing a new version of its app for the US ahead of the planned sale of its American business.
The Information reports that the app, known as M2, will launch in early September. The existing TikTok app is planned to run until next March but, once discontinued in the US, users will need to switch to this upcoming version, if things proceed as TikTok expects.
The M2 app will have its own algorithm and data system, according to Reuters, which says it will operate the same way as Douyin in China—not visible or accessible to users outside of the US but using a replicated codebase, AI models etc at the beginning.
No sale will presumably mean the app is never released. But it is no surprise that TikTok has a contingency plan either way.
China plans data centre stocked with 115,000 Nvidia AI chips
We know companies will leave China to get access to top technology, that’s why the government itself is building out huge data centres equipped with US tech.
That’s right: Bloomberg reports that China plans to install over 115,000 Nvidia AI chips across data centers in the country’s western deserts, with most headed to a massive Xinjiang facility.
The project is designed to train large-language models that can boost China’s AI capabilities but they will still leave it trailing the US when it comes to infrastructure.
There’s no details on when or how the Nvidia chips will be acquired. But the proposal has unsurprisingly raised alarm in Washington.
Meanwhile: Hangzhou has emerged as a key hub in China’s race to lead in artificial intelligence, with companies like DeepSeek and Alibaba drawing a new generation of coders and entrepreneurs to the city.
And Nvidia plans to launch a China-specific AI chip as early as September. It will be a modified version of the Blackwell RTX Pro 6000, stripped of advanced features like high-bandwidth memory and NVLink to comply with tightened US export controls.
X and India trade blows around censorship
India and X have been at loggerheads after domestic media laws ordering the blocking of more than 2,000 accounts, including some belonging to media organisations like Reuters.
X raised the alarm over press censorship, and said it is exploring legal options to prevent the blockings being actioned. India’s IT Ministry, however, denied issuing such orders and it said it had no plans to censor major international outlets
The issue descended into he said, she said.
X accused the government of employing a “smart and ingenious workaround” to avoid legal safeguards by not using conventional routes to request the removal of content via India’s Sahyog portal—which automates requests.
The government, in turn, accused the social platform of twisting the story—it claimed it wrote to unban the affected Reuters accounts and that it did not issue a fresh request to have them blocked. It further claimed that X took nearly 24 hours to unblock the media accounts.
The whole episode doesn’t look great for the Indian government, which comes across as clumsy at best.
China
OpenAI has tightened its security to guard against corporate espionage, especially from Chinese rivals like DeepSeek ink
DeepSeek a threat to national security, warns Czech cyber agency link
US officials are quietly assessing Chinese AI models for how closely their responses align with Communist Party narratives, a memo seen by Reuters shows link
China’s cloud infrastructure spending rose 16% year-on-year to $11.6B in Q1, driven by rising AI adoption among mainland firms, according to Canalys link
Chinese startup Moonshot AI released Kimi K2, a new open-source model with stronger coding and task-handling abilities as it aims to regain ground in a crowded market link
Huawei is trying to export small batches of its older Ascend 910B AI chips to the Middle East and Southeast Asia, aiming to break into markets dominated by Nvidia despite manufacturing challenges link
At the same time, Huawei is planning a major redesign of its next AI chip to better compete with Nvidia—the goal is to support a broader range of AI workloads and align more closely with Nvidia and AMD architectures to make switching easier for Chinese developers link
The company has denied claims that its new open-source Pro MoE language model was built by tweaking third-party models, insisting it is entirely homegrown link
Italian police arrested a 33-year-old Chinese national wanted by the US for alleged ties to Hafnium, a state-backed hacking group accused of stealing US Covid-19 vaccine data in 2020 and breaching Microsoft email systems in 2021 link
Ant International is "seriously considering" stablecoin license applications in multiple jurisdictions around the world—it plans to integrate Circle’s USDC stablecoin once it has US regulatory compliance link
Millions of gig workers in China are enduring scorching heat without legal protections or additional pay, while government employees stay cool in air-conditioned offices and enjoy seaside perks link
A drawn-out price war in China’s food-delivery market has erased $100B from Alibaba’s market value—its Hong Kong shares are down 28 percent since March, nearly twice the decline in a broader Chinese tech index link
Food and on-demand delivery Meituan’s daily orders hit a record 150 million as JD and Alibaba battle to steal its market share link
JD.com has pledged more than $1.4B to grow its on-demand delivery business—which hit a new high of 200M daily orders across e-commerce and more link
India
The number of Indian startups accepted by Y Combinator has dropped to just four in 2024, down from 66 in 2021—YC has seen an overall drop in companies from Asia but it is speculated that requirements of parent company bases outside of India are putting companies off as being locally domiciled is in trend due to the potential to list in the future link
Amazon launched 10-minute deliveries in New Delhi, it first launched the service in Bengaluru in December—that’s a major move against the young and upcoming companies that have pioneered the sector link
Meanwhile quick commerce leader Zepto is set to raise $500M in a new funding round led by General Catalyst, Avenir, and others that value it at $7B link
But Blinkit and Instamart have made some gains on Zepto, which saw its growth stall in Q1 2025—that’s said to be down to new customer acquisition from these rivals and concerns around Zepto’s pricing and customer service link
Quick commerce is growing like crazy after logging a 142% increase last year, but it remains limited to metro areas where there’s customer and retailer density—a report found that non-metro areas account for just 20% of overall GMV link
Another report, however, suggested that non-metro areas may now be economically viable for quick commerce—is this the moment which turns this from a trend into an established vertical? link
India’s streaming giants are copying the micro-drama trend that’s played out in China link
Reliance Jio has reportedly delayed its India IPO beyond this year link
Jio Platforms has launched JioPC, a virtual desktop service that turns TVs into cloud-based PCs via its set-top box link
The government says it is monitoring the return of China tech workers from Foxconn India, although experts have suggested it won’t affect output as we wrote last week link
Foxconn has begun importing components from China to India for the iPhone 17 assembly, signaling Apple's intent to manufacture the latest model simultaneously in both countries link
Meta’s grand WhatsApp fintech experiment in India has fizzled link
Southeast Asia
Satellite images and eyewitness accounts show online scam centers are spreading fast around border areas in Myanmar, despite a major crackdown in February link
Antler hit a major milestone with its first unicorn after eSIM startup Airalo raised a $220M round at a valuation of over $1B link
Singapore’s Temasek has grown bearish on Europe amid global trade tensions, just a year after opening a Paris office and pledging $19B to the region link
Emirati firm G42 is among investors proposing a $2B data center project in Ho Chi Minh City, according to Vietnamese state media link
Singapore-based Augmentus raised $11M to scale its no-code robot programming link
Malaysian chip firms are delaying investments as they await clarity on potential US tariffs set to take effect on August 1, according to Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association President Wong Siew Hai link
Oracle will partner with DayOne Data Centers to launch its first cloud services center in Indonesia link
Indonesia has extradited Russian national Alexander Zverev, who was arrested in 2022 and is accused of operating a Telegram channel that sold personal data from law enforcement databases link
Struggling Chinese EV brands go global to flee brutal price war at home but there’s a challenge—the backlash against Neta Auto in Thailand shows risks of expanding overseas too early link
South Korea
Samsung expects a 56% drop in Q2 operating profit, which would be well below analyst forecasts and due to weaker AI chip sales in the US and China link
Samsung is acquiring Seattle tech startup Xealth to boost digital health ambitions link
Proposed amendments could allow crypto firms to register as ‘venture companies,’ making them eligible for government benefits such as tax cuts—right now they are alongside gambling firms in being excluded link
The governor of the Bank of Korea warned that allowing non-banks to issue KRW stablecoins could lead to currency chaos and disruptions in the local banking sector link
Japan
Remixpoint says it raised $215M to expand its Bitcoin treasury link
Rakuten has hired banks for a bond sale to raise $1B link
Hong Kong
Lens Technology, a key Apple supplier, raised $607M from a Hong Kong IPO link
Shein has confidentially filed for an IPO in Hong Kong following plenty of speculation ink
AI startup Zhipu may shift its planned $300M IPO to Hong Kong, joining the city’s dealmaking surge link
Taiwan
Nissan is in talks with Taiwan’s Foxconn to produce EVs at its Oppama plant in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo link
TSMC's June quarter revenue surged 39% to $32Bm exceeding analyst estimates and boosting optimism for continued AI spending link
Rest of Asia
The US has sanctioned a senior North Korean intelligence official, Song Kum Hyok, for helping run an IT worker scheme in China and Russia link
Bazaar Technologies, Pakistan’s top e-commerce startup, is closing in on profitability as it eyes a future modeled after Alibaba and MercadoLibre—the five-year-old startup raised $100M to date and recently bought a payments platform to deepen its reach link
New Zealand will ban crypto ATMs in broader efforts to combat money laundering link
The Bhutan government appeared to sell $23M in Bitcoin after the cryptocurrency reached a new all-time-high price link
A Pakistan court suspended an order seeking to ban the YouTube channels of more than two dozen critics of the government link