WhatsApp assures Indian users everything is fine ahead of advertising rollout
JD’s Richard Liu eyes a return with a fresh push into China’s food delivery market after years on the sidelines.
Welcome back,
What would you do to appease your largest user group, especially if it was more than 500 million people. WhatsApp rolled out its top executive and made a plea for its users in India to trust that it will do ads tastefully. That’s something it hasn’t done anywhere else.
The idea of ads in WhatsApp is indeed chilling. I remember the previous management vehemently opposing any form of intrusive monetization. And yet here we are.
This week’s newsletter comes to you a day later than usual, but it is packed with the usual key news and developments that you expect. Perhaps even more so this week, which also includes how diving cat videos may fuel a Chinese AI IPO, plans to transfer JD.com’s lacklustre business and billions of dollars in data centre commitments in South Korea.
Have a great week.
Best,
Jon
Follow the Asia Tech Review LinkedIn page for updates on posts published here and interesting things that come our way. If you’re a news junkie, the ATR Telegram news feed has you covered with news as-it-happens or join the community chat here.
News in Focus
WhatsApp assures Indian users ads will not be intrusive
India is the largest market for WhatsApp, with over 500 million users. In recent years, it’s become clear that the country is a major focus for the Meta-owned business, which has made major hires and rolled out India-specific products like payments.
This month, Will Cathcart—who runs WhatsApp—sat down for an exclusive interview with The Economic Times in which he stressed that upcoming advertising within the messaging app “will not bother most users.”
Ads will live in the updates tab, and not intrude via messages or calls that would be considered a nuisance, Cathcart stressed.
The messaging and focus is pretty interesting. I can’t recall WhatsApp—let alone its top executive—taking time out to assure users in any other country of the experience that they can expect. There’s clearly plenty of concern around miscommunication which could impact adoption in India.
JD.com plots comeback through food delivery and stablecoins
Both Alibaba and Baidu are reinventing their fortunes through AI but JD.com—one of their long-time rivals—is picking a very different path: food delivery and stablecoins.
JD.com founder Richard Liu said the last 5 years have been wholly unremarkable for his company, and now it is time to revive the business.
His initial pick was food delivery, and he started out with a viral big bang that included him joining a fleet and delivering food—while also luring riders from rival services to his business. Liu believes JD’s logistics backbone can enable it to compete with Meituan (market leader at around 80% dominance) and Alibaba’s Ele.me.
Liu is also using a classic playbook: no commission for restaurants, bonuses for riders and discounts for customers. Analysts aren’t impressed but he maintains that the cost of food delivery is lower than an ad campaign, and that it buys the trust and activity of consumers.
The company is also zoning in on stablecoins, with plans to apply for licenses in major markets. The US just passed its Genius Act which regulates stablecoins, and that’s likely to accelerate similar changes in other countries. JD already has a stablecoin business—its JD Coinlink token is pegged to the Hong Kong dollar—but broader regulatory acceptance could help it parlay that into its e-commerce businesses, and potentially other areas.
JD.com’s turnaround won’t be easy but Liu has laid out a 5-year plan—now the company may be worth watching again.
MiniMax explores IPO as cat diving videos go viral
MiniMax, one of China’s promising AI startups which is valued at $3B, is exploring the potential for an IPO in Hong Kong that could be held as soon as this year.
The startup just had a major moment when it released a new LLM that it claims outperforms DeepSeek, while it has also introduced agents that can carry out tasks for users, similar to rival Manus.
But it is the second-generation of its text-to-video model that has put the company on the map. You might have seen videos of cats doing Olympic-style high dives into swimming pools; those are the creations of MiniMax’s Hailuo 02. The model has been widely acclaimed for being easier to use than rival services including Google Veo 3—which is limited to enterprise users—while they have also broken ground in being significantly cheaper than other products in the market.
That’s a pretty powerful combination, and it once again underlines the skill that Chinese AI companies demonstrate in being able to build and release products that millions of people want to use.
Those cat videos might well fuel an IPO… what a world we live in.
South Korea data centre boom
South Korea is the focus of some major data centre investments after two major players announced billion-dollar plans.
AWS is teaming up with local giant SK Group to build what will be Korea’s largest data centre, located in the southern city of Ulsan. AWS is putting in around $4 billion, but the total investment from all parties will reach over $5 billion. The plan is to break ground in September, and be fully operational with a capacity of 100 megawatts by 2029.
Not to be outdone, Alibaba Cloud is opening a second data centre by the end of June. It first arrived in 2022, and it works with major brands like Univa and Naver which use its AI models. The company said it is responding to rising demand from South Korea, and no doubt more competition, too. Microsoft has two data centres in Korea already, while Samsung announced plans for its first AI data centre last year.
China
TikTok is introducing new AI-powered ad tools that let marketers turn text or images into five-second video clips link
Trump plans to delay the potential TikTok US ban for a third time link
ByteDance’s publishing arm is shutting down and returning rights to authors, ending its short-lived book venture link
China's spy agencies are investing heavily in AI link
Some AI-generated avatars are now outselling real livestreamers, according to Baidu—in a 6-hour session on its Youxuan platform, digital versions of livestreamer Luo Yonghao and co-host Xiao Mu pulled in 55M CNY ($7.65M)—beating Luo’s previous 4-hour live session last month link
Chinese studios will use AI to remake 100 martial arts classics featuring stars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li, as part of a government-backed project unveiled at the Shanghai Film Festival link
TP-Link, China’s top Wi-Fi router maker, has laid off most staff at its Shanghai chip unit after development setbacks, according to sources and local media link
The EU has escalated its probe into Alibaba’s AliExpress, accusing it of failing to curb illegal products on its platform link
China’s top three bitcoin mining rig makers, Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT, are setting up manufacturing bases in the US to avoid tariffs as trade tensions reshape the crypto supply chain—they collectively produce over 90% of global mining machines link
China’s 618 shopping festival—created by JD.com to market its anniversary—ended with record sales of $119B, up 15.2% from last year, despite lower daily spending during the extended sales period, according to Syntun link
White House crypto and AI czar David Sacks believes that China is only two years behind US semiconductor design capabilities and is adept at evading export controls link
Unitree Robotics, which makes humanoids, robot dogs and more, is now valued at $1.3B after raising funds from investors that include ByteDance’s Jinqiu Capital, Alibaba, Ant Group, Tencent, China Mobile, and Geely link
South Korea’s trade minister said he will raise industry concerns over possible US curbs on chipmakers in China during tariff talks link
China is tightening its already strict online controls with a new state-issued national internet ID—instead of verifying identity on each platform, users will log in across apps and websites with a centralized virtual ID link
Chinese internet and e-commerce giants are turning to new markets, especially Brazil. Home to over 200 million people, Brazil is emerging as a key target for their low-cost strategies link
Since the Ukraine war began, Chinese state-linked hackers have repeatedly targeted Russian companies and agencies in search of military secrets, cyber analysts say link
India
MakeMyTrip raised $3B to buy back shares from China’s Trip.com, reduce its stake to 19.99% and board representation to two directors—gone are the times when the backing of a Chinese titan is an advantage link
Aspora raised $50M from Sequoia to build remittance and banking solutions for Indian diaspora link
Car share company Zoomcar said hackers stole the personal information of 8.4M users in an incident discovered last week link
Coralogix, an Israel-based startup, raised $115M to expand its engineering base in India and develop its AI agent link
Audiobook and content platform Kuku FM is raising $70M at a $500M valuation from Granite Asia and existing investors link
Amazon will invest an additional $233M to enhance its India infrastructure link
Three senior executives heading engineering and AI product execution at Ola-linked Krutrim have left the company—Krutrim also laid off more than a dozen staff in linguist teams across multiple languages link
Foxconn plans to start making iPhone enclosures in India, eyeing a new unit at ESR Industrial Park in Oragadam, Tamil Nadu, sources told ET link
Nearly one in four Indians now consume media only on mobile phones, up from 15% in 2023 to 23% in Q1 2025, per Kantar’s latest survey link
Southeast Asia
Thailand has granted virtual bank licenses to three groups led by CP Group, Gulf Development, and SCB X. CP’s ACM Holding and Gulf’s mobile affiliate AIS secured permits, while SCB X’s consortium includes China’s WeBank and Korea’s KakaoBank—notably, there are no real challenger banks but time will tell how it plays out link
Baidu plans to launch its Apollo Go robotaxi service in Singapore and Malaysia as soon as this year link
Kristie Neo spotlights One Championships newest concerns in her newsletter—which you should already be reading link
A look at how J&T Express, the $10B Chinese courier firm, has grown in Asia using a hybrid model that includes owning infrastructure while working with regional partners—it’s now doing direct brand deals to reduce its reliance on marketplace partners like Shopee, Temu, and Shein link
Vietnam passed a law that will legalise crypto ownership from January 2026 link
The US is pressuring Vietnam to cut its reliance on Chinese tech in exported devices, as part of ongoing tariff talks, according to sources link
Pro-Cambodian hacktivists launch attacks on Thai government sites amid border dispute link
Malaysia’s trade ministry is looking into reports that Chinese firms have used Nvidia AI chips on its soil to bypass trade restrictions link
The Justice Department is attempting to claw back more than $225.3M in cryptocurrency stolen from Americans in confidence schemes and romance scams run out of Vietnam and the Philippine link
Malaysia’s communications regulator has filed a civil suit against two Telegram channels—“Edisi Siasat” and “Edisi Khas”—for spreading content deemed harmful under the Communications and Multimedia Act—the first action of its kind link
Well, this is pretty late but: Indonesia antitrust agency gave the 'conditional' go-ahead for TikTok's Tokopedia takeover, which was completed nearly 18 months ago link
Vietnam’s VNG Group—which runs messaging, gaming and payment services—still plans to list in the US, but timing remains uncertain due to economic and tariff concerns—the deal is aimed at financing an international business push link
South Korea
A look at how the once-dominant Samsung Electronics chip division lost its edge: long hours, smaller bonuses and slipping standards are tempting engineers to jump ship to a growing number of rivals link
Google's decision switch to TSMC for the production of Pixel 10 chips was a 'shock' and wake-up call for Samsung link
Samsung plans to develop a hub for users to share health data directly with doctors in between visits, aiming to bridge the gap between doctor recommendations and user actions link
The CEO of crypto company Haru Invest was acquitted of fraud charges, though more than 6,00 customers lost a cumulative $650M to his company link
Taiwan
Taiwan added Huawei and SMIC to its entity list, barring Taiwanese firms from doing business with them without a licence link
Foxconn and Nvidia are in talks to deploy humanoid robots at a new Houston factory that will produce Nvidia AI servers—this would be the first time Nvidia products are made with humanoid robot assistance and Foxconn’s first AI server plant to use them on the line link
Rest of Asia
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son is looking to partner with TSMC on a trillion-dollar AI and robotics complex in Arizona, his most ambitious bet yet link
Uber rival Careem shut down operations in Pakistan after 10 years of service due to economic pressures, rising competition, and limited capital link
Uber emailed Hong Kong users to warn that proposed regulations may cap the number of drivers or vehicles, potentially hurting driver earnings and causing more cancellations and delays link
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun’s Tron platform is going public in the US through a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed SRM Entertainment, four months after regulators paused a fraud probe into his companies—the deal is being led by Dominari Securities, a New York investment bank with ties to Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump link
Mongolia’s Egune AI has developed a large language model trained on its native tongue, a move dubbed a significant achievement for the country’s tech scene link