{"text":[[{"start":17.751,"text":"Hello everyone, this is Cissy from Hong Kong."}],[{"start":19.619,"text":"Unless you’ve been offline since the weekend, your social media feeds have probably been swamped, like mine, with posts about the affair between Nvidia’s chief Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, or Huang Le in Chinese. They range from reports by major media outlets to AI-generated memes and videos poking fun at the topic of the moment, likely powered by Nvidia chips."}],[{"start":42.192,"text":"An acquaintance who briefly overlapped with Huang at CCTV confirmed to me that she spent a short stint at the state broadcaster as an “intern reporter” about 20 years ago, before leaving for the more lucrative financial sector."}],[{"start":56.08,"text":"On social media, a carnival of unverified group photos said to be from her middle school graduation, screenshots of her WeChat posts showing off her close relationship with Jensen, and even her old business card as a partner at Shanghai private equity firm Hexi Investment have circulated."}],[{"start":72.618,"text":"Meanwhile, the buzz centres on whether Ms Huang is a Chinese spy, an allegation The New York Times reported, citing senior US policymakers. The allegation has sparked heated debate over whether the label fits at all, since the definition of a “spy” can be stretched very broadly."}],[{"start":90.491,"text":"Multiple US media outlets reported on Thursday morning that besides Alice, Jensen had a romantic relationship with Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, and its board has been holding an urgent meeting, amid speculation he will be ousted."}],[{"start":104.341,"text":"Asian workers aim to close the AI pay gap"}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":107.36,"text":"While the multibillionaire’s leadership fate hangs in the balance, it is already clear that the semiconductor boom that propelled Nvidia to the top and made his fortune has also created a vast wealth divide across Asia — a gap that shows little sign of narrowing anytime soon."}],[{"start":123.04,"text":"While the US has historically offered higher wages than other countries for talent, workers in Asia, especially in South Korea and Taiwan, are beginning to push back against stagnant compensation, demanding a larger share of the profits of the AI boom, Nikkei Asia’s Kim Jaewon, Steven Borowiec, Cheng Ting-Fang, Lauly Li and Cissy Zhou reported this week."}],[{"start":146.071,"text":"After an all-out strike, Samsung Electronics management agreed to pay 10.5 per cent of its memory unit’s operating profit as a special bonus to department employees, worth up to Won700mn ($520,000) for a regular worker. Meanwhile, workers at SK Hynix are snapping up properties in Seoul suburbs with their generous bonuses, with average monthly home purchases near the company’s headquarters doubling in the first half compared to a year earlier."}],[{"start":174.889,"text":"The AI pay gap discontent has also spread to Taiwan. A union dispute at US memory-chip maker Micron’s subsidiary on the island has led to salaries for mid- to senior-level engineers nearly tripling and a major bonus-payment deal that will apply to workers globally."}],[{"start":191.52,"text":"Alice Huang’s checkered China past"}],[{"start":193.611,"text":"Alice Huang is no stranger to scandal, write the FT’s Eleanor Olcott and Zijing Wu."}],[{"start":199.12,"text":"For years, she worked with Kang Wei, a financier who was both a romantic partner and business associate, even as he faced multiple investigations for stock market violations in China."}],[{"start":209.319,"text":"The FT reported this week that the pair pitched China-based investors in early 2025, touting their ability to secure highly prized Nvidia GPUs and their close business ties to Chinese tech group Alibaba."}],[{"start":222.88,"text":"The relationship between Alice Huang and Kang also illustrates the checkered network of connections surrounding the Chinese businesswoman and raises further questions about the Nvidia chief’s decision to entwine his business and his personal life with hers."}],[{"start":223.38,"text":"Japan’s Sakana AI readies major IPO"}],[{"start":238.289,"text":"Japanese artificial intelligence developer Sakana AI is preparing for an initial public offering either in Japan or the US as early as autumn 2027, Nikkei’s Rei Nakafuji and Akira Yamashita have learnt."}],[{"start":252.499,"text":"The IPO could give it a market valuation above the ¥680bn ($4.3bn) that Japan’s first unicorn Mercari achieved in 2018."}],[{"start":261.874,"text":"Sakana was established in 2023 and achieved unicorn status just a year later. It is developing a homegrown AI model, tentatively named “Sakana Sawara”. It plans to release a small-scale model in the spring of 2027 before developing a larger one."}],[{"start":277.604,"text":"A year ago, it reached a ¥400bn valuation in a private placement of shares with investors including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the highest valuation ever achieved by an unlisted Japanese start-up. Nvidia and Google are also investors."}],[{"start":292.876,"text":"Grab, SoftBank invest in Malaysia AI infrastructure"}],[{"start":296.48,"text":"Grab and SoftBank Group will invest $1.85bn in AI infrastructure projects, including data centres in Malaysia, betting on surging digital demand across south-east Asia. The planned projects will provide at least 5 gigawatts of AI computing capacity, Nikkei Asia’s Kentaro Takeda writes."}],[{"start":313.307,"text":"Under the plan, two projects — one in Peninsular Malaysia and the other in the eastern state of Sarawak — will be built."}],[{"start":320.875,"text":"The first $850mn will go towards the Peninsular Malaysia project, with Grab footing $650mn of the bill and SoftBank putting up the remaining $200mn. For the Sarawak project, SoftBank will contribute $800mn, while Grab and local energy group Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) will each invest $100mn."}],[{"start":321.375,"text":"Suggested reads"}],[{"start":340.33,"text":"TSMC is seeing ‘insatiable’ demand for chips, executive tells Nikkei Forum (Nikkei Asia)"}],[{"start":344.88,"text":"Nvidia board to decide Jensen Huang’s fate after revelation of affair with subordinate (FT)"}],[{"start":353.409,"text":"DeepSeek, other China AI firms have just 10% the revenue of OpenAI, Anthropic (Nikkei Asia)"}],[{"start":359.382,"text":"State dinners to scrutiny: Nvidia’s Huang falls out of favour in Trump’s Washington (FT)"}],[{"start":364.973,"text":"TSMC earmarks up to $1bn to buy Anthropic and OpenAI shares (Nikkei Asia)"}],[{"start":370.891,"text":"Apple saves $2.7bn in taxes by booking profits in Singapore (FT)"}],[{"start":375.675,"text":"Thailand tightens environmental rules for large data centres (Nikkei Asia)"}],[{"start":380.45,"text":"Lex: China’s block on SoftBank deal fires the starting gun on the robot wars (FT)"}],[{"start":385.76,"text":"Australia plans new regulator for artificial intelligence after OpenAI hack (Nikkei Asia)"}],[{"start":386.26,"text":"SoftBank slumps to $7bn loss on US data centre writedown (FT)"}],[{"start":397.46,"text":"#techAsia is co-ordinated by Nikkei Asia’s Chris Nuttall in Tokyo, with assistance from the FT tech desk in London."}],[{"start":403.71,"text":"Sign up here at Nikkei Asia to receive #techAsia each week. The editorial team can be reached at techasia@nex.nikkei.co.jp"}],[{"start":418.64,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794580724_4737.mp3"}