🧋 Hello human and artificial friends,

Germany’s government just launched a new bureaucratic vehicle:
The “Strategy Circle for Technology and Innovation.”
Its mission? Observe and advise.

Meanwhile in Asia:
🇰🇷 Launching 30 national AI projects and a $72 billion fund for its next industrial leap.
🇨🇳 Deploying up to $98 billion this year to build the world’s largest AI and data infrastructure.
🇯🇵 Locking in $6.5 billion every year to bring chipmaking and AI back home for good.

Asia is where AI moves fastest. Every day, new tools drop. Most vanish overnight, but a few redefine how people live and work. We find those gems so you can watch, learn, and build your own.

Today’s idea

Asia is where AI moves fastest. Every day, new tools drop. Most vanish overnight, but a few redefine how people live and work. We find those gems so you can watch, learn, and build your own.

Today’s idea

One of China’s fastest-growing smart-glasses companies,
Thunderbird Innovation (雷鸟创新), has reportedly closed
a record investment round worth over USD 100 million.

✅ Built like a real hardware company: Thunderbird runs its own factories for optics and assembly, giving it rare control over quality and speed.

✅ Ecosystem, not just gadgets: By teaming up with Alipay, Amap, and Alibaba’s Tongyi assistant, their glasses already fit into daily life. Everyday tools > toys.

✅ Smart timing: As AI assistants go wearable, Thunderbird already has the form factor, supply chain, and market traction to scale fast.

Mobile apps made people rich.
AR glasses will do it again.
Build early, and you can own the wave.

🧠 China’s Kimi takes aim at US AIs: Beijing-based AI lab Moonshot has released Kimi K2 Thinking as an open-source model. In benchmarks, it beats OpenAI’s GPT-5 and Anthropic’s Sonnet 4.5 on tests like Humanity’s Last Exam and BrowseComp. Interestingly, the model, with around 1 trillion parameters, was trained for only about USD 4.6 million instead of the often-cited multibillion-dollar budgets. Early US adopters like Airbnb are already using Chinese models because they are cheaper and in some cases more powerful.

🩺 Chinese bets on AI-assisted healthcare for the elderly: Chinese fintech firm Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, has selected healthcare as a new business pillar for growth in rapidly ageing China. With the restructuring for independence from Alibaba and Jack Ma stepping down as controller, the group focuses on real-world applications in everyday consumer, financial, and healthcare services.

📉 TSMC reports slower growth as AI demand moderates: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reports a slowdown in its revenue growth. October sales rose 16.9% y-o-y, the slowest growth since Feb 2024 and a fresh sign that overheated AI demand may be cooling a bit. Nevertheless, TSMC shares have gained about 37% since the start of the year. Major tech companies such as Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Amazon.com, and Microsoft collectively plan to spend over $400 billion on AI buildout next year, a 21% hike from 2025.

AI instead of gut feeling
In Malawi, chatbots advise smallholder farmers on seeds, drought risks, and crop diseases. In Bangladesh, Google’s Flood Hub helps to decide which farmers should receive cash in advance to safeguard their animals and food supplies before flooding.

Made in China
China Agricultural University launched the Shennong Large Model 3.0. Its 36 specialized AI agents support breeding, planting, and livestock. Via app, farmers can identify more than 600 pests and diseases and get instant recommendations.

Tech weapons for the little guys
World Bank experts see AI as a new tool for small farmers in the fight against pests and crop failures. What used to be exclusive to big agribusiness now fits in a smartphone.

That’s how much South Korea is investing to build an AI-education empire—from elementary school to the workplace

🎓 From classroom to lab: The national “AI Talent Development for All” plan aims to place Korea among the world’s top three AI nations. It introduces fast-track degrees (5.5 years), new AI-focused colleges, and a National Distinguished Professorshipsystem to retain top researchers.

🤖 Start them young: AI will become a core subject in the new K-12 curriculum. Schools will get smart labs, and specialized Meister schools will train students in robotics, data science, and applied AI skills.

Watch: South Korea is turning education into industrial strategy. While others still debate regulation, Seoul is building an end-to-end talent pipeline—laying the groundwork for innovation, data competence, and long-term autonomy in the AI era.

🧊 Seedream 4.0 is Doubao’s new image-editing model that removes objects, enhances clarity, and fine-tunes tones for pro-level PPT visuals.

📝 TingNao is a meeting assistant that live-captures minutes with highlights and turns videos into crisp study notes.

🔣 Tongyi Lingma is China’s first large-scale AI coding assistant from Alibaba, offering intelligent code generation and multilingual support.

🤖 Horizon’s ex-VP just gave robots a brain: Zhang Yufeng’s new startup Infinite Dynamics raised 42 million USD from Sequoia China and Hillhouse to build embodied AI that can see, move, and think like humans.

💻 Genspark just joined the AI unicorn club with 200 million USD funding: The California-based startup builds customizable AI agents. China-born Co-founder Wen Sang said Genspark is opening offices in Singapore and Japan and preparing new tools for corporate clients after strong demand from individual users.

🏥 Fuxin AI raised 7 million USD to bring “self-driving mode” to hospitals: The Hangzhou startup’s FusionAI platform uses generative AI to manage data, assist doctors, and guide patients. It already works with over 200 hospitals.

✅ Get smart with these glasses.*
✅ Read about XREAL’s smart glasses mission.
✅ Be amazed & network at the Xin Summit in Shenzhen.**
✅ Learn from Nvidia how Robots learn.
✅ Chat with Kimi.

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* A message from our sponsor.</sub>

🌏 Asian Development Bank: ADB Young Professional Programme, Philippines

🌏 Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Graduate Program, China

🌏 ByteDance: Young Professional Roles, APAC

🌏 BNP Paribas: Early Career Programme, APAC

🌏 Oliver Wyman: Entry-Level Careers, APAC

🌏 Worldbank: Young Professionals, APAC

🌏 United Nations: Young Professionals Programme, APAC

🌏 Nokia: Intern Rotation, China

🌏 Sireto: Intern Blockachain, Nepal

🌏 Societé Generale: IT Trainee, Japan

Maybe sometimes it’s better when a kid’s fantasy stays a fantasy…