Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
CHINA. UNITED STATES. Intimate relations keep the dream alive.
JAPAN. Asia’s second economy will stay hot till it’s not.
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Putting Europe in talks has its downsides.
IRAN. Hegseth and friends live to fight another day.
BANGLADESH. Hasina moves closer to counter-revolution.
Modelled on the Presidential Daily Brief, Geopolitical Dispatch gives you the intelligence you need in the time you have. Subscribe to read all five analyses.
CHINA. UNITED STATES. Riding the Chimerica
Intimate relations keep the dream alive.
Nvidia shares fell a further 5.5% after a technology newsletter said Alice Huang had facilitated restricted chip shipments to mainland China. Nvidia's board retained Wachtell Lipton to investigate. Democrats pushed for tighter tech regulations.
INTELLIGENCE. The affair between Jensen and Alice Huang (no relation) has quickly moved from a scandal about infidelity and possible espionage to claims that Ms Huang’s company was a Beijing cutout to facilitate illegal exports, and all with the Trump administration’s knowledge. Reports have circulated for months that 20% of Nvidia’s revenues came from illegal sales via Southeast Asian intermediaries. Now these assertions will become harder to ignore.
FOR BUSINESS. Huang vs Huang could be the new Congress’s cause celebre, but the even dirtier secret is that Silicon Valley’s long dependence on China is now a US dependence. Despite fears about giving China an edge, industry calls for looser restrictions are growing ahead of Donald Trump’s visit next week. Scott Bessent is calling for a “constructive relationship”. Microsoft is lobbying for new licenses. No one wants to be the prick to burst the AI bubble.
JAPAN. SoftBank underbelly
Asia’s second economy will stay hot till it's not.
SoftBank shares fell 11% after the tech and telecoms investor booked a $7 billion quarterly loss. Japanese government yields rose after a soft 30-year auction and expectations grew of another two US rate hikes on hawkish Fed comments.