Topics: ByteDance• Regulation• Open Source•

A Framework to (Dis)trust and Verify TikTok

Last week, the New York Times tech columnist, Kevin Roose, wrote a well-reasoned piece arguing that the U.S. government should not ban TikTok, but use it as an example and opportunity to build a stronger regulatory framework around tech products. (To my surprise,

Topics: Antitrust• Open Source• 5G•

August 2, 2020: Antitrust in China, Open Source 5G, Electric Vehicles IPO, ByteDance, Huawei

This issue covers the period between July 27 - August 2, 2020 with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources. I purposely did not include anything related to the antitrust hearing (too many out there) and TikTok’s

Topics: COVID-19• Open Source•

COVID, Open Source, Industrial Policy

By the time you read this post, you are likely bombarded with news and tweets about the antitrust hearing of the big four tech companies (Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet) and their respective quarterly earnings. Meanwhile, another announcement happened in the tech world that I

Topics: Weekly• COVID-19• Open Source•

July 26, 2020: Mars, Ant Group, New York Times, COVID-19, Open Source, ARM

This issue covers the period between July 20 - 26, 2020 with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business, investment, and geopolitics. All

Topics: India• China• Venture Capital•

Unicorns Entanglement: India, China, America

India is becoming an increasingly influential player in the ongoing technology conflict and competition between the U.S. and China -- from its border conflict with China (dating back to the 1960s), to the banning of all apps made by Chinese tech companies, to

Topics: Weekly• India• ByteDance•

July 19, 2020: TikTok Data, Huawei in UK, Google in India, SMIC IPO, Softbank ARM, Luckin Coffee

This issue covers the period between July 13 - 19, 2020 with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business, investment, and geopolitics. All

Topics: Tesla• China• Semiconductor•

Tesla, China, the “Tech Cold-War”

Tesla may well be the biggest driver of China’s journey towards technological self-reliance, as the “Tech Cold War” between the U.S. and China deepens. This observation wasn’t obvious to me until I listened (three times) to Elon Musk’s Q&

Topics: Weekly• ByteDance• Self Driving•

July 12, 2020: Interconnected Weekly; TikTok, More TikTok, Canada, Elon Musk, Open Source, Blued

【想看中文的读者请点击这里或滚动到本页下方】 Note: This issue of Interconnected Weekly covers the period between July 5-July 12, 2020, with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business,

Topics: Cloud Industry• Southeast Asia•

Southeast Asia and the Pacific Light Cable Network

【想看中文的读者请点击这里或滚动到本页下方】 Long-time readers of Interconnected know I write a lot about the cloud computing industry. I like to dig deep into the cloud, not just because of my own existing expertise and experience in the industry, but also of its fascinating territorial and geopolitical

Topics: Weekly• Antitrust• India•

July 5, 2020: Interconnected Weekly; Lasso, Antitrust, Linux, India, New Infrastructure, IPO

【想看中文的读者请点击这里或滚动到本页下方】 Note: This issue of Interconnected Weekly covers the period between June 29-July 4, 2020, with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business,

Topics: RISC-V• China• Open Source•

RISC-V, China, Nightingales

【想看中文的读者请点击这里或滚动到本页下方】 Last weekend, I read a long, epic piece of techlore that chronicled the fierce and bitter rivalry between TSMC and Samsung in their fight to become the world’s number 1 chip foundry, which stretched back three decades and continues today. Among the

Topics: Weekly• Semiconductor• Open Source•

June 28, 2020: Interconnected Weekly; Semiconductor, Xiaomi, Facial Recognition, GPS, EDA Equipment, Agora

【想看中文的读者请点击这里或滚动到本页下方】 Note: This issue of Interconnected Weekly covers the period between June 22-28, 2020, with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business, investment,

Topics: China• E-Commerce• Open Source•

China-Scale Technology Sandbox

【想看中文的读者请点击这里或滚动到本页下方】 China’s Internet economy is often viewed by many people through the lens of U.S.-China relations or China’s domestic structure. Some times those lenses are useful, other times not so much. One aspect, where applying a geopolitical lens is not

Topics: Weekly• Anti-Trust• Huawei•

June 21, 2020: Interconnected Weekly; Satellite, Antitrust, Zynn, Huawei, Samsung, Matlab

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 Note: This issue of Interconnected Weekly covers the period between June 15-21, 2020, with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business, investment,

Topics: ByteDance• Open Source• China•

Can ByteDance Build Trust?

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 As I noted in Interconnected Weekly, the most interesting news item from last week was the revelation that ByteDance is cutting its China-based engineers data access to TikTok and its other international products, reported by PingWest. While many Chinese tech companies have global

Topics: Weekly• Zoom• ByteDance•

June 14, 2020: Interconnected Weekly; ByteDance, Zoom, Semiconductor, AliExpress, Matlab, IPO

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 Note: This issue of Interconnected Weekly covers the period between June 8-14, 2020, with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business, investment,

Topics: Zoom• Slack• Cloud Industry•

Zoom vs Slack: Wall Street’s Misguided Comparison

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 Last week, both Zoom and Slack reported their quarterly earnings, the first real quarter with full COVID-19 impact. Zoom, by any standard, hit a home run. Slack also delivered a great quarter (at least a double or triple to extend the baseball analogy)

Topics: Weekly• India• Semiconductor•

June 7, 2020: Interconnected Weekly; India, Semiconductor, Zoom, JD.com, 5G, Kuaishou

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 Note: This issue of Interconnected Weekly covers the period between June 1-7, 2020, with six news stories – three from English language sources, three from Chinese language sources – hand-picked by your humble author to further our exploration of the interconnections between technology, business, investment,

Topics: Facebook• Twitter•

Algorithm is the Problem, Not Mark Zuckerberg

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 I’m an optimist by nature. I instinctively look for the bright spot, silver lining, hopeful sign, even during the darkest of times. This instinctive search has been increasingly hard to carry out in the last two weeks. But I managed to find

Topics: Meta• Geopolitics• Zoom•

Why Write A Bilingual English-Chinese Tech Blog

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 It’s been three months since I published my first post on Interconnected. Since then, I’ve been writing articles on a wide range of technology and business topics, twice a week in both English and Chinese. In this post, I want to

Topics: Huawei• China• Regulation•

Why Huawei Should IPO in America

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 Huawei should IPO in America. Not London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Frankfurt, or Toronto, but New York -- the heart of America’s capital market. In fact, Huawei should file its S1 paperwork as soon as the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) passes

Topics: Cloud Industry• Regulation•

How To Tax Cloud Computing?

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 Taxing cloud computing is not my idea. It’s billionaire Mark Cuban’s idea. I first learned about it during his interview on the Pomp Podcast, then again in another interview with POLITICO.  It’s a potentially profound idea that’s worth a

Topics: Semiconductor• Geopolitics• TSMC•

Chips, Geopolitics, Elections

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 The interconnection between the technology business and geopolitics has become increasingly exposed, as the US-China trade war and export control continue to heat up during the coronavirus pandemic. Another less-discussed but equally important layer to this interconnection is how domestic politics and elections

Topics: AWS• Azure• JEDI•

AWS vs Azure: Return of the JEDI?

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 You may have come here because of the “clever” title, but I promise you this is a serious analysis of the ongoing saga around the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) massive cloud computing contract, JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure). Earlier this

Topics: Open Source• China• RISC-V•

Open Source in China: The Trends

【想看中文的读者请点击这里】 This is the third and last part of my multi-part series exploring “open source in China”. If you missed the two earlier posts, I’d strongly recommend you read them first to build some context. (Part I, Part II) In this post, I’