Interconnected

USG Embraces Open Source 5G

While the world was on edge back in January, watching to see if the United States will have a peaceful transition of power or fall into chaos, an important announcement from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was released but swept under the

Topics: Didi• ByteDance• Baidu•

February 21, 2021: Didi in Mexico Part II; ByteDance’s Censorship Machine

Hello Interconnected Readers: Didi’s expansion plan in Mexico seems to follow me around (or perhaps I’m the one doing the following). I’ve been spending the last few days in a city north of Mexico City in the Bajio region, Queretaro, to

Topics: For Founders• Developer• Open Source•

Early Stage Sales with Matt Ekstrom

A few weeks ago, I launched the first session of a monthly Company Building webinar series for founders and operators of developer-focused and/or commercial open source startups. The goal of this series is to share tactical knowledge -- the nitty gritty know-hows that

Topics: Mexico• Didi• Rappi•

February 14, 2021: Didi in Mexico vs Rappi and Uber Eats

Hello Interconnected Readers: I’ve been battling a stomach infection this week (finally got antibiotics and trending in the right direction), so I will keep this issue brief but hopefully still interesting, with some on the ground observations about tech in Mexico. As my

Topics: Developer• GitHub• Global by Nature•

Where Will the Next 50 Million Developers Come From?

As the global economy becomes increasingly technology-driven and less trade-driven, the most important demographic to understand is developers. These are not just underground hackers or hoodie-wearing code monkeys; they are creative problem solvers who use digital technology to build things. In my last deep-dive,

Topics: AWS• Cloud Industry•

No New Deep-Dive Due to Sickness; AWS Archive

Dear Interconnected Subscribers, I've been really sick the last few days, so I've decided to not publish a new Thursday deep-dive post this week. I don't want to publish something sub-par while I feel sub-par. (I thought I had COVID, so rushed to the

Topics: 5G• Open Source• Agora•

January 31, 2021: r/wallstreetbets, Open Source 5G, Agora Acquisition

Hello Interconnected Readers: Last week, the world was enthralled by the battle between the subreddit, r/WallStreetBets, and Wall Street itself. I really do mean the world. I saw WeChat posts, tweets in different languages, and even bonded with my dad over it, who

Topics: Agora• Developer• Global by Nature•

What Does Agora ($API) Do?

Agora is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) company for developers to build apps with real-time audio and video capabilities. As a high-growth developer-focused firm, it’s a company I’ve been tracking for quite some time and briefly wrote about before. Given its connection with Clubhouse

Topics: Alibaba• Tencent• Antitrust•

January 24, 2021: AliPay & WeChat Pay Breaking Up? AWS forks Elasticsearch

Hello Interconnected Readers: After arriving in Mexico City earlier this week, the four-hour time difference between Mexico and Hawaii is giving me a surprisingly bad jet lag, so I will spare you my usual personal letter. Let’s go straight to the news and

Topics: Huawei• IPO• Venture Capital•

Is Huawei a Top-Tier VC?

Huawei started a little-known corporate VC division in 2019 called Habo Investment. Since then, it has made 22 investments and five of them have either IPO’ed or are in the process of doing so on the Shanghai STAR market. Although these IPO’s

Topics: Xiaomi• IPO• Pinduoduo•

January 17, 2021: Surfing Pig, Xiaomi, Podcast Subscription, Pinduoduo

Hello Interconnected Readers: Lei Jun, the founder and CEO of Xiaomi, has one of the most viral pieces of startup advice: “if you stand where the wind blows, even a pig can fly.” I have never quite appreciated both how profound and how misleading

Topics: Antitrust• Alibaba• Google•

Google, Alibaba, Global Antitrust Standard

People love a “missing billionaire” story, even when there isn’t one. That’s what many Western media outlets and some “Substack experts” have been hotly discussing lately: “Where is Jack Ma?” As Alibaba’s stock price gyrates, all this reminds me of was

Topics: Global by Nature• Mexico• Intel•

January 10, 2021: Mexico City, More Chinese Tech Ban, Intel Woes

Hello Interconnected Readers: Last week, I shared my five big themes to explore in 2021, one of them is non-US innovation cities and corridors. As someone who tends to act quickly (almost to a fault sometimes), I’ve decided to spend time in one

Topics: IPO• Regulation•

Lame Duck Delisting

Sneaking in big announcements on the eve of major holidays seems to be en vogue with regulators these days. China’s State Administration for Market Regulations announced its antitrust investigation into Alibaba on Christmas Eve, so I spent Christmas Day writing “Alibaba and Antitrust

Topics: Meta• IPO• Blockchain•

Alibaba and Antitrust with Chinese Characteristics

I had planned to take time off during this Christmas week and enjoy the rustic island of Moloka‘i. But the announcement of an antitrust probe on Alibaba, dropped on Christmas Eve (and consequently dropped Alibaba’s stock price by 13%), is too interesting

Topics: EVs• Self-Driving• Tesla•

December 20, 2020: Rituals

Hello Interconnected Readers: I have been heads down writing and publishing the four-part “Global by Nature” series, so I’ve neglected the Interconnected Weekly issue for many weeks -- breaking a ritual. Thus, the six stories commentary you will find below -- three from

Topics: Meta• Open Source•

Open Source, Open Stats, Open Development

This is a shorter post than my customary Thursday articles, but hopefully no less interesting. My last four posts articulated a “Global by Nature” framework, looking at the forces that will shape a technology-driven (instead of a trade-driven) Globalization 2.0, and where investment

Topics: Global by Nature• Developer• API Economy•

Global by Nature (Part IV): Public Companies to Watch

In the first three parts of this “global by nature” series, we went in-depth into the three forces that will power the technology-driven Globalization 2.0: developers (people), APIs (product), open source (paradigm). Part I: DevelopersPart II: APIsPart III: Open SourceThis developers-APIs-open source lens

Topics: Global by Nature• Open Source• Developer•

Global by Nature (Part III): Open Source

Part I and II of this series focused on two interconnected elements of the “global by nature” theme: people and products. The people are developers. The products are APIs. Part I: DevelopersPart II: APIsPart IV: Public Companies to Watch (Agora, JFrog, MongoDB)This Part

Topics: API Economy• Developer• Global by Nature•

Global by Nature (Part II): APIs

In Part I of this four-part series focused on people, namely developers who are the most important demographic in the technology-driven Globalization 2.0 that we are heading into. Part I: DevelopersPart III: Open SourcePart IV: Public Companies to Watch (Agora, JFrog, MongoDB)In

Topics: Developer• Global by Nature• Top Articles•

Global by Nature (Part I): Developers

I write Interconnected as a place to help me think and a space for anyone to think with me. One of the big themes I’ve been thinking about is what will the next phase of globalization look like and what kind of people,

Topics: Facebook• Alibaba• Huawei•

November 29, 2020: P(Good for the World)

Hello Interconnected Readers: Last week -- American Thanksgiving plus my birthday week -- I re-read a few books. One of them was “Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk.” One small part of the book talks about Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Laureate in

Topics: IPO• SPAC• Regulation•

November 22, 2020: Birthday or Birthplace

Hello Interconnected Readers: Next week is both Thanksgiving week in the US and my birthday week. (Programming note: I will not publish my usual Thursday deep dive analysis due to the holiday.) [If you’d like to skip ahead to the six news stories

Topics: Meta• Open Source• Developer•

Building a Bilingual Newsletter: 2020 Edition

I’m taking a departure from my usual deep dive analysis to write this “under the hood” exploration of how I’ve been building this bilingual newsletter. I want to share some behind the scenes information, because I’ve always treated Interconnected as a

The Internet's only bilingual newsletter on the intersections of tech, business, money, geopolitics, and US-Asia relations. New post every Thursday and Sunday. By Kevin Xu (@kevinsxu)