Interconnected

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•

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

Topics: Antitrust• Alibaba• Jack Ma•

November 15, 2020: 16 Days

Hello Interconnected Readers: I had a busy week last week that was mostly self-created. While still doing volunteer work at the Reno campaign office (work doesn’t stop when Election Day is over) and continuing my day job as an investor (doing calls with

Topics: Alibaba• Jack Ma• Regulation•

Jack Ma, P2P Lending, Responsibility, Legacy

When I was in my 20s, I dreamed of becoming a presidential speech writer. I’d stay up reading books, like Ted Sorensen’s memoir “Counselor” (he was JFK’s speechwriter) and “White House Ghosts” (chronicles all the speechwriters from FDR’s). I idolized

Topics: Jack Ma• Alibaba• IPO•

Jack Ma's Bund Finance Summit Speech

I don’t normally do any translation, because Interconnected is focused on original work and thinking. But I felt compelled to provide an English version of Jack Ma’s speech on October 24 at the Bund Finance Summit in Shanghai, because mainstream media coverage

Topics: Jack Ma• Cloud Industry• Semiconductor•

November 8, 2020: Due Process and Procedural Justice

Hello Interconnected Readers: I want to start off by citing a phrase from Matthew Prince, the CEO of Cloudflare: I, personally, believe in strong Freedom of Speech protections, but I also acknowledge that it is a very American idea that is not shared globally.

Topics: Open Source• Semiconductor•

Some Bearish Thoughts on RISC-V

I have been a supporter, if not an outright cheerleader, of RISC-V, the open source instruction set architecture (ISA). In my writings here on Interconnected and elsewhere, I’ve often used RISC-V as an example of technological innovation, broadly, and an antidote to countries

Topics: Twitter• Apple• IPO•

November 1, 2020: Trump Supporter and His Grandmother

Hello Interconnected Readers: I’ve been spending the last week in Reno, Nevada, doing volunteer work for the US election during this final phase. (Nevada is the swing state closest to me.) Thinking back, I’ve spent every single Election Day, both presidential and

Topics: IPO•

Wall Street Blunts the “Delisting” Hype

The “delisting” narrative of Chinese companies from the US has largely not materialized. Instead, just about every other week there’s news of a new Chinese company about to IPO in New York. The next one, Lufax, may even end up being the largest

Topics: Cloud Industry• China• Data Center•

October 25, 2020: Be Good at Destroying Your Best Ideas

Hello Interconnected Readers: I’m trying something new starting this week. In addition to the six stories summary that you’ve been getting, I will open this weekly issue with a more raw, personal, and reflective letter to you about something I thought about

A bilingual publication on the intersections of tech, business, money, geopolitics, and US-China relations. New post every Thursday and Sunday. By Kevin Xu (@kevinsxu)