The Wrap | 8 – 14 Nov 2025
Asia Tech Lens’ weekly digest of the signals, shifts, and stories shaping Asia’s tech future.
Editor’s Note
China is quietly rolling out more of the global AI stack than many Western headlines give it credit for. This week, Baidu open-sourced a “thinking” multimodal model it claims can match GPT-5-class systems on document and visual tasks using just a single 80GB GPU, while Huawei, China Mobile, and ZTE pushed the roadmap for 3.2T Ethernet – the plumbing that will feed the next generation of AI data centers. On factory floors, humanoid robots from Shenzhen’s UBTech are finally moving from trade-show demos to paid industrial orders.
Further south, Southeast Asia’s capital and policy stack is shifting in parallel. Temasek is tilting away from early-stage bets toward disciplined, late-stage backing, NTT is launching a new venture vehicle out of Singapore, and GFTN is teaming up with SBI on a US$200 million fintech fund. Indonesia is weighing a Grab–GoTo mega-merger under a sovereign “golden share”, while Vietnam reworks its tax incentives just as it courts Korean high-tech investors. The through line: Asia is not just buying AI; it’s rewiring the infrastructure, capital, and governance needed to own the next wave.
Podcast Spotlight | Neo Zhizhong, Geniebook
Giving Teachers Superpowers: The Human + AI Classroom
This week’s episode goes inside one of Southeast Asia’s most ambitious education technology stories. Neo Zhizhong — Co-Founder and CEO of Geniebook — shares how a small tuition center grew into a platform serving 200,000 students, and why human + AI matters more than ever when accuracy, trust, and parental expectations sit at the heart of learning. If you want a grounded view of where AI is genuinely reshaping real lives, not just infrastructure, this one is worth your time.
Watch on YouTube | Listen on Spotify · Apple Podcasts
AI Infra | China
Baidu’s “Thinking with Images” model takes aim at GPT-5 and Gemini
Baidu released ERNIE-4.5-VL-28B-A3B-Thinking, an open-source multimodal model it claims can beat Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro and OpenAI’s GPT-5-High on document, chart, and visual reasoning benchmarks – while activating only 3 billion of its 28 billion parameters per query. The model can run on a single 80GB GPU and is licensed under Apache 2.0, opening the door to broad commercial use. Its standout feature is “Thinking with Images”: dynamic zooming in and out of images, mimicking how humans inspect fine details in diagrams, documents, or industrial imagery.
Bottom Line: China’s AI champions are no longer just catching up — they’re shipping open, enterprise-ready systems that compress GPT-class capabilities into hardware footprints mid-market companies can actually afford.
Network Stack | China
Huawei, China Mobile and ZTE push toward 3.2T Ethernet
China Mobile has convened 20 partners – including Huawei and ZTE – to launch the world’s first 400G-per-lane Multi-Source Agreement (MSA), aimed at standardizing single-lane 448G interconnects. Today’s 800G runs on 112G lanes and 1.6T on 224G; the new work targets 3.2T Ethernet (8×448G) to keep up with smart computing centers’ bandwidth needs.
Bottom Line: While everyone debates AI models, China is quietly shaping the standards that will determine how next-generation data centers actually move data.
Robotics | China
UBTech’s humanoids land US$112m in industrial orders
Shenzhen-based UBTech Robotics has secured more than 800 million yuan (US$112 million) in orders for its industrial humanoid Walker S2, with mass production beginning mid-November. Orders span auto, logistics, and data-infrastructure clients, pushing UBTech’s Hong Kong–listed stock up more than 150% this year.
Bottom Line: China’s humanoids are transitioning from viral demos to paid industrial deployment, led by auto and logistics supply chains.
Policy & Incentives | Vietnam – South Korea
Korean investors push back on Vietnam’s high-tech incentive reset
South Korean giants — especially Samsung — are uneasy about Vietnam’s plan to scale back tax, duty, and land incentives for high-tech investors. The proposal lands on top of the new 15% global minimum tax, raising questions about future effective tax rates and grandfathering. Investment pledges from Korea still rose 15% this year, but uncertainty could slow expansion and tech transfer.
Bottom Line: Vietnam must redesign its incentive playbook to align with global rules without losing ground to Malaysia or Thailand in high-tech FDI.
Capital & AI | Southeast Asia
Temasek tilts to later-stage bets as Singapore leads AI funding
Temasek is shifting away from direct early-stage investing, concentrating on growth and late-stage companies with proven business models. The move comes as Singapore cements its status as Southeast Asia’s AI funding hub, with 495 AI startups securing US$1.31 billion in the past year. The region’s data center capacity is also set to jump 180%, led by Malaysia.
Bottom Line: Capital is getting disciplined — late-stage, governance-strong AI bets are now the center of gravity.
Corporate Venture | Japan – Southeast Asia
NTT’s Synexia Ventures targets AI, smart cities and robotics
NTT DOCOMO Ventures and NTT Finance are launching Synexia Ventures, a Singapore-based investment vehicle focusing on AI, IoT, smart cities, robotics, and drones across Southeast Asia. Veteran VC Kuan Hsu will lead regional operations, tying startup collaborations directly into NTT Group business units.
Bottom Line: Japan Inc. wants to co-build Southeast Asia’s innovation stack — not just invest from a distance.
Platforms & Sovereign Capital | Indonesia – Southeast Asia
Grab–GoTo’s US$29b merger talks come with a sovereign “golden share”
Grab and GoTo are again exploring a US$29 billion mega-merger that would control about 90% of Indonesia’s ride-hailing and food delivery market. To secure government approval, both are considering giving Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara a minority stake plus a “golden share” with special rights over local operations such as driver pay.
Bottom Line: Indonesia’s gig economy is now political infrastructure — and any consolidation will come with sovereign oversight.
Fintech & Funds | Singapore – Global
GFTN and SBI launch US$200m global fintech innovation fund
Singapore-based GFTN Capital and Japan’s SBI Holdings are launching a US$200 million fund backing growth-stage fintechs in AI, digital assets, cybersecurity, and tokenization. The vehicle plugs companies into GFTN’s global network across 130+ countries and MAS-backed ecosystem.
Bottom Line: Fintech capital is consolidating into larger, more globally coordinated platforms — and Singapore remains a preferred launchpad.
Signals to Watch
China’s open stack goes on offense. Baidu’s Apache-licensed model and China Mobile’s Ethernet standardization push extend China’s influence across the AI infra stack.
Industrial humanoids arrive. UBTech’s order book suggests real product–market fit in controlled industrial environments.
FDI is shifting from tax holidays to tax diplomacy. Vietnam’s reset foreshadows similar moves across ASEAN under global minimum tax rules.
Late-stage gravity. Temasek, NTT and GFTN–SBI signal a regional turn toward governed, scalable AI and fintech plays.
Sovereigns want steering power. Golden-share structures and state-linked platforms point to deeper government involvement in tech infrastructure.
The Takeaway
Asia’s tech landscape is behaving like a stack under construction. China is pushing ahead on models, robots, and bandwidth. Southeast Asia is renegotiating the terms of capital, incentives, and sovereign control. And Singapore sits in the middle — not just as a funding hub, but as a testbed for AI systems that must earn trust in sensitive, high-stakes domains like education. This week’s conversation with Geniebook’s Neo Zhizhong underscores the point: the frontier isn’t just technical. It’s cultural, human, and deeply shaped by how societies decide AI should serve them.
Sources:
VentureBeat: Baidu just dropped an open-source multimodal AI that it claims beats GPT-5 and Gemini
Huawei Central: Huawei, China Mobile, and ZTE partnered to achieve 3.2T Ethernet
South China Morning Post: China’s humanoid robots get factory jobs as UBTech’s model scores US$112 million in orders
Reuters (via Tech in Asia): South Korean firms concern over Vietnam’s high-tech incentives
The Business Times: Temasek to shift focus from direct investing in early-stage startups to later-stage ones
e27: NTT Group launches Southeast Asia venture vehicle Synexia Ventures
Financial Times: Grab, GoTo plan $29b merger that may give Danantara ‘golden share’
South China Morning Post: Singapore-based AI start-ups draw most funding in Southeast Asia: report
GFTN Capital press release: GFTN Capital, in Partnership with SBI Holdings, will debut $200 Million Fund to Fuel Global Innovation