China Executive Insights
NacDrone CEO Asawin Rompasert poses at the company's booth at a defense industry exhibition in Bangkok on July 8. (Photo by Joseph Rachman) BANGKOK -- Thailand's push to increase local defense procurement is creating new opportunities for businesses, driving companies from other areas such as agricultural drones and satellite services to pursue military contracts.
The inside story on the Asia tech trends that matter, from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times Hello, this is Kenji presenting the latest edition of our #techAsia newsletter from Tokyo. The FIFA World Cup came to an end with Spain's magnificent victory in a nailbiter of a World Cup final against Argentina early Monday in our time zone. But the heat of competition was quickly replaced with a less enjoyable kind of heat, as Japan's most intense wave of high temperatures so far this summer struck after the annual rainy season ended in most of the country. My hometown of Nagoya and its surroundings in central Japan's Tokai region have been hit the hardest, with temperatures reaching 40.6 C in Kuwana on Wednesday and 40.3 C in Tajimi on Tuesday. Japan's tech sector heated up as well, starting with a visit last week by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to Tokyo. Huang showed up at an izakaya, or Japanese-style pub, in the downtown area of Kanda. Gathered there were top executives from Japanese chip, electronics, chemical and material companies, such as Kioxia, Tokyo Electron, Panasonic, Murata Manufacturing and Shin-Etsu Chemical, among others.
Joint venture targets 500,000-unit output after Valencia overhaul Ford-Geely's collaboration highlights growing reliance on Asian technology and capital. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters) HONG KONG -- Geely Automobile on Thursday signed a deal with Ford Motor on shared production at the American carmaker's underutilized factory in Spain.
Automaker confirms it is buying out SoftBank's stake in robotics startup Boston Dynamics A Hyundai Motor production line in South Korea. The automaker's output in the second quarter was hit by a fire at an engine valve supplier. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Suzu Takahashi and Kotaro Hosokawa) SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor's operating profit fell more than 20% in the second quarter of this year as it was hit by high U.S. tariffs and a fire at an engine valve supplier that hurt production of premium models.
Data centers flourish, but analysts raise concerns over real economic gains Bangkok skyline: Total investment in Thailand was up by over a third in the first half of 2026 amid the global AI boom. © Reuters BANGKOK -- Thailand's new foreign and domestic investment jumped 37% year on year in the first half of 2026 to $43.6 billion, official data released on Thursday showed, and was boosted by the digital sector amid the global artificial intelligence boom.
Trump administration works to rebuild tariff regime as companies frontload orders Importers have been rushing goods into the United States as they prepare for more tariff uncertainty. © Reuters NEW YORK -- Asian trading partners are bracing for new U.S. tariffs as a temporary 10% rate President Donald Trump applied to all imports is set to expire Friday.
Boom driven by hyperscalers like Amazon, Oracle starting to widen credit spreads Big U.S. tech companies are issuing tens of billions of dollars in bonds to fund AI-related projects such as data centers. (Source photos by Getty/Kyodo and Reuters) TOKYO -- Corporate bond issuance worldwide reached $3.68 trillion in the January-June period for another first-half record as companies vie to fund artificial intelligence investments, though concern about the aggressive borrowing has investors starting to seek higher yields.
Japanese company to focus on overseas M&A over investment efficiency NEC is banking on strong earnings in the age of artificial intelligence. (Photo by Kazuho Fujiwara) TOKYO -- Shares of Japanese technology group NEC are down nearly 20% from the end of last year -- far underperforming the 30% gain of the benchmark Nikkei Average -- amid worries that artificial intelligence could threaten conventional IT and software companies.
The scandal swirling around Ma Xingrui is a serious blow for the Xi administration, which now has to step carefully to avoid bearing the brunt of public anger. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Reuters and Getty Images) Politburo member purged ahead of APEC summit in Xi family stronghold of Shenzhen Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent, and later as China bureau chief, and was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.
Trading house aims to become top scrap metal recycler early next decade Toyota Tsusho acquired U.S.-based Radius Recycling in 2025. (Photo by Kosuke Okamoto) TOKYO -- Japanese trading company Toyota Tsusho intends to become the world's largest recycler of metal scrap, spending 1.2 trillion yen ($7.4 billion) through March 2028 to extract valuable metals without owning a mine.
The more Beijing puts pressure on rare-earth exports, the less effective the leverage A sculpture outside the office building of China Northern Rare Earth Group, with "Build world-class" inscribed at its base, in the rare-earth industrial hub of Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China. © Reuters David Tingxuan Zhang is an analyst at Trivium China, a Beijing-based strategic advisory firm.
Nidec, MinebeaMitsumi among suppliers of interest in future growth market Anduril Industries shows off its Fury drone at the Farnborough International Airshow. (Photo by Takako Fujiu) FARNBOROUGH, U.K./TOKYO -- As drone makers compete to establish supply networks to meet growing global demand, some are setting their sights on Japan and the technologies that its component makers have to offer.