Nvidia's AI PC Gambit and China's Flying Car Flex

Happy New Year and welcome to our first edition of #techAsia in 2025. I'm sending this text from Las Vegas, where my colleagues and I are, as all the time, reporting on the primary tech extravaganza of the yr: the CES tech trade show.

As you will have guessed, artificial intelligence is once more the essential attraction. Every company even remotely related to the industry is showcasing an AI product on the trade show, which officially began on Tuesday. Although there are lots of more actual use cases this yr in comparison with last yr, chipmakers are still arguably the one firms which have unveiled AI products which might be market-ready and might make cash.

Nvidia's high-profile CEO Jensen Huang turned heads Monday night when he unveiled a series of recent products in his keynote speech, including a $3,000 AI computer that can feature the coveted Blackwell chip.

But though every industry player, analyst and journalist I spoke to on the show said they were impressed by the announcements, Nvidia shares plunged over 6 percent the next day.

Huang didn't seem too bothered by Wall Street's response Tuesday morning as he hosted a media briefing on the sidelines of CES. He reiterated the lead that Nvidia has within the AI ​​chip competition with the Blackwell platform, in addition to his belief that AI will accomplish that change the physical worldthrough applications akin to autonomous vehicles.

The CEO, wearing a leather jacket, was also kind enough to donate A thanks to Samsung on the media briefing. He told a room of reporters that he has “little question” that the South Korean giant will come back from its recent semiconductor woes and meet up with rival SK Hynix to produce key high-bandwidth memory chips to Nvidia.

CES isn't over yet. My colleagues and I’ll proceed to report from the show on AI innovations you possibly can actually use this yr, what Chinese firms are doing in Las Vegas despite Trump's impending return to the White House, and other hot tech topics heading into 2025 must be observed. So stay tuned.

A brand new AI PC game

Nvidia has undoubtedly dominated the info center chip business within the AI ​​era. Now the US chip giant is ushering in a brand new phase within the AI ​​PC race by launching its powerful Blackwell chips Personal computer.

At a keynote speech on Monday, Jensen Huang introduced the GB10 chipset that turns PCs into AI supercomputers, based on Nikkei Asia Yifan Yu And Cissy Zhou reported.

Good news for AMD, Intel and Qualcomm, that are already within the race: Nvidia says it has little interest in replacing all other AI PCs.

The GB10-powered AI supercomputer starts at $3,000 and is geared toward AI researchers who have to prototype AI models in the sector. For users who need AI PCs for productivity or other purposes? There could also be higher and cheaper options.

Tencent is fighting back

Chinese social media and gaming giant Tencent woke as much as a rude shock when it learned on Monday that it had been labeled a “Chinese military party” by the Pentagon, writes the Financial Times. Eleanor Olcott And Zijing Wu.

Tencent said it plans to take legal motion to challenge its inclusion on an annually updated list of firms found to have ties to the Chinese military machine if an agreement can’t be reached with the U.S. Defense Department.

Although the listing will circuitously impact Tencent's business, analysts say it could possibly be a harbinger of tougher measures against the corporate by the brand new Trump administration.

This got here after the primary Trump administration in 2020 tried to ban WeChat, Tencent's ubiquitous messaging app, within the US, alleging that it allowed Beijing to watch Chinese residents living abroad and perform misinformation campaigns. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against Trump's executive order, saying it violated the Constitution.

There is precedent for Chinese tech firms being delisted. Consumer electronics company Xiaomi successfully removed itself from the Pentagon list when a federal court found there was insufficient evidence to support the designation. Tencent hopes the US courts will get the identical reprieve.

Crunch time

In December, Rapidus began moving state-of-the-art EUV chip-making machines to its Hokkaido facility. Now the Japanese government-backed start-up is preparing for the moment of truth: test production is scheduled to start around April Rather a lot is determined by his success.

Japan desires to re-enter global chip manufacturing after many years of being sidelined. The government is pouring billions into the hassle and attempting to encourage private investors to affix the hassle, writes Nikkei Asia Mitsuru Obe.

Questions remain about financing and customer acquisition, but as U.S.-China tensions spur global efforts to construct alternative supply chains, some see this as Japan's best likelihood in a generation to make its chip dreams come true.

Lift-off economy

While CES was once a consumer electronics trade show, it has increasingly grow to be a well-liked platform for automakers to showcase their latest and sometimes far-fetched innovations. Just a couple of years ago, flying cars could have sounded more just like the latter, but they might grow to be a reality as early as next yr.

Chinese automaker Xpeng's flying automobile has been manufactured his international debut at CES in 2025. Mass production of the land aircraft carrier – a two-seat flying module for low-altitude transport combined with a six-wheeled, four-seat module for ground use – is predicted to start in 2026, based on Nikkei Asia Cissy Zhou And Yifan Yu reported.

Xpeng launched its flight project amid the Chinese government's push to advertise the “low-altitude economy” as a brand new growth area.

Flying cars could grow to be the most recent front within the technology race between the US and China, as Washington has also paved the best way for firms to bring flying cars to consumers by updating related regulations.

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