Subsea shake-up: how new cables are wiring Southeast Asia’s AI era...where undersea cables handle vast data flows, hyperscalers are selecting new routes to navigate geopolitical challenges, enhancing AI connectivity while highlighting network vulnerabilities. thetechcapital.com/subsea-shake...

When the big dogs fight, it just draws other smaller players to seek to band together for survival. Japan's Takaichi and India's Modi agree on AI, chip cooperation Japanese PM focuses on New Delhi as China continues pressure campaign against her asia.nikkei.com/politics/int...

I remember hearing from a German lawmaker in Berlin in 2019 that the German networks were too dependent on Huawei for 4G and then needed then to revitalize European network gear makers and avoid to repeat the problem with 5G. Will they get it done finally with 6G? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

In the A.I. Race, Chinese Talent Still Drives American Research Although some Silicon Valley executives paint China as the enemy, Chinese brains continue to play a major role in U.S. research. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/t...

美國也有釘子戶 A $100 Billion Chip Project Forced a 91-Year-Old Woman From Her Home Azalia King was the last holdout preventing the construction of a Micron "megafab." Onondaga County authorities threatened to use eminent domain to take her home away by force. www.wired.com/story/micron...

EU plans to ease GDPR laws and AI constraints in major shift Matt Pearson The EU hopes changes will make doing business easier, but campaigners fear citizens' rights are under threat. What can we expect from the EU's proposed new laws on GDPR and AI? www.dw.com/en/eu-plans-...

San Francisco Opera's The Monkey King: Wukong Just Wants to Be Free The message hidden in this operatic rendition of the centuries-old Chinese fantasy carries new political overtones on the struggle between personal redemption and rebellion for social change. charlesmok.substack.com/p/san-franci...

Zhang Yuze: algorithms are not the culprit behind a polarised public Lecturer in Beijing argues that algorithms are mere amplifiers of forces that long predate them—elite polarisation, partisan media, yawning inequalities and deep-seated psychological biases. www.eastisread.com/p/zhang-yuze...

Google announces plans for subsea cable linking Oman to the Christmas Islands Dhivaru to also land in the Maldives www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/goog...

Meta completes core of 2Africa subsea cable System ready five years after first announcement www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/meta...

Quantum physicists have shrunk and “de-censored” DeepSeek R1 They managed to cut the size of the AI reasoning model by more than half—and claim it can now answer politically sensitive questions once off limits in Chinese AI systems. www.technologyreview.com/2025/11/19/1...

Just looking at this, one may say that AI investment means a bigger short-term burden on Chinese big tech than on American ones. Baidu Posts Worst Sales Fall on Record Despite AI Boom www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Europe must not cede digital sphere to US, China, warns Germany's Merz www.reuters.com/world/china/...

Cloudflare Outage Highlights Internet’s Growing Single Points of Failure circleid.com/posts/cloudf...

Latest in my Substack: I Thought It was the Music. But Research Says It's My Nostalgia. Data research shows people's musical tastes freeze after the age of 33. What about you, or are you "forever young?" charlesmok.substack.com/p/i-thought-...

Taiwan plans to spend $3bn to pursue 'AI island' ambitions Initiative to focus on photonics, quantum computing and AI robotics asia.nikkei.com/business/tec...

DeepSeek’s Jobpocalypse Warning Is Bad News for Beijing www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

China’s new scientist visa is a ‘serious bid’ for the world’s top talent The country is easing migration for young researchers to boost its competitiveness in artificial intelligence, robotics and new materials. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

We at ISOC support WSIS and IGF. Empowering Digital Cooperation: Why Supporting WSIS and the IGF Matters www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeRO...

Digital rights are everyone’s business — including yours. From surveillance to shutdowns, our human rights online are under attack every day. Learn more on our website: www.accessnow.org

Australia's AUKUS base to connect to subsea cables Australia's AUKUS submarine fleet base and its vicinity are being quietly connected to three powerful new undersea internet cables planned by Google and SUBCO, documents viewed by Reuters show. www.itnews.com.au/news/austral...

How a Chinese AI Company Worked Around U.S. Rules to Access Nvidia’s Top Chips In Indonesia, semiconductors covered by U.S. export controls are ready to help a Shanghai-based group www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...

America’s Chip Restrictions Are Biting in China Shortages of advanced AI chips are so acute that Beijing is intervening and tech companies are resorting to workarounds www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chin...

‘You don’t have talent in US': Donald Trump softens on H-1B visa issue www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/u...

Brussels knifes privacy to feed the AI boom Draft proposals obtained by POLITICO show EU is breaking sacred privacy regime to placate industry. www.politico.eu/article/brus...

My latest on my "Digitally Yours, Charles Mok" Substack: Geopolitics, AI and Tech Competition in East Asia Observations from a Stanford conference add important contexts to the understanding of the region's economic security future. charlesmok.substack.com/p/geopolitic... Pls support & subscribe.

OpenAI's Altman urges US to expand Chips Act tax credit for AI growth www.reuters.com/legal/transa...

The 2026 ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom) webpage is finally up, and the work of the NomCom is moving forward. Please take a look at the webpage to find out more about the open positions in the 2026 cycle and the overall process and timeline! www.icann.org/nomcom2026

Prophecies are often self-fulfilling. Deutsche Bank explores hedges for data centre exposure as AI lending booms Executives discussing options including shorting basket of artificial intelligence stocks or using derivatives to transfer risk www.ft.com/content/c042...

DeepSeek researcher pessimistic over AI's impact in startup's first public appearance since success www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Taiwan FORMOSAT-8 satellite arrives in California for launch Satellite named after filmmaker Chi Po-lin set for launch mid-November www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/6233935

Trump to Cut Air Traffic in 40 Major Mkts if Shutdown Continues The plan, which officials said was intended to help air traffic controllers, would force the cancellation of thousands of flights as the administration seeks to pressure Democrats to end the shutdown. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/u...

Is it true that there is just no (or even fewer) regulations in China? Is it more important to make sure we run faster with better research talents and funding? Speak about that? Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says China ‘will win’ AI race with US www.ft.com/content/5329...

My latest Substack article: "Rare Earth: Get Ready" Every threat may mean a new opportunity, and even China's rare earth ban may reverse-prompt a new wave of innovation for its rivals to innovate away from these little environmentally nasty elements. open.substack.com/pub/charlesm...

Digital Sovereignty: Can Europe Afford It? The European Commission’s new work program prioritizes digital sovereignty. Spoiler alert: It will be expensive — an estimated €3.6 trillion. cepa.org/article/digi...

Japan can be a hub and 'guardian' for the submarine cable system Swiftly, safely and autonomously, Tokyo should defend the Asia-Pacific network Athena Tong, Gabriele Maletta and Yuichi Yoshida asia.nikkei.com/opinion/japa...

China offers tech giants cheap power to boost domestic AI chips Beijing introduces grants that slash energy bills by up to half for some of country’s largest data centres www.ft.com/content/cad2...

The Inside Story of How Gen Z Toppled Nepal’s Leader and Chose a New One on Discord The revolution started on social media. It ended with protests, violence, and an online poll to pick the new prime minister. www.wired.com/story/nepal-...

Xi's welcomed rare show of humor, I guess. That Time When China’s Leader Joked About Espionage Xi Jinping gave two cellphones to South Korea’s president, who asked how secure they were. “You can check if there’s a backdoor,” he said with a laugh. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/02/w...

To all those who have written off San Francisco because of crime, the homeless, and the death of its downtown shops, well, if the real estate market is still any indication, things are still ticking, living and dying with the AI boom. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/t...

2025台歐海底電纜安全合作論壇登場　台灣倡議全球風險管理計畫　深化台歐民主防線 dset.tw/event-news/0...

Shutting down dissent: Tanzania’s election goes offline www.gzeromedia.com/news/analysi...

Another one ... The Microsoft Azure Outage Shows the Harsh Reality of Cloud Failures The second major cloud outage in less than two weeks, Azure’s downtime highlights the “brittleness” of a digital ecosystem that depends on a few companies never making mistakes. www.wired.com/story/the-mi...

China calls for ‘extraordinary measures’ to achieve chip breakthroughs Beijing pushes for technology self-reliance ahead of meeting between Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump www.ft.com/content/a0d5...

海纜七法將審 歐洲多國友台議員28日與我合辦「海纜安全合作論壇」 news.ltn.com.tw/news/politic...

Hong Kong businesses lose US$11 billion to digital fraud in past year, TransUnion says The survey polls 200 managers from Hong Kong companies with at least HK$200 million in annual revenue www.scmp.com/business/com...

From Mexico to Ireland, Fury Mounts Over a Global A.I. Frenzy As tech companies build data centers worldwide to advance artificial intelligence, vulnerable communities have been hit by blackouts and water shortages. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/t...

Lying flat Korea? South Korea grapples with growing number of idle young adults Government to combat record rise of NEETs with virtual employment experience asia.nikkei.com/spotlight/wo...

One quarter of short-term optimism is hardly an indication of "paying off." Let's wait and see. Trump's Investment in Intel Is Paying Off The chipmaker reported higher-than-expected revenue on Thursday, and its stock price has risen more than 90 percent since August. www.wired.com/story/intel-...

DeepSeek’s Push Into Africa Reveals China’s AI Power Grab By making AI cheaper and less power-hungry, DeepSeek has put the technology within reach of millions of people. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...