☕️ Good morning friends,

As coincidence would have it, we traveled to Beijing on the same day as our Chancellor Merz.

He's taking care of the big global political issues, we're currently organizing a delegation visit for Xiaomi.

So everyone has their place in this world…

Also in today's issue:

• KKR Swallows Taiyo: Japan's stock market keeps shrinking — 124 delistings already in 2025

• BYD Charges Ahead: 1-MW charging stations are coming — 4,000 company-owned plus 15,000 through partners

• Chinamaxxing Goes Viral: Americans on TikTok are testing Chinese Adidas jackets with boiling water — and loving the results

Enjoy reading! 📰

Our new podcast episode is online!

"He Borrowed $300,000 to Build a Physical AI Tamagotchi"

🍿 YouTube
🎧 Spotify
🎧 Apple Podcast

KOSPI Breaks 6,000: From 4,000 to 6,000 in Four Months

South Korea’s benchmark index closed at 6,083.86 on Wednesday — up 1.91% and marking the fifth consecutive day of gains. Intraday, it climbed as high as 6,144.71.

The speed of the rally:

• 4,000 on October 27, 2025

• 5,000 on January 27, 2026

• 5,500 on February 12

• 5,800 on Friday

• 5,900 on Tuesday

• 6,000 on Wednesday

+44% year-to-date: The KOSPI is now the best-performing major stock market in the world. South Korea’s total market capitalization has first surpassed Germany — and has now also overtaken France.

TOP BIT

Merz in Beijing: 120 Airbus jets for straight talk

Friedrich Merz traveled to Beijing with 30 corporate chiefs and secured a major Airbus order – but also made clear statements about overcapacity and unfair competition.

The Airbus coup: 120 planes for China

The most important economic news of the trip: Chinese leadership will order up to 120 additional aircraft from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus.

• Signal effect: The major order secures European jobs and serves as a political token at a time when Beijing often uses its aviation orders as a diplomatic instrument.

• Delegation: Merz is accompanied by a 30-person economic delegation, including the CEOs of VW, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Siemens Energy.

The demands

Merz spoke plainly at the Advisory Committee of German-Chinese Business:

• Currency appreciation: "Stronger domestic demand would facilitate trade without barriers"

• Reduce subsidies: "Reduce market-distorting subsidies"

• Reduce overcapacity: "Market consolidation where necessary"

• Market opening: German companies report "incomplete market opening"

The context: Germany's trade deficit with China reached a record €89 billion in 2025 – for the first time more than double the imports than exports.

The summit results at a glance

📊 All details & data: Financial Times, The Business Times, Al Jazeera

OUR PARTNER

You think 4x faster than you type. Why slow down?

Wispr Flow turns your voice into ready-to-send text inside any app. Speak naturally and Flow handles the cleanup -- stripping filler words, fixing grammar, formatting everything properly.

For developers, this means:

• Dictate into Cursor, VS Code, or any IDE with full syntax accuracy

• Give coding agents 10x more context by talking instead of typing

• Write PRs, docs, and Linear tickets without switching to a text editor

• Respond to Slack and email without breaking your flow state

Used by teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay. 89% of messages sent with zero edits. Millions of users worldwide.

Available on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and now Android - free and unlimited on Android during launch.

Get Wispr Flow free →

MARKET BIT

KKR Buys Japan’s Taiyo Holdings: The Next Chapter in the Take-Private Boom

The Japanese chemical manufacturer Taiyo Holdings is close to a going-private deal with KKR. The board has deemed KKR’s offer acceptable.

Share price: around ¥6,000 – the takeover offer is expected to come in slightly below that level.

This deal underscores the latest chapter in a historic transformation.

Japan’s Stock Market Is Shrinking – For the First Time in Over a Decade

In 2025, 124 companies were delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It marks the second consecutive record year, 30 more than in 2024. The total number of listed firms declined by 58 to 3,778.

• For comparison: Japan has almost as many publicly listed companies as the United States, with only one-seventh of the economic output.

The driver: Since 2023, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has aggressively pushed for better capital efficiency. Companies trading below book value and failing to improve have come under pressure.

The result: Tender offers reached a record $68 billion in 2025. Total M&A volume involving Japanese companies hit around $350 billion.

The Take-Private Pipeline

KKR’s move on Taiyo is far from an isolated case. Just in recent weeks:

• Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical: $2.55 billion MBO (January 2026) – The Japanese pharma manufacturer wants to leave public markets to restructure long-term without analyst pressure.

• MCJ (PC manufacturer): $1.3 billion MBO with Bain Capital (February 2026).

• Raksul: $770 million buyout with Goldman Sachs (December 2025) – Goldman is returning half of the voting rights to management.

Japanese companies are chronically undervalued compared to international peers, sit on large cash reserves, but remain weak in shareholder orientation. PE firms buy cheaply, optimize governance and capital structure, and aim for value creation.

The Concern

Japan’s crown jewels, especially in pharmaceuticals and critical technologies, could fall into the wrong hands through foreign buyouts.

Goldman Sachs, however, sees no slowdown ahead: innovative financing structures using private credit are expected to enable even larger deals in 2026.

👉 Sources: BT SG, Bloomberg

HIGHLIGHTS 

🇯🇵 Japan builds its own AI chip ecosystem: The government is setting up three new research centers equipped with high-end design software and development tools for AI semiconductors. The goal is to establish a domestic production system around TSMC and Rapidus. Developing advanced AI chips is often too expensive for individual companies, so the state is now stepping in to shoulder part of the cost.

🇨🇳 BYD rolls out megawatt fast chargers nationwide: BYD has begun the mass rollout of its 1-MW charging stations across China. The plan includes more than 4,000 company-owned stations plus 15,000 in partnership with others. The second generation delivers up to 2,100 kW. In Europe, 3,000 fast-charging stations are expected to be operational by the end of 2026, with the first 1-MW chargers coming in 2027. Deutsche Bank expects the new charging infrastructure to boost BYD’s 2026 sales by 6% to 4.9 million vehicles.

🇹🇭 Chinese tourists avoid Japan, Thailand benefits: China now accounts for 23% of weekly arrivals in Thailand, compared to 9% at the beginning of 2026. For seven consecutive weeks, China has been Thailand’s largest source market. The trigger: Beijing warned its citizens about serious security risks when traveling to Japan. Tourism accounts for roughly one-fifth of Thailand’s GDP. Between January 1 and February 22, 5.9 million foreign visitors arrived.

🇺🇸 “Chinamaxxing” goes viral on TikTok: Young Americans are posting clips of themselves drinking hot water, walking around in house slippers, or wearing the hyped Adidas jacket in a China-inspired style, all with the goal of becoming “more Chinese.” The contrast: Just a few years ago, the pandemic drove anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. to record highs. Now Gen Z is turning it into a trend and flipping the narrative on its head.

FORTUNE COOKIE

Stay creative! 🎨

MORE ASIABITS

• The Asiabits Podcast on YouTube. 

• The Asiabits Podcast on Spotify. 

YOUR FEEDBACK