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Highlights: The ongoing AI sell-off on Wall Street continues to rattle Asian markets. In Seoul, the KOSPI fell more than 2%, dragged down by losses in Samsung, SK Hynix and LG Energy Solution. Investors are increasingly questioning the near-term profitability of the billions being poured into AI.

TOP BIT

🇯🇵 Japan’s export engine is back in high gear

After difficult months, Japan’s economy is surprising with strong export numbers, giving the central bank more room to raise interest rates.

Details

🇯🇵 The turnaround: Japan’s total exports rose 6.1 percent year on year in November, clearly beating expectations. It marks the third consecutive month of growth and the strongest increase in nine months.

🇺🇸 Uncle Sam is buying again: Shipments to the United States increased by 8.8 percent, ending an eight-month slump with Japan’s second-largest trading partner. Easing US tariffs are helping.

🇨🇳 Not all markets are celebrating: Exports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, fell 2.4 percent over the same period. Reason: geopolitical tensions around Taiwan.

🇪🇺 Europe on a buying spree: Business with Western Europe, especially the EU, surged, posting a strong increase of 19.6 percent.

💰 More income, fewer worries: With exports rising and imports coming in weaker than expected, Japan recorded a massive trade surplus of 322.3 billion yen, roughly 2.08 billion USD.

BoJ in focus

The central bank is now in the spotlight. The strong data, combined with the highest business confidence among large manufacturers in four years, is likely to reinforce the Bank of Japan’s normalization strategy.

Markets widely expect the BoJ to raise its policy rate from 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent as early as this week, as the impact of US tariffs has been cushioned by the weak yen.

📊 All Details & Data: Nikkei Asia, Kyodo News, CNBC

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NUMBER OF THE DAY

This is how much China’s population is projected to shrink by 2100, according to the latest estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

🌍 Demography shifts south: China is expected to fall from 1.4 billion to 662 million people. Africa becomes the world’s new population center, with its population projected to more than double.

🏙️ New mega-nations: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is forecast to grow from 139 million to 584 million people. Nigeria is set to add more than 280 million over the same period, reshaping markets, labor forces, and political influence.

Watch: Europe (-16%) and Asia (-9%) are aging at the same time, intensifying global competition for workers and migrants. But 75 years is a long horizon: climate shocks, crises, and conflicts could still upend projections, and Africa’s fast-growing countries must turn demographic momentum into stability and jobs.

MARKET BIT

🧨 +569%: MetaX ignites an IPO rocket

📈 Opening-day fireworks: MetaX debuted at 700 CNY per share (around USD 99) after an issue price of 104.66 CNY (around USD 15). That equals a gain of roughly +569% on the first trading day.

💰 IPO with serious punch: The listing raised 4.2 billion yuan, about USD 596 million. That makes MetaX one of the largest mainland IPOs of the year.

🔥 Pure FOMO: The online subscription was 2,986-times oversubscribed. At times, around USD 1.8 trillion was tied up before unsuccessful bids were refunded.

🧑‍💻 AMD DNA instead of an Nvidia logo: MetaX was founded in 2020 by former AMD engineers. The company develops GPUs for AI inference, general computing, and graphics rendering.

📊 Growth yes, profits not yet: Revenue jumped to 1.24 billion CNY, around USD 176 million, in the first nine months. At the same time, the company is still posting losses. Break-even is not expected before 2026.

Background

After Moore Threads, MetaX is the second Chinese GPU maker to go public in Shanghai this month. The enthusiasm is driven by China’s goal to establish domestic AI chips and reduce dependence on US suppliers. Nvidia is no longer allowed to deliver many high-end GPUs.
For local players, this creates a rare mix of political tailwinds, real demand, and a lot of investor imagination.

👉🏻 Full Story: SCMP, CNBC

HEAD OF THE DAY

🇨🇳 Chen Weiliang 陈伟良

China’s New Chip Billionaire

Former AMD top executive Chen Weiliang (49) becomes a billionaire through the IPO of his Chinese chip company 沐曦 (MetaX) in Shanghai.

Chen follows a familiar pattern: gain experience at a Western tech giant → found a company in China → benefit massively from Beijing’s substitution strategy.

💡 The power of talent: He recruited numerous former AMD colleagues (the “AMD gang”) for MetaX through generous equity incentives (over USD 65 million).

HIGHLIGHTS

🔥 Too hot for data centers: More and more data centers are being built in regions that are actually unsuitable. Around 600 data centers worldwide are located in climate zones that are too hot. Particularly affected are Singapore, India, and parts of the Middle East, where heat, high humidity, and unstable power grids drive up operating costs and increase outage risks. The industry is responding with new cooling technologies such as liquid cooling and underwater cooling.

☕ Luckin Coffee dreams big with Blue Bottle expansion: China’s coffee giant is reportedly considering a bid for Nestlé’s Blue Bottle Coffee to elevate its brand and deepen its presence in the high-end coffee market. Still early and not guaranteed, the move comes alongside potential acquisitions like % Arabica’s China operations. These potential steps signal Luckin’s shift from mass-market growth to premium global coffee ambitions, which could reshape how specialty coffee brands compete worldwide.

🐍 A movie hype with a bite: Disney’s “Zootopia 2” is a huge success in China and has triggered an unexpected side effect. Inspired by the new character Gary De’Snake, young fans have started buying real, highly venomous pit vipers, despite warnings from experts and authorities. Online searches and prices for the blue snakes surged until platforms removed the listings again.

COUNTRY READS

🇯🇵 Foreign buyers, nearly 50% from China, purchased around 3,500 properties near sensitive sites in Japan in 2024. More on this.

🇨🇳 AMD CEO Lisa Su visits Lenovo in Beijing. At the same time, Washington signals a possible easing of US chip restrictions on China. More on this.

🇫🇮 Finland’s prime minister warns of reputational damage following an anti-Asian racism scandal involving Miss Finland. More on this.

BITS TO DO

✅ Upgrade your morning coffee with a festive Christmas latte art.
✅ Get life (and stretch) advice from 71-year-old yoga legend Argie Ligeros.
✅ Dine in the dark on your next trip to Cambodia.
✅ Watch and laugh as Indian scammers get scammed right back.
✅ Treat yourself to ceremonial-grade Japanese matcha and act like you’ve got it all under control.

FORTUNE COOKIE

Don’t be afraid of trying something new! 😂

MORE ASIABITS

• All the latest AI trends from Asia — every Wednesday, exclusively with us.

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🌏 Gap Inc.: Junior Operations Specialist, Tokyo
🌏 Databricks: Business Development Representative, Seoul
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🌏 Sea: Partner Strategy & Operations Associate, Singapore
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