Juro Osawa

Hong Kong

Reporter at The Information

Reporter for @theinformation covering tech in Asia. Ex-WSJ. DMs open. Tips to: [email protected]

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Articles

DeepSeek’s Progress Stalled by U.S. Export Controls

1 day ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

The latest round of U.S. chip export controls may have curbed DeepSeek’s rise, at least for now. DeepSeek’s highly anticipated upcoming large language model, R2, may not be as quickly and extensively adopted in China as its predecessor, the wildly popular R1, due to a shortage of Nvidia server chips in the country, according to employees of major Chinese cloud service providers that offer DeepSeek’s models to enterprise customers.
Why Humanoid Robots Are the Latest Front in America’s Tech War With China

1 week ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Elon Musk’s forecasts of an ultralavish future for Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, have not only been a boon to his company’s share price: They’ve provided a broad lift to nearly everyone working on humanoids, a technology once considered a fantasy land. One of the biggest beneficiaries is Apptronik, a scrappy Austin, Texas, rival working, in a partnership with Google DeepMind, on a humanoid robot called Apollo.
U.S. Officials Mulled Broader China Tech Restrictions Before London Trade Talks

1 week ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: The Wall Street JournalBefore the Trump administration’s recent trade talks with Chinese officials in London, U.S. Commerce Department officials weighed new technology export restrictions against China, the Wall Street Journal reported. The officials ultimately didn’t announce the tougher restrictions after the U.S. and China agreed on a plan to get trade negotiations back on track.
Tencent Not Considering Nexon Acquisition

1 week ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: The InformationChinese tech giant Tencent Holdings is neither considering nor pursuing an acquisition of South Korean videogame developer Nexon Co. contrary to media reports, according to a person with direct knowledge of Tencent’s investment plans. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Tencent had reached out to the family of Nexon’s late founder Kim Jung-ju to discuss a possible deal to acquire the South Korean company.
China’s MiniMax to Release Open-Source AI Reasoning Model

2 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: The InformationMiniMax, a major Chinese artificial intelligence developer that was most recently valued at about $3 billion, plans to unveil a new open-source AI reasoning model as early as this week, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan. The new model, MiniMax M1, is the company’s attempt to challenge another Chinese firm, DeepSeek, whose R1 open-source reasoning model took the world by storm earlier this year because of its high performance and low cost.
Indonesia Mulls Stake in Possible Deal Between Grab and GoTo

3 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: BloombergIndonesia’s largest sovereign wealth fund is in talks to participate in a potential deal where Singaporean ride-hailing and food-delivery firm Grab would acquire its Indonesian rival GoTo Group, Bloomberg News reported. The fund, Danantara Indonesia, is considering taking a minority stake in the merged entity, according to Bloomberg.
Alibaba Expands Cloud Computing Footprint in Indonesia

3 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: The InformationChina’s Alibaba Group said the digital payments unit of Indonesian tech firm GoTo Group is now using Alibaba’s cloud computing platform, in the latest indication of how China’s biggest cloud providers are increasing their presence in Southeast Asia. GoTo Financial, which previously used cloud services from U.S. providers such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, has just completed its migration to Alibaba Cloud.
Apple’s China AI Partnership With Alibaba Faces Delays

3 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: The Financial TimesApple’s plan to launch its artificial intelligence features in China in partnership with Alibaba Group is facing delays as the country’s top internet regulator hasn’t approved the companies’ applications, the Financial Times reported. The Cyberspace Administration of China is holding up approvals for the partnership, according to the newspaper. The delay comes amid tensions between Beijing and Washington due to President Donald Trump’s trade war against China.
China’s Alibaba Expands Influence With Open-Source AI Success

3 weeks ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: The InformationAlibaba Group is quickly establishing itself as a leader in open-source artificial intelligence models thanks to the successful launch of its latest models known as Qwen3. And that’s triggering changes both inside and outside the Chinese tech giant.
SoftBank’s Son Proposes Joint U.S.-Japan Sovereign Wealth Fund

1 month ago | theinformation.com | Juro Osawa

Source: Financial TimesSoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son has floated the idea of creating a U.S.-Japan sovereign wealth fund for investments in technology and infrastructure in the U.S., the Financial Times reported. The move could help the U.S. Treasury Department earn revenue without raising taxes, the newspaper said, citing a person briefed on the situation. Son, who knows President Donald Trump personally, discussed the joint fund idea with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.