Looking at these two graphic images, I can’t help but think of the tale of “The Tortoise and The Hare” when it comes to the race between China and the US to dominate AI. The US is still ahead, helped by its strong compute capabilities (ie access to all the chips it needs) and near-limitless access to capital. But Chinese models have been constantly tugging at their heels using a fraction of the spending. Growing worries about the ability of today’s AI capex to generate meaningful returns might result in delays in US models that allow their Chinese peers to overtake them in the final innings of the game. #OpenAI #Anthropic #Kimi #Qwen4 $Alibaba(BABA)$$SpaceX(SPCX)$
$BABA Lags US AI Giants Despite Having the Healthiest Balance Sheet
YTD performance tells a striking story for AI hyperscalers $Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$$Alphabet(GOOG)$$Amazon.com(AMZN)$$Alibaba(BABA)$ AI capex is putting pressure on all four companies: 💸 Free cash flow has deteriorated across the board. 📉 In the most recent quarter, all except $META posted negative FCF. 🏦 $BABA and $GOOGL have issued shares to support capex, while $AMZN and $META have turned to debt. Yet Alibaba stands out: it retains the healthiest balance sheet of the group, raised the least fresh capital, and funded most of its AI spending internally. Still, $BABA has lagged its US peers by at least 37% YTD. It
$SE DOWN 40% IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE
$Sea Ltd(SE)$ is one of the strongest fintech, e-commerce, and gaming businesses out there. ✅ All major segments adjusted EBITDA-profitable ✅ Generating billions in free cash flow 📉 Yet the stock has plunged 40% in less than 3 months. Meanwhile, companies burning cash and piling on debt to fund the AI infrastructure boom are trading near all-time highs. Profitable businesses get punished. Cash-burning AI plays get rewarded. Markets can stay irrational longer than investors expect, but this divergence is hard to ignore. 🐯 Fundamentals matter. The question is when the market will care again.
$SE Survived an 85% Drawdown. The Growth Story Never Stopped
$Sea Ltd(SE)$ is a perfect example of how markets can stay irrational longer than anyone can stay solvent. Even after the brutal 85% drawdown in 2021, Sea Limited went through at least 6 more drawdowns of 20%+, including 3 that exceeded 50%. That kind of volatility can test even the most aggressive risk management strategy. 📉 And despite all of that, $SE is still down 74% from its peak. But look at what happened to the business: 💰 Revenue grew roughly 5X from 2020 to 2025 📈 EBITDA went from deeply negative to $2.2B 🌏 Sea remains one of Asia’s major e-commerce and fintech growth stories The stock has delivered a brutal ride. The business has delivered a very different trajectory. That gap between business progress and stock-price behavior is what mak
I've been covering China's markets since 1999. I was fortunate to witness and participate in the best years as China broke out of its shell and transformed almost overnight into a manufacturing powerhouse. It was a great time to invest. A country that was producing exponentially more and more each year, while its people were also consuming more and more each year. Of everything. The past decade or so has been like a pupal stage of development and transformation. It looked ugly. It took time - more than many were willing to wait around for. And it's been very difficult to clearly see what was happening within the cocoon. China is now breaking out of that cocoon. It's emerging as something totally different from the China we knew in 2016. Today, I see another investment renaissance in China'
This earnings season is proving that headline beats alone are no longer enough. While $INTC surged as short covering amplified a surprisingly strong report, $STM showed how quickly investors punish AI-related companies that fail to exceed expectations or deliver a compelling outlook. 1. $Intel(INTC)$ That HUGE move up post ER on INTC was likely short covering given the massive sell volume during the final minutes of normal trading. Some placed huge bets against it given the terrible performance of $Alphabet(GOOGL)$$Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ . Short covering should not be allowed after hours or during premarket. But also, Jim Cramer should be put on a 2 month quiet pe
Over the past five years, China's NEV sales went from 1.3m units (2020) to 16.5m units (2025). That's a 66% CAGR, which is unheard of in the modern history of the automotive industry. NEV penetration by the end of 2025 reached 52.3% - more than half of all new cars sold in China are battery-powered or assisted (PHEV). Growth like this cannot be sustained without going through some period of correction or consolidation, especially when subsidies expire, raising the cost for consumers. That's what we're seeing at the start of 2026. $BYD Co., Ltd.(BYDDF)$ deliveries are down 30% in January. $XPeng Inc.(XPEV)$ is off 34%, $Li Auto(LI)$ fell 7.5%,
$BYD Co., Ltd.(BYDDF)$$BYD COMPANY(01211)$ ’s January production, sales, and export figures. Total sales down 30% but exports boom 51%. Expect renewed NEV industry support policies to reinvigorate domestic demand. Plus, NEV battery & energy storage installations grew 30% YoY. BYD’s January domestic NEV sales drop 30% coming off a high base as the market takes a breather. But the real story is in exports where BYD shipped 100k units, up 51% YoY. The company is seeing demand boom in emerging markets. BYD sells 210,051 NEVs in Jan, down 30.11% year-on-year $NIO Inc.(NIO)$$NIO-SW(09866)$ China deliveries DOUBLE on st
From Cloud to Chips: Why $BABA-W Is Regaining Investor Attention
$BABA-W(09988)$ sees first net inflow in 6 days from mainland investors via the StockConnect with US$42m in net buying. Company gets conditional approval to purchase $NVIDIA(NVDA)$ H200 chips; Rumored to eyes US$68B in spending on AI & cloud computing in the next 3 yrs. Alibaba Parallel Processing Units (PPU) shipments hit hundreds of thousands according to the company as it pushes Cloud+AI+Chip strategy. Fully integrated. This adds a unique and growing facet to the company's business as China pushes for AI dominance. t area. For SG users only, Welcome to open a CBA today and enjoy access to a trading limit of up to SGD 20,000 with unlimited trading on SG, HK, and US stocks, as well as ETFs.
$1.2 Trillion Reason to Care: China’s Role in $SPY and $QQQ Earnings
Instead of warning other countries about entering into trade deals with China, the best thing President Trump can do is to strike the biggest trade deal with China when he visits Beijing this April. There’s no leverage to be gained by these warnings especially when countries like Canada and the UK ignore them. It just tells Beijing that the US has no leverage. If $Apple(AAPL)$ has proven anything it’s that US companies are more than welcome in China as long as they sell Chinese consumers and companies things they need and want. We keep hearing how China is screwing over the US on trade. But the reality is that China is the source of 7% of the $S&P 500(.SPX)$ companies’ revenues. A whopping $1.2 trilli