Financial writer/journalist. Looking for value names in Chinese tech & AI. Follow for my latest investment ideas. https://teapaw.org/t.co/uBk1Eap0Lq
Joined March 2011
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A.J. Button retweeted
Everywhere Jensen Huang goes in Asia women try to date him. There are videos of this online.
Maybe one of the ones who actually pulled it off was Chinese CIA, doesn't mean she had a fraction of the clout that would be required to sway his opinions.
A.J. Button retweeted
NVDA and TSM have no formal contracts. So clearly the man is a critical linchpin in so much of their business relationships. Also, now at the very least they may be forced to stay silent when the hawks push for wider chips embargo against china. Speaking against it would be totally out of the question as the optics are all poisoned already
A.J. Button retweeted
The motive behind today's astroturfed NVIDIA spy girlfriend story can be summed up as follows:
"JENSEN HUANG IS ASIAN, GET HIM!"
A.J. Button retweeted
It’s very true that the benefits of financial independence are not just about “retiring”. Even if you reach the goal just partially, like having a fuckton of savings, but not enough to retire forever, gives you so many advantages:
- financial stress goes to near-zero
- you can refuse to do things you hate (FU money)
- you can chill, experiment, and follow your curiosity, wherever that leads you
- you can add value in meaningful ways that don’t always make money, like helping loved ones that need care, or working on random (open source) projects
- other people will like you more because you’re more sociable and rarely stressed
- if a random investment opportunity presents itself, you have the cash to participate
- if you have a lot of money, you can opt-out of full-time jobs
- avoid office politics and not deal with the sycophants at work
- the list goes on and on
Having money is really an important part of becoming the best version of yourself. It allows you to be more available to your friends and family, or do whatever you think is impactful, even if it’s not immeiately profitable.
I wrote about the benefits of pursuing financial independence that happen long before you reach 25x expenses saved: nonmaterial.substack.com/p/f…
A.J. Button retweeted
I just had the craziest experience at a Chinese McDonald’s.
There were no cashiers anywhere. There were employees walking around serving people, but there were no cash registers. It was all self service kiosks, the employees were just there to serve the food.
So, I ordered a double cheeseburger meal at one of the kiosks using Alipay and—I swear to God—the the server brought it to my table in like, 30 seconds. By the time I began sitting down she was already heading to me, by the time I was fully sat down she was almost there!
Now, you might chalk this up to a coincidence: “oh maybe they just happened to have the right kind of fries and burger patties waiting there.” But it was all hot and fresh, and the fries were firm (you can’t “fake” freshness in French fries by re-heating them as they lose their firmness with time and you can’t re-firm them without making them taste burnt).
So, Chinese McDonald’s gets an A+ from me.
A.J. Button retweeted
I'm going to China soon, and I need to make sure I retain access to Western internet!
I have two options I'm considering:
1. A fixed rate two-week roaming package from my domestic carrier. This is guaranteed to bypass the great firewall, and is LEGAL in China, but it costs $75. I'm also a little worried they'll hit me with a bunch of hidden fees,
2. a China eSim sold by a foreign eSim company. This would cost like $20-$30, but I don't know if I'd need to use a VPN with it. Various AI models are telling me I won't need a VPN with one of these e-sims, but I see a lot of people on X saying they need a VPN in China.
I'm not considering buying a physical SIM in China since I'm pretty much positive that will require a VPN--and I'd rather not resort to using a VPN.
ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!
A.J. Button retweeted
LIST of Asian cities I want to visit before my time in this continent is over:
Shenzhen, China (coming soon)
Hong Kong, China (coming soon)
Guangzhou, China (coming soon)
Dalian, China
Singapore
Da Nang, Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
Ventiane, Laos
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Any I'm missing?
A.J. Button retweeted
Xi Jinping just boarded a plane headed for Washington D.C. to meet Trump.
He likely boarded a modified Air China passenger jet.
China doesn't maintain a dedicated presidential fleet, instead using specially configured Air China jets that are returned to regular service after state visits.
Here you can see the Star Alliance logo on one of Xi's recent planes.
A.J. Button retweeted
In February 2025, Alibaba put a price on its AI ambition: Rmb 380bn over three years.
By this week, the price was gone. Management had said it would likely overshoot. Rmb 190bn was spent by the end of June. A HK$80bn share placement followed in August. At Apsara on September 22, Eddie Wu announced more than 20GW of data center capacity by 2032. No spending figure.
Goldman, Citi and UBS put forecasts on the target within a day. Those numbers lean on an input Alibaba has not published.
My read is that the 20GW target is a chip bet. Here is why.
Goldman called T-Head key to the economics of Alibaba's 20GW target.
T-Head is Alibaba's in-house chip unit. Goldman expects its share of Alibaba Cloud's computing to rise from about 10% today to about half over the medium term.
That is a large assumption. Alibaba has not reported the share. An analyst asked for it in May.
The difference between about 10% and about half changes what each gigawatt costs to fill. My read: this share will be a central test of the bank forecasts.
hellochinatech.com/p/alibaba…
A.J. Button retweeted
I’m probably never going to buy another stock after a few hours reading internet data platforms ever again in my entire life.
I’m increasingly convinced that—absent insider info—building a credible investment thesis takes many weeks of work, and further, that one who completes this work may have to pass on the idea at the end after all the work is done.
If you’re not ready to read the entire annual report, test out the products, study the industry in niche trade publications, and be mentally prepared to say “no” the opportunity after 80 hours of such work—stick to index funds.
Picking a stock based on a glance at yahoo finance or even a GOOD data platform like Cap IQ, is retarded.
A.J. Button retweeted
$GRAB: WILL THEY BE ABLE TO KEEP COMPETITORS FROM EATING THEIR LUNCH?
Grab is a comparatively cheap stock down 81% from the highs.
The only problem is they’re operating in the mega crowded Asian rides and delivery space.
In Thailand food delivery, LineMAN is by far the biggest competitor, boasting lower fees.
Who between the two of them is #1?
Let’s find out
A.J. Button retweeted
Working up an appetite, and I've deleted $GRAB .
Will its chief Thai competitor LineMAN come through in my hour of need?
Here comes the test!
A.J. Button retweeted
But…but…you may get your $5k bribe if you vote his way!
@armywife_momof3 @comedypartdeux @cookie4sale @IiiRicher all are like “I hate socialist!…..but gimmie my $5k! MAGA!”
A.J. Button retweeted
In Ancient Rome, entertainers were on the same level as prostitutes.
In today's West, we worship pop singers and slop actors.
China has replaced the entertainers with scientists.
There's a middle ground between worshipping degeneracy and having everything be a bland shade of grey.
China is at least trying to find it.
A.J. Button retweeted
SUCKS that small time investors can't get a piece of the action in Huawei or Bytedance.
Bytedance's apps are among the best I've ever used. TikTok's got the best discovery algo, CapCut has by far the easiest UI of all the full-featured, non-gimped video editors.
Huawei meanwhile just secured a massive 160,000 Ascend 950DT chip order from DeepSeek. With a rumored price of $16,000 each, these 160,000 chips will bring in $2.56B for Huawei!
Sounds great, and for insiders and (to some extent) VCs it is... but retail investors can't get a piece of Bytedance, and ~~NO~~ investors other than the CEO can get a piece of Huawei.
LAME!
A.J. Button retweeted
I was chatting with my friend @AJButton2 about $GRAB Grab. He explained that:
1) Southeast Asia has ~700M people
2) Grab currently has ~54M paying customers.
3) So less than 10% of the SEA population is using Grab.
The TAM is massive. Grab has lots of room left to grow.
