traveled to kuala lumpur with the asia society and spoke to a few gov officials that govern malaysia's ai policy
was blown away by how deeply embedded malaysia hardware supply chain
the extent of that footprint does not get nearly enough attention
celestica assembles and tests compute, storage, networking systems in kulim; intel has assembly and test ops in penang and kulim, spoke to the guy that opened intel's first home base in penang in 1972; AMD has a semiconductor / R&D hub in penang, Infineon manufactures power semiconductors in kulim; micron has an assembly and test facility in batu kawan etc
there's little to no movement on data center infrastructure buildout in the states for the next few years so Malaysia is coming into focus with decades of manufacturing experience, engineering talent and supplier relationships already in place
anwar has been leveraging that industrial foothold for geopolitical maneuverability to stay in good favor with both china and the states
the interesting question is how much bargaining power that creates as export controls increasingly constrain who can sell what to whom
I think millennials are having a factory reset.
Nobody wants their career. Nobody wants corporate culture. Nobody wants another fucking productivity app.
We just want a little house, some hobbies, financial security and to be left the fuck alone.
Apparently that’s radical now.