来自东京的问候。正如我在之前的新闻通讯中提到的，2006年至2010年期间，我作为硅谷的记者采访过许多令人瞩目的初创企业；其中一些公司后来成为了全球科技巨头。例如，特斯拉在成立初期还只能在车库里组装少量的电动汽车；而Twitter当时也只有几十名员工。
Hello from Tokyo. As I've mentioned in previous editions of this newsletter, I covered some exciting startups as a Silicon Valley correspondent from 2006 to 2010, and I encountered young companies that would go on to become global tech giants. These included Tesla in its earliest days, when it could barely assemble a handful of electric vehicles in a garage, and Twitter, when it still had only a few dozen employees.
近年来，亚洲各地的人们经常问我：“为什么我们无法在本地复制硅谷的生态系统呢？”本周的《ASEAN Money》杂志深入探讨了东南亚初创企业所面临的挑战。2021年左右，东南亚的创业氛围非常活跃（那时我正在新加坡报道科技行业）。随着越来越多的人使用智能手机，以及超级应用（superapps）的飞速发展，该地区诞生了许多估值超过10亿美元的“独角兽”企业。
In the years since, people across Asia have often asked me, "Why can't we replicate the Silicon Valley ecosystem here?" This week's ASEAN Money takes a closer look at the challenges facing Southeast Asian startups The region's startup scene was booming around 2021 (when I happened to be covering the tech industry from Singapore). As more of Southeast Asia's population got their hands on smartphones and superapps grew at breakneck speed, the region produced notable "unicorns," or startups valued at more than $1 billion.
尽管面临诸多挑战，我认为东南亚的创业生态系统依然表现相当出色。然而，2022年ChatGPT的推出引发了全球风险资本向人工智能（AI）初创企业的转移——OpenAI和Anthropic等公司的估值迅速飙升至1000亿美元以上，甚至出现了“百亿美元级初创企业”（“hectocorn”）这一新概念。因此，硅谷与东南亚及其他地区的创业生态系统之间的差距再次拉大了。那么，究竟是什么让硅谷与其他地区的创业生态系统如此不同呢？
Despite the many challenges it faces, I think Southeast Asia's startup ecosystem is still holding up remarkably well. But the release of ChatGPT in 2022 triggered a dramatic shift in global risk capital toward AI startups. Valuations of companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic quickly soared past $100 billion, spawning the somewhat awkward term "hectocorn." The gap between Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia's startup ecosystems has widened considerably once again. So what really separates Silicon Valley from Asia and other startup hubs around the world?
亚洲拥有许多优秀的教育机构（比如硅谷的斯坦福大学和加州大学伯克利分校），这些机构吸引了众多有创业潜力的年轻人。此外，东南亚也诞生了一些成功的创业案例，比如Grab——该公司成功开发出了能够与西方智能手机应用竞争的商业模式。
Asia has plenty of excellent educational institutions that -- like Stanford University and UC Berkeley in Silicon Valley -- attract talented young people with the potential to become entrepreneurs. The region has also produced startup success stories such as Grab which built a business model that fended off Western smartphone app rivals.
在我看来，硅谷与其他地区的最大区别在于投资者所投入的资金规模（即他们对初创企业的信心和期望）。
To me, the biggest difference between Silicon Valley and everywhere else is the size of the bet.
硅谷投资者不断寻找能够“改变世界”的技术和企业。他们之所以这样做，是因为他们深知，支持一家能够真正塑造现代世界的初创公司——比如特斯拉，它点燃了全球电动汽车的浪潮，改变了全球汽车工业的格局——能够带来非凡的回报。随着创业者一次又一次地向这些投资者推介项目，他们自然学会了表达大胆而雄心勃勃的愿景。“大问题是好问题”是硅谷常听到的一句话。如果你没有解决足够重大的问题，在那里筹集资金就很困难。
Silicon Valley investors are constantly searching for technologies and businesses that can "change the world." They do so because they know backing a startup that can genuinely shape the modern world -- such as Tesla, which ignited the global EV trend and changed the landscape of the global auto industry -- can generate extraordinary returns. And as entrepreneurs pitch these investors again and again, they naturally learn to articulate bold and ambitious visions. "A big problem is a good problem" is a phrase you often hear in the Valley. If you are not tackling a big enough problem, raising money there is difficult.
但我看不出有什么理由，世界级的初创公司不能从亚洲涌现。该地区拥有年轻的人口和快速增长的经济，同时也面临着世界上许多最紧迫的社会问题。这些挑战本身就代表着创业者的机遇。硅谷风险投资家也越来越多地在亚洲寻找机会，例如安德里森·霍洛威茨在东京开设了新办公室。在人工智能时代，亚洲科技公司的全球影响力大幅扩大，尤其是在半导体行业。中国也涌现出越来越多具有全球影响力的人工智能公司。也许，真正改变世界的初创公司从亚洲涌现，只是时间问题。我的推荐阅读
But I see no reason why world-changing startups cannot emerge from Asia. The region has young populations and fast-growing economies while also facing many of the world's most pressing social problems. Those challenges themselves represent opportunities for entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley venture capitalists are also increasingly looking for opportunities in Asia, with Andreessen Horowitz, for example, opening a new office in Tokyo In the AI era, Asian tech companies have dramatically expanded their global presence, particularly in the semiconductor industry. China has also produced a growing number of AI companies with global influence. Perhaps it is only a matter of time before a startup emerges from Asia that truly changes the world. My suggested reads
- 数十年来，香港的私立医院一直从通用电气医疗、西门子医疗、飞利浦和奥林巴斯等顶尖美国、欧洲和日本公司的目录中采购医疗设备和器械。但中国品牌正越来越多地挑战这些老牌全球巨头，将中国提升制造业价值链的推进范围从电动汽车和机器人等领域扩展开来。
- For decades, Hong Kong's private hospitals have purchased their medical devices and equipment from the catalogs of top American, European and Japanese companies like GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers, Philips and Olympus. But Chinese brands are increasingly challenging these established global names extending the nation's push up the manufacturing value chain beyond sectors such as electric vehicles and robotics.
- 日本投资者正准备就绪，作为美国的主要股票交易所计划从12月6日起实行24小时交易制度。这一举措让散户投资者感到非常兴奋，因为他们可以在日本的白天交易与人工智能相关的股票和其他证券。另一方面，许多机构投资者则持更为谨慎的态度，认为美国股票的流动性在白天时段仍将较为有限。
- Japanese investors are gearing up as major U.S. stock exchanges plan to introduce 23-hour trading from Dec. 6. Excitement is building among retail investors as this will allow them to trade AI-related stocks and other securities during the Japanese daytime. On the other hand, many institutional investors are taking a more cautious approach, assuming that liquidity in U.S. stocks will remain limited during daytime hours.
- 韩国政府计划投资超过1万亿美元，将该国西南部的一个小城市打造成半导体生产中心。我们的记者走访了光州市，了解了当地商业界的反应，并分析了涉及三星电子（Samsung Electronics）和SK海力士（SK Hynix）等芯片制造商的这些大型政府项目的可行性。祝大家周末愉快！田中昭人（Akito Tanaka）请关注我们的动态！
- South Korea's government is planning a project worth more than $1 trillion to turn a small city in the deep southwest of the country into a hub for semiconductor production Our reporter visited the city of Gwangju to gauge the mood in the local business community and parse the prospects for official "mega projects" that also involve chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Wishing you a wonderful weekend! Akito Tanaka Follow us on