The Afternoon Update with Lynlee Foo

In Southeast Asia, streaming entertainment is mostly consumed via smartphones by users heavily reliant on their mobile devices. This means most businesses would stand to gain from using software designed with the smartphone in mind. To that end, industry players like Agora, a pioneer and leader in real-time engagement technology, are looking into mobile-first and AI-enhanced communication solutions. What sort of innovations can we expect? For more about their work, Lawrence Wu, Head of (Internet of Things)IoT Industry,and Effie Pang, Director of Sales, share more about their rapidly expanding video streaming and AI-driven communications software services that are mobile oriented for a more positive user experience. 

Nvidia reported Q3 earnings today (20 Nov) and results suggest that Nvidia is continuing to grow quickly while demand for its powerful artificial intelligence chips remains high. However, the reported number of a 94% year-on-year surge in revenue for the third quarter to $35.08 billion is still a consecutive slowdown from the previous three quarters.  In terms of price action, shares fell 2% in extended trading, from $145 a share to $142. The Options market expected moves of about 10%.   Isaac Lim, Chief Market Strategist, at online investment platform, moomoo Singapore, discussed this price action and the possible implications of the consecutive revenue slowdowns, and where Nvidia is headed in 2025.

The industrial real estate market in Vietnam has experienced a dramatic increase in foreign direct investment over the past two decades. As the country continues its transformative phase attracting a new wave of high-value investments, what are the factors that are shaping Vietnam’s industrial sector and contributing to its success, especially in the growth of new technology sectors such as data centres and electric vehicles? What do investors need to know about Vietnam's evolution into a major manufacturing, logistics, and digital hub in Southeast Asia? More importantly, how will Trump 2.0 impact the outlook for the country's industrial real estate?  John Campbell, Director, Head of Industrial Services, Savills Vietnam, who is based in Ho Chi Minh city, shares his perspectives. 

Stablecoins and tokenisation are gaining momentum in today's complex financial landscape, driving innovation across payments and remittances, and bridging the gap between traditional finance and decentralised finance, to pave the way for the future of payments. How will current developments change the way we pay? Will the rise of stablecoins challenge the established financial systems, or complement and enhance existing frameworks? Jason Tay, Head of Commercial at stablecoin firm, StraitsX, tells us more. StraitsX holds a major payment institution license in Singapore, and is the issuer of XSGD, Singapore's first dollar-backed stablecoin.

According to business intelligence platform Statista, blockchain technology is forecast to increase to nearly 1,000 trillion U.S. dollars by 2032. Blockchain is at the heart of cryptocurrency, and with rising acceptance and adoption of cryptocurrencies, and growing interest in decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms, the cryptocurrency market in Singapore is anticipated to grow rapidly in the next few years. What will it take for Singapore to be a Web3 hub in this region? What are the security challenges businesses should be aware of? Gu Ronghui, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University is one of two founders of CertiK, an industry-leading Web3 security firm headquartered in New York. CertiK says alongside its auditing work, it has reported over 4,000 security incidents in the Web3 community, and discovered more than 115,000 code vulnerabilities, safeguarding over $360 billion in digital assets. Prof Gu, a pioneer in blockchain security, shares invaluable insights into the Web3 space including the challenges and opportunities, and Singapore's role in Web3 development.

Have you heard of a condominium hotel or condotel? As the name may imply, it is a condominium that operates as a hotel, which you could own because units within the hotel are individually owned and managed for you. Hannah Yulo Luccini, CEO of Hotel101 Global, tells us a bit more about how such projects work and how it is different from traditional time-shares with their Condotel project in Niseko, Japan. 

Digital health innovations are playing a more pivotal role in disease management and treatments. From electronic health record integration to wearable devices and mobile applications, advancements in digital technologies are offering more opportunities to improve health outcomes.  On World Diabetes Day (14 Nov), Industry Insight takes a look into the healthcare technology industry and discuss trends specific to diabetes management with Dr. Kenneth Lee, Regional Medical Director, Abbott Diabetes Care, Abbott.

Tokenisation and on-chain finance are becoming buzzwords in the financial industry. Increasingly, more traditional financial institutions are taking collaborative and bolder steps towards a harmonious coexistence of the traditional and the digital. On Industry Insight, we take a look at trends in the blockchain industry, particularly the ways technology is reshaping how traditional financial instruments are digitised and traded. Aaron Gwak, is the founder and CEO of Libeara, a technology service provider backed by Standard Chartered's venture arm, set up to assist institutions in digitalising financial instruments on blockchains. Aaron shares about the platform which aims to reduce the need for intermediaries and bring access, mobility and efficiency to global capital markets.

Technology is driving the transition to a more sustainable future. Green tech innovations are at the forefront of the global sustainability push, offering practical solutions to some of the most pressing environmental challenges. Recently, UOB FinLab, the Bank’s innovation accelerator, awarded a total of more than $100,000 to selected Green Technology (GreenTech) firms to pilot 15 sustainability solutions with UOB and its corporate partners across ASEAN. The pilot solutions and partnerships were unveiled at the GreenTech Accelerator 2024 Showcase Day as part of Singapore FinTech Festival’s Insights Forum. We find out more about the trends and developments in the green technology space with Marianne Tan, Programme Director at UOB FinLab, and Emmanuel Tay, CEO and co-founder of Circular Unite, which is behind one of the 15 pilots selected for funding by UOB FinLab. They share their insights on the green technology ecosystem and the ways industry players are addressing pain points in sustainability.

The US dollar is soaring amid strong momentum to the upside following Donald Trump’s US election win.  What does this mean for the USD / JPY pair and the carry trade? How will a strong dollar and impending tariffs impact the Chinese markets? How does the USD pair with the Singapore dollar in the current market conditions? Yeap Junrong, Market Strategist at IG, weighs in with his views on the greenback.