Asia Centric by Bloomberg Intelligence

Surviving the cutthroat world of hedge funds is notoriously difficult, with firms facing an average lifespan of just five years. Yet Singapore-based systematic quantitative fund Quantedge has defied those odds, recently celebrating its 20th anniversary and growing its assets under management from less than $3 million to $7.6 billion. Boasting an annualized return of 20.8% over two decades and a massive 49% gain year to date, the firm stands apart from multi-manager "pod shops" that prioritize stable, low-volatility returns.

Suhaimi Zainul-Abidin, CEO of Quantedge, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast to demystify the "black box" of quantitative investing. He discusses the advantages of running a major hedge fund out of Singapore versus New York or London, and what it really takes for job applicants to stand out at the firm.

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While global equities have surged on the AI boom, India's stock markets have languished. With concerns that the nation's large IT services sector is vulnerable to automation and job losses, critics have increasingly labeled India an "anti-AI" or "short-AI" trade.

Santanu Sengupta, chief India economist at Goldman Sachs, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast to challenge this bearish narrative. He explains why robust hiring at smaller tech firms and global capability centers is offsetting traditional software job losses. Sengupta also breaks down the drivers behind India's resilient economic growth despite higher energy prices and explains why the central bank may soon pivot to a hawkish tightening stance.

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Asia's private wealth industry continues to flourish. A Bloomberg Intelligence survey of 100 senior private bankers reveals widespread optimism for double-digit net new money growth, supported by mainland investors seeking diversification and emerging wealth from Southeast Asia and the Middle East. This comes despite new regulatory headwinds from Beijing, including tighter capital outflows and taxes on offshore trusts and insurance policies, which most surveyed expected will have only a mild impact on flows.

Sharnie Wong, senior analyst covering Asia-Pacific diversified financials, and Sarah Jane Mahmud, senior analyst covering Southeast Asian and Indian banks at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast.

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The global economy is structurally shifting from G7 dominance toward a G2 dynamic led by the US and China, yet international investors continue to shun Chinese risk assets. Even as China dominates global manufacturing output and expands its trade surplus toward $1.2 trillion, global capital remains heavily allocated toward developed markets.

Are markets mispricing China's role in this new order? Bin Gao, CEO and co-CIO of Kaifeng Investment Management Hong Kong, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast to unpack the G2 shift. Gao draws parallels to Japan's 1970s export boom, presenting a contrarian case for yuan appreciation while warning of an overvalued bubble in Japanese consumer stocks.

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Shareholder activism is surging in Japan, with 120 campaigns launched in the first half of the year, making the country the second most active market globally after the US. With a record number of companies going private and M&A takeover battles on the rise, activist investors are increasingly becoming kingmakers in securing maximum value for minority shareholders.

Jamie Halse, chief investment officer at Senjin Capital, joins Bloomberg Intelligence's John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. He explains that while much of the headlines have focused on Japan's corporate giants like Toyota and Sony, the most compelling value lies in the under-researched small- and mid-cap space. Halse unpacks why smaller firms are only in the early innings of governance reform, how unwinding cross-shareholdings is stripping away corporate protection, and the cultural nuances of working with Japanese management teams on capital allocation and shareholder value.

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North Asian currencies – including the Japanese yen, South Korean won, Taiwan dollar and Chinese yuan – are trading at some of their deepest discounts on record, dropping up to 56% below purchasing power parity. These depressed valuations persist despite strong macro fundamentals, backed by massive foreign exchange reserves and their status as top global creditors. However, this valuation gap is beginning to snap back as booming domestic economies, rising retail sales, and increasing inflation prompt central banks in the region to hike interest rates.

What will this shifting macroeconomic environment mean for regional FX and equities? Sean Darby, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities, joins host John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. Darby unpacks his "Burger Heaven" thesis on undervalued currencies and explains why steepening yield curves are setting up long-ignored bank stocks to outperform.

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After decades of lagging behind the US and China in economic growth and innovation, Europe faces a stark reality: the era of cheap Russian energy, low-cost Chinese goods and US-backed security is over. Achieving strategic self-sufficiency will cost an estimated €14 trillion through 2035, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, requiring massive capital deployment across defense, energy, technology and agriculture. Traditional industrial mainstays are also under threat, with Chinese EV makers rapidly capturing market share and endangering an auto sector that employs nearly 14 million people.

Rod Turnbull, EMEA research content manager at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. Turnbull breaks down how Europe can fund this €1.5 trillion annual effort — from unlocking €11 trillion in consumer bank deposits to EU budget shifts. He also highlights key investment opportunities across defense and tech, while weighing whether political friction and national self-interest could derail execution.

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While US tech giants such as Anthropic and OpenAI are monetizing at an unprecedented scale, Chinese developers are struggling to turn their technical progress into revenue growth. Despite narrowing the performance gap with US frontier models to just 5%, they face a domestic market flooded with nearly 1,000 competing large language models. This massive oversupply has triggered a brutal price war, with API tokens trading at roughly an 80% discount compared with US rates.

Can Chinese AI companies ever generate significant returns for investors, and what are the implications for US frontier models? Robert Lea, senior analyst covering China AI at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. They outline why China's ecosystem prioritizes "progress, not profit," explore stark economic parallels with the heavily subsidized solar and EV sectors, and discuss whether this cutthroat competition will derail the industry's long-term ambitions.

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Global fixed income markets are facing fresh turbulence as 30-year US Treasury yields spike to 5.2% – their highest level since before the global financial crisis – amid policy uncertainty under Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh. At the same time, FX markets are on high alert following coordinated intervention by US and Japanese authorities to support the yen after it breached 162. With rate volatility climbing while corporate fundamentals remain largely intact, how can credit investors find value amid tight spreads and negative net debt issuance across Asia?

Monica Hsiao, founder and chief investment officer of Triada Capital, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. She looks at how Fed communication is driving up risk premiums, the mechanics behind US-Japan FX coordination, and why carry remains the primary strategy in global credit markets.

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Memory chips have been the standout trade of the AI boom, but July brought a sharp reality check. Global semiconductor stocks whipsawed as investors began questioning the return on hundreds of billions in data-center spending. Market jitters deepened after Chinese startup Moonshot released its open-source Kimi K3 model at a fraction of the cost of US frontier AI architectures. Compounding these concerns is the rise of CXMT, China’s leading DRAM supplier, whose stock surged fivefold following a blockbuster IPO – raising fears of aggressive capacity expansion that could disrupt incumbents such as Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.

Jake Silverman, semiconductor analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. He unpacks why fundamental support for the memory sector remains solid, how high-bandwidth memory (HBM) creates a structural cap on standard DRAM supply, and why multi-year strategic supply contracts and extended fab construction lead times insulate incumbents from an immediate market collapse.

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