In today’s briefing:
- This Week in AI (Aug 9-15): DeepSeek Hikes V4 Prices; Anthropic Shows Profit Before Listing
- Ohayo Japan |Consumer Warning Signs
- China/Us: DRONE ATTACK !!
- Consolidation in Japanese Food Retail as Top 5 Grab 30% Share
This Week in AI (Aug 9-15): DeepSeek Hikes V4 Prices; Anthropic Shows Profit Before Listing
- We tracked AI models, infrastructure, and funding this week: DeepSeek raised V4 pricing, while Anthropic showed profit before listing.
- China labs pushed pricing, agents, and device subscriptions; US labs added OpenAI Ultrafast, Gemini Flash, Meta Glimmer, and Grok releases.
- Nvidia lined up financing platforms, Anthropic signed compute capacity, DayOne filed for a US IPO, and OpenRouter revenue shifted toward Anthropic.
Ohayo Japan |Consumer Warning Signs
- US stocks closed modestly lower on Friday in quiet trade, with the Nasdaq underperforming
- Fed expectations are becoming more dovish: Softer consumption and subdued inflation reduce pressure for a September rate hike
- Japan’s TOPIX finished the week at a record high as a positive quarterly earnings season comes to an end.
China/Us: DRONE ATTACK !!
- President Trump is targeting the drone industry for sanctions and tariffs, hoping to surge domestic supply after being unable to defeat Iran’s low-cost drone arsenal with US high-tech missiles.
- Trump has announced 100% tariffs on larger drones after the Administration increased sanctions on Chinese drone makers like DJI.
- Regardless of tariffs on drone imports, China continues to control the supply of several critical components for the global drone industry, including energy storage, motors, and optics and thermal imaging.
Consolidation in Japanese Food Retail as Top 5 Grab 30% Share
- Japan’s food retail sector is worth ¥55.8 trillion and is undergoing fast consolidation. If you are investing in Japanese food retailers/brands, this in-depth review will provide context and key trends.
- National chains are finally displacing regional operators through M&A and organic expansion – already, the top five food retailers control 29.5% of the market.
- Private label is eroding national brand share as inflation bites and supermarkets are replacing fresh foods with higher margin deli, providing significant margin growth.
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