menu_open Columnists
Nicholas Gordon

Nicholas Gordon

Fortune

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

‘They’re sweating’: Why Japanese giants are pouring money into Silicon Valley startups

Pegasus Tech Venture is quadrupling the corporate venture fund it manages for Japanet, the Japanese television shopping group.

previous day 3

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Hillhouse-backed Ascentium buys fellow business services firm Dezan Shira, as the platform tries to ride China’s surge in outbound investment

Ascentium, founded in 2024, is pursuing an aggressive roll-up strategy to quickly build its geographic footprint across Asia.

monday 3

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Manycore, the first of the Hangzhou ‘Little Dragons’ to go public, pushes ‘spatial intelligence’ as the next wave of AI development

Manycore Tech debuts on Hong Kong's stock exchange today, following a $130 million IPO—and contributing to the Chinese city's AI listing boom.

17.04.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Canva debuts a new suite of agentic tools, as the design app quietly becomes one of the world’s most used AI services

“Canva AI 2.0” shifts the startup away from just “a design platform with AI services built on top,” especially as AI challenges the design SaaS space.

16.04.2026 4

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

China went from uninvestable to unavoidable—and Hong Kong is cashing in with a slew of AI-centric IPOs

The boom in initial public offerings is boosting the city’s stature among the world’s exchanges.

13.04.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Blazing hot IPOs, an AI agent craze, and a new word for ‘token’: Here’s what’s happening in the world of Chinese AI

China hopes to build a “token economy,” backed by open-source models and real-world AI applications—even as U.S. export controls still hold...

12.04.2026 4

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Asian markets drop after Trump signals he’ll bomb Iran ‘back to the stone ages’, tells other countries to ‘take the lead’ in reopening Hormuz

“Countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage,” Trump complained in his address.

02.04.2026 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Macquarie bets impact investing can fill an Asian financial access gap for the ‘missing middle’

Macquarie wants to help women entrepreneurs across Asia get loans with a new AUD 1 million impact investment fund with NGO Good Return.

01.04.2026 5

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Is the org chart dead in the age of AI? LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer thinks so

“Companies need to let [the org chart] go, as it’s going to hold back innovation," Aneesh Raman argues.

31.03.2026 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Coal is back and nuclear is next: The Iran war is rewiring Asia’s energy future

A closed Strait of Hormuz is forcing Asia to look backwards—to coal—and forward—to nuclear energy and electric vehicles—simultaneously.

29.03.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Anduril founder Palmer Luckey wants to arm the U.S.’s allies. Could his insistence on deferring to Washington scare them off?

"I’m not going to go to prison to sell you spare parts," Luckey tells Fortune.

28.03.2026 4

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Indonesia faces a ‘perfect storm’ of downgrade fears, trade tensions and now the Iran war—and 2026 has only just started

Indonesia's difficult start to the year includes signing a trade deal the day before the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Trump's tariffs.

27.03.2026 3

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

The world’s consumers are ready for robotaxis. James Peng of Pony AI wants to make sure they’re riding in his

Peng sees a world with more robotaxis as “inevitable,” citing safety and convenience. “People love to drive; they don’t love driving all the time."

26.03.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

China could be the ‘big winner’ in the AI race, thanks to abundant power, cheap manufacturing, and an open-source craze

Mohit Kumar, Jefferies's global macro strategist, cites valuations, cheap power, and "wider adoption of AI" for his bullishness on China's tech...

25.03.2026 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

How the Strait of Hormuz poses an existential threat to Asia’s economies

“Asia is at the heart of this drama."

21.03.2026 40

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Three Asias, three different playbooks: How PepsiCo’s Anne Tse views the world’s fastest-growing snack market

“By 2030, two‑thirds of the global middle class is going to be in Asia."

20.03.2026 9

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

How an MBA internship led Mitsubishi to e-commerce platform Yami—and into the U.S. snacks market

Food wholesaler Mitsubishi Shokuhin is partnering with Yami, an e-commerce platform focused on Asian goods.

20.03.2026 30

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

‘Raise a lobster’: How OpenClaw is the latest craze transforming China’s AI sector

The OpenClaw craze aligns with China’s embrace of open-source AI, a strategy that has helped build labs’ reputation among the developer community.

14.03.2026 9

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil on how stuck golfers got out of a besieged Gulf: ‘Precise planning, excellent resources and tremendous leadership’

Several golfers were stuck in the Middle East due to the Iran war; Jon Rahm’s private jet helped get them to Hong Kong.

11.03.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla, a vocal Trump critic, agrees with the president on AI and China: ‘We are in a techno-economic war’

"Whoever wins the AI race will win the economic race, and will win the race for economic power and influence globally,” Khosla tells Fortune.

06.03.2026 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Economist Eswar Prasad warns a ‘motley group’ of middle powers can’t stop the ‘doom loop’ threatening the global economy

Prasad, author of “The Doom Loop,” worries that the forces behind globalization are worsening instability–and that global business is making...

06.03.2026 30

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Korean startup wrtn is on track to pass $100M in annual recurring revenue, riding a loneliness epidemic-fueled boom in AI entertainment

Chief product officer Dong-jae Lee uses the analogy of a dungeon master for a tabletop RPG: the AI constructs a narrative in response to user choices.

05.03.2026 87500

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Trump warns countries they could face something ‘far worse’ if they try to renegotiate trade deals. What options do they have?

“It is highly likely that trade deals currently under negotiation will be put on ice,” says Cornell professor Eswar Prasad.

25.02.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Stablecoins could finally bring cross-border payments into the digital age, argues XTransfer CEO Bill Deng

Deng says digital tokens could modernize business payments still bogged down by PDFs and emails.

24.02.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Malaysia’s economy minister sees 2026 as a year of ‘execution’ as Anwar administration tries to lock in policy gains

“2026 is going to be about how we deliver" the 13th Malaysia Plan, says economy minister Akmal Nasir, and ensure reforms aren’t "missing in action."

08.02.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

How FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam is adapting to the era of ‘re-globalization’

Subramaniam—FedEx's second-ever CEO, and a company lifer—now has to lead the Global 500 company without founder Fred Smith for the first time.

02.02.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Why China’s ByteDance could be a big winner in its TikTok deal with Trump

ByteDance gets to keep its algorithm, manage activities like e-commerce—and focus on its next battle, AI.

27.01.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Ascend Money wants to finance the 10 million-plus Thais currently being ignored by traditional banks stuck in the past

Ascend Money’s work providing financing to Thailand’s underbanked populations helped get the fintech company onto Fortune’s 2025 “Change the...

13.01.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Why one of the world’s most qualified chief design officers calls Samsung his ‘dream job’

Samsung has turned to an outsider—Mauro Porcini—and asked him use his approach to design to help the Korean company keep ahead of its competitors. 

06.01.2026 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

HashKey shares start trading in Hong Kong, as the city increasingly embraces crypto

Hong Kong has tentatively embraced cryptocurrencies and digital assets as a way to shore up its status as an international financial center.

17.12.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s first president defends China’s role as ‘responsible stakeholder’ in a less multilateral world

Jin Liqun, the first president of the AIIB, talks international cooperation, infrastructure, and investment in an interview with Fortune.

15.12.2025 50

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Backflips are easy, stairs are hard: Robots still struggle with simple human movements, experts say

Yet the next generation of robots will soon be able to learn from experience, creating more adaptable machines—perfect for the home and the factory,...

12.12.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

HP’s chief commercial officer predicts the future will include AI-powered PCs that don’t share data in the cloud

"People want to know that if they input data to a model, the model won’t train on their data,” said HP's Dave McQuarrie.

08.12.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Nintendo’s 98% staff retention rate means the average employee has been there 15 years

Also: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

05.12.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Luxury hotels need to have ‘a point of view’ to attract visitors hungry for experiences, says designer André Fu

Fu and Swire Hotels deputy chairman Toby Smith discuss design and ‘quiet luxury’ at Fortune Brainstorm Design.

05.12.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

China’s ByteDance could be forced to sell TikTok U.S., but its quiet lead in AI will help it survive—and maybe even thrive

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok and target of Washington ire, operates China’s most popular chatbot, Doubao.

03.12.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Nintendo’s secret to becoming a design powerhouse? Developers who have stayed at the company for decades

“The people who first made Nintendo’s hits are still working at the company,” says Keza MacDonald, author of a forthcoming book about the company.

29.11.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

The year of the Labubu revealed the ‘new consumption’ trend among China’s Gen Z—and now it’s spreading overseas

Labubu has powered monster growth for Chinese toymaker Pop Mart and tapped into China's newfound branding power that could outlast the toy's...

27.11.2025 30

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

China’s robots—from ‘factory brains’ to vacuums that can pick up your socks—are lapping the competition

Also: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

26.11.2025 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

A World Bank expert thinks countries should leverage ‘small AI’—and avoid competing with the biggest tech giants

Experts at the Fortune Innovation Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last week were hopeful that smaller countries could invest in AI that works for...

24.11.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Intrinsic, an Alphabet company, and Nvidia supplier Foxconn will join forces to deploy AI robots in the latter’s U.S. factories

Companies in the AI space are paying more attention to “physical AI,” or artificial intelligence that operates in the real world.

21.11.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

WeRide’s CEO pitches robotaxis as a solution to aging populations and long commutes, as the firm raises more money for R&D with a HK IPO

CEO Tony Han talks about Chinese investors, self-driving cars as social good, and why companies like Uber are turning to Chinese robotaxi partners.

06.11.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Trump takes center stage at APEC–yet Asia’s business leaders are optimistic that multilateralism will prevail

Also: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

03.11.2025 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

In a world of crypto and ‘exotic instruments’, traditional exchanges are thinking about how they ‘stay relevant’

At the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh, exchange heads trade notes about uncertainty, new competition, and Labubu.

29.10.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Coach is winning over Chinese consumers with ‘American design,’ says CEO Todd Kahn

Also: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.

21.10.2025 30

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

DBS CEO Tan Su Shan’s one big lesson for getting through Trump’s tariffs: ‘Diversify’

DBS CEO Tan Su Shan says the tariffs are bringing together once-estranged trading partners.

16.10.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Tan Su Shan, CEO of Southeast Asia’s largest bank, is Fortune’s most powerful woman in Asia for 2025

DBS's new CEO is No. 1 on Fortune's second-ever Most Powerful Women Asia ranking, among a finance- and tech-heavy top five.

07.10.2025 20

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Openness to foreign talent could help non-U.S. tech hubs in Europe and Asia: ‘Wherever is more open still has a chance to win the next cycle’

“Silicon Valley will remain very pro-immigrant,” Notable Capital managing partner Hans Tung said at Fortune Brainstorm Tech last week.

17.09.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Nvidia shares drop, China tech surges as Beijing tries to push homegrown AI chips

China's top internet regulator has reportedly asked tech firms to stop using Nvidia's chips, deeming that local alternatives are good enough to...

17.09.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon

Architects are turning into ‘conductors’, using AI to mock up designs—and get clients on board faster

AI is letting design firms create sketches and renders more quickly, allowing architects to enrich their pitches with more imagery and video.

17.09.2025 10

Fortune

Nicholas Gordon