Big Take Asia

Thailand’s famous ‘Land of Smiles’ welcome is being tested as locals grow increasingly frustrated about competing with foreigners who buy up property and set up their own businesses. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Patpicha Tanakasempipat about a sweeping government crackdown and a big question facing Thailand: how to keep mon...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is at the center of the circular AI economy — and news of his extra-marital affair with an alleged Chinese spy has hammered Nvidia’s stock and threatened to roil markets. On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder is joined by Sarah Frier, managing editor for big tech, AI and startups, and tech policy editor Michael Shepard to discuss how Nvidia, the A...

Wall Street’s brutal, $3.7 trillion rout cascaded into Asian markets, putting chipmakers and tech companies in its crosshairs. Host K. Oanh Ha sat down with Bloomberg Opinion Columnist Shuli Ren to look at what comes next for AI – and consider whether this is simply a correction or a crack in the AI bubble. Read more:  Anatomy of a Selloff: Sudden Chain Reaction Rattles Wall Stree...

Hackers the FBI has linked to North Korea stole $6.3 billion from Binance, pulling off the biggest crypto heist of all time. On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with Bloomberg crypto editor Ryan Weeks and Bloomberg Economics’ Adam Farrar about how the attack unfolded and how stolen crypto is increasingly funding Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.  Read more:&nb...

After a rare double downgrade warning from MSCI, Indonesia suffered its worst stock rout in nearly 30 years. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg Indonesia bureau chief Ben Otto about what dropping Southeast Asia’s largest economy from key global benchmarks would mean for investors and what Jakarta can do to avert the crisis. Read more: What Happens I...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi wants to put Japan back in the fast lane, with huge investments in everything from AI to space technology. But can she generate the growth to justify the spending without unsettling markets and voters? On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Paul Jackson about Takaichi’s first-year scorecard and the economic an...

When millions of retail investors piled into India’s options market to get rich quick, losses mounted and regulators launched a sweeping crackdown.  On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, guest host Rebecca Choong Wilkins and India equities reporter Savio Shetty break down how the world’s largest options market unraveled, why regulators are struggling to police the country’...

Beyond software and chips, the AI boom relies on good old-fashioned manufacturing of essential components – a skill that has made a new class of people very, very rich. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host Oanh Ha talks with Bloomberg reporter Cindy Wang and Opinion columnist Catherine Thorbecke about how nimble producers—think toilet manufacturers and furniture makers—pi...

China is ramping up an ongoing effort to shore up local government budgets and fund AI data centers with tax revenue from its richest citizens. Billionaires across the country are seeing bills hit their doorstep, and one major deadline to pay up is just weeks away. On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura talks to Bloomberg’s Lulu Chen about why Beijing is enforcing and rewriting i...

As Chinese President Xi Jinping makes his first visit to Washington in over a decade, trade and the AI race will likely dominate talks with Donald Trump. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha and Bloomberg’s John Liu unpack what each leader hopes to gain and why they may have no choice but to cooperate on AI safety. Read more:  The Tough AI Questions Looming Over the T...

It’s been a big week for central banks around the world. Yet among the flurry of rate decisions, the Bank of Japan’s move stands out. After decades of near-zero interest rates, policymakers are betting Japan’s economy is finally returning to something closer to normal. On today’s Big Take Podcast, K. Oanh Ha and Bloomberg’s Paul Jackson explore why the Bank of Japan i...

American pharma giants are increasingly turning to Chinese labs to discover, test and develop cutting-edge drugs. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, Bloomberg’s Amber Tong and Robert Langreth join Oanh Ha to break down why global drugmakers are sourcing their next big breakthroughs from China — and what that means for US biotech dominance. Read more: Big Pharma Is Hooked on Chines...

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” An X post by a former employee of both OpenAI and Anthropic went viral this week and is prompting big questions. Among them: are the safety concerns in the US an opportunity for China? On the Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg’s Mike Shepard talk through what an AI safety...

Tens of thousands of workers in India are wearing head-mounted cameras to record their every move, helping train humanoid robots to perform everyday human tasks. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, Bloomberg’s Asia AI reporter Saritha Rai joins host Rebecca Choong Wilkins for an inside look at how vast troves of data are gathered by the very people who may eventually be replaced and what...

Hundreds of hydropower workers remain missing in Nepal after a glacial collapse caused catastrophic flooding. The disaster laid bare the rising climate risks across Asia and the danger of building in an increasingly volatile environment. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, guest host Rebecca Choong Wilkins sits down with Bloomberg’s Clara Ferreira Marques and Bloomberg Opinion’s Da...

Microdramas — mini soap operas designed to be watched on your phone — have become one of the fastest-growing forms of entertainment in the world. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Yang Yang and Bloomberg Businessweek’s Christopher Beam about how millions got hooked on the medium, the challenges studios face as they try to reach...

North Korea was supposed to be broke and isolated. Now, it’s enjoying an unexpected economic boom. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, Bloomberg’s Cat Barton and host K. Oanh Ha unpack North Korea’s shift from pandemic-era hardship to a multibillion-dollar windfall, and discuss how the country’s newfound wealth is reshaping geopolitical alliances. Read more:  Kim J...

The launch of Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 model has taken the tech world — and Washington — by storm, raising urgent questions about how a Chinese startup can suddenly rival the world's most powerful AI systems. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Mark Anderson about the distillation method behind Moonshot’s breakthrough and what it...

Our Town from Bloomberg’s Big Take podcast follows residents of Gainesboro, Tennessee, after a group of far-right Christians moves in with plans for a radical social experiment. Listen to Episode 1 in the Big Take. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the Japanese yen hit a 40-year low against the US dollar, Japan's government stepped in to support its currency. And it has a powerful ally in US President Donald Trump, who is putting the US financial might behind the historic currency intervention in what he called a “signal of friendship.” On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha sits down with chief Asia foreign e...

Weeks of student-led protests forced the resignation of India’s education minister, in a rare public setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, guest host Rebecca Choong Wilkins and Bloomberg reporter Atul Dev discuss how India’s cockroach movement grew from a satirical online joke into a powerful anti-Modi protest and why its economic grievances...

After the pandemic-era run on medical gloves, the US government set a plan in motion to reshore manufacturing. Roughly six years and almost $1 billion later, America is once again facing potential shortages of medical gloves because of supply chain disruptions stemming from the war in Iran. On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder and health care industry reporter Anna Edney break down...

When a 1,000-year-old Cambodian statue came up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York, it sparked off an investigation that uncovered one of the world’s most extensive art trafficking networks. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Matthew Campbell and American lawyer Bradley Gordon on how Cambodia’s looted treasures ended up scattered a...

China’s men’s soccer team has qualified for the World Cup just once, despite millions in investment and a personal push from President Xi Jinping to turn the nation into a footballing powerhouse. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host Oanh Ha speaks with Eric Zhu of Bloomberg Economics and Mark Dreyer, sports writer and author of Sporting Superpower, about why the country’s...

China rattled neighbors from Japan to Australia on Monday by test-launching a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean. While such launches are rare, the latest test reflects Beijing’s increasing openness about its growing military strength. On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, Rebecca Choong Wilkins, who covers Asian government and politics, joins host K...