Banking on GPUs

We take a look at Anext Bank's GPU financing push and how J&T is maintaining momentum as rivals face pressure across Southeast Asia.

Read from your browser Daily Newsletter Welcome to Tech in Asia's daily newsletter, your essential dose of Asia's tech and startup buzz. Subscribe to this newsletter or send story tips to editors@techinasia.com. Ensure our articles appear in your Google searches: IN FOCUS Singapore-based Anext Bank wants to finance companies, using GPUs as collateral J&T Express' momentum shows no signs of slowing in Southeast Asia Shopee trims hundreds of roles, affecting about 8% of its global developer workforce Hello Betamax, Demand for graphics processing units (GPUs), deemed essential hardware for the AI revolution, has surged in recent years. Prices have skyrocketed as a result, prompting many companies to rent them instead of buying. In short, GPUs have become hot commodities. Singapore-based digital bank Anext Bank sees an opportunity in this trend. The Ant International-owned firm plans to expand into GPU financing and lend to companies against their AI hardware as collateral. With this move, Anext aims to expand both its secured and unsecured lending businesses. In today's top story, Benjamin Cher from The Business Times speaks with Kai Qiu, the digital bank's CEO, about its plans concerning GPU financing and beyond, as well as the intense competition in Singapore's digital banking sector. Besides Anext, there are four other major digital banks in the city-state: GXS, Trust Bank, MariBank, and GLDB. With Trust Bank recently recording its first monthly net profit, competition is heating up more than ever. Anext reckons GPU financing could give it an edge. Meanwhile, J&T Express continues to build on its strong momentum this year. During the 6.6 shopping festival, its parcel volume in Southeast Asia jumped 83.5%, reaching an average daily volume of 35.51 million parcels. So, in today's Spotlight, I take a closer look at how J&T Express has managed to sustain its growth despite the increasing dominance of in-house logistics services such as SPX Express. We also have the latest on Shopee, which recently laid off hundreds of developers amid a pivot to AI. Jofie Yordan, journalist TOP STORY Anext Bank eyes GPU financing as SG digibank competition heats up After spending 2025 studying the sector, the digital bank is now betting that AI infrastructure financing can become a meaningful lending vertical. The move is notable because it suggests GPUs are beginning to be treated like other bankable assets - collateral that companies can leverage to unlock debt financing. SPOTLIGHT Why J&T is still winning the logistics race in SEA At a time when many third-party logistics (3PL) firms are struggling across Southeast Asia, J&T Express continues to go from strength to strength. The company has maintained its growth momentum this year, with its first-quarter parcel volume up 80% year on year. It had a solid performance during the recent 6.6 shopping festival, too. Many 3PL firms have been under pressure from SPX Express, as most Shopee shipments are now handled by the ecommerce giant's in-house logistics arm. This has forced smaller regional players to exit certain markets. For example, Ninja Van shut down its delivery operations in Vietnam, while Flash Express stopped operating in Malaysia. Despite the growing influence of in-house logistics networks, J&T has remained resilient. Its market share rose to 34% in 2025 from 28% in 2024, according to a Momentum Works report. Part of that growth has been driven by the expansion of TikTok Shop, for which J&T handles the majority of shipments. In 2025, TikTok Shop doubled its Southeast Asian gross merchandise value year on year to US$45 billion. Beyond its partnership with TikTok Shop, J&T has also become known for its aggressive price-cutting strategy. The approach helped the company establish a dominant position in ecommerce logistics even before in-house logistics networks became a major competitive force. While the strategy has drawn backlash from competitors and logistics associations, it has clearly worked for J&T. Indeed, other 3PL players have been forced to rethink their business models and reduce their dependence on ecommerce logistics. Looking ahead, the competitive landscape in Southeast Asia may increasingly resemble a contest between two sides: Shopee and SPX Express on one, and TikTok Shop and J&T Express on the other. And if TikTok Shop continues to close the gap with Shopee, J&T is also likely to reap the rewards. A VISUAL STORY YOU SHOULDN'T MISS The toughest round may come after series A The so-called "valley of death" for startups has traditionally been described as the period between seed round and series A. But our data suggests that the bottleneck may be shifting further up the funding ladder. In Southeast Asia, startups reaching series A are increasingly stuck in a waiting game for their series B, with the median gap stretching beyond 34 months in recent years. This perhaps indicates how hard it's getting to show that a company can move from achieving product-market fit to securing scalable, repeatable growth. Check out the full story for plenty more data on how timing is making and breaking startups in the region. TRENDING NEWS 1️⃣ Shopee cuts hundreds of developer jobs globally The layoff affected around 8% of the ecommerce giant's developer workforce, including those in quality assurance roles. In Sea's latest available quarterly results, net income reached US$375 million in the third quarter of 2025. 2️⃣ Vertex leads Malaysian chip startup GreatAsic's $6.9m round The company designs custom integrated circuits and AI system-on-chip platforms. It will use the funding to hire engineers, expand operations, and develop silicon projects for data centers, edge AI, and automotive apps. 3️⃣ SK Telecom, NTT launch $500m Aion AI fund The fund will target global AI startups working on AI data center infrastructure, AI semiconductors, and optical communications. 4️⃣ SoftBank's $6b OpenAI-backed loan talks stall The investment firm has stalled the negotiations to raise at least US$6 billion through a margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake. Banks are cautious because shares in private firms such as OpenAI are harder to value and sell than listed stock. 5️⃣ South Korean AI company Upstage faces IPO scrutiny The issue centers on former presidential secretary Ha Jung-woo's past stake in the company after Upstage joined the government's AI foundation model project in 2025 and received 560 billion won (US$370 million) from the state-backed Korea National Growth Fund. WHY TRADITIONAL AGENCY BRIEFS FALL SHORT IN THE AI ERA "Just send it to the agency." It's the go-to solution for swamped leaders looking to scale their marketing. But after years on both sides of the client-agency table, we realized that outsourcing your execution usually means outsourcing your strategy. Treating a partner like a vending machine leaves your campaigns stuck in a knowledge silo. In a market suffering from AI fatigue and dealing with hyper-skeptical buyers, the traditional "order-taker" agency model is broken. Clients don't want recycled ideas from an external vendor - they want open-book workflows. From our business development consultants and account managers to our creative team, we've shifted to a "co-creation" model to ensure you aren't just buying assets, you're upskilling your strategy. Click here to discover why the traditional vendor brief isn't enough and what questions you and your team need to ask to find a partner that elevates your next campaigns. 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