Someone has to make AI work

Learn what forward-deployed engineers really do, why Zetrix AI is courting governments, and how Chinese AI labs are challenging the frontier.

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 Why forward-deployed engineer is Silicon Valley's hottest new job title How Malaysia's Zetrix is using profitable Web3 businesses to fund its AI ambitions Spotlight: Why Chinese AI labs are closing in on Anthropic's frontier Hello Betamax, Almost every software engineer has seen this happen: A product works perfectly in a demo then meets the people who actually have to use it - who may have no idea how it fits into their daily work. The messy reality bears little resemblance to a clean development environment. That means a technically sound product can become another expensive tool nobody uses. Usually, the response would be to go back and fix the product. But if you were an AI company with billions already invested, rebuilding your core systems for every customer might not be a good idea. The solution? Hire a particular expert and send them to the field to close the gap for you. The job has a fancy label: forward-deployed engineer (FDE). What better way to learn about the role than from someone currently performing it? In our first featured story today, OpenAI FDE Sharan Thangavel takes us inside the role and debunks some of the misconceptions others may have about it. For example: While technical ability is essential for an FDE, so are judgment, communication, humility, and what he calls "street smarts." After all, an impressive solution can still be the wrong one. Meanwhile, our second story looks at Malaysia's Zetrix AI and its government-first pursuit. The firm believes commercial customers will follow once governments adopt its digital infrastructure. Zentrix AI's ambitions include building an AI double of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, taking the company's blockchain model to the Philippines, and listing its AI arm on the Nasdaq. On paper, this playbook seems straightforward: Win government trust at home, export the model across Southeast Asia, and then take the story to Wall Street. Glenn Kaonang, journalist TOP STORIES 1️⃣ Inside the buzzy world of forward-deployed engineers Thangavel breaks down the first 48 hours of a typical customer engagement: speaking with leaders and frontline teams, identifying where work slows down, and building a lightweight prototype to test whether an idea is genuinely useful. He also explains what OpenAI looks for in FDE candidates and why evaluation, governance, and trust are becoming more important as AI models evolve. 2️⃣ Malaysia's Zetrix bets on AI Anwar and Web3 to go global The firm argues that AI agents will need trusted digital identities and payment rails - an infrastructure layer it believes blockchain can provide. Zetrix financials show that Web3 remains the company's money-printing machine, with revenue rising 31% to US$320 million and net profit jumping 23% to US$209 million. SPOTLIGHT Chinese AI labs close in on Anthropic's frontier Two Chinese AI labs recently set up their latest flagships within striking distance of Anthropic's Claude Fable 5. Moonshot AI says Kimi K3 trails Fable 5 overall, while Alibaba describes Qwen3.8 as "second only to Fable 5." Both are massive models, each with more than 2 trillion parameters. Demand for Kimi K3 appears strong. Moonshot even announced that it's temporarily pausing new subscriptions to prioritize compute capacity for existing users. The more revealing contest may be about access. Moonshot describes Kimi K3 as open-weight and has committed to releasing its full weights on July 27. Qwen3.8-Max, meanwhile, is currently available as a preview only through Alibaba's coding and workplace tools. The company says open weights are coming "soon," but it has not given a specific date. Looking at Alibaba's recent playbook, we can reasonably expect another two-tier release: Its strongest Max model remains proprietary, while smaller Qwen3.8 variants are open-weight. Nevertheless, Chinese labs are no longer presenting their models merely as cheaper alternatives. They want to compete at the frontier and make openness part of the pitch. That openness push now has backing from the top, with Chinese president Xi Jinping recently urging countries to seize the "historic opportunity" presented by open-source AI. TRENDING NEWS 1️⃣ China's Moonshot AI seeks Hong Kong IPO The company has asked shareholders to approve a Hong Kong listing that could take place within six months. A concurrent funding round may value Moonshot above US$30 billion - around 50% higher than its reported valuation in May. 2️⃣ EPAA launches AI payments group with HSBC The group will develop standards covering the identity, authentication, liability, fraud, and dispute risks of payments made autonomously by AI agents. With AliPay reportedly processing 120 million AI payment transactions in one week, governance is racing to catch up with adoption. 3️⃣ Malaysia's KWAP seeks to recover $40m from eFishery The civil service pension fund is pursuing the money following financial manipulation at the Indonesian aquaculture startup. An FTI assessment found that in an optimistic scenario, investors might recover only 9.5 cents on the dollar. 4️⃣ Grab-backed GXS narrows loss on business lending The digital bank more than doubled its revenue in 2025 as its loan book grew 324% to US$798 million and business lending emerged as a major growth driver. However, credit-loss provisions also more than doubled, and GXS remains unprofitable. 5️⃣ Coupang warehouse fire enters third day disrupting deliveries More than 800 firefighters were deployed as nearby residents were evacuated over fears that the building could collapse. Delivery delays are expected across parts of Incheon and western Seoul while authorities prepare to inspect the warehouse's safety systems. UNLOCKING THE AGENTIC OPPORTUNITY In partnership with AI agents have had a transformative impact on how we work - they can summarize emails, answer messages, draft content, and so much more. The opportunities they offer to SMEs in Southeast Asia are also tremendous, but companies still face issues in making these agents work for them. AI agents need reliable infrastructure, but SMEs may not be equipped with the technical know-how to make this a reality. Enter Hostinger and its virtual private server (VPS) infrastructure, which gives AI agents a reliable environment without requiring SMEs to manage complex deployment and server maintenance, lowering the barriers to entry and unlocking new growth. Learn more about Hostinger and its VPS solution here. PRESS PEEKS The following press releases were published as they were received, without any editing from the Tech in Asia team. You, too, can publish your own press release on our site by simply filling out this form. Our team will get back to you by the next business day. 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