Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on Saturday that the chipmaker is experiencing “very strong demand” for its state-of-the-art Blackwell processors, even as the company remains locked out of China’s lucrative market under U.S. export restrictions.

The remarks came during Huang’s visit to Taiwan for an event organized by Nvidia’s long-time partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), where he reaffirmed the strength of the global AI chip boom and Nvidia’s growing reliance on TSMC’s production capacity.

“Nvidia builds the GPU, but we also build the CPU, the networking, the switches, and so there are a lot of chips associated with Blackwell,” Huang told reporters in Hsinchu.

He noted that demand for the firm’s AI hardware has surged across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, where cloud providers and AI startups are racing to secure high-performance computing capacity.

TSMC’s CEO C.C. Wei confirmed that Huang had requested additional wafer supplies but said the quantity was confidential.

“TSMC is doing a very good job supporting us on wafers,” Huang said, crediting the Taiwanese foundry’s efficiency and innovation for Nvidia’s record growth.

In October, Nvidia became the first company to reach a $5 trillion market capitalization — a milestone Wei described as “historic,” calling Huang a “five-trillion-dollar man.”

The demand for Nvidia’s new Blackwell platform — which integrates advanced graphics, networking, and compute technologies — highlights the company’s near-total dominance in AI hardware. The chip is the engine behind major generative AI systems such as OpenAI’s GPT models and underpins data center operations at firms like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.

However, Nvidia’s growth is unfolding under the weight of geopolitical constraints that have effectively cut off access to one of its largest potential markets. Since 2023, Washington has banned the sale of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips — including the A100, H100, and now the Blackwell series — to China, citing concerns that the hardware could accelerate Beijing’s military and artificial intelligence capabilities.

The restrictions have been steadily tightened under the Trump administration, with the U.S. government now blocking Nvidia from shipping even downgraded versions of its chips, such as the A800 and H800, which were specifically designed to comply with earlier export limits.

Huang confirmed on Friday that “there are no active discussions” about selling Blackwell chips to China and had said the company’s share of the advanced AI chip market in China is now “zero.”

Before the restrictions, China accounted for roughly 20% of Nvidia’s total revenue, with tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu among its biggest customers. Their heavy investments in AI training clusters had made China one of the world’s fastest-growing buyers of data center GPUs. The ban has since forced these companies to seek alternative suppliers or accelerate domestic chip development. Beijing has responded by fast-tracking local semiconductor firms such as Huawei, which has developed its Ascend AI chips as a partial substitute for Nvidia’s products.

Despite losing this vast market, Nvidia’s global demand has more than compensated for the shortfall. The company has seen explosive growth in data center sales, driven by the worldwide race to build AI supercomputing infrastructure. With supply shortages still limiting production, even major U.S. tech firms are competing for allocation slots.

Huang acknowledged that Nvidia continues to face occasional supply constraints — not just in wafer capacity but also in high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is crucial for AI workloads.

“We have three very, very good memory makers — SK Hynix, Samsung, Micron — all incredibly good memory makers, and they have scaled up tremendous capacity to support us,” he said.

The global chip supply chain has entered what analysts describe as an “AI super cycle,” with suppliers expanding production to meet demand that shows no sign of slowing. SK Hynix said last week it had already sold out its entire 2025 output of advanced memory chips, while Samsung Electronics confirmed it was in “close discussion” to supply its next-generation HBM4 chips to Nvidia.

Even without China, Nvidia’s trajectory remains unmatched. Its Blackwell chips, expected to surpass the performance and efficiency of the current Hopper generation, are central to nearly every major AI deployment worldwide. The company’s success has also bolstered Taiwan’s TSMC, which manufactures nearly all of Nvidia’s GPUs using its most advanced process nodes.

Huang’s fourth trip to Taiwan this year underscored the growing strategic importance of that partnership.

Berkshire Hathaway shares climbed this week, bucking a broader Wall Street downturn driven by renewed concerns over inflated artificial intelligence valuations and slowing U.S. economic momentum.

The conglomerate’s Class B and Class A shares advanced 4.5% following a robust earnings report, even as the Nasdaq tumbled 3% — its steepest weekly decline since April.

According to CNBC, the gains trimmed Berkshire’s underperformance gap against the S&P 500 to 4.3 percentage points, down from 12.2 percentage points in late October. The rally came after Warren Buffett’s company posted a 34% jump in third-quarter operating profits to nearly $13.5 billion, underscored by a sharp rebound in its insurance business, where underwriting income surged 200%.

The report, which reflected broad strength across Berkshire’s subsidiaries, also highlighted the company’s growing liquidity position. As of September 30, Berkshire’s cash pile stood at $381.7 billion, up 10.9% from the end of June — a new record. Adjusted for BNSF Railway’s cash and the timing of Treasury bill purchases, the total comes to about $354.3 billion, marking a 4.3% rise over the same period.

Notably, Berkshire made no share repurchases during the quarter, signaling Buffett’s belief that the stock remains fairly valued despite its sluggish performance earlier in the year. Equity sales once again outpaced purchases, a conservative stance consistent with Buffett’s cautious view of the current market environment.

While tech-heavy indices have faltered under pressure from overvaluation worries, Berkshire’s diversified portfolio — spanning insurance, railroads, utilities, and consumer goods — continues to benefit from its defensive positioning. Analysts say the company’s record cash reserves give it significant flexibility to act if market volatility creates new value opportunities.

Adding intrigue to the week’s developments, Berkshire confirmed that Warren Buffett will issue a special message on November 10, fueling speculation that it could be one of his final public notes as CEO. In a brief statement, the firm said the release will address “philanthropy, Berkshire, and other matters that shareholders and others may find of interest.” The announcement follows reports suggesting Buffett has been preparing to formalize more of his long-term succession and giving plans.

Meanwhile, in a separate move that underscores Buffett’s continued confidence in Japan’s corporate sector, Berkshire has reportedly hired banks to arrange another yen-denominated bond sale, according to Bloomberg and Nikkei. The company has also filed a preliminary prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

It would mark the second yen borrowing by Berkshire this year — a clear signal that it intends to deepen its investments in Japan’s five major trading houses, which it began acquiring stakes in back in 2019. Those holdings have become a core part of Berkshire’s international strategy, reflecting Buffett’s admiration for the trading companies’ diversified business models and shareholder-friendly practices.

The market welcomed the news: shares in four of the five trading houses advanced this week, led by Itochu’s 6.5% gain. All five stocks now trade near all-time highs, pushing the combined value of Berkshire’s disclosed holdings to roughly $33 billion, up from $31 billion just a month earlier. The total could be even higher if additional, undisclosed purchases have been made in recent weeks.

As Wall Street recalibrates its expectations for AI-driven growth and tech valuations cool, Buffett’s traditional, cash-rich discipline still resonates with investors seeking stability amid market froth – with analysts attributing it to Berkshire’s rise.

Whether his message on Monday turns out to be a philosophical send-off or another sober assessment of markets, it is likely to capture the attention of investors across the globe — just as Berkshire’s balance sheet continues to do.

Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has officially approved a proof-of-concept (PoC) trial for a yen-denominated stablecoin, involving the country’s three largest banks: Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

This greenlight, announced on November 7, 2025, marks a significant step in integrating blockchain technology into Japan’s payment systems under the FSA’s “Payment Innovation Project.” The banks aim to finalize the trial and launch the stablecoin for practical use by March 2026.

The consortium includes Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC, Mitsubishi Corporation, Progmat Inc. (MUFG’s blockchain platform), and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation. This collaboration focuses on creating a unified infrastructure for issuing and transferring stablecoins among corporate clients.

The trial will test joint issuance of stablecoins classified as “electronic payment instruments” under Japan’s Payment Services Act amended in June 2023. It emphasizes secure, regulated digital payments backed 1:1 by yen reserves, such as bank deposits and government bonds.

PoC trials begin this month, with a full rollout targeted for March 2026, aligning with Japan’s fiscal year-end. Initial focus is on yen-pegged tokens, with potential expansion to USD versions later. Built on Progmat’s platform, which supports tokenization and has been piloted for interbank settlements.

1:1 pegged to Japanese yen; reserves in bank deposits and government bonds. Licensed banks (Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC) and trust companies only, per regulations. Corporate payments, interbank transfers; potential for broader adoption

FSA’s Payment Innovation Project; ensures compliance with anti-money laundering rules. This initiative builds on Japan’s progressive crypto framework, where stablecoins are treated as “currency-denominated assets” since 2023, restricting issuance to trusted institutions to mitigate risks like those seen in past stablecoin failures (e.g., TerraUSD).

It’s separate from but complementary to other efforts, such as JPYC’s recent launch of a yen-backed stablecoin on October 28, 2025, which has already attracted interest from seven companies for integration. Experts like Rajiv Sawhney of Wave Digital Assets International predict a smooth rollout but limited initial adoption due to regulatory caution and competition from existing payment systems.

Globally, this could influence G7 standards for stablecoin oversight, positioning Japan as a leader in regulated digital finance. The project underscores Japan’s push toward blockchain-enhanced payments amid rising interest in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), though it remains a private-sector stablecoin rather than a full CBDC.

Progmat is a leading Japanese blockchain-based platform specializing in the tokenization of assets and the issuance of digital tokens, including stablecoins, security tokens, and utility tokens.

Founded in February 2022 by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest bank by assets, it has evolved into a joint venture backed by major financial institutions such as Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Japan Exchange Group (JPX), and SBI Holdings.

The platform aims to bridge traditional finance (TradFi) with decentralized finance (DeFi) by enabling programmable networks for digital assets, facilitating secure, regulated issuance, transfers, and settlements.

Progmat is particularly prominent in Japan’s stablecoin ecosystem, where it supports yen-pegged tokens under the revised Payment Services Act, which restricts stablecoin issuance to licensed banks and trust companies.

Progmat’s core technology leverages R3’s Corda enterprise blockchain for robustness and scalability, combined with public blockchain integrations for broader interoperability. It positions itself as infrastructure for transforming real-world assets (RWAs) into digital forms, targeting corporate payments, interbank settlements, and tokenized real estate.

As of November 2025, Progmat is central to Japan’s push for regulated digital payments, including the recent FSA-approved stablecoin pilot involving MUFG, Mizuho, and SMBC.Key Features and CapabilitiesProgmat offers a modular ecosystem for token lifecycle management, emphasizing compliance, cross-chain functionality, and programmability.

Supports three stablecoin types under Japan’s regulations: bank deposit-backed, trust-type (e.g., via MUFG Trust), and fund-type. Enables joint issuance by multiple banks for shared liquidity and liability. Also handles security tokens (e.g., real estate RWAs) and utility tokens.

Cross-Chain Interoperability

Integrates with public blockchains like Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Cosmos via bridges built with partners DataChain and TOKI. Allows cross-chain swaps, payments, lending, and settlements (e.g., NFT purchases settled in Progmat Coin on a different chain). Additional networks planned for expansion.

Wallet and Custody

Partners with Ginco for enterprise wallets optimized for trade settlements. Provides banking-grade custody with 1:1 yen reserves (e.g., deposits, government bonds) and AML/KYC compliance.

Settlement and Use Cases

Focuses on corporate payments, interbank transfers, and trade finance (e.g., exports to emerging markets). Enables faster T+0 settlements, reducing costs for over 300,000 corporate clients. Explores tokenizing foreign real estate and linking ST data under PII laws.

Security and Compliance

Built on permissioned and permissionless models; adheres to FSA’s prudential controls. Supports data utility frameworks for rights holders, as outlined in the DCC’s 2025 ST Data Linkage report.

October–November 2025: Selected for FSA-backed yen stablecoin pilot with top banks; PoC starts November 2025, full launch March 2026. Recent DCC report standardizes ST data usage. Progmat has issued numerous security tokens, primarily for Japanese real estate and bonds, making it Japan’s most active tokenization platform.

With MUFG, Mizuho, SMBC, and Mitsubishi Corporation, using Progmat for joint issuance and corporate payments. Aims to integrate with bank systems for interoperable settlements. Part of the Digital Asset Co-Creation Consortium (DCC), focusing on RWA tokenization and DeFi-TradFi blends.

Progmat underscores Japan’s regulated approach to blockchain, potentially influencing G7 stablecoin standards by prioritizing bank-backed, interoperable tokens. Challenges include limited initial adoption due to regulatory caution and competition from CBDC pilots, but its scalability could drive multinational use cases like tokenized trade finance.

Alibaba Group has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model that signals China’s growing ambition in advanced AI, claiming parity with the most sophisticated US models while outperforming them in practical applications.

According to SCMP, the model, Qwen3-Max-Thinking, achieved perfect scores in two of the world’s most challenging mathematics competitions—the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) 2025 and the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT). Alibaba says this marks the first time a Chinese AI has reached 100 percent accuracy in these reasoning-focused contests, putting it on par with OpenAI’s GPT-5 Pro, which had previously achieved similar results.

These competitions test high-level problem-solving across arithmetic, algebra, number theory, probability, and combinatorics. Experts say performance in such contests reflects an AI model’s ability to reason and generalize, going beyond pattern recognition into analytical thought.

Qwen3-Max-Thinking builds on Alibaba’s Qwen3-Max, a trillion-parameter model launched in September, which itself was an upgrade from the original Qwen3 released in April. According to Alibaba Cloud, Qwen3-Max and its new reasoning variant match or exceed domestic and global competitors, including OpenAI’s GPT-5 Pro, Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4, DeepSeek’s V3.1 Chat, and xAI’s Grok 4.

Alibaba has also demonstrated the model’s real-world capabilities. In a “real money, real market” cryptocurrency experiment, Qwen3-Max earned a 22.3 percent return on a $10,000 investment over two weeks. By contrast, DeepSeek’s V3.1 Chat returned 4.9 percent, and all US models recorded losses, with OpenAI’s GPT-5 losing 62.7 percent. Analysts say the simulation underscores the model’s ability to integrate reasoning with dynamic decision-making, a critical advantage in AI applications from finance to logistics.

The Qwen3-Max-Thinking model is now available to individual users through Alibaba Cloud’s web-based Qwen chatbot and its application programming interface (API). Lin noted that the model’s deployment will continue to evolve, emphasizing that refinement is ongoing.

“It’s a bit hard to take care of everything,” Lin Junyang, a Qwen team researcher, said. “We need some more time. The job’s not finished.”

The launch comes amid a broader geopolitical context in which Chinese AI firms face restrictions on selling high-performance computing chips abroad, particularly to the US market. Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chips, for example, cannot currently be sold in China due to US export controls, highlighting a persistent technology and trade standoff. Despite such restrictions, Alibaba’s homegrown Qwen models demonstrate the country’s ability to develop competitive AI domestically, mitigating dependence on foreign hardware and software.

Experts say Alibaba’s achievement illustrates a dual trend: China is accelerating development of reasoning-focused AI models to compete globally, and companies are increasingly testing AI in real-world applications rather than only benchmarks. Alibaba’s success in cryptocurrency trading simulations suggests that these models are being designed for decision-making under uncertainty, not just academic problem-solving.

As the competition heats up, there is a growing belief that China’s AI push could reshape the global landscape. The Qwen3-Max-Thinking model is believed to be a testament that China is not only keeping pace with the US in AI reasoning but is beginning to deploy it in practical, high-stakes scenarios. If such models continue to improve, the country is expected to significantly reduce reliance on imported AI systems while fostering its own ecosystem of advanced AI solutions.

The model’s availability to developers and individual users also points to Alibaba’s strategy to broaden the adoption and integration of AI across industries, from cloud computing to finance and enterprise decision-making. With applications ranging from mathematics to trading, Qwen3-Max-Thinking represents a significant step in China’s ambition to establish global leadership in artificial intelligence, even as restrictions on advanced hardware continue to pose challenges.

This launch also pinpoints AI as a key component of national competitiveness now, with implications not just for technology but also for finance, education, and strategic industries worldwide.