China's road to world tech domination begins in Southeast Asia

(June 1): Isaac Ho and several investors were watching a pitch from a cancer-detection startup in Singapore when one of the Chinese billionaires present got up and  – without a word – scrawled “Speed x Market Share” in Chinese characters on a whiteboard. It was a simple formula that meant: be first and be largest, no matter the cost. But that’s when Ho understood how the Southeast Asian tech scene was about to change.

“It was the moment that I understood the Chinese strategy,” said the founder of Venturecraft Group who’s known in local medtech circles for whiskey-fueled networking parties. “If you are not the No. 1, you will become obsolete; if you are the No. 1, you can buy the newer technology. It’s a winner-takes-it-all game.’’

Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Didi Chuxing became titans of industry through a land grab whose velocity and scale took many by surprise: the first two now rank among the world’s 10 largest corporations. Five-year-old Didi out-gunned Uber Technologies Inc. in part through a willingness to spend untold amounts of cash. Now, seeking growth as their home market slows and saturates, the country’s tech overlords are shifting their gaze toward the rest of the planet. First stop, Southeast Asia: a region with twice the population of the U.S. and the largest Chinese diaspora in the world.

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