Tech Talk

Mag 7 Earnings, OpenAI v Anthropic, & Manus’ China Drama

Tech Talk

Show Notes

Big Tech is printing cash, but the "Mag 7" earnings reveal a stark divide in investor reactions to the AI Capex race. On the Big AI front, OpenAI has officially broken its exclusivity with Microsoft but is beginning to show signs of a user-acquisition stumble, just as Anthropic nears a staggering $900 billion valuation. Meanwhile, a geopolitical earthquake has hit the private markets: China has ordered Meta to unwind its $2 billion Manis acquisition, a deal that is legally and logistically "more than done".

Kevin Brockland of Indelible Ventures joins Tech Talk to discuss the market's winners and losers. We unpack why Alphabet is the "sleeper" winner of the AI race, the regulatory shift in Beijing that just killed the "Singapore-washing" exit strategy for Chinese founders, and which companies will be left standing when the AI bubble finally pops.

Tune In To Find Out: The ROI Pressure Cooker: Why current AI spending mirrors the fiber optic bubble of the late 90s, and who survives if the bubble pops.

The Manus Shock: Inside the $2 billion unwinding ordered by Beijing for Meta to undo an acquisition, creating a legal and logistical nightmare for relocated staff.

OpenAI’s Performance Gap: Why internal concerns are mounting as the company misses acquisition targets while Microsoft relinquishes exclusivity.

The Claude Surge: Why users are ditching OpenAI for Anthropic, and the looming commoditisation of foundational models.

Alphabet’s Distribution Edge: Why Google Workspace and talent density make Alphabet the most dominant long-term player.

Tech Talk is brought to you by Maxis Business. Building Tomorrow's Business Today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More from Tech Talk

Oct 22, 2026

A recent White House Executive Order declared that Artificial Intelligence is now Super Intelligence. But is it? Matt and Kishan try and unpick the many vines that sprout from a single simple question: What is artificial intelligence? And examine the hypothetical possibilities of artificial general and super intelligences. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 21, 2026

In July, an OpenAI agent broke out of its test environment and into the systems of Hugging Face, the AI platform. Since then, there have been more reports of AI agents going rogue in the US. Is China having the same experience? Bloomberg Intelligence counts nearly 1,000 large language models there, and companies are putting big money into AI agents. We discuss: Where China really stands: What AI development in China looks like right now, and why the argument that if the US doesn’t build it first, China will, is more marketing spin than reality.

Oct 15, 2026

Malaysians lost RM2.97 billion to scams in 2025, and much of that money moved through mule accounts. The National Fraud Portal now links Bank Negara, PayNet, and the banks to trace stolen funds faster, but the money still moves quickly. We get into: How mule networks work: Who owns these accounts, where the money goes after a victim sends it, the signals that give an account away, and how scammers are using AI.

Oct 9, 2026

We’re taking a trip to the weird side today as we explore the power of failure. Matt and Kishan discuss a failed experiment which is leading to new insights about the evolution of our brains, as well as opening pathways to treat conditions like ALS. Kishan’s lizard brain is put under the microscope as they talk about a brain implant that could help patients with motor and speech paralysis to communicate more naturally and fluently. And a bioresorbable battery with potential to broaden the field of electroceutical medicine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oct 8, 2026

Malaysia is about to get an AI Governance Bill, with its own regulator to enforce it. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Digital's Personal Data Protection Department just started a two-week public consultation on AI and personal data protection. It looks like we will soon have two pieces of AI regulation. We discuss: Where things stand: How the AI Governance Bill might overlap with the PDPA, whether it applies to government use of AI as well as businesses, and if the national AI office, AI Malaysia Berhad, should remain a company once the Bill passes.

See all episodes →