ERCOT warns Texas's power demand may quadruple by 2032, driven by AI data centers and population growth, potentially requiring capacity equivalent to 300 new nuclear reactors. Major tech companies are adopting self-supply models with long-term power agreements, while challenges like grid capacity and costs remain.

Southeast Asian tech startups raised $2.8 billion in Q1 2026, a 110% year-on-year increase. Late-stage funding surged, driven by AI investments, while seed funding declined. Singapore dominated the funding landscape, with significant growth in fintech and emerging hubs in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Eastsoft and M2M Tech have formed a partnership to integrate Eastsoft's conversational AI service into M2M Tech's robotics platform, creating advanced AI humanoids for industrial use, first showcased at Nvidia GTC 2026.

Hong Kong's Finance Secretary Paul Chan expects the city to rise to the world's second-largest financial center in 10-15 years, emphasizing its adaptability, tech growth, and strong ties to mainland China while addressing stablecoin regulations.

Nvidia shares increased by over 18% in 10 days, fueled by high demand for AI chips from major tech companies. CEO Huang announced over $1 trillion in GPU orders through 2027, while Nvidia denied acquisition rumors and launched a quantum computing model.

Gate News message, on April 12, a researcher proposed a transaction scheme that enables quantum-resilient protection for Bitcoin without requiring a fork. At present, the quantum computing threat to Bitcoin is still at the theoretical level. Meanwhile, tech companies such as Google and Cloudflare have already begun preparing countermeasures and set a target timeline to complete the migration of quantum cryptography after 2029.

The three major U.S. stock indexes finished mixed, with the Nasdaq up 0.35% to set an eight-session winning streak, while the S&P 500 fell 0.11% and the Dow Jones fell 0.56%. Tech stocks were broadly higher, and the Nasdaq’s gain for the week reached 4.68%. Blockchain-related stocks showed mixed performance.

Trident Digital Tech Holdings and Ripple Strategy Holding have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to launch a blockchain-based tax settlement system in Africa, support cross-border payments, and plan to begin a stablecoin business pilot in 2026.

Trident Digital Tech Holdings has partnered with Ripple Strategy Holding. Ripple will provide stablecoin technology to support Trident’s expansion across Africa. It plans to build a blockchain tax system for 2.1 million small and mid-sized businesses in Ghana, and to set up an RLUSD/GHS liquidity pool to enable low-cost cross-border payments.

April 10, Hong Kong-listed AI application stocks rose strongly, with Xunce rising 11% and Dipu Technology up more than 5.5%. Both the Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose by more than 1%, and multiple stocks including Longfor Group and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation performed strongly.