North Asian currencies – including the Japanese yen, South Korean won, Taiwan dollar and Chinese yuan – are trading at some of their deepest discounts on record, dropping up to 56% below purchasing power parity. These depressed valuations persist despite strong macro fundamentals, backed by massive foreign exchange reserves and their status as top global creditors. However, this valuation gap is beginning to snap back as booming domestic economies, rising retail sales, and increasing inflation prompt central banks in the region to hike interest rates.

What will this shifting macroeconomic environment mean for regional FX and equities? Sean Darby, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities, joins host John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. Darby unpacks his "Burger Heaven" thesis on undervalued currencies and explains why steepening yield curves are setting up long-ignored bank stocks to outperform.

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After decades of lagging behind the US and China in economic growth and innovation, Europe faces a stark reality: the era of cheap Russian energy, low-cost Chinese goods and US-backed security is over. Achieving strategic self-sufficiency will cost an estimated €14 trillion through 2035, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, requiring massive capital deployment across defense, energy, technology and agriculture. Traditional industrial mainstays are also under threat, with Chinese EV makers rapidly capturing market share and endangering an auto sector that employs nearly 14 million people.

Rod Turnbull, EMEA research content manager at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. Turnbull breaks down how Europe can fund this €1.5 trillion annual effort — from unlocking €11 trillion in consumer bank deposits to EU budget shifts. He also highlights key investment opportunities across defense and tech, while weighing whether political friction and national self-interest could derail execution.

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While US tech giants such as Anthropic and OpenAI are monetizing at an unprecedented scale, Chinese developers are struggling to turn their technical progress into revenue growth. Despite narrowing the performance gap with US frontier models to just 5%, they face a domestic market flooded with nearly 1,000 competing large language models. This massive oversupply has triggered a brutal price war, with API tokens trading at roughly an 80% discount compared with US rates.

Can Chinese AI companies ever generate significant returns for investors, and what are the implications for US frontier models? Robert Lea, senior analyst covering China AI at Bloomberg Intelligence, joins John Lee on the Asia Centric podcast. They outline why China's ecosystem prioritizes "progress, not profit," explore stark economic parallels with the heavily subsidized solar and EV sectors, and discuss whether this cutthroat competition will derail the industry's long-term ambitions.

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