China's road to world technology domination begins in South-east Asia

Singapore

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 is when Mr Ho understood how the South-east Asian tech scene was about to change.

"It was the moment that I understood the…