Exclusive | Chinese tech start-ups are tapping into Southeast Asia amid tough relations with US in trade war, NYSE executive says
- ‘Southeast Asia is one of those areas where it has been explored before, but now there is that new focus,’ says Betty Liu, executive vice-chairwoman at NYSE
- A shift would challenge US markets to draw more companies from China, which has become a growth engine
Chinese technology start-ups are pivoting to Southeast Asia and away from the United States in their expansion plans, in a clear bid to avoid getting in the midst of a trade war that could intensify.
In a recent trip to Asia, Betty Liu, an executive at the New York Stock Exchange, said she saw entrepreneurship continued to be “rocking” there. But the businesses are also increasingly looking at growth in Southeast Asia.
“Southeast Asia is one of those areas where it has been explored before, but now there is that new focus,” said Liu, executive vice-chairwoman of the exchange, to the South China Morning Post.
In Chinese entrepreneurs’ minds, she said, “it’s tough with the United States right now, so they're looking at the Southeast Asian markets as another area that can help them diversify beyond perhaps focusing only on the US or focusing only on Europe and other more developed markets.”
That shift could constitute a challenge for US markets to draw more listings from China-based companies, a growth engine for the exchange, in coming years should trade tensions continue.