Hello from Yifan in California, your #techAsia host this week. I’ve just come back from the Independence Day holiday, which officially kicked off the summer season.
I attended several July 4th and summer parties in Silicon Valley over the past few weeks. While AI is still the hottest topic in town, the approaching US presidential election has also come up at almost every conversation I had or overheard.
While California remains a deep blue state, Silicon Valley has split over Biden and Trump in the past few years, as some in the traditionally liberal tech industry started to lean right following the Covid-19 pandemic and social justice movements such as Black Lives Matters. The shift was led by tech billionaires including Elon Musk, who has spoken out against so-called woke culture.