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Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In immediately’s e-newsletter:
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Oracle’s $10bn information centre in limbo
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Japan-China row threatens panda diplomacy
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An interview with India’s central financial institution governor
We start with an unique story that Oracle’s largest information centre companion Blue Owl Capital won’t again a $10bn deal for its subsequent facility, because the software program group faces elevated considerations about its rising debt and AI spending.
What we all know: Non-public capital group Blue Owl had been in discussions with lenders and Oracle about investing within the deliberate 1 gigawatt information centre being constructed to serve OpenAI within the US state of Michigan. However the settlement won’t go ahead after negotiations stalled, in response to three individuals acquainted with the matter. The breakdown of funding talks with Blue Owl leaves the financing of the power unsure.
Why it issues: Blue Owl has been the first backer for Oracle’s largest information centre tasks within the US, investing its personal cash and elevating billions extra in debt to construct the services. Larry Ellison’s computing big has offers to provide computing energy from these information centres to AI teams resembling OpenAI. The funding turbulence factors to rising strains in Oracle’s AI infrastructure technique. Here’s why Blue Owl was concerned about the Michigan project.
Right here’s what else we’re protecting tabs on immediately:
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Financial information: New Zealand third-quarter GDP. US inflation information
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Financial coverage: Taiwan’s central financial institution and the European Central Financial institution are each anticipated to maintain charges on maintain immediately. The Financial institution of Japan begins its two-day financial coverage assembly forward of an anticipated fee hike on Friday.
5 extra prime tales
1. Vladimir Putin has stated Russia won’t again down from its mission to “liberate its historic lands” and predicted the European “swine” backing Ukraine would in the end lose energy. The Russian president’s hardline speech underscored his unwillingness to finish the battle on any phrases other than the maximalist goals he set out when he ordered the invasion in 2022.
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US troops in Europe: The US Congress has handed a defence coverage invoice that mandates the Pentagon retain at least 76,000 troops in Europe, in a rebuke of Trump’s threats to reduce commitments to the continent.
2. iRobot’s chief govt has defended the takeover of the US firm by a Chinese language competitor, warning that its earlier management had been “in denial” about deep problems at the Roomba vacuum maker. The corporate helped introduce robotics into the house with its Roomba vacuum cleaner however failed to remain forward Chinese language rivals.
3. Warner Bros Discovery’s board has urged its shareholders to reject Paramount’s $108bn hostile bid for the Hollywood studio, calling its try to gatecrash the deal “inferior” to the phrases agreed with Netflix. In a sharply worded letter to shareholders yesterday, the WBD board called the Paramount offer — its seventh bid since October — “illusory”.
4. Non-public equity-owned medical provide group Medline Industries jumped as a lot as 29 per cent in its market debut yesterday after elevating $6.3bn within the greatest preliminary public providing of 2025. The providing has been carefully watched on Wall Road as a gauge of the health of the $4tn private equity industry and whether or not companies affected by Trump’s tariffs appeal to investor curiosity.
5. US borrowing prices ought to be as a lot as a share level decrease, Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller stated forward of an interview with Trump to be the subsequent chair of the nation’s central financial institution. Waller is the top internal candidate to lead the Fed after Jay Powell’s time period ends in Might.
Information in-depth
Within the aftermath of Sunday’s lethal mass capturing at a Jewish neighborhood occasion at Sydney’s Bondi Seaside, Australian authorities discovered two do-it-yourself Isis flags and explosives in a automobile utilized by the alleged attackers. The flags, explosives and a current journey by the gunmen to the Philippines, the place Islamist militants have lengthy waged an insurgency, raised questions about the level of organisation behind the assault.
We’re additionally studying . . .
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Panda diplomacy: Japan dangers being without a giant panda on its shores for the primary time in additional than half a century amid a diplomatic row with Beijing.
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An investor’s information to 2026: Whereas markets have been buoyant this 12 months, volatility is rarely distant. Katie Martin units out the worried investor’s guide to 2026.
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Inside Zuckerberg’s AI guess: A 12 months of internal disorder, fluctuating priorities and colossal spending at Meta has rattled insiders and traders.
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Janan Ganesh: Liberals have been flawed to imagine business and democracy are supposed to go collectively, our columnist writes.
Chart of the day
India’s central financial institution governor expects the nation’s rates of interest to stay low for a “lengthy interval” because it enjoys a “Goldilocks” part of brisk progress with low inflation. Read the FT’s interview with Sanjay Malhotra.
Take a break from the information . . .
From a reborn Tuscan hamlet and a French island hideaway to a $2,000-per-night tent within the Omani desert, listed here are the hot hotel openings of 2026.
