☕️ No AI? No data centre for you

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

USD717 bil (RM2.8 tril) – That’s Amazon’s total sales for its 2025 fiscal year. With this, Amazon has dethroned Walmart as the biggest global company by revenue, after Walmart reported sales of USD713.2 bil for the 12 months ended Jan 31, 2026. Walmart had held the title for over a decade before being dethroned. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reportedly studied Walmart founder Sam Walton, embracing many of his business strategies while building Amazon. As a result, Amazon’s revenue increased at nearly 10 times the pace of Walmart’s over the past decade. That said, Amazon’s revenue is boosted by its Amazon Web Services (AWS). Stripping that away, its retail business would be USD588 bil - still smaller than Walmart.

USD122 bil (RM475.56 bil) – The UK bought that much in US Treasuries between Nov 2024 and Nov 2025, making it the largest buyer of US debt for the period. Belgium and Japan followed, with the former buying USD119.7 bil and the latter USD115.5 bil. Collectively, they accounted for about 45% of the USD786 bil in total US debt purchases. However, it should be noted that financial centres like the UK and Belgium also hold Treasuries on behalf of other parties. On the selling side, China tops the list, having shed USD86 bil worth of US Treasuries in the same period, followed by Brazil and India at USD60.8 bil and USD47.5 bil respectively. The latter two are reportedly drawing on dollar reserves to stabilise their currencies.

USD160 mil (RM623.6 mil) – That is how much the US has paid to the UN as a partial payment for its past dues for the UN regular budget. However, this is less than 4% of the more than USD4 bil the US owes. The US is the largest contributor to the UN budget, but has refused to make mandatory payments to regular and peacekeeping budgets, while slashing voluntary funding to UN agencies that have their own budgets. These actions were taken under the Trump administration. The USD160 mil payment followed a statement by Trump that the US would give the UN money to “strengthen it”, after concerns were raised that Trump’s Board of Peace could undermine the UN.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

DAP pushes for royal inquiry into alleged “corporate mafia”
DAP will push for a royal commission of inquiry at the upcoming Cabinet meeting to investigate alleged “corporate mafia” activities involving takeovers of Bursa Malaysia-listed companies. The proposal goes beyond the current special task force set up to examine MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki’s shareholding controversy, on the grounds that the wider allegations involve the MACC as an institution. The claims, highlighted in a Bloomberg article titled Who’s Watching Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Watchdog, alleged that company executives and shareholders were pressured through intimidation to resign or sell shares at heavily discounted prices to a group of connected businessmen. Azam has denied the allegations. A royal commission, formed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for matters of public interest, has the authority to summon witnesses and compel the production of documents. The issue has been raised previously, including in Parliament, and DAP maintains that Azam should be replaced by a new appointee free from controversy.

Police risk dismissal for refusing public reports
Police officers who refuse to accept reports from the public, regardless of how a complainant is dressed, can face dismissal under the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993. Failure to comply with issued orders, including rejecting a police report, is treated as a serious offence and monitored through district and state police headquarters as well as internal audits. Dress codes at police stations may be waived in emergencies or cases requiring immediate attention, including criminal matters, road accidents, safety threats and trauma-related cases such as rape or theft. The directive was relayed to all district and state police headquarters in December last year for immediate nationwide enforcement. Under Public Administration Circular (PKPA) 1/2025, ministries and agencies are allowed to determine dress codes at their offices. The police received about 4 mil reports last year - now we are curious what’s the statistics for those rejected over reasonably agreeable, ridiculous reasons.

No AI? No data centre for you
Malaysia has restricted new data centre investments that are not linked to AI due to concerns over high electricity and water consumption. For the past one and a half to two years, approvals have focused on AI-related, high-technology projects, while applications for conventional data centres taking advantage of lower utility costs have been halted. Current electricity and water supply remains sufficient to support existing operations and approved projects, with capacity projected to be adequate for the next one to two years.

Longer-term plans include regional energy connectivity under the Asean Power Grid, including transmission links from Vietnam to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, as well as hydropower from Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. In the US, data centres account for about 4.4% of total electricity consumption, with cooling requiring millions of litres of water. A proposed Artificial Intelligence Governance Bill is still being drafted and is set to cover ethics, accountability, risk management, investor certainty, and copyright issues.

A tour inside a data centre:

Oriental Kopi ramps up expansion and brand growth
Oriental Kopi Holdings Bhd is stepping up its expansion plans, looking to grow its café footprint locally, tap selected overseas markets and widen its packaged food range, while also working with overseas distributors to push its brand abroad. In Jan 2026, the group rolled out its “Truly Malaysian Taste” campaign with Tourism Malaysia, with products such as white coffee, kaya and sambal featured in joint promotions. For the first quarter ended Dec 31, 2025, net profit rose 30.2% to RM17.05 mil from RM13.1 mil a year earlier, as revenue jumped 42.3% to RM139.2 mil from RM97.8 mil. Earnings per share edged up to 0.85 sen from 0.83 sen. The growth was driven by stronger café sales and higher packaged food volumes. The company’s market cap stands at RM2.68 bil. More details on Oriental Kopi’s 1Q2026 financial results can be found here.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Politicking in the Middle East

Trump's Iran airstrikes will depend on his envoy’s advice
Will the US strike Iran? Seems like it depends on the judgment of Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (aka Trump’s son-in-law), about whether Tehran is stalling over a deal to relinquish its capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The envoys are currently in talks with Tehran. Trump said that if no deal is reached, he is considering limited strikes to pressure Iran and, failing that, a far larger attack to force regime change. Trump’s advisers seem to have concerns over a successful attack, including concerns of a low stockpile of anti-missile systems after using 30 Patriot missiles to intercept Iranian counterattacks last year — the largest single use of those missiles in US history. Iran has vowed this time to retaliate as hard as possible in response to any US attack, with its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning that Tehran could sink a US warship.

Iraq triggers old wounds in Kuwait; Gulf states rally behind Kuwait
The Gulf countries of Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pledged support for Kuwait’s sovereignty, after the government of Iraq submitted new maritime coordinates and an updated map to the United Nations. The filing asserted claims over maritime zones and fixed maritime features that include Fasht al-Qaid and Fasht al-Aij of Kuwait. However, it emphasised that these areas are not disputed and remain under Kuwait’s complete sovereign authority. Oman reminded Iraq to take into consideration its historical and fraternal relations with the State of Kuwait, while Qatar said that Iraq’s submission infringes upon Kuwait’s sovereignty, urging adherence to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Historically, the 216km border between Iraq and Kuwait was demarcated by the UN in 1993 after Iraq invaded Kuwait, but it did not cover the length of their maritime boundaries. A maritime border agreement between the two nations was reached in 2012 and ratified by each of their legislative bodies in 2013. View both countries on the map here.

Business

Manulife sells USD300 mil life insurance policy in Singapore
Manulife Financial Corp has sold a record USD300 mil (RM1.17 bil) life insurance policy in Singapore, topping the Guinness World Records and certified as the most valuable policy ever issued. The policy surpasses the previous record of USD250 mil set by HSBC Life in Hong Kong in 2024. Manulife said in a statement that the deal reflects growing demand from ultra-wealthy clients to preserve their assets. Worth noting, Singapore is home to 55 billionaires with a staggering combined wealth of about USD 259 bil. In Singapore over the past 12 months, Manulife has issued 25 individual policies each worth more than USD50 mil.

Pfizer secures China rights to obesity drug in USD495 mil deal
American drugmaker Pfizer has struck a USD495 mil deal (RM1.93 bil) with Chinese local startup Hangzhou Sciwind Bioscience Co for ecnoglutide, a drug recently approved in China for diabetes and currently under regulatory review for obesity. The move is part of Pfizer’s strategy to streamline its international business by launching drugs only in markets where those medicines would provide significant benefit to patients. Sciwind’s drug works similarly to Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic by mimicking the effects of a natural hormone called GLP-1 that regulates blood sugar and appetite. Obesity affects 14.1% of Chinese adults and has been prioritised under the government’s Healthy China campaign. Read the Lancet’s article on efficacy and safety of ecnoglutide here.

Shorts

1. Authorities probing death of 72 tigers in Thai tourist park
   Seventy-two tigers died in the span of less than two weeks across two facilities of Tiger Kingdom Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, believed to be due to a canine distemper virus. However, authorities have not confirmed how the outbreak happened. Canine distemper virus is a highly contagious disease that attacks the host's respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems. While it is typically found among dogs, it can also infect big cats. Animal rights groups say that this case highlights the poor living conditions of captive tigers used for entertainment in Thailand, and exposes the extreme vulnerability of captive wildlife facilities to infectious disease. Poor tigers - endangered in the wild, but exploited in captivity.

2. BTS comeback show sells out immediately
   Brace yourself, ARMY — the tickets for BTS’s comeback concert in central Seoul vanished almost immediately after it went on sale, with authorities expecting an estimated 260,000 fans to descend for the K-pop group’s first full performance in nearly four years. Sales websites were flooded, causing screens to crash and booking systems to freeze, while authorities battled with scammers and scalpers. The one-hour concert, which will launch BTS's new album, Arirang, which will precede their 82-date world tour, will be broadcast live on Netflix to 190 countries. Better have a strategy to purchase the world tour tix.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Big business, small business

1. The history of one of Malaysia’s richest men, the late Ananda Krishnan - the man behind Maxis, Astro, and also Petronas Twin Towers.

2. The niche business of selling ‘high-end’ ice blocks and cubes, generating USD2.7 mil (RM10.5 mil) a year