25 talking points for better conversation at cocktails based on what I found interesting this week.

1. JPN-CHN: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is considering visiting China later this month.

2. US lawmakers unveil bipartisan bid to ban China's TikTok.

3. The semiconductor market exceeded $500bn for the first time in 2021 and is estimated to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030, according to McKinsey.

4. There are at least 81 new chip facilities to be built between 2021 and 2025; 10 will be built in Europe, compared with 14 in the US and 21 in Taiwan

5. IND-CHN: Indian and Chinese soldiers battle in the latest high-altitude clash on the border.

6. G7 in Japan: The next G7 Summit will take place in Hiroshima on May 19-21, 2023.

7. The kanji for "sen," meaning war or battle, was picked as the single most representative Chinese character corresponding to the social mood in Japan this year.

8. For the seventh year in the past decade, Americans name dissatisfaction with the government as the nation's top problem in 2022, according to Gallup.

9. There are now more than 30 private fusion firms globally, according to an October survey by the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) in Washington DC

10. The leather goods market exceeded $400 billion in 2021 and is expected to surpass $720 billion by 2030.

11. More spending happens with AmEx credit cards than with those of any other bank on the planet.

12. Citi is letting staff work from anywhere for the final two weeks of the year as long as they stay in the country of employment.

13. Ford Motor Company has 57,000 US workers who built 1.7 million cars in 2020. That comes to about 30 vehicles per worker, or 67 straight-time labor hours per vehicle.

14. 2023 MotorTrend Truck of the Year: Ford F-150 Lightning

15. Nearly half of Americans between 18 to 29 live with their parents.

16. Vinyl records are one of the music industry's biggest comeback stories: According to the RIAA, mid-year revenues from vinyl albums grew 22% to $570 million in the US.

17. Eddie Murphy will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 80th Golden Globes

18. A pair of Levi's jeans found in a shipwreck from 1857 have just sold for $95k.

19. Freelancing: About 39% of the workforce freelanced in 2022, up from 36% in 2021.

20. Movie pirates: The Motion Picture Association says piracy costs the industry about $71 billion yearly.

21. Miners generally say only 1 in 100 exploratory boreholes turns up anything.

22. Microsoft is buying a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange Group.

23. Chinese brands spend $1.4bn on World Cup ads, sponsorships: Nikkei reports Wanda, Hisense Group pitch the globe as China tops spending for the soccer tourney.

24. Girl's flag football: The Arizona Interscholastic Association's Executive Board voted to establish girl's flag football as the association's newest sanctioned sport.

25. NHL teams are now worth a record $1.03 billion on average — a 19% increase year-over-year.

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc