SoftBank is selling its entire stake in Nvidia — but not for the reasons you might think.

In its earnings statement released Tuesday, the Japanese group said that it had sold 32.1 million Nvidia shares in October for $5.83 billion.

At first blush, this could be read as a sign that Nvidia’s high valuations are causing SoftBank some unease. And if SoftBank — which infamously pumped $18.5 billion into WeWork only to value it at $2.9 billion eventually — is tamping down on its usual optimism regarding its investments, then retail traders should probably pay attention.

Adding to such worries are comments by Michael Burry — who bet against subprime mortgages before they caused a whole financial crisis in 2008 — on major artificial intelligence companies.

Burry wrote Monday in a post on X that those firms are “understating depreciation” of AI chips, which “artificially boosts earnings — one of the more common frauds of the modern era.”  CNBC could not independently confirm that companies were practicing this.

This doesn’t seem to be SoftBank’s concern, however. A person familiar with the group’s sale told CNBC that it had nothing to do with AI valuations. On the contrary, cash from offloading Nvidia chips will be redirected to SoftBank’s $22.5 billion investment in OpenAI, the person said.

Burry said in his post that he will reveal “more details” on Nov. 25, and exhorted readers to “stay tuned.” That might not be enough enticement for SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.

— CNBC’s Yun Li, April Roach and Dylan Butts contributed to this report.

Despite rising trade tensions, Singapore still wants to push ahead with a “multilateral, rules-based trading system,” and sees further cooperation between ASEAN and the European Union.

This was according to Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who spoke at the Singapore Fintech Festival on Wednesday.

Gan, who is also Singapore’s minister for trade and industry, said in a fireside chat with DBS CEO Tan Su Shan that “if we are able to bring both EU and ASEAN together to discuss a digital economic agreement between EU and ASEAN, I think there will be a major breakthrough.”

He also added, “EU will not be part of ASEAN. ASEAN will not be part of EU, but it doesn’t stop [the] EU and ASEAN [to] come together to discuss areas that we can work together.”

Gan did say however, that this will take time, and the two sides will first discuss a digital economic collaboration, “how we can set out basic rules, and then consider next steps.”

Southeast Asia’s digital economy stands at over $300 billion in 2025 in gross merchandise value, according to the 2025 Google e-Conomy SEA report.

He said he hoped that ASEAN will have a digital economy agreement with the EU, as well as for the Southeast Asian bloc to work with the Gulf Cooperation Council and the CPTPP to find ways to facilitate trade investment.

The CPTPP refers to the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership that was formed after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership in his first term.

“So I think there are a lot of opportunities still, despite the headwinds and the uncertainties we are seeing.”

Separately, Gan also said that Singapore would like to work with partners to think about how the World Trade Organisation can be transformed.

“WTO is still [an] important foundation for this rules-based trading system,” he said.

“We will need to transform because the current design architecture of WTO may no longer be workable, and it’s important for us to come together to discuss what is the way forward, what are the areas that require transformation,” Gan added.

Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, said Wednesday that its third-quarter profit jumped 17% from a year earlier, driven by growth in its artificial intelligence server business.

Here’s how Foxconn did in the September quarter compared with LSEG SmartEstimates, which are weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate:

• Revenue: $2.06 trillion New Taiwan dollars ($66.29 billion) vs. NT$2.06 trillion expected
• Net profit: NT$57.67 billion vs. NT$50.41 billion

Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is best known as the world’s largest manufacturer of Apple‘s iPhones, but has been shifting into other business avenues, including AI. The firm manufactures server racks designed for AI workloads and has become a key partner to American AI chip darling Nvidia.

The company said it expects operations in the second half of the year — the traditional peak season — to maintain continuous quarterly growth, citing stronger AI server shipments and rising demand for information and communications technology products.

However, Foxconn cautioned that global political and economic uncertainty, along with exchange rate fluctuations, will require continued close monitoring.

Foxconn reported that its ‘Cloud and Networking’ segment saw strong year-on-year growth, supported by demand for AI server racks.

Foxconn’s server manufacturing business is currently in a strong growth phase, underpinned by robust demand, Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.

The company is leveraging its dominance in contract manufacturing to secure both current and future orders, Lam said, describing it as a clear case of “follow the cash” strategy that involves sacrificing some consumer electronics orders.

He added that Foxconn’s pivot toward high-growth server manufacturing “is clearly paying off,” even as it trades parts of its consumer electronics footprint for longer-term momentum.

While component price volatility, currency swings, and logistics challenges can pressure margins, Lam said he expects Foxconn’s fourth-quarter results to “remain favorable.”

The electronics contract manufacturer also said it is partnering with Nvidia, Stellantis and Uber to build so-called “Level 4” autonomous vehicles, which doesn’t require a safety driver to be present.

Recently, Foxconn signed a memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi Electric on Nov. 6 to jointly supply energy-efficient AI data center solutions globally. Besides AI data centers, Foxconn and Mitsubishi Electric plan to explore additional new business models and solutions using their combined technological and knowledge capabilities.