The global technology sector is witnessing an accelerating strategic shift, as Asian tech hubs face growing structural and regulatory obstacles in their ambitions to compete with Silicon Valley. This has driven a new wave of AI startup founders in Asia to move their businesses and headquarters to the United States, captivated by the vastness of the American market and easy access to venture capital.

As compiled by Fortune magazine, financial data reveals a deep gap in the global funding landscape. According to a KPMG report, the United States attracted approximately 68% of global startup funding in 2025, while Asia's share did not exceed 12% during the same period. This gap widened sharply in the first quarter of 2026, with the US capturing 80% of global funding thanks to massive financing rounds by leading companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, while Asia's share fell to 9.6%.

The investment environment in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, is suffering from a prolonged downturn. Venture capital funding for tech companies in the region dropped by nearly 80% between 2022 and 2024, falling from $10.1 billion to just $2.2 billion. This now represents between 0.5% and 2% of global investment, with most remaining Asian investments concentrated in India and China.

This migration is driven by push factors in Asian markets and pull factors in the US. On one hand, Asian markets lack profitable exit opportunities for investors via initial public offerings (IPOs). Although IPOs in Southeast Asia jumped 76% in 2025 and raised $6.5 billion, according to Deloitte, they remain modest compared to the proceeds from IPOs in Hong Kong, China, which reached $37 billion.

Moreover, newly listed companies have seen their shares fall below the offering price, such as flexible office space company JustCo in Singapore, and Foundation Healthcare, whose shares closed down 7.9% on its first day on the Singapore Exchange.

The geographical and political nature of Southeast Asia poses an additional barrier. It represents highly fragmented and diverse markets requiring different entry strategies for each country, unlike the unified and massive US market. In China and India, entrepreneurs face strict restrictions on stock market listings, low valuations, and geopolitical complexities.

In contrast, Silicon Valley offers an attractive environment with vibrant entrepreneurial communities and abundant passionate talent. Despite this appeal, moving to the US is not without challenges, especially after Trump raised fees for H-1B skilled worker visas from $5,000 to $100,000 last September (before a federal court later blocked the increase), extending visa waiting periods for years.

The US market also imposes a cultural shift, as Asian investors focus on revenue growth and early profitability, whereas American investors emphasize future vision and the scale of the problem to be solved.

Global venture capital firm Antler, which has helped more than 30 Asian teams move to the US since 2025, notes that Asia has a competitive advantage in infrastructure and low-cost energy sectors, such as thermal energy storage technology in Vietnam, which is more viable and economical than manufacturing it in the US.

Despite hopes that Asian tech ecosystems will mature in the future to distribute capital more evenly, building global tech companies and raising funding from Asia remains a tough challenge in the short term against the dominance of San Francisco.