Zarif Faiaz

Peter Chang, General Manager, Asia Pacific, Consumer Business at Asus, speaks to The Daily Star about the company’s latest AI PC lineup, Bangladesh’s growth potential, component price pressures, and why he believes AI PCs are more than a marketing trend.

In a fast-moving policy landscape, delay is often punished. By the time a state realises a law is unworkable, or that a regulatory approach has fallen behind, the world may have already moved on.

Data has become the raw material of modern power. It fuels artificial intelligence, guides advertising, shapes credit decisions, and underpins everything from ride hailing to national identity systems.

On a March day in 1602, the Dutch Republic tried to solve a problem of commerce with a piece of statecraft. Rival merchant groups were bidding up the cost of spices in Asia, squeezing profits at home, while the war for independence from Spain made overseas trade inseparable from national security.

For decades, the promise of work was a simple bargain. Pick a lane, get qualified, climb steadily, and retire with something like security. That story is fraying fast.

Being the last person to leave the office was a badge of honour in the old world

The idea of taking a break from work may feel radical. Yet strategic pauses, whether they are micro-breaks during the workday or complete disconnection on holiday, are increasingly recognised not as indulgences, but as essential investments in productivity, creativity, and well-being.

An alarming trend has emerged across nations of the Global South, where increasing state surveillance and draconian legislation are systematically eroding democratic values.