Building Blocks is a podcast by Granite Asia that deconstructs how innovation transforms industries, society, and the systems we live in. Each season dives into a timely theme, bringing together industry leaders, innovators, and policymakers to discuss how technology can drive progress.
What It Took to Build a $1.5B Company with CEO of Meshy, Ethan Hu
During his PhD at MIT, Ethan Hu built Taichi, a programming language for physics simulation. It was popular on GitHub, but made no money. His next product, a renderer for industrial designers, failed too. The third was Meshy, which turns photos and text into 3D models and recently passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. This is the third episode of Building Blocks Season 2. In this episode of Building Blocks, a podcast from Granite Asia, Ethan talks to Rita about: Why his first 2 pro...
4 Nov 2026
How AI Is Changing Entertainment | Kuku COO Vinod Kumar Meena on the Future of Entertainment
Why would the future of Netflix-style entertainment be made in India? Kuku's Co-founder and COO, Vinod Kumar Meena, explains how AI is shrinking production cycles, why he thinks millions of Indian creators will make professional content for audiences around the world, and how three co-founders from small villages in Rajasthan built one of India’s largest entertainment platforms. A Hindi-first writer who had never been near figure skating wrote a micro drama about it that did well in the US, ...
28 Oct 2026
From Cars to Robots: Inside XPENG’s Bet on Physical AI
IRON walked across a stage, and people thought there was a human inside. XPENG’s CEO, He Xiaopeng, eventually cut open the robot’s leg in front of the media to show what was underneath. But how did a carmaker come to build a humanoid robot in the first place? In our very first episode of season 2 of Building Blocks, Chuen Hong Lew, Venture Partner at Granite Asia, sits down with Brain Gu, President of XPENG, to get into why the company put intelligence ahead of electrification, how its chips,...
9 Dec 2025
How AI Is Rebuilding the Chemistry Lab
For decades, chemistry labs have looked almost exactly the same — manual, slow, and heavily dependent on human trial and error. While biology rapidly automated, chemistry quietly fell behind. In this episode of Building Blocks: Living Machines, we go inside one of the world’s first fully AI-powered chemistry labs with Sean Lin, Founder & CEO of ChemLex, a next-generation contract research organisation reimagining how molecules are discovered. Joined by Jenny Lee, Senior Managing Partner a...
25 Nov 2025
Inside the Innovation Engine of the World’s Best Airport
What makes the world’s best airport tick? Beyond the architecture, shopping, and gardens lies a hidden engine — a living system of automation, robotics, and human ingenuity working in perfect sync. In this episode of Building Blocks: Living Machines, we go inside the future of Changi Airport with Li San Poh, Senior Vice President of Terminal 5 Planning at Changi Airport Group, and Jixun Foo, Senior Managing Partner at Granite Asia. From her unconventional journey as a helicopter pilot to lea...
4 Nov 2025
Inside the World’s Most Automated Port — and those Who Keep It Human
How do you automate one of the world’s busiest ports — without losing the human touch? In this episode of Building Blocks: Living Machines, host Rita Yang visits PSA International, a leading global port operator and trusted supply chain partner. She’s joined by Ong Kim Pong, Group CEO of PSA, and Jixun Foo, Senior Managing Partner at Granite Asia and PSA board member, to reveal how PSA's flagship terminal in Singapore - including Tuas Port, the world’s largest fully automated terminal - is bu...
21 Oct 2025
Inside the Mind Behind Singapore’s Smartest Robots
Can a robot save lives — or learn from a spider? In this episode of Building Blocks – Living Machines, host Rita Yang sits down with Prof. Mohan Rajesh Elara, Provost Chair Professor at SUTD and Co-founder of LionsBot, Singapore’s home-grown robotics company. From a dragonfly robot that traps dengue-carrying mosquitoes to a spider-inspired machine that crawls, rolls, and climbs walls, Prof. Mohan shows how nature is quietly shaping the next generation of automation. Together, they discus...
3 Oct 2025
Living Machines: Robots Beneath the Waves
Shipping keeps the world moving — but it also contributes nearly 3% of global carbon emissions. The surprising culprit? Biofouling: the buildup on ship hulls that drives fuel use up by as much as 40%. In this episode of Building Blocks: Living Machines, host Rita Yang speaks with Elizabeth Chan, CEO of Neptune Robotics, and Jixun Foo, Senior Managing Partner at Granite Asia, about how robotics is rewriting the rules of maritime efficiency. You’ll hear how Neptune: Built robots that clean en...
16 Sept 2025
Living Machines: Robot Built to Love
Forget robots that vacuum your floor or fetch you coffee. What if the next big machine in your life was built just to love you? In our very first episode of Building Blocks: Living Machines, host Rita Yang sits down with Kaname Hayashi, the creator of LOVOT — a wide-eyed, huggable robot designed to melt hearts. Think warm body, expressive gaze, playful coos… and zero productivity. Also joining is Jenny Lee, Senior Managing Partner at Granite Asia, who has spent two decades betting on the futu...
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