Japan Twitter goes viral on X, office chair racing, and Fannie/Freddie pump — timeline reactions
Mar 30, 2026
Key Points
- Japan's X usage exploded to over 50% weekly active penetration after a translation feature made Japanese posts visible on English-language timelines, flooding feeds with cultural commentary that contradicts earlier narratives about Grok's anime capabilities driving adoption.
- The Department of Energy is building a 2,200-exaflop AI supercomputer cluster with NVIDIA and Oracle at Argonne, consuming roughly a quarter gigawatt of power and potentially positioned for privatization as a public company.
- Cisco acquired Restaurant Depot for $29.1 billion, with the 93-year-old founder cashing out after decades building the wholesale food business.
Summary
The Department of Energy is building a new AI supercomputer cluster with NVIDIA and Oracle. The Solstice system will house 100,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, with a sister system called Equinox adding another 10,000 units in 2026. Both will be located at Argonne and deliver a combined 2,200 exaflops of AI performance. The power draw is estimated at roughly a quarter gigawatt, about half the size of Meta's planned campus. The conversation could shift from nationalization to privatization, with the possibility of spinning the system out as a public company.
Cisco, the food distributor, acquired Restaurant Depot for $29.1 billion. The founder, born in 1932, is cashing out at 93 after building the wholesale food business. One frustration flagged is restaurants that source from distributors like Cisco, investing heavily in beautiful spaces only to serve generic food.
Japan is showing outsized engagement with X. Over 50% of Japan's population is now a weekly active user of the platform. A translation feature made Japanese posts suddenly visible across English-language timelines, flooding feeds with Japanese users discussing American culture, barbecue, cowboy aesthetics, and food quirks. One viral post showed a Japanese user marveling at pizza topped with pizza and expressing doubt that Japan could compete with American food innovation.
A viral clip from Japan captured office chair racing as a competitive sport, with athletes navigating technical courses and sharp turns. The hosts joked about importing the sport to the US and San Francisco's hills.
Earlier reporting suggested Grok's anime capabilities drove Japan's adoption of X, but the data suggests Japan simply embraced the platform broadly and uses it as their primary conversation space.