Motels, Microchips & Modern India — The Diwali Special

Good Morning & Happy Diwali from The Core!

As lights shimmer across India this Diwali, the nation’s story shines just as bright — bold, fast-changing, and full of unexpected turns.

From the Gujarati Patels who quietly built a Billion Dollar Motel empire in the US, to the AI-powered semiconductor boom reshaping global tech, to India’s ongoing battle with vaping bans and black markets — this week, our stories capture the sparks of ambition, innovation, and resilience that define today’s India.

In this Diwali Special Edition:

• The Patel Motel Story: How one community from Gujarat turned a humble start into a Billion Dollar American dream.

• The Semiconductor Gold Rush: Govindraj Ethiraj speaks with IDC’s M. Morales on the AI-driven chip race — and India’s place in it.

• Vaping in the Shadows: Six years after the ban, why the e-cigarette market in India still refuses to fade.

Here’s wishing you a Happy Diwali filled with new ideas, bright opportunities, and just the right kind of fireworks.

WEEKEND EDITION

From Gujarat to Main Street USA: The Rise of the Patel Motel Empire

If you’ve ever taken a road trip across America, chances are your pit stop — that familiar roadside motel — was owned by a Patel.

What began in the 1940s as a survival story for a few Gujarati immigrants has today become a $40 billion legacy. The Patels, tracing their roots to the Patidar community of Gujarat, now own more than 60% of motels in the United States — an astonishing feat for a group that makes up less than 1% of the US population.

This weekend, filmmakers Amar Shah and Rahul Rohatgi join us to share their journey behind “Patel Motel Story,” a film exploring how a community of first-generation immigrants built an empire — one motel at a time.

From Kanji Monshu Desai, the first known Patel motel owner in 1942 California, to the waves of families who followed, this is a story of grit, trust, and unshakeable community. Families lived in their motels, women ran front desks, and “handshake loans” between Patels became a financial backbone before banks would lend to them.

But it’s also a story of reinvention — how second- and third-generation Patels have transformed small family motels into sprawling hotel chains, redefining Indian-American entrepreneurship along the way.

Tune in to the weekend edition with Amar Shah and Rahul Rohatgi, as they unpack the legacy, the business genius, and the deeply human story behind Patel Motel — the $40B empire that quietly reshaped the American hospitality industry.

SPECIAL EDITION

How Semiconductors Are Powering the Next AI Race

There’s an invisible engine powering every ChatGPT query, drone delivery, and self-driving prototype — and it’s not magic, it’s semiconductors.

In this Special Edition of The Core Report, Govindraj Ethiraj speaks to M. Morales, GVP & General Manager, Semiconductors & Enabling Technologies at IDC, to unpack the hidden AI gold rush reshaping the global chip industry.

From OpenAI and Nvidia to AMD and TSMC, the semiconductor world is in overdrive — building the infrastructure that will define the next decade of technology. But beneath the surge lies a deeper story: geopolitics, national strategy, and the fight for digital dominance.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Why 80% of the world’s enterprise data — still sitting idle — could become AI’s next trillion-dollar treasure.

• How hybrid cloud and edge computing are quietly redefining what “intelligent infrastructure” really means.

• How India, tariffs, and geopolitics are redrawing the world’s semiconductor map.

• And why this chip arms race is no longer about tech — it’s about economic survival.

Whether you’re a tech investor, policy watcher, or AI optimist, this conversation offers a front-row seat to the power struggle shaping the digital future.

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THE SIGNAL BRIEF

The Great Indian Vape Mystery: Banned, Yet Booming

India banned e-cigarettes back in 2019 — no manufacture, no import, no sale, no ads. On paper, it was airtight. In reality? Not quite.

Six years later, vapes are everywhere — from Instagram reels to Telegram groups — puffing out clouds of blueberry, mint, and rose. Despite the ban, the market is alive and humming in the shadows.

The government insists vaping is a “gateway” to cigarettes and harder addictions, but for many smokers, it’s the only way they’ve managed to quit tobacco. Caught between policy and public behavior, India’s vaping story is one of contradictions — prohibition versus practicality, health versus habit.

So why are vapes still so easy to buy? Who’s really using them? And is the crackdown helping or hurting public health?

We explore all of that in The Signal Brief — where the smoke hasn’t cleared just yet.

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Where to Invest $100,000 According to Experts

Investors face a dilemma. Headlines everywhere say tariffs and AI hype are distorting public markets.

Now, the S&P is trading at over 30x earnings—a level historically linked to crashes.

And the Fed is lowering rates, potentially adding fuel to the fire.

Bloomberg asked where experts would personally invest $100,000 for their September edition. One surprising answer? Art.

It’s what billionaires like Bezos, Gates, and the Rockefellers have used to diversify for decades.

Why?

• Contemporary art prices have appreciated 11.2% annually on average

• …And with one of the lowest correlations to stocks of any major asset class (Masterworks data, 1995-2024).

• Ultra-high net worth collectors (>$50M) allocated 25% of their portfolios to art on average. (UBS, 2024)

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