It isn't new. In fact, in Tokyo, Japan, Akihabara "electric town" is both the tech mecca and the anime/manga/otaku mecca. Same for Den-Den in Osaka. In the west, the weeaboo movement has always run alongside tech. I guess nerds/geeks and otakus are of the same kind. It does not mean that all tech guys are weebs and all weebs are into tech, but there is definitely some correlation.

Why? I don't know. Video games may be a common denominator. Also, Japan was really big into tech in the 90s, and they still are to a lesser extent.