Asia's tech news: August 3rd snapshot
In this edition: South Korea enters Chip 4 semiconductor alliance; connecting The Philippines' sari-sari stores digitally; Microsoft partners Australia's Telstra telco; crypto adoption in Asia-Pac...
Taiwan's MediaTek partnered by Intel to manufacture chips using Intel Foundry Services, allowing MediaTek build more resilient supply chain with capacity in the US and Europe (link)
China's digital yuan: "...full launch of the currency remains elusive as a population used to mobile payments such as Alipay and WeChatPay sees no reason to abandon their familiar apps." (link)
Japan: An overview of the Deep Tech Valley KANSAI initiative, aiming to build a world-class startup ecosystem with universities, research institutions, business and government agencies (link)
Malaysia: AirAsia Aviation Group AAM unit inks 1-year agreement with UK's Skyports to establish 'vertiport' network for electric vertical takeoff aircraft, including air-taxis (link)
India: Chattybao raises $5M with shopping platform built on WhatsApp, connecting users with local stores helping offline merchants compete with those online (link)
Cambodia: Azaylla gains pre-A funding with platform connecting smallholder farmers and co-operatives with supermarkets, hotels, restaurants and beyond (link)
Japan's startups challenge: "The amount of startup investment in the US last year totaled about $376.1BN, more than 100 times Japan's figure of $3.5BN..." (link)
Philippines: Packworks raises $2M seed funding to scale digital services platform for sari-sari stores, sights now on connecting retailers with financial institutions and brands (link)
Indonesia: Gov't launches blocks on tech firms including PayPal over failure to register and submit to regulations allowing gov't to force removal of online content (link)
South Korea invited to join the US-led Chip 4 semiconductor alliance, joining Japan and Taiwan, with aims to build a shared platform for semiconductor supply chains (link)
China: Xinjiang's woes deepen with introduction of 20 driverless electric patrol vehicles, each fitted with eight 360-degree facial recognition-capable surveillance cameras (link)
China's virtual influencers: "...behind the perfect faces of China's $16BN virtual celebrity industry is an angry, overworked labor force." (link)
Australia: Telstra and Microsoft sign 5-year strategic agreement to support Australia's digital growth, looking at cloud and edge computing and more (link)
Singapore: FOMO Pay partners Ripple to improve on cross-border treasury flows, using XRP-based treasury payments as a bridge between fiat currencies (link)
Indonesia: Big tech folds to regulations permitting gov't to demand user data, removal of content that 'disturbs public order' in four hours, and more (link)
Malaysia's Alpha Startups Digital Accelerator from 1337 Ventures opens cohort 43 for applications, seeking early stage startups for its 6-week virtual program (link)
Bank Indonesia, the country's central bank, announces plans for digital currency for wholesale use, looking at more efficiency in money transfers, and at cross-border transactions (link)
Japan: Gov't to provide $680M to Kioxia Holdings and Western Digital to boost production, in bid to ensure stable supply of advanced chips and semiconductors (link)
An overview of the recent Southeast Asia Startup Assembly in Bangkok which gathered rep's from gov't startup agencies in Thailand, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and India (link)
Asia-Pacific: "...a quarter of all businesses in the region are related to crypto due to fast-growing fintech adoption and the fact that 'considerable interest has also shifted to cryptocurrencies." (link)
India: Skye Air Mobility successfully tests drone delivery of frozen food to Curefoods cloud kitchen startup, covering 20 kms in under 30 minutes (link)
"North Korea joins Russia and Syria in recognizing two Moscow-backed breakaway states in eastern Ukraine...a new foothold for sanctions evasion and cybercrime." (link)
Singapore's Carousell acquire Indonesia's Laku6, an AI-driven electronics recommerce platform, seeing SEA-wide potential in the second-hand electronics space (link)
Philippines: Dart quick-commerce startup to launch 15-minute grocery delivery services, partnering Robinsons Supermarket's 274-outlet chain (link)
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Wider-world tech news with Asia-Pac / Indo-Pac relevance, or simply delivering points of reference in relevant fields. ICYMI also covers news items that may be older, but which remain noteworthy.
Robert Bosch Venture Capital to launch $250M startup fund, looking at global tech startups with potential to improve quality of life and conserve resources (link)
Unstoppable Domains blockchain-based naming system and ID platform raised $65M Series A at a valuation of $1BN (link)
Apple Pay Later and big tech 'buy now, pay later' lending moves raise antitrust, privacy and indebtedness concerns with US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (link)
Kraken cryptocurrency exchange reportedly under investigation for allegedly allowing users in Iran and elsewhere to trade crypto in breach of US sanctions (link)
Seedstars launches Seedstars International Ventures II, its second emerging market seed-stage fund, aiming to back 100 startups with a final corpus of $30M (link)
"We're seeing gov'ts become more aggressive in how they try to use legal tactics to unmask the people using our service, collect information about account owners and also using legal demands as a way to try and silence people." (link)
Social media and society: "...found that randomly assigning participants to deactivate Facebook for the four weeks before the 2018 U.S. midterm elections reduced polarization." (link)
VC's silent crash: "Klarna...sent shockwaves through the market for private fintech companies...when it raised at a $5.7bn valuation — 87% less than...backers judged it was worth a year ago." (link)
Asia's tech news headlines
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