Asia's tech news, weekly: April 9th 2024

Indo-Pacific Climate Tech, Korea-Japan sat-nav, Thailand joins China moon bid, Australia & quantum, India-Japan semicon wafers, Indonesia's $200M AI research...

• South Korea and Japan to collaborate on development and operation of satellite navigation systems in East Asia, looking to better enable the two systems to coexist and interoperate

• Singapore: Monetary Authority launches COSMIC platform to facilitate sharing of customer info among financial institutions to combat money laundering, terror financing and proliferation financing

• Australia-India Cyber & Critical Technology Partnership Grant Round 4 applications are open - deadline is May 24th

• Japan: Gov't approves $3.9BN in new subsidies to home-grown chips firm, Rapidus, stepping up the country's moves into semiconductor manufacturing

---

"The Chinese government plans to tap all the policy resources available to create a made-in-China electric vehicle supply chain, pressing three state-owned automakers to spend more on R&D."

---

• Japan: Tokyo Uni of Science and DENSO Corp researchers make breakthrough in solid-state Li-ion batteries with non-flammable units capable of high- and low-temperature operation

• Indo-Pacific Climate Tech 100 applications close April 26th, aiming to connect climate tech startups with global investors for June meetings and presentations in Singapore

• Thailand joins China-led International Lunar Research Station project, joining Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa and Egypt

• Japan: An intro to the firms selected for cohort 1 of the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo program for late-stage scale-ups, an initiative from Startup Genome and Tokyo Metro Gov't

---

Video: 'Australia's Place in the Global Quantum Economy'

---

• Singapore: Ailytics secures $2.7M pre-A with AI-driven video analytics to help heavy industry lift operational safety and productivity, using a company's existing cameras

• Japan looks at producing hydrogen primarily using waste heat from next-gen nuclear reactor, with field tests likely for 2028

• India's Polymatech Electronics inks MoU with Japan's Orbray to expand semiconductor wafer production and expertise

• Vietnam: Alternō secures over $1.5M with thermal energy storage using 'sand battery' tech focusing on agricultural applications

---

South Korea, AI & elections: "To counter misinformation and uphold democratic fairness, the National Assembly has prohibited AI-generated deepfake content in political campaigning within 90 days of an election..."

---

• Malaysia Venture Capital Roadmap 2024-2030 report is now available, aiming to double the total funding value of venture capital in Malaysia's still-nascent VC industry by 2030

• Japan: Ispace and Takasago Thermal Engineering partner to produce H2 using solar panel energy during space mission later this year

• Malaysia's MOVE Digital, Capital A's digital arm, partners China's Ant International for wide-ranging integration of Ant fintech and payments technologies

• Australia: First Australians Capital gains $500K grant to provide seed funding for Indigenous Australian-led startups

• Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation to introduce Malaysia Digital tax incentives in May, alongside expediting 'foreign knowledge worker' applications and national e-invoicing initiative

• Hong Kong: EnerVenue looks to space for energy storage for use on Earth with nickel-hydrogen batteries, fireproof and capable of wider temperature operation than Lithium-Ion

• The factors underpinning Taiwan chip-maker moves into Japan, creating production bases in a strategy that dovetails with Japan’s bid for a semicon industry revival

• Japan: Hokkoku regional bank launches stablecoin backed by bank deposits, available via its Tochituka app, enabling local transactions and with sights on person-to-person payments

---

Gen-AI & the Future of Work: "...women and college-educated individuals more exposed but also better poised to reap AI benefits, and older workers potentially less able to adapt..."

---

• People's Bank of China to establish 're-lending' program of near $70BN to boost innovation and project upgrades in the science and tech sectors, available to SMEs via 21 banks

• South Korea's Quantum Intelligence Corp partners Classiq quantum computing software firm to speed drug development using quantum computing in pharmacology

• Indonesia: NVIDIA and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison telco to partner for $200M Artificial Intelligence centre-of-excellence

• Australia's Vow alt-meat firm gains Singapore approval for sale of quail-derived cultured meat products, making it just the 4th company approved globally to sell cultivated meat products

---

"With more and more parents giving their children access to smartphones earlier in their lives a common troubling thread seems to be arising that is affecting the way children are growing up..."

---

• China: Nio EV maker rolls out its first mass-produced 150kwh semi-solid battery pack, claiming a top range of 1055km and aiming for battery-swap integration later in the year

• Japan's Toyota reportedly to use 'smart drive' tech developed with China's Huawei and Momenta for global EV models

• Singapore's Transcelestial raised $10M with wireless laser communications, aiming to boost internet infrastructure in SE Asia and India with an alternative to subsea cabling

• Google to sue 2 app developers who allegedly uploaded 87 Play Store apps to enable crypto-based romance fraud, tracing activities back to 2019

Malaysia VC Roadmap 2024-2030

• South Korea faces challenge in balancing US and China relations in supply of semiconductor-related technologies and equipment

• North Korea: Ministry of Information Industry mobile carrier, Kangsong, rolls out 4G service, reportedly built using second-hand Huawei equipment

• Japan: Astroscale space junk removal firm potentially targeting Tokyo listing in June, with the domestic space sector projected to hit $53BN in value by early next decade

• India: Agnikul Cosmos space firm postponed maiden launch of Agnibaan rocket for the second time, delaying Indian test of semi-cryonic engine

---

Text-to-image AI models can be tricked into generating disturbing imagery: "Our work basically shows that these existing guardrails are insufficient"

---

• China: Talent New Energy solid-state battery startup unveils prototype of new all-solid-state cell with ultra-high energy density, theoretically capable of 2000km EV range

• New Zealand: Starboard Maritime raised NZ$5M with machine learning-driven data analytics to detect suspicious vessel activity

• Philippines: Moneybees cryptocurrency exchange partners Tambunting pawnshop conglomerate to add crypto as a payments and payout option

• Download: 'Reuse of Electric Vehicle Batteries in ASEAN', a report from the Indonesia-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia

• 'Minilateralism, ASEAN Centrality and Indo-Pacific Institutional Flux Amid Strategic Competition'

• Australia: Monochrome Asset Mgmt has applied for a spot bitcoin ETF with Cboe Australia listing exchange which, if approved, will allow the country's first direct investor holdings of bitcoin

• Visa Everywhere Initiative 2024 Asia Pacific applications are open to July 12th for startups working on fintech-relevant solutions

• Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia applications close April 15th, seeking startups and innovations for partnership with the world's premier football club

Philippine VC Report 2024

• China's ByteDance shuts down WhatsApp competitor app, LetsChat, in Africa due to Meta's dominance on the continent

• KoreaTechDesk launches Demo Day, a monthly pitch event aiming to connect Korean startups with the global startup ecosystem - applications are open now for Korean firms

• Vietnam: A quick intro to Kilo, B2B e-commerce platform that recently raised $5M Pre-A funding to digitally connect wholesalers with MSMEs

• Philippines: An intro to Mayani, end-to-end farmer-focused tech firm integrating access to markets, inputs and credit for small farms and fisheries

• China: An intro to Super Brain, artificial intelligence startup creating digital avatars for bereavement support

---

Video: Europe's largest 3D-printed building, completed in just 140 hours in Germany using only 2 workers and one robot

---

In wider-world technology news:

» How cybercriminals, sanction-violators and nation state actors use blockchains to move crypto-currencies and other digital assets

» UXL Foundation, a consortium of tech firms including Intel, Google and Qualcomm challenging NVIDIA not in chips but in the software that drives them

» Norway's Photoncycle, working on solid hydrogen-based tech to store energy in an ammonia synthesis reactor, claiming vastly lower cost and flexibility than other solutions

» SiMa raises $70M with inference-focused chips for everyday consumer devices, using AI models on devices to identify objects rather than 'learn'

» Elon Musk's xAI reportedly in talks to raise $3BN in bid to position as an alternative to Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Google and others

---

"...researchers found that customers charged 9.4% more on average to their credit cards, through both online and in-person transactions, after they adopted a mobile payment method."

---

Indo-Pacific tech news: Other editions

• LinkedIn / Twitter / Facebook / Monthly / Substack / Web / Connect