Asia's Tech News, Weekly: August 14th 2024

Quantum in Singapore, Thailand & crypto, Asia-Pac chips conference, Philippines cybercrime, Indonesia & EV minerals, HP cuts China, Vietnam EV charge subsidies...

• China cyberspace ID: 71 internet apps and 10 government apps reportedly participating in the National Network ID Authentication Pilot including WeChat, Taobao and Xiaohongshu, Tencent's QQ

• Vietnam: Government is to subsidize electricity prices for the country's 150,000 EV charging stations, alongside incentives for EV production and imports

• Singapore's Singtel launches National Quantum-Safe Network Plus, NQSN+, to equip enterprises with the ability to future-proof critical networks

• Thailand: Securities & Exchange Commission rolls out crypto regulatory sandbox to allow testing of crypto services in a real-life context

• Australia: A look at some of the Australian mining and mapping technologies making an impact on space exploration

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"Indonesia will become the second-largest [EV battery] negative material producer in the world, second only to China. The local project will also fill the gap in Indonesia and even the entire ASEAN battery industry,"

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• China: Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Tech's launch of the first batch of G60 mega-constellation satellites sees Long March 6A rocket disintegrate, creating a hazardous space debris cloud

• Australia: Victorian Government backs 8 VC funds with $300K grants in bid to attract funds to support local, early-stage Victorian startups

• 'Taiwan-India Chips Cooperation and the Logic of Choosing India' from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• China: US is set to issue proposed rule barring China-developed software in autonomous vehicles at Level 3 and above, also delivering US road-test ban

• South Korea's major firms step towards prismatic form-factor for EV batteries, in part due to them now covering 49% of European EV batteries market

Indo-Pacific Space & Earth Conference - November, Australia

• 2024 Asia-Pacific Semiconductor Summit & Expo is set to run in Penang, Malaysia, in October

• EU-Vietnam Sustainable Energy Transition Programme rolls out accelerator focusing on energy efficiency in industrial, transport and green building sectors

• Philippines: Central bank lifts moratorium on digital banks in bid to boost financial inclusion and access to digital services

• India's Kazam preps for roll-out of EV charging infrastructure to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, alongside further build-out of Indian 2- and 3-wheeler charging

• China: 'For Alibaba and several Chinese AI startups, open-source AI presents an opportunity for faster commercialization and global recognition.'

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'HP has set an internal goal of making up to 70% of its notebooks outside China, and is looking at Singapore and Thailand as potential production destinations'

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• Philippines: "315,000 compromised credentials, 17,456 phishing attacks, and numerous vulnerabilities are just some of the alarming statistics... in the first half of 2024"

• India: EtherealX raised $5M seed funding to develop fully-reusable medium-lift space launch vehicles, focusing on returning both upper stage and booster sections

• Malaysia: Infineon launches phase 1 of new Kedah state facility set to become the world’s largest 200-millimeter silicon carbide power semiconductor plant

• China: Fudan University establishes $56M brain-computer interface research centre in Shanghai

• Australia: Goterra adds country’s largest hotel, 878-room Hyatt Regency Sydney, to clients, installing fly larvae based modular food waste management system

GenAI in Consumer Applications - Thesis For India

• South Korea: Hyundai and Kia unveil AI-enabled, blockchain-based 'Supplier CO2 Emission Monitoring System' to manage carbon emissions of business partners

• Report: "...in India, 31% of working hours will either be automated or augmented by generative AI... an additional $675 billion in economic value..."

• South Korea: An intro to Telefix, working on satellite imagery cameras and analysis and looking at opportunities in Europe and the US

• 'Delayed or on track? Here’s a midpoint report card on China’s bid to be global AI leader by 2030' via Channel News Asia

• 'A US citizen has been charged with helping North Korean actors obtain remote IT work, and laundering their salaries to finance the country's weapons program.'

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"...one can well imagine secondary markets where people who do not want to spend the [central bank digital currency] before the expiry date can trade it, probably at a discount, for money with a longer shelf life"

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• India has granted a $300M loan to Vietnam to boost maritime security, alongside discussing cooperation in AI, cloud computing, semiconductors and more

• New Zealand: GeoExchange New Zealand launches to discover, develop and protect the nation's abundant low-temperature geothermal resources

• China: Audi's new e-cars series will not feature Audi 4-ring logo due to 'brand image consideration', given co-development with China's SAIC, local suppliers & tech

• New Zealand: Nutrition From Water biotech startup has developed microalgae-based whey protein for sports, advanced nutrition, confectionery and beyond

• Australia: "...principals in NSW are weighing up banning smartphones and social media for some [school] years..."

• India: Andhra Pradesh state gov't and Google prep for MOU, 'AI for Andhra Pradesh, Powered by Google', looking at AI applications in agriculture, skills, healthcare and more

• Singapore: An introduction to, and outline of, the National Quantum-Safe Network, looking to deploy, trial and evaluate this critical technology

• India: Punch secures $7M seed with comprehensive stockbroking platform focusing on risk awareness, beginner guidance and ease of use

• Philippines: Elevate fintech secures $5M to launch USD payments and accounts for Filipino freelancers, overseas workers and expats

• Australia: A quick intro to 7 startups that raised $45.6 million in the past fortnight, working in ridesharing, travel payments, eye health and more

• Real Madrid Next Accelerator for Asia unveils 7 startups selected for collaboration

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"...considered the best-performing open-source LLM family [Facebook] Llama models have become a default foundation model that many Chinese startups use..."

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• Philippines: A brief intro to 6 startups from cohort 2 of the Block Dojo Philippines incubator, working in prop-tech, fitness and more

• Australia: Birchal crowdfund platform launches Birchal First network, backed by LaunchVic, to connect investors with early-stage Vic hardware tech startups seeking pre-seed to Series A

• New Zealand: NZ venture capital firm, Pacific Channel, announces expansion into Australia, supported by LaunchVic, the Victorian gov't startup agency

• Malaysia: MYStartup pre-accelerator unveils 30 tech startups selected for Cohort 4, working on businesses from coffee to cybersecurity

• Startup World Cup Malaysia 2024 unveils 10 startups selected to represent the country at the Grand Finale in Silicon Valley

Singapore Cyber Landscape 2023 Report

• Australia: University of Wollongong iAccelerate named as a finalist in higher education entrepreneurship focused 2024 Asia-Pacific Triple E Awards

• India: Madhya Pradesh state may be set to gain Google Cloud startup hub and Center of Excellence, alongside interest from NVIDIA chip giant

• Malaysia: Newell Road secures $110K pre-seed funding from participation in Antler Malaysia Residency with AI-automated market research and business reporting

• "3 spot bitcoin ETFs available in Hong Kong plunged 14% to 17% in price on Monday, while the city’s 3 spot ether ETFs all took a nosedive of more than 25%."

• "Tesla is... only discussing charging stations, with the factory plans suspended not just in Thailand but worldwide... not proceeding in Malaysia, Indonesia, or anywhere else except for China, America and Germany"

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"...evidence suggests excessive smartphone use is associated with depression, anxiety and poor sleep quality... disordered smartphone use significantly impaired cognitive performance."

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In wider-world technology news:

» CHIPS for America's 2-year progress report as an infographic

» Construction of 100-home, 3D-printed housing project approaches completion, with NASA interested in lunar housing module applications

» Download: 'Next stop, next-gen', an analysis of supply chain innovation in 1148 companies across 15 countries and 10 industries

» Urban Metaverse & Smart Cities hybrid conference is set for October, running from Spain

» Available now: 'Tokenizing Precious Metals Report', a market overview and deep dive (register to download)

» Download: 'Generative AI in Cybersecurity - Assessing impact on current and future malicious software' from The Alan Turing Institute and the Center for Emerging Technology & Security

» 'Restore the Republic' crypto scam pulled in $155M with fake connection to Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump

» "Most CxOs believe gen AI will ultimately increase their company’s market share, with 17%... predicting that GenAI will increase their market share by 10% or more"

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