Asia's Tech News, Weekly: August 9th 2025
Thailand cyber-scam epidemic, China-Pakistan satellite, Korea central bank & cryptoassets, Australia goes Amazon over Starlink, Indonesia digital economy opportunities, Vietnam state-run VC fund...
• China: Take-off and landing tests have been successfully completed on the Lanyue two-person lunar lander, marking a key step in China's moves to land humans on the moon / full item
• Malaysian and Thai tech firms have inked 10 MoUs expected to generate over $47M in potential digital export opportunities / full item
• "...survey of 1,000 Thai adults, found that 72% of Thai adults have encountered scam attempts, with the average person facing 172 scam encounters annually..." / full item
• South Korea: K-Startup Grand Challenge preps to attract more global founders with government adjusting visa policies / full item
• Indonesia: Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Ministry of Comms & Digital Affairs partner to launch AI-powered solution to protect citizens from digital fraud / full item
• 'Pakistan Launches Advanced Remote Sensing Satellite in Partnership With China' / full item
"China is reportedly planning to build a network to connect thousands of new data centres in the country with the aim of selling the excess compute power and alleviating a capacity glut." / full item
• Australia's state-owned NBN Co internet network has chosen Amazon's Project Kuiper for future satellite services, rather than Elon Musk's Starlink / full item
• South Korea’s Central Bank is to reorganize its structure to include a 'cryptoassets department' as public sector stablecoin-related activity grows / full item
• Malaysia: WorldFirst, payment firm under China's Ant International, has secured approval to provide payment services in Malaysia / full item
• Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City adds 27 new electric bus routes and adds 443 e-buses to fleet, bringing total number of e-buses in operation to 613 / full item
• Malaysia: Open DC data center solutions firm launches PE2, Penang's first next-gen data center / full item
• "Vietnam is transitioning from an emerging blockchain market to a regional leader in digital assets, with international investors, developers and experts increasingly recognising its potential..." / full item
• "North Korean state-backed hackers have planted malicious code in open-source software repositories... put tens of thousands of developers at risk of surveillance and data theft..." / full item
• "The Indonesian government has decided not to form a dedicated cyber military branch like Singapore to address security and defense issues in cyberspace..." / full item
• South Korea: "Cyber insurance makes up only 1 percent of Korea’s accident insurance sector, with a 2024 report estimating local cyber premiums at $50 million..." / full item
• "Malaysian parents have welcomed a plan to bar children from having social media accounts, but are less enthused by a proposal to push state-sanctioned family content..." / full item
• "Indonesia represents a unique paradox: a booming digital economy valued at USD 130 billion by 2025 on one hand, and over 73 million people still without internet access on the other..." / full item
• Australia: "From December, platforms which do not take 'reasonable steps' to stop children from holding accounts on those platforms will be liable for fines up to $49.5m." / full item
"By 2030, Vietnam aims to have at least 15 undersea cable systems in operation with a total capacity of no less than 350 Tbps, positioning the country as a regional data hub." / full item
• Singapore: SixSense lands $8.5M Series A with AI-driven platforms to identify and anticipate semiconductor chip defects on production lines, looking at factory-wide intelligence / full item
• Japan: Antitrust regulators move in line with Europe's App Store regulations, preparing mandates around a range of Apple, Google, and other stores' anticompetitive behaviours / full item
• China: Alibaba has released its Qwen-Image open-source image generation model for full public access / full item
• Vietnam is to launch its first state-run venture capital fund, and startup-focused stock market - details here / full item
• New Zealand: Government's approaching changes to anti-money laundering laws aim to cut red tape for small businesses; also set to include a ban on cryptocurrency ATMs / full item
• Malaysia's EV security risks: "But the industry’s rapid shift towards software-dependent vehicles is creating new vulnerabilities ripe for exploitation by malicious actors..." / full item
• South Korea: SK Telecom Co has launched Haein, its GPU cloud infrastructure to deliver on-demand processing / full item
• The Pan-SEA AI Developer Challenge 2025 virtual hackathon is open for registrations, looking for real-world impactful solutions powered by cutting-edge Large Language Models / full item
• Laos: MoneyX parent firm inks partnership with VISA to bring 'secure and convenient digital payment services' to Laos, focusing on the country's large unbanked population / full item
• "Thailand will become one of the world's major tourist destinations that integrates digital assets into the visitor experience..." / full item
"The [US] Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday debuted 'Project Crypto,' an initiative to modernize securities regulations to allow for crypto-based trading." / full item
In wider-world technology news:
» "...core business systems aren't locally deployed and centrally managed in the way they used to be. Instead, they're logged into over the internet, and accessed via a web browser." / full item
» OpenAI is to launching Stargate-branded AI data center in Norway featuring 100,000 NVIDIA GPU's by the end of 2026, running entirely on renewable energy / full item
» 'Stamps in people's passports will be replaced by biometric checks for people travelling in and out of the EU from 12 October...' / full item
» 'Dubai has introduced its first AI-powered virtual Emirati family, set to serve as the face of the government's digital strategy.' / full item
More of Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific:
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• Indo-Pacific Insight: Daily / Weekly / Network
And here's the link to the LinkedIn edition of Asia's Tech News, Weekly to August 9th, for those who prefer the way LinkedIn handles newsletter subscriptions, and connections:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/asias-tech-news-weekly-august-9th-2025-startup-news-asia-yekqc/