Asia's tech news, weekly: February 13th 2024

South Korea & future tech, Japan & semiconductors, ASEAN undersea cables, Beijing's space moves, Australia & quantum, India's electronics market, Pacific cyber-defenses...

Feb 13, 2024

• South Korea: Rebellions AI-focused semiconductor firm raised $124M Series B, with next-gen chips targeting a price half that of NVIDIA equivalents

• Japan: Gov't considers which companies will receive subsidies from $20.3BN fund for clean hydrogen supply by the end of 2024, looking to cut the cost gap between H2 and fossil equivalents

• Taiwan: "Within just 3 square miles, Hsinchu contains more than 150 semiconductor companies and suppliers, more than 600 manufacturers, three universities, and more than 160,000 highly skilled full-time employees..."

• Thailand: An overview of Huawei's involvement in all aspects of the tech behind Thailand's smart cities projects - 5G, IoT, monitoring, language recognition, data management and beyond

"...recent RISC-V breakthroughs and applications in China, many with government funding, have raised Beijing's hopes that the open-source standard could one day threaten the x86-Arm duopoly..."

• India: Gov't launches Digital India FutureLABS programme to boost the electronics system design and manufacturing sector, aiming for an ecosystem approach to IP, standards and next-gen electronics

• ASEAN to create submarine cables network to boost region-wide, and global, connectivity; alongside resolution to develop interoperable member government digital infrastructure in regional ecosystem bid

• Japan: Gov't backs research on cutting-edge fabrication tech with $300M for Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center, seeking coordination on nanotech, AI and more, and with support for Rapidus chip manufacturer

• India: Paymart partnered by 5 Indian banks for virtual, cardless, hardware-less cash withdrawals, allowing for instance shopkeepers to offer cash withdrawals without ATMs or other hardware

• China: Gov't unveils Beijing Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovation and Development of the Commercial Space Industry 2024-2028, with sights on elements including 'cross-border technology integration'

• Japan: Rapidus semiconductor firm plans prototype production of 2nm chips by H1 2025, stepping into direct competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's 2025 2nm mass production plans

• Australian Space Agency seeks expressions of interest from industry and academia working on or researching fields that can add value to international space exploration - deadline February 14

• Japan: An intro to SKY Perfect JSAT, set to deploy orbital lasers to deliver high-precision ground surface data via LiDAR tech, alongside laser-driven space debris removal

China & semiconductor 'chiplets': "Wuxi's government officials proposed establishing a $14 million fund to bring chiplet companies to the city, and it has already attracted a handful of domestic companies..."

• Singapore Government Tech Stack - platform tools that streamline and simplify development, enabling code reuse across the whole of government in building secure, high quality applications

• Japan to run cyber-defense drills with Pacific Islands nations Palau, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Kiribati

• China: Satellite launch prep underway for 3 sats focused on lunar far-side and south pole missions, testing navigation and comm's and featuring sat-to-ground laser and microwave ranging

• South Korea: Ministry of SMEs & Startups launches Super Gap Startup Promotion Project plan to identify over 1000 deep-tech startups across 5 years, focusing on emerging techs including semiconductors and AI

• Australia: Diraq quantum firm secures $15M Series A-2 with focus into the future on development of a quantum chip produced via a standard semiconductor foundry

• Singapore: Amperesand secures $12.5M to industrialize and manufacture direct current-focused compact, modular, and scalable solid-state transformer for fast EV charging

• China's BYD EV maker and Brazil's sugar-and-ethanol firm Raizen partner for network of 600 charging stations for electric vehicles, installing in 8 Brazilian cities under the Shell Recharge brand

• Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce proposes issuance of 'RMB stablecoins or stablecoins backed by a basket of different currencies, including RMB, in addition to HKD or USD stablecoins'

"...the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy includes $78M of investment in submarine cables in the Pacific through the AIFFP [Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific]..."

• India: Microsoft 'Code; Without Barriers’ program sets sights on skilling and certifying 75,000 women developers in India in 2024 in cloud, AI, and digital technologies

• South Korea: Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs launches $149M Agri-Food Venture Fund, focusing on companies leveraging technology to enhance agricultural productivity

• China: Baidu search giant partners Lenovo to feature generative AI tech on Lenovo smartphones, further growing-out applications for Ernie AI model

• Korea Telecom and partners to build out fiber-optic cable network connecting Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam

• Online now: January 2024 round-up of critical technologies news, globally and from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific

• South Korea: Seoul Metro Gov't partners Google Startup Campus for AI Startup School program for young people, targeting an overall intake of 6000 for education

• India's Sarvam AI startup partnered by Microsoft to bring Sarvam’s Indic voice large language model to Microsoft Azure, implementing Hindi as first output language

• Xilinx, Huawei & tech restrictions: "I predict that Huawei will use up Xilinx FPGA chips in November... when they will switch to their own products. But this may reduce the appeal of Huawei 5G devices to global buyers..."

• Singapore: Oobit mobile payments startup raised $25M, part-backed by Tether, to advance adoption of cryptocurrency as a standard payment option for consumers

China, the EU & 6G: "Huawei is one of 3 commercial organizations participating in a sensing project... by the European Telecomm's Standards Institute...that feeds work into the 3GPP [mobile standards body]..."

• Thailand: In bid to position the country as a regional digital assets hub, the Thai Finance Ministry announced the exemption of value-added tax on digital asset trading

• Taiwan's Touche Solutions' enters Japan's robotics sector with 'tactile skin' integration into Denso 'collaborative robot' models as a foundational safety measure

• Glasswall, Tech in Asia's new product that allows startup founders to review VCs anonymously, providing a much-needed layer of accountability

• Australia: 7 of the country's tech startups that collectively raised $10M in the week to Feb 8, working on decarbonization, health-tech, quantum computing and more

• India: Twyn lands place with Suzuki's India accelerator with 'digital twin' tech for manufacturers and OEMS, creating digital clones of physical assets and environments

• Australia: TEKLAB Grains accelerator program launches to boost early-stage agri-tech startups and concepts

• Thailand looks to develop homegrown Open ThaiGPT project, partly in bid to avoid heavy reliance on foreign technologies in artificial intelligence

• Taiwan: BSOS takes Best Solution in SAP Startup Accelerator with working capital platform aiding businesses with supply chain funding, featuring blockchain integration with CTBC Bank

"Indian ports and maritime industries will see more cyberattacks from adversaries, particularly with antagonizing projects such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor..."

• Japan: Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center gains gov't backing to as much as $300M with sights on 1.4nm chip manufacturing know-how by 2028, in partnership with Rapidus semicon firm

• Download: 'Assessing the Global and Local Landscape of Critical Technologies' from India's Takshashila Institution (direct pdf link)

• Thailand: A brief intro to 2 new venture capital funds in the country, focused on pre-series to Series A startups in a range of industries

• Australia's MyVenue and its successes in the US market with point-of-sale software focused on stadiums, arenas and hospitality venues

• Multinational loses $25.6M in first-of-kind crime after Hong Kong branch employees were fooled by deepfake tech, partly featuring a digitally-recreated version of its CFO ordering money transfers in a video call

• Hong Kong: MediConCen secured $6.85M Series A with automation of insurance claims using AI and blockchain, with HSBC Asset Management leading the round

• China: Tencent rolls out new version of DynamiCrafter, open source video generation AI model, moving further into the text- and image-to-video space

• India: Tata Group to enter the online food ordering sector with its super app, Tata Neu, integrating with the government-created Open Network for Digital Commerce

"Soaring appetite for Huawei's artificial intelligence chips coupled with manufacturing constraints has forced the Chinese tech giant to prioritise AI and slow production for its premium Mate 60 phones..."

• Australia: An intro to the 34 female-founded startups selected for funding under the government's Boosting Female Founders Initiative

• New Zealand: Launch Club Aotearoa launches with 10-week pre-accelerator program for early-stage startups, in partnership with Australasia's Startmate accelerator and investor

• Australia's GrainInnovate Fund applications are open to grains industry startups from seed to growth stage

• New Zealand: Innovation hubs across the nation have partnered to launch Startup Aotearoa, aiming to boost support and resources for the country's startup ecosystem

• Australia: An intro to the 10 startups selected for the next cohort of the Startmate 2024 Summer Accelerator, working on solutions in agriculture, graphic design, composite materials and more

"Japan expects to expand the number of specialized cyber units to approximately 4,000 by the end of 2027 from approximately 890 in 2022..."

In wider-world technology news:

» Amazon Project Kuiper constellation of over 3200 satellites to include features making it 'highly resilient against electronic jamming, cyberattacks, and other threats'

» "Minsk is looking for ways to end Belarus’ sanctions woes, with its central bank confirming the planned launch of a blockchain-powered CBDC..."

» Interlune, startup from former Blue Origin execs, quietly focuses on pitching to mine on the moon for a rare helium isotope, with deep-tech applications in quantum computing and beyond

» Microsoft and Open AI reportedly to invest $500M in Figure Robotics, seeing humanoid robots likely to be increasingly used in warehousing and for difficult, unsafe or tedious tasks

"The disparity between CubeSats and small satellites is stark... Five years ago, the two categories stood on equal footing. Today, small satellites outnumber CubeSat counterparts by near 4 to 1."