Asia's Tech News, Weekly: February 22nd 2025

Japan's rice alt-protein, Singapore space conference, Australian space solar panels, Taiwan-Malaysia chips, Deepseek uptake & concerns, Malaysia gov't goes Gemini AI, Vietnam preps for Starlink...

• South Korea is reportedly to build and host the world's largest AI data center, near 3 times Stargate's size, with planned 3GW capacity and an estimated investment of near $35BN / full item

• Japan: Kinish secures $800K with molecular farming tech, developing a proprietary rice plant that produces casein, one of the main proteins found in milk / full item

• Taiwan's semiconductor output achieved a value of $152.69 billion in 2024, up 22.4% from a year earlier / full item

• Japan is to invest $1.5BN in next-gen ultra-thin, flexible solar panels, subsidising commercialisation to secure first-mover advantages / full item

• Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs builds on TSMC's moves in Europe, exploring semiconductor supply chain partnerships with Germany, Czech Republic and Poland / full item

• Singapore: Global Space Technology Convention & Exhibition 2025 is set for February 26 -27 / full item

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"The results were alarming: DeepSeek R1 exhibited a 100% attack success rate, meaning it failed to block a single harmful prompt," Cisco says. / full item

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• China: Geely EVs giant and tech partner, StepFun, prep to launch 2 open-source AI LLMs for global use / full item

• Australia: Extraterrestrial Power unveils mass-manufacturable solar cell it estimates to be ten times more affordable than current space-application solar cells / full item

• Malaysia: Taiwan's ASE launches new $300M facility in Penang, its 5th in Malaysia, and more than tripling its floorspace in the country / full item

• Australia: Victoria state government confirms 400MW / 1800MWh Baranduda battery energy storage project, and 40 MW Brewster Wind Farm project, are in the planning fast lane / full item

• Kaspersky Security Network report finds that in 2024, over 21 million cyberattacks originated from compromised servers in Singapore, marking the highest number in SE Asia / full item

• India: Government orders a block on 119 apps on Google Play Store, citing concerns in line with the Information Technology Act, with the majority from China and Hong Kong developers / full item

• Australia: An intro to the 11 scale-ups selected for the LaunchVic 30X30 program, working on solutions in healthcare, documentation, construction, data security and more / full item

• China: Baidu tech giant is preparing to open-source its Ernie AI model from June 30th, a pivotal move in the AI industry's response to DeepSeek / full item

• Japan: Tenchijin unveils 'Thermo Earth of Love Project', a proprietary satellite program to boost surface temperature monitoring capabilities, featuring development of its own satellite / full item

• Australia: Gilmour Space Technologies preps for first orbital launch with final approvals received for its maiden test flight of a 3-stage rocket / full item

• Thailand: SiamAI Cloud infra provider to invest $4BN in infrastructure expansion, building the country's largest data center, which it then plans to double in capacity / full item

• Japan's SKY Perfect JSAT Asia-wide satellite TV major and US firm, Planet Labs, partner for Earth observation satellite constellation / full item

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India: "...we have agreed on TRUST, i.e. Transforming Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology. Under this, emphasis will be laid on creating strong supply chains of critical minerals..." / full item

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• Australia: Allegro Energy lands government award of Au$1.85M to scale water-based redox flow battery energy storage solutions, using no scarce materials and recyclable components / full item

• South Korea: Government plans to secure 10,000 high-grade processing units within the year in bid to keep pace with global AI developments with early launch of national AI center / full item

• Myanmar: Karen Border Guard Force militia preps to deport 10,000 people linked to cyber scams to Thailand, adding to over 50,000 deported separately from Myanmar in January / full item

• China Meteorological Administration reportedly discussed 'promoting the in-depth integration and application of DeepSeek' to deliver better weather prediction services / full item

• India: NTPC power company is looking to build 30GW of nuclear power capacity over the next two decades, 3 times more than initially planned, at a cost of $62BN / full item

• Vietnam plans regulations allowing Starlink to provide satellite internet services in the country while maintaining full ownership of any local subsidiary / full item

• Malaysia's Ministry of Digital partners Google Cloud to roll out Gemini AI to 445,000 civil servants with the 'AI at Work' program, aiming to streamline everyday bureaucratic tasks / full item

• Hong Kong University of Science & Technology launches Low Altitude Economy Research Center, submitting a proposal for a sandbox scheme to explore options / full item

• Thailand: A brief overview of the Ministry of Finance's considerations around amending cash-out options for the digital wallet scheme / full item

• US, UK and Australia rolled out sanctions on zServers, a Russian 'bulletproof' crime-focused hosting service, and on individuals allegedly operating it, with Dutch police taking 127 servers offline / full item

• India: US chips toolmaker, Lam Research, is to invest over $1.2BN in Karnataka state, with the nation targeting semiconductor market value of $63BN by 2026 / full item

• Cambodia: Digital & Green Innovation Accelerator launches with 9-month initiative to boost startups using digital and tech-enabled solutions for environmental sustainability / full item

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China: "Spacesail will provide satellite communications and broadband Internet services to these countries. This partnership is poised to create challenges for Elon Musk-owned Starlink..." / full item

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• Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are reportedly separately exploring deals to take over parts of Intel / full item

• A quick intro to 7 Australian and New Zealand startups that between them raised Au$42.8M in the week to February 21st / full item

• Taiwan: ASE Technology targets $1.6BN in leading-edge advanced semiconductor packaging revenue for 2025, with testing business seeing an 18% rise in Q4 2024 alone / full item

• Vietnam: EV major, VinFast, delivered 53,139 units globally in Q4 2024, a 342% year-on-year rise, driven by demand for affordable models and home market strength / full item

• Japan takes hybrid quantum computing pole position with integration of Reimei quantum computer with Fugaku 'traditional' supercomputer / full item

• Malaysia's PKR, political party of PM Ibrahim, is to use electronic voting system with artificial intelligence and facial recognition elements in upcoming, in-house party polls / full item

• Japan partners The Philippines for work on Open Radio Access Network System, delivering JPY 444 million grant in support / full item

• China: Tencent's Weixin app and Baidu search giant launch DeepSeek search function testing / full item

• Singapore's Thunes, a global payments company, to expand Direct Global Network into Taiwan, rolling out Pay-to-Banks capabilities and cross-border payment services / full item

• Singapore has introduced 3 new AI governance initiatives, including one to monitor and test guardrail integrity when LLMs operate in non-English language activities / full item

• Russia's Sberbank reportedly plans collaboration with Chinese researchers and BRICS members on joint AI projects, looking to leverage affordable AI knowledge / full item

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'Grab has reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, with revenue rising 17% year-on-year to USD 764 million, driven by strong demand for its ride-hailing and delivery services.' / full item

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• India should aim at $500 billion in electronics manufacturing by 2030 says think tank report / full item

• Australia: Commonwealth Bank venture-scaling arm, x15ventures, selects Gable, a US-based data change management platform, as winner of annual Xccelerate program / full item

• Cambodia: A brief overview of Japan's participation in the Kingdom's moves towards digitalization, touching on development of Bakong payments and more / full item

• New Zealand: Forest Bioeconomy 2025 Conference is set for 20-21 May in Rotorua, with the theme of 'Pioneering Sustainable Innovations for Tomorrow' / full item

• Observer investigation finds Google cooperates with autocratic regimes around the world, including the Kremlin in Russia and the Chinese Communist Party, to facilitate censorship / full item

• India: A quick intro to Startup Singam, Tamil Nadu's first startup-focused reality TV show / full item

• Cambodia: The Toilet Board Coalition expands Accelerator to the Kingdom to drive progress on UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, sanitation for all by 2030 / full item

• Taiwan: "We expect that this year... a much larger number of our large server companies, especially for AI servers, announcing that they're going to be expanding their investments in Texas..." / full item

• New Zealand: Polymath raises NZ$1.5M pre-Seed with app that gamifies maths for kids / full item

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China: "...local governments in China are rushing to adopt DeepSeek's... AI models to enhance administration and governance, reflecting the rising adoption of AI...." / full item

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In wider-world technology news:

» Microsoft unveils new 'Majorana 1' quantum computing chip, claiming to use a new state of matter, not liquid, solid or gas / full item

» Vodafone claims world-first satellite video call from a regular phone, partnering Starlink rival, AST SpaceMobile, for a direct-to-smartphone service set to launch in Europe / full item

» Globalstar, Apple's mobile satellite service partner, inks C$1.1BN contract with a Canadian firm to produce more than 50 satellites / full item

» Meta unveils its 'most ambitious subsea cable endeavor yet', Project Waterworth, connecting 5 major continents and spanning over 50,000 kilometres / full item

» AheadComputing, co-founded by former Intel engineers and execs, raised $21.5M to build tech around RISC-V open standard chips architecture, alternative to current proprietary tech / full item

» Dell nears US$5BN AI server deal for Elon Musk's xAI / "Analysts expect Dell will have shipped more than $10BN of AI servers in the fiscal year ending last month and..." / full item

» OpenAI rejected a $97.4BN bid from an Elon Musk-led consortium to acquire the ChatGPT maker, saying the startup is not for sale and dismissing consideration of future bids / full item

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"We are essentially funding nuclear weapons development in North Korea with our bad software practices..." / "North Korea is able to use the funds it acquires from ransomware attacks..." / full item

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