Asia's tech news, weekly: February 27th 2024

XR surgery in Korea, Taiwan's Asia Silicon Valley, Softbank & AI chips, India's space-focused FDI change, Australia-Japan batteries supplychain, Vietnam's startup ambitions, China's AI curricula...

Feb 26, 2024

• Japan: Softbank Group founder reportedly exploring establishment of $100BN AI chip company, Project Izanagi, with sights on similar industry standing to NVIDIA, Intel and AMD

• Australia: Gilmour Space Technologies raised US$36M with launch vehicles and upcoming first test flight

• South Korea's MediThinQ launches world-first XR-enabled wearable surgical displays, placing critical information directly in from of a surgeon's eyes

• Australia: Japan's NEC conglomerate and Canada's D-Wave launch two quantum tech services for the Australian market, featuring cloud access to quantum computing alongside consultancy services

BRICS currency: '... there are imbalances within the BRICS economies... all essentially run current account surpluses (except India)... [And] would most likely depend on the Chinese economy and yuan as the backbone of a currency bloc.'

• China: Space Circling space launch firm secures $13.9M to focus on launch vehicle engines for commercial space activities, with sights on mass production by year-end

• Australia: Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in WA gains NVIDIA CUDA Quantum platform, built around Grace Hopper Superchips, for quantum computing research

• Hong Kong: An overview of Klook travel super-app following a $210M round that took the firm to $900M valuation, built on a market base of millennials and Gen Z across SE Asia

• China: Moonshot AI hits $2.5BN valuation following new $1BN backing from investors including Alibaba and Xiaohongshu

• New Zealand: Miruku raises $5M pre-A with 'molecular farming' platform for bio-similar, plant-derived dairy proteins and fats

• Taiwan: Cabinet approves $372M, 4-year implementation phase for Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan, aiming to boost the Internet of Things industry and develop a comprehensive startup ecosystem

• Australia: Battery manufacturing supply chain set for Queensland with agreement inked with Japan's Idemitsu for grid-scale production of vanadium flow batteries, an alternative to lithium-ion

• Japan: An overview of the factors underpinning the country's achievements in swiftly developing a semiconductor manufacturing industry

Hong Kong: "...in the past three years (from 2021 to 2023), the total number of crimes involving virtual assets was 1397, 2336 and 3415 cases worth 824 million, 1.704 billion and 4.398 billion yuan."

• India: Space sector set to grow with Indian cabinet approving FDI rules amendment allowing overseas investment in the sector, in some cases up to 100%

• Australia: CSIRO-run National AI Centre launches AI Sprint initiative to help startups develop AI solutions to address national issues including cost of living, supply chain resilience and environmental well-being

• Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City unveils plan to support startup projects in the 2024-2028 period, with sights on boosting near 2000 projects, 1000 of these at pre-seed stage

• India: An overview of 4 schemes under the $10BN Semicon India programme, aiming to secure semiconductor supply chains, create jobs and more

• China: Ministry of Education issues list of 184 primary and secondary schools to run artificial intelligence-focused curricula in bid to boost technology competencies in children

• StormWall publishes analysis of DDoS cyber-attacks in Asia-Pacific across 2023, seeing 118% increase in multi-vector attacks targeting several infrastructure elements simultaneously

• Australian Taxation Office reportedly faces 4.7 million cyber-attacks each month, with ID theft for fraud resulting in $635M 'illegally accessed' from self-managed super funds during 2020 and 2021

• Malaysia: Maxis, the country's leading telco, and China's Huawei complete 5G-Advanced tech trial, achieving ultra-fast peak speeds of up to 8Gbps

"It turns out [Virtual Power Plant] technology has a particularly good synergy with the EV industry, which is why the Chinese government has started to invest in VPPs."

• Taiwan: Near-shore floating solar panel project now fully online, covering 171 hectares of water surface and generating energy equivalent to that consumed by 65,000 households

• Singtel joins Ericsson’s global Startup 5G program, gaining access to ICT research and analytical data and connecting with promising tech startups in the 5G-and-beyond space

• World Semiconductor Council writes to India's Prime Minister raising concerns over proposed tariffs on digital commerce and transfers of chip design data

• Indonesia: Ministry of Communication & Informatics gains US feasibility study grant to develop Open RAN cellular wireless connectivity to 1621 unserved rural villages

"Saudi Arabia is mandating that leading Chinese technology companies invest in the Gulf kingdom in return for huge deals, as it leverages its petrodollar wealth to boost its domestic tech industry."

• Taiwan: "I understand that SpaceX is possibly withholding broadband internet services in and around Taiwan — possibly in breach of SpaceX’s contractual obligations with the U.S. government..."

• India: Taiwan's Taisys preps for $100M investment in India subsidiary to focus on semiconductor design and production for the auto and electric vehicle sectors

• Australia: A transcript of the speech by Minister for Industry & Science at the recent Quantum Australia event, outlining opportunities in the sector

• China: HaomoAI, autonomous driving firm backed by Great Wall Motor, raised $14M with focus on self-driving logistics vehicles and driver-assistance systems for passenger cars

• 'Regional Integration in the Indo-Pacific - Connectivity, Cooperation, and New Supply-Chain Linkages' from India's Observer Research Foundation

• China: Xpeng enters auto dealer agreements for EV sales in UAE, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Jordan and Lebanon, building on existing footprint in Europe

• Vietnam offers tax breaks and other perks to semiconductor companies under national plan to grow the country's presence in technology manufacturing supply chains

• China: Release of OpenAI's Sora text-to-video capabilities prompts concerns from policymakers, China's AI industry and observers over competitive pressure

"NVIDIA began 2023 worth $350 billion, and ended it at $1.2 trillion. At the start of the week, it stood at $1.8 trillion... worth more than the entire Chinese stock market; more than all the energy stocks in the S&P 500..."

• Australia: Bupa Ventures has rolled out a $20M fund focused on Seed to Series A startups working on solutions in a range of health sectors

• Thailand's first plant for cultivated meat production now set for construction, with Israel's Aleph Farms cultivated meats leader building on Singapore facility in SEA move

• Download: 'Growing and Sustaining Australia's Space Engineering Capability and Competency - Policy Advice Paper' from Engineering Australia (direct pdf link)

• Indonesia: Following $840M deal with GoTo, country's largest e-commerce platform, to avoid ban and continue operating in the country, TikTok remains in violation of regulations, says gov't minister

• Thailand: A snapshot overview of the National Innovation Agency's activities in guiding and growing the Thai startup and entrepreneurship landscape

• Australia: Swinburne University to lead $3M grant-funded project testing heavy electric vehicles tech, including road-embedded dynamic wireless charging

• Myanmar: Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations expresses interest in joining the BRICS system, with mention of BRICS single currency plans

• India: Uber inks MOU with government-backed open network for digital commerce, ONDC, to integrate with the network for wider payment options, with ONDC gaining from additional exposure

"...we welcome startups and talents from Europe, the United States, Japan and ASEAN, to work with Taiwan, from IC design and manufacturing to packaging and testing—the entire pipeline."

• Japan: Cabinet reportedly approved a relaxation to investment rules, allowing VC-style funds to hold cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets

• India: Vidyut raises $10M Series A to scale full-stack EV finance focus, incorporating insurance, lifecycle management and EV resale

• Bangladesh: PriyoShop raises $5M to digitize distribution infrastructure for MSMEs, streamlining retail supply chains and boosting profits from efficiencies

• Hong Kong: WOW3 Summit 2024 set for March 26-27, looking at all things Web3 - blockchain, crypto, bitcoin ETFs and more

• Taiwan: More on the Asia Silicon Valley 3.0 plan and its goals for the IoT industry in particular, with a 2022 output value in Taiwan estimated to be $67.2 billion

• India: A brief intro to Physics Wallah and other online test-preparation startups, seeing the industry as an opportunity for Netflix-style subscription models

• Australia: Business Research & Innovation Initiative opens grant funding, offering up to $100K to aid startup and SME firms to explore renewables and low emissions solutions

• South Korea: Hyundai Motor Group opens 2024 recruitment for ZER01NE Accelerator program, seeking solutions focusing on software-defined vehicles, 'smart factory' developments, ESG and artificial intelligence

"In 2022, the bulk of its research and development engineers were based in China but [Taiwan's] Alchip has begun moving roles overseas, many to Japan..."

In wider-world technology news:

» An intro to Virtual Power Plants, a method for aggregating power supply from batteries and solar panels to provide many of the functions of conventional power plants

» US Federal Trade Commission floats proposal to make companies liable if they are aware their tech, including AI-driven content generation tools, 'is being used to harm consumers through impersonation'

» Intel is in talks with US Gov't around more than $10BN in subsidies under a plan to grow semiconductor manufacturing on US soil

» Global Foundries semiconductor 'pure play' foundry gains $1.5BN US CHIPS and Science Act funding to expand manufacturing and capabilities for chips for auto, IoT, aerospace, defense and other markets

» "Quantum technology is on the minds of at least some EU policymakers but as the European Parliament elections loom in June and the European Commission enters the final months of its mandate, will it be a priority in 2024?"

» BitRiver, sanctioned Russian industrial crypto mining firm, to build a new 100MW data center in Siberia, despite Central Bank repeatedly calling for a ban on crypto activities

» A brief overview of how quantum computing technologies are beginning to move from made-to-order towards standardized manufacturing of some components, and infrastructures

"Or said another way, if they [BRICS economies] want to cut out the dollar – and essentially the West – who will run the deficits required to absorb the BRICS excesses?"