Asia's Tech News, Weekly: February 8th 2025

Indonesia EV industry, UN funds & Philippines, TikTok in Thailand, TSMC 1nm chips, Thai token trading, Fiji subsea cables, Vietnam funding drops, Taiwan wind energy, Malaysian 5G...

• South Korea is set to invest $23BN to help companies in battery and biotech sectors, alongside launching a national AI committee to position the country for global tech growth / full item

• Indonesia faces challenges in developing its electric vehicles-focused industries, in spite of the nation's nickel supply chain prominence / full item

• Singapore: 129Knots fintech launches with $10M funding, focusing on real-world asset tech designed to transform supply chains into high-value, investment-grade assets / full item

• China: Preparations are underway to launch 2 space station resupply cargo craft in Q3 2025, via the runway-capable, reusable, methane-liquid oxygen Zhuque-3 rocket / full item

• Japan: Hitachi increases startup investment funding to $1BN with addition of $400M fund, setting sights on AI and 'frontier tech', and looking to deepen its India presence / full item

• Thailand: TikTok is to invest $3.8BN in a Thailand-based data hosting project / full item

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"Vietnamese tech startups raised $120M in funding in 2024, representing a 38% decline from the $196M secured in 2023 and a sharp 77% drop compared to the $518M raised in 2022..." / full item

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• India cuts import tax on smartphone parts: "The cuts will help India better cope with a potentially disruptive year of global trade due to US President Donald Trump's tariff threats." / full item

• Thailand: An overview of the billions being invested in Thailand-based data centers by tech majors including TikTok, Microsoft, Amazon and Google / full item

• Taiwan's TSMC is rumored to be building 'Fab 25', a large-scale 1 nanometer-focused fabrication facility in Shalun, with three plants set for 1.4nm processes / full item

• India: New $1.15BN 'Fund of Funds' for startups is to be established, adding to and expanding on existing startup development programs / full item

• China's UnionPay and Malaysia's Bank Simpanan Nasional partner to implement UnionPay QR payments in Malaysia in H1 2025 / full item

• Fiji: Subsea cables, Bulikula and Tabua, have landed in Suva, with two other cables set to land in the near future, as part of the Google-backed Pacific Connect initiative / full item

• Japan: SKY Perfect JSAT to launch low Earth orbit imagery constellation, committing $230M to growing beyond geostationary business / full item

• Australia: Cell Bauhaus gains Gates Foundation grant of Au$3M to further develop 'digital twins' tech to to investigate how genetic changes alter cellular behavior / full item

• Thailand: Securities and Exchange Commission is to launch debt instrument trading using distributed ledger tech, looking to boost securities firms' participation in digital token trading / full item

• Thailand: National Security Council meeting resolves to cut electricity to Myanmar border areas in bid to curb transnational crime and call-centre scams / full item

• "United Nations Joint Programme on Inclusive, Competitive, and Responsible Digital Philippines (Digital PINAS) will build a digital ecosystem for MSMEs in remote regions..." / full item

i) US Postal Service has temporarily halted acceptance of international packages from Hong Kong and China, following suspension of de minimis trade provisions / full item

ii) US Postal Service overturns all-stop on processing China-Hong Kong parcels, and is now once again accepting parcels of low-value, duty-free packages / full item

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"To reduce the impact of the changes, Temu has increased its focus on promoting items stored in U.S. warehouses, allowing it to bypass the tariffs that would have affected direct shipments from China." / full item

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• Australia: DeepSeek is to be banned from all federal government devices over concerns around national security / full item

• 8 nations including South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia have so far restricted access to DeepSeek AI services to some degree, citing concerns over data privacy / full item

• Singapore: SEEDS Capital, investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, sets $110M to catalyze further investment in advanced manufacturing, medical-tech, agri-tech, space-tech and more / full item

• Taiwan: Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm is now producing clean energy at design capacity of 640MW, with 80 wind turbine generators in operation / full item

• Malaysia: U Mobile reportedly to deploy up to 7000 5G sites as the country’s second 5G operator, partnering with other operators and sharing infrastructure to keep cap-ex costs down / full item

• China: Discovery of copper reserves of over 20M tons in Tibet is set to significantly boost China’s mineral industry with implications for global markets, technology, and geopolitics / full item

• China's UnionPay and Malaysia's Bank Simpanan Nasional partner to launch UnionPay QR payment system in Malaysia / full item

• Australia: Victoria state startup agency, LaunchVic, is offering grants up to Au$300K to VC funds and angel groups to set up in Victoria and back local startups / full item

• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launches 5th satellite to further develop domestically-managed QZSS sat-nav positioning system / full item

• South Korea: Gwanak district is to demand that Korea's fiat-trading crypto exchanges provide data on residents who failed to pay taxes, looking to seize and liquidate crypto assets / full item

• South Korea: Gwacheon city to employ 'electronic virtual asset seizing system' to seize, freeze, and liquidate cryptocurrencies from tax-dodging residents / full item

• China's UnionPay, Indonesia Payment System Assoc'n, Ant Group International, and Bank of China Hong Kong Jakarta Branch partner for cross-border QR code interconnectivity / full item

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"The global floating solar energy market is set to be dominated by the Asia-Pacific region, led by India, China, and Indonesia through to 2033..." / full item

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• Vietnam: Indonesia's Indosat telecoms major targets Vietnam’s automated vehicles market, partnering Xanh SM for IoT infrastructure and smart mobility solutions / full item

• Australian Electoral Commission has relaunched its 'Stop and Consider' campaign, aiming to educate around the risks of misinformation and AI-driven manipulation / full item

• India: A brief overview of the impressive growth of the country's startup and innovation ecosystems, and programs / full item

• 5 Australian startups secured $3.6M collectively from NASA's 'Moon to Mars' supply chain capability grants program / full item

• Malaysia: U Mobile data service firm inks MoU with Sarawak Digital Economy Corp'n to facilitate delivery on the Sarawak Digital Economy Blueprint 2030 / full item

• India: Recently-launched NVS-02 navigation satellite is stranded in a transfer orbit following failure of onboard propulsion, possibly to result in an unplanned re-entry to atmosphere / full item

• India: Suchi Semicon firm is to establish an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly & Test - OSAT - facility in Surat, locating near to Micron, Tata Electronics, and Kaynes Semicon facilities / full item

• Philippines: World Mobile, a blockchain-backed mobile network, partners DITO CME, parent of Dito Telecom / full item

• India: Gallabox raises $3.5M with platform enabling SMEs to use AI to automate company communication on WhatsApp / full item

• South Korea: Overheating cryptocurrency mining rigs caused a major fire in North Jeolla Province, emergency services have claimed / full item

• 'Vietnam's silicon dreams: Building nation of startups, AI leaders' - a brief overview of the country's moves to develop a position in the global technology space / full item

• Hong Kong: Tencent-backed WeBank enters Hong Kong Web3 space with launch of WeBank Technology Services subsidiary / full item

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"China’s national space endeavors have frequently grabbed headlines, but a transformation at the local level is playing another role in China’s broader space strategy." / full item

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• China: National table tennis team is to disband athletes' official fan clubs on social media in bid to curb 'toxic fandom', spotlighting an issue also affecting entertainment / full item

• Philippines: An intro to eTap, helping Filipino motorcycle couriers and delivery agents with digital payments with a nationwide kiosk network / full item

• Australia: Westpac invests Au$10Min Lawpath to offer customers affordable legal services / full item

• Thailand: Gov't unveils extensive plan to reform transport infrastructure in bid to position as a pivotal logistics hub with a series of mega projects spanning land, sea, and air transportation / full item

• Australia: MyGigsters fintech raises Au$1.1M with focus on helping gig economy workers track income and spending to provide hyper-personalised, actionable insights / full item

• Supply chains in a fractured world: "Powered especially by investments in the electric vehicles and electronics manufacturing industries, regional economies like Vietnam could win big." / full item

• India: MetaShot gaming startup raises $1.2M with 'smart bat', allowing players to translate real-world cricket shots into web-game actions / full item

• Taiwan: Ministry of Digital Affairs announces that public sector workers will be banned from using China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence services, citing concerns over data leaks / full item

• DeepSeek is under investigation in Italy and Ireland over questions surrounding data privacy, and relating to EU data protection laws / full item

• 'What DeepSeek r1 Means — and What It Doesn't', a deep-dive: "Public policy can diminish Chinese computing power; it cannot weaken the minds of China’s finest researchers." / full item

• Australia: NSW EdTech Summit is set for 11-12 June in Sydney / full item

• "Paradoxically, some of DeepSeek’s impressive gains were likely driven by the limited resources available to the Chinese engineers..." / full item

• "Since early 2024, reports have emerged of idle computing centers in China. And in September, renting NVIDIA AI chips in the cloud was cheaper in China than in the US." / full item

• Collateral damage in semiconductor supply chains: "...in its 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility report, TSMC admitted its facilities in Hsinchu consumed 63,000 tons of water a day." / full item

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"Malaysia’s blueprint to develop infrastructure for the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone... on a project-by-project basis is a pragmatic and cautious move, keeping in mind the country’s debt..." / full item

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In wider-world technology news:

» GSMA launches 'GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI', focusing on developing capabilities and innovation in low- and middle-income countries / full item

» Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has ordered a ban on the use of China-based services from DeepSeek, RedNote and Lemon8 on government devices / full item

» Countries Draw Battle Lines Ahead of 'European Launch Challenge' / full item

» Microsoft is to buy over 7M tons of carbon credits from reforestation firm, Chestnut Carbon, enabling CC to reforest 60,000 acres of land across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas / full item

» Switzerland's largest bank, UBS, takes major step into blockchain tech with experiment around enabling 'digital gold' investments for retail investors / full item

» 'Embracing the Quantum Economy' from the World Economic Forum, and Accenture "...quantum computing alone expected to generate between $450 billion and $850 billion annually by 2035." / full item

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"For many archivists, alarm bells are ringing. Across the world, they are scraping up defunct websites or at-risk data collections to save as much of our digital lives as possible..." / full item

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