Asia's tech news, weekly: July 4th 2023
Indian space-tech, Facebook in Cambodia, Asia's alt-meats, Japan and Starlink, TSMC in Arizona, HSBC & digital assets, China & black market chips, Alibaba enters Spain...
• Japan adopts its first space security blueprint, aiming to better utilize the frontier for defense purposes over the next 10 years, responding to increasing military use of space by China and Russia
• The digital yuan - PRC currency of first resort?: "Just this year, the PBOC counted digital yuan in the official measure of cash in circulation for the first time."
• Hong Kong: Prenetics genomics and precision oncology firm partners professor for Insighta early cancer detection screening JV, with 5000-patient clinical trial set for early 2024
North Korea: "...still heavily focused on information collection, or cyber-espionage, and they conduct more of those operations than they do financially motivated or financial theft operations."
• 'The growing centrality of India in Australia’s Indo-Pacific policy' via Observer Research Foundation
• India to join Artemis Accords civil space exploration initiative, with space agencies Indian Space Research Organisation and NASA to partner for 2024 International Space Station mission
• Asia-Pacific Society for Cellular Agriculture and Japan Ass'n for Cellular Agriculture ink MOU to develop markets and regulatory structures
• Taiwan-South Korea ties grow: "...still compete as fellow exporters of tech hardware, but now keen on working together to weather world geopolitical shifts..."
• China's Nio electric vehicles firm gains $738M from CYVN Holdings, a smart mobility-focused investment vehicle majority-owned by Abu Dhabi gov't
• Japan's military reportedly now testing Musk's Starlink satellite communications service, potentially adopting the tech next fiscal year
"Global weekly cyberattacks rose by 7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2023... India recorded an increase of 18% in weekly cyberattacks in the first three months this year."
• China cloud computing concerns: "...Beijing could use Chinese data centers in the United States and abroad to gain access to sensitive data, echoing concerns about Chinese telecom gear and TikTok..."
• HSBC Vietnam and Dat Bike e-mobility firm ink agreement around digitizing financial operations, and overseas presence allowing foreign investment
• Cambodia: Meta Oversight Board recommends Cambodian PM's Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for 6 months over threats to opponents; and…
• Cambodia: PM quits Facebook following ban for threatening political opponents, but walks back possible FB ban, instead expelling FB reps from the Kingdom
• Australia: Financial regulator imposes requirement on Medibank to hold extra $250M in capital to 'expedite remediation' following huge 2022 data breach
• Japan and European Union partner to exchange information on subsidies and other supports given to semiconductor firms, also coordinating with the US to manage supply chain issues
• Taiwan's TSMC to add to workers in Arizona to speed $40BN factory construction, aiming for fabrication facility to be operational by 2024, and 2nd facility by 2026
"[Oppo’s] Zeku is a major casualty in China's campaign to become self-sufficient in...the chip industry... By the time its parent pulled the plug, it was the country's 5th-largest chip designer..."
• India: Maharashtra offers Taiwan's Gogoro 'Ultra Mega Project' to manufacture e-vehicles, battery packs and swap stations, and to deploy infrastructure from late 2023
• National Bank of Cambodia and National Bank of Rwanda held talks around establishing the Bakong online payment system in Rwanda, building on Laos and Vietnam moves
• China's Alibaba enters Spanish market with El Corte Ingles, Europe's largest department store by sales, pursuing opportunities in digital retail and a common framework for omnichannel business
• The problem with 'Digital India'? "In the last five years, India has seen more internet shutdowns than any other country in the world."
• Singapore's Smart Fintech For You gains Indonesia central bank service provider licence, building on presence in Hong Kong, UAE, Thailand and Philippines and 70-currency options
• HSBC now allows customers to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds - ETFs - listed on HK Stock Exchange, via mobile app
"Led by a Chinese [VC] fund [Weichong Semiconductor Group] set up a sister company with the stolen technology in China and began to produce our technology and market to our customers from China."
• India: Gov't published 'Critical Minerals for India', a comprehensive list of minerals required for sectors including defense, agriculture, energy, pharmaceutical and more
• New Zealand: Cogo, carbon footprint management fintech, raises NZ$1M with services to banks, help bank customers measure and reduce their carbon impact
• TikTok's recently-announced aim to invest billions in SE Asia in the next few years, doubling down on the region's 630M citizens, half of whom are under 30
• Taiwania Capital $200M sovereign fund to back 4 more EU and CEE firms this year, focusing on biotech and life sciences, with $865M in total assets currently under management
• China faces further tech restrictions with Dutch gov't adding regulations requiring further licensing for ASML deep ultraviolet semicon gear, with limit on extreme UV machines already in place
• Singapore: Sunrate digital payment platform gains funding in round led by Prosperity7 Ventures, fund under Saudi oil group's Aramco Ventures, and also featuring SoftBank Ventures Asia
'Having laid off more than half its US workforce and turned its attention to China, autonomous truck software pioneer TuSimple is taking steps to exit the US market it once led.'
• Indonesia: Finture, parent of Yup Indonesia 'buy now, pay later' aggregator, raised $15M, incorporating bank-backed pay-later card allowing on- and offline payments using national payment gateway
• 'Black Market A100s, and Twitter’s China Tech Connection' from ChinaTalk
• Singapore's UnaBiz looks to raise $100M Series C with retail tracking units capturing demand from retailers and manufacturers during freight delivery, without use of expensive telecom networks
• Taiwan: An intro to Storipress, an all-in-one content management system for global news sites
• Malaysia: iMotorbike platform for buying and selling used motorcycles, parts and accessories raises $256K Series A, with sights on new regional markets and inspection centres
"After a month of avoiding confirmation of its involvement in the Montana lawsuit, TikTok was outed by two of the suing TikTokers, who told the Times that TikTok was paying their legal fees."
In other news…
» Compact ramjet engine may make drones supersonic, delivering thrust at over 5x speed of sound, more than Mach 5
» Microsoft predicts less than 10 years to build quantum supercomputer able to perform a reliable one million quantum operations per second
» European Commission proposes legislation making 'digital euro' possible, moving closer to introduction of 26 country-spanning digital currency
» US Dept of Justice announced creation of cyber-focused section within National Security Division, prioritizing a coordinated response to national security cyber threats
» UK to gain first lithium mine in JV with French firm in bid to develop domestic supply chain for electric car industry
» US gov't reportedly mulling further tech export restrictions to China, specifically on AI-focused chips
» Wimbledon tennis competition to add AI-powered elements to coverage via IBM tech for audio commentary and captions
'The AI era promises a flood of disinformation, deepfakes, and hallucinated “facts.” Psychologists are only beginning to grapple with the implications.'