Asia's Tech News, Weekly: June 28th 2025
China & quantum tech, Australia vs social media, Penang digital economy, Seoul's driverless cars, Fujitsu 2nm chips, ASML & China, Korea's largest data centre, Asia-Pacific space forum...
• The Startup ASEAN website is now online, outlining the initiative's mission, and looking to connect startups, investors, ecosystem builders and more / full item
• China: QuantumCTek Co claims to have activated a 1000-qubit quantum system, taking it within sight of IBM quantum tech standards / full item
• Fiji and Japan join in Project for Improving Cyber security Capability in the Pacific Island Countries agreement for 3 years to safeguard the region's infrastructure and government systems / full item
• Australia: "We are treating big tech like the extractive industry it has become. Australia is legitimately asking companies to provide the life jackets and the safety guardrails that we expect..." / full item
• Supply chains: Korea Zinc has made its first export of 20 tons of the strategically important critical mineral, antimony, to the United States / full item
• Malaysia: Penang Digital Economy Summit 2025 is set for August 9th in George Town, featuring the launch of the Penang Digital Economy Master Plan for 2025-2030 / full item
"Trial operations of self-driving freight trucks can now be conducted on all highways in Korea..." / full item
• South Korea: Seoul expands late-night self-driving taxis trial to all of Gangnam, citing zero-accident pilot scheme / full item
• Japan has commenced sharing cyberattack details with NATO member countries via the Malware Information Sharing Platform / full item
• Japan's Fujitsu is reportedly developing a 2nm CPU, MONAKA, based on designs from Arm and intended for AI and data center applications, with TSMC flagged for manufacturing / full item
• Australia's under-16 social media ban: "...the regulator's research found 37% of children aged 10 to 15 reported seeing harmful content on YouTube - the most of any social media site." / full item
• Huawei's new laptop "is powered by a chip manufactured using years-old technology, suggesting US sanctions are still preventing China from developing cutting-edge semiconductor technologies" / full item
• Philippine Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are to partner on projects including agricultural monitoring and disaster management / full item
• HardTech & DeepTech Commercialisation Accelerator applications close June 30th, seeking solutions from across Malaysia and wider Southeast Asia - via Digital Penang / full item
• Japan will require banks and credit card firms to use integrated circuit chip-based ID verification for non-face-to-face account openings, starting April 2027 / full item
• Malaysia: In May, Belgium's Melexis chipmaker expanded global operations in Sarawak, with plans to boost local hiring over 3-5 years / full item
• Thailand: Here's an overview of True Digital Park's Global Startup Program, and the associated Smart Visa Incubation Program / full item
• Data Center Asia 2025 Conference & Expo is set for July 15-17 in Hong Kong, connecting Asia's data center ecosystem leaders, innovators and investors / full item
• South Korea: China's Tencent is reportedly considering a $15 billion stake in Korean game giant, Nexon / full item
"...ASML has launched a project designed to discover and foster key engineering talent in China, in the latest show of its commitment to the market despite intensified US restrictions..." / full item
• South Korea: AWS and SK Group, South Korea's number two chaebol, have partnered to build the country's largest AI data center, powered by 60,000 GPUs / full item
• NVIDIA and Taiwan's Foxconn are in talks to deploy humanoid robots at US AI server-making plant / full item
• Pacific Island nation of Tonga's Ministry of Health has been hit by a ransomware cyberattack affecting its website and IT systems / full item
• Japan's SoftBank founder looks to partner Taiwan's TSMC to explore development of a trillion-dollar industrial complex, 'Project Crystal Land', in Arizona to build robots and AI systems / full item
• Vietnam: "On June 24, administrators and members of several large Vietnamese Facebook groups were startled to find their communities had disappeared without a trace..." / full item
• Thailand: 3 consortiums secure virtual bank licences, although doubts remain about innovation / full item
• Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum meeting is set for November 18-21 in The Philippines - provisional details are linked below / full item
• "China could take steps against the European Union after the 27-member bloc barred Chinese firms from most public tenders for medical devices..." / full item
• South Korea: The Bank of Korea, the nation's central bank, remains lukewarm on proposals to launch a won stablecoin following recent meeting with USD Coin issuer, Circle / full item
• Japan's Rapidus and Siemens partner to develop 2-nanometer semiconductor design and manufacturing processes / full item
• South Korea's Samsung is reportedly preparing for production at its US foundry, with plans to begin installing cleanroom and other equipment for 2-nanometer chips in 2026 / full item
• Online now: 'Executive Threat Landscape Report - Malaysia', looking at a range of emerging risks and developing cyber issues / full item
"Experts warn that Thailand’s rapid digital expansion is making it a prime target for cyber attacks as crypto exchange Bybit suffers a record $1.5 billion hack" / full item
• Thailand's Techsauce Global Summit 2025 edition is set for August 28-30, featuring business matching, expo, VC sessions and more / full item
• "While Japan ranks among the top G7 countries in R&D spending, the challenge is commercialisation. Most of that funding supports research that rarely makes it into the market..." / full item
• US Dep't of Commerce is reportedly considering revoking authorizations to chipmakers Samsung, SK Hynix, and TSMC, limiting availability of US goods and tech at their China facilities / full item
• Representatives from Cambodia and Japan meet to review proposed locations for a 'Green Special Economic Zone' in the Kingdom / full item
• "...as the adoption of GenAI grew by a staggering 890 per cent in 2024, the rapid growth of the technology brings with it considerable risks, particularly in the Asia-Pacific and Japan region." / full item
• Researchers in Japan have developed a plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours, offering up a potential solution for a modern-day scourge polluting oceans and harming wildlife' / full item
• Japan: Government, and industry major, TDK, to work with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy on offshore wind solutions, targeting development of domestic renewable energy supply chains / full item
• Cambodia Digital Trade Forum & Online Expo is set for September 12–13, aiming to lift awareness and participation in the Kingdom's digital economy moves / full item
• "Taiwanese cleanroom companies are receiving a wave of new orders as major global chipmakers expand production around the world, especially in the United States and Southeast Asia" / full item
• Japan: LifeCard and Pulse iD partner to launch Japan's first 'hyper-personalized credit card' / full item
China: "But this rigidly moderated online environment is about to face even stricter controls with the introduction of a state-issued national internet ID." / full item
• 2025 Digital News Report: 'For the first time, social media overtakes TV as Americans’ top news source' / full item
• "The responses of countries in the Asia-Pacific to Trump's 'reciprocal' tariffs are converging around three distinct strategies: negotiation, retaliation, or a wait-and-see approach." / full item
• "Legislation introduced Wednesday in Congress would block Chinese artificial intelligence systems from federal agencies..." / full item
'16 billion passwords exposed in record-breaking data breach, opening access to Facebook, Google, Apple, and any other service imaginable' / full item
In wider-world technology news:
» 'Finland will lead a new EU defense initiative called Quest to explore military applications of quantum technologies, focusing on computing, sensing, and metrology' / full item
"This month, New York's Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to build an advanced nuclear plant with the ability to produce at least 1 GW of power..." / full item
» Amazon Project Kuiper's second batch of satellites, 27 in this launch, successfully entered orbit / full item
» 'ChatGPT May Be Eroding Critical Thinking Skills, According to a New MIT Study' / full item
» 'As data center energy demand soars, startups are plotting their way into space-based computing with its promise of low-cost power and cooling.' / full item
» 'The glossy perfection of millennial content gave way to something that felt more ‘real’. But that was a mirage – and brands quickly caught on' / full item
"Meta Platforms' WhatsApp messaging service has been banned from all US House of Representatives devices, according to a memo sent to all House staff..." / full item
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And for those who prefer LinkedIn for their newsletters, here's the link to the June 28th edition of Asia's Tech News, Weekly published on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/asias-tech-news-weekly-june-28th-2025-startup-news-asia-mhdac/