Asia's tech news, weekly

Share this post

Asia's tech news, weekly: March 14th 2023

wadekwright.substack.com

Asia's tech news, weekly: March 14th 2023

SEA's largest telco merger, Taiwan's internet exposure, social media in India, HK's crypto scams headache, South Korean space-tech, wind power in Laos...

WK Wright
Mar 14, 2023
1
Share

• India: Delhi High Court rules use of obscene words on social media platforms must be regulated 'when it crosses a particular line’, and cannot be protected as free speech

• Laos: Thailand’s Electrons Siam Limited inks $692M loan agreement to finance 133-turbine 'Monsoon Wind Power Project' in Laos, set to be largest wind project in SE Asia

• Thailand: DTAC, subsidiary of Norway's Telenor Asia telecoms major, completes merger with True Corporation, the largest telecom merger in SE Asia

"...value of some 100 major generative AI companies totaled $48 billion in January, a sixfold increase from the end of 2020. OpenAI alone is valued at an estimated $29 billion..."

• China: QBoson quantum computing startup raised $14.4M, with state-owned telco China Mobile set to adopt the platform's applications

• Shark Tank Australia applications are now open for Australian citizens and permanent residents with startup business ideas

• Hong Kong: "2336 cryptocurrency-related scams were reported...last year – a 67% rise from 1397 cases logged in 2021. The cases involved about HK$1.7 billion in funds, a 106% increase from the year before..."


Deloitte: 2023 Semiconductor Industry Outlook
Deloitte: 2023 Semiconductor Industry Outlook

• Taiwan: Matsu islands' internet cables cut, with China the primary suspect

• Malaysia: Huawei lobbies for consistent, possibly developing, role in Malaysia, with new gov't to review predecessor's 5G plans, despite this likely leading to higher consumer costs

• Download: 'Trustworthy Use of Artificial Intelligence in Finance - Regulatory Perspectives from Asia Pacific' via Deloitte

"...a lot of the measures that ByteDance is now starting to introduce outside China with TikTok have already been tested aggressively [in China] with Douyin."

• Japan: Gov't to establish permanent flight routes over coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture for testing drones and flying car technologies

• India: Pixxel unveils first images from hyperspectral satellites, with plans for 24-satellite constellation by end of 2025

• China: MiraclePlus - formerly Y Combinator China - early-stage startup accelerator applications for the Fall 2023 batch are now open to founders globally


Indonesia Crypto Outlook Report 2022
Indonesia Crypto Outlook Report 2022 (direct pdf link)

• Japan: Fomm startup to launch service converting gasoline vehicles into EVs, alongside battery-swap service, potentially accelerating adoption in the country

• Pakistan: Trukkr raises $6.4M focusing on transport management and supply chain solutions for SMEs, alongside fintech solutions to digitise a largely unbanked and undocumented industry

• Philippines: Enstack raises $3M Series A with SME-focused e-commerce 'superapp' allowing management of multiple storefronts, inventory, payments and shipping

Sequoia in India and Southeast Asia' via TechCrunch: “Undergirding their strong conviction is a bet that India and Indonesia and other markets in South Asia will double and triple their GDPs in the next 10 to 15 years…”

• Thailand: Bitkub crypto exchange to invest in newly-established ThaiGPT, stepping into artificial intelligence R&D to explore business use-cases

• Qualcomm Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2023 unveils 10 startup teams selected, working on tech in fields including smart cities, robotics, IoT, agri-tech and more

• South Korea: Gov't to boost the country's space industry with initial investment of near $40M


China’s cyber ranges
CSET: A survey of China’s cyber ranges

• China: Momenta, GM-backed autonomous driving startup, reportedly looking at either Hong Kong or US IPO, potentially raising up to $1BN

• Australia: Uni of Melbourne to back 2 female-founded health startups -Kali Healthcare at-home pregnancy monitoring startup, and clinical trial participant recruitment startup Torch Recruit

• Vietnam: F88 gains $50M funding from Vietnam-Oman Investment Fund to boost microfinance, aiming to provide underbanked and unbanked with access to small emergency loans

Japan: Warpspace backed by Sompo insurance major, with satellite communications network using optical signals instead of electromagnetics, using less power and enabling higher data volumes

• Vietnam: LG Electronics lifts R&D center to corporate entity status to boost fast-growing auto solutions business, looking at software for in-vehicle infotainment systems

• Taiwan: Google parent Alphabet to launch $9.8M fund boosting Taiwanese media and digital competitiveness over the next 3 years

• China: U Power automotive startup unveils mass-producible 'skateboard chassis-by-wire', set to allow smart EV customization at a lower cost


Trustworthy AI in Asia-Pacific
2022 Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in the Asia-Pacific Region

• Australia's Investible VC firm partners UAE's Hub71 to support tech startups and early-stage firms in Abu Dhabi

• Singapore: GroundupAI secures $1.8M to help industrial firms prevent downtime of assets and improve safety with use of industrial IoT and artificial intelligence

• Australia: Legislation proposed to allow up to 2000 uni students and graduates each year to defer costs of startup accelerator programs using HECS-style loans

China's e-CNY challenge: "...at another shop in the mall...the frequency of customers using e-CNY was about 'once a month' since their establishment started accepting it last year."

• Concerns over Silicon Valley Bank collapse spread to China, given SVB's popularity for China-based startups fundraising in USD, and for some China-focused USD VC firms

• New Zealand: Kitea Health medtech startup raised NZ$6M with world-first wireless brain monitor for remote management of chronic illnesses, paving the way to clinical trials

• A brief look of SE Asia's education-tech space, touching on 6 startups from across the region


Tech regulation in Australia
Australia: Tending the Tech-Ecosystem - who should be the tech-regulator(s)?

And in other news…

» G7 economies to cooperate on 'urban mining', to mine e-waste as a source of rare-earth elements and industrially-important metals to combat supply vulnerabilities

» Fujitsu opens $100K Quantum Simulator Challenge to industry and academia to test quantum simulator on novel problems and real-world applications

» Startup funding in the global semiconductor space in February 2023 - 132 companies raised more than $4.5BN

» Dubai launches new crypto licensing regime, defining requirements for digital asset issuers and service providers

» Major EU tech legislation - Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act - aims to set a global gold standard for regulation of user-generated content

» Future Today Institute's 2023 Future Trends Reports are now available, looking at AI, fintech, space, supply chains and more

» Germany to commence cutting reliance on China-run telecoms equipment, following on from recent block on Chinese purchase of German chips plant

» European Commission to publish strategy for online virtual worlds, hoping to ensure healthy competition between metaverses

» Meta released potentially the most powerful large-language AI models to authorized researchers - which leaked into the public domain, making misuse likely

» Metaverse Universe Q1 2023 update, a visualisation of the virtual worlds sector


More of Asia’s tech news headlines:

• App / Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Connect / Web

1
Share
Comments
Top
New

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Wade K Wright
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing