Asia's tech news, weekly: March 19th 2024

India' space news, Singapore semicon in Europe, Taiwan's alt-meat expertise, Make In Vietnam initiative, China loses sats control, TikTok fined in Italy, Australia-India tech...

• China: Status of two spacecraft uncertain following issues with achieving lunar orbit, with neither launch nor purpose officially announced

• Japan: A brief interview intro to EX-Fusion, working on laser-powered nuclear fusion as a next-gen clean energy source

• Singapore's Silicon Box semiconductors firm to invest $3.5BN in Italy to build a chip fabrication facility in the country's north

• India's home-grown RISC-V chips, DIR-V VEGA, debut in development boards

• Japanese and Swiss researchers successfully laser-etch circuits onto glass, triggering generation of electric current upon simple exposure to light

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Indo-Pacific: "For the first time, over 33 nations worked and trained together in the space domain, as well as air and land, establishing a new standard for multinational space operations."

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• Singapore: Infocomm Media Development Authority partners STABILITY Protocol blockchain for IMDA's TradeTrust, aiming for trusted interoperability of electronic trade documents across digital platforms

• Radio Access Network versus Open Radio Access Network, another aspect of the US-China technology competition

• India's NASSCOM and Australia's Business NSW ink MOU to facilitate market access for tech companies in the two markets, leveraging the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement

• South Korea: Rebellions AI chip firm preps for mass production of energy-efficient ATOM chips with Samsung as manufacturing partner for 5nm tech in H1 2024 and 4nm in H2

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'The rise of Pinduoduo and Temu: profits and secrets ' from The Financial Times

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• Indian Space Research Org'n finalizes New Generation Launch Vehicle project team, building towards space station ambitions under Space Vision 2047 plan

• South Korea's Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have ceased sales of used chip fabrication equipment to Chinese entities, in adherence to US export curbs

• Malaysia, and in particular Penang state, emerge as an unexpected winning destination for the global semiconductor industry as supply chains respond to geopolitical concerns

• Taiwan: A deep dive into the work done by the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Central Region Campus in developing plant-based and microbial alternatives to animal proteins

• China: Ellipspace satellite firm targets completion of Starpool, a comprehensive satellite network, in 2027, set to comprise over 100 300kg satellites

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'Honda and Nissan have put aside the “traditional approach” of fierce rivalry to join forces and work together on electric vehicle technology as Japan’s carmakers try to catch up with Chinese competitors.'

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• China: ZhipuAI gains undisclosed state fund backing, led by $6.9BN Beijing city government funds established in January to invest in pharmaceutical, healthcare, robotics and IT sectors

• Singapore: Japan's Toppan breaks ground on Singapore semiconductor packaging materials plant, targeting production of chip substrates by year-end 2026

• Make In Vietnam initiative: "It’s expected that 12-14 IT parks and software park chains will be developed in localities throughout the country by 2025, and the figure will be 16-20 by 2030."

• Samsung is set to receive $6BN from the US gov't with plans for a second chip manufacturing facility in the US, adding to chip project already underway in Texas

• Singapore: Monetary Authority has advised financial institutions to prep for post-quantum cryptography and quantum key distribution tech

• Australia: Investment NSW invites expressions of interest from NSW New Energy firms for participation in New Energy delegation to India, and to attend India Energy Storage Week in July

• Malaysia: An overview of MYCRS, using IoT and RFID to address the critical issue of concrete quality in the global construction industry

• Australia: LaunchVic 30X30 mentoring program unveils the 10 scaleups selected in pursuit of unicorn status

• India: Finance Minister states that cryptocurrencies cannot be a legal currency in India; they are simply assets for trading and speculation

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"...like the US, Australia is concerned about the data that TikTok collects, about the potential for that data to be shared with a foreign adversary, and about the potential for content to be weaponised by that adversary..."

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• TikTok hit with $11M fine in Italy over failure to properly moderate content that may harm young or vulnerable users, referring to 'French Scar' self-injury challenge on the platform

• Japan's Aeon retail group to launch an app-based digital banking business in Malaysia, targeting underserved segments of the country's financial economy

• South Korea: A brief video intro to Dilly, last-mile, door-to-door delivery robot recently approved for sidewalks

• New Zealand: AndFoods raises NZ$2.7M for development and marketing of allergen-free, seed-based creams and milk powders made from legume pulses

• Japan: Metro Gov't to open doors to new Tokyo Innovation Base in May in bid to make Tokyo the world's most startup-friendly city

• Singapore: SynPhNe lands $5M Series A with wearable tech for treatment of neurological disorders including ageing challenges - memory and functional decline - chronic stress and pain

• India: First 28nm semiconductors from Gujarat plant now under construction by Tata Group and Taiwan’s PSMC expected to be in hands by year-end 2026

• Australia: Former coal mine in Queensland set to become a Tesla Megapack grid-scale battery energy facility

• Taiwan's TSMC semiconductor giant set to receive over $5BN in US Dep't of Commerce grants for Arizona facility

• China: Li Auto preps to site 5000 super-charging stations across the country by 2025

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China: Gov't increases push for domestic-only tech: "...one foreign bidder failed to secure a contract despite offering a price they estimated was 30% lower than the eventual winner..."

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• Australia and Canada to partner on critical minerals, aiming to coordinate on supply chain security, sustainability, investment and beyond

• Romania formally rejects Huawei request for equipment to be used in Romanian 5G network citing 'national interest' in decision

• Australia: Cicada Innovations opens applications for Cicada x Tech23 2024 cohort, seeking Australian deep-tech innovators and solutions

• India: chargeMOD unveils growth plans, aiming to deploy additional 1200 EV chargers across India and 600 more in Kerala State, covering both fast- and slow-charge units

• Qualcomm Vietnam Innovation Challenge 2024 unveils the teams selected, working on solutions in facial recognition, healthcare, conversational AI and more

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'Creating a smart nation ecosystem in the Philippines' - APAC DAO, Elevandi Japan and Go Philippines at the recent Blockchain Social Philippines event

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• Australia: Kathleen Valley Lithium Project secures $230M loan agreement following lithium price collapse-prompted pull-out of previous support, with sights on mid-year production

• Taiwan's moves to ensure the next generation of talents and skilled engineers for the country's semiconductor industry

• China: Shandong Province launches digital yuan Ji Dan Entrepreneurial Loan program focused on boosting small business access to capital

• India: A brief look at the country's moves towards use of blockchain tech, with documents from 9 federal organizations and provincial governments now on-chain

• Malaysia: A brief intro to the 6 tech startups selected for the DiVA Digital Village Accelerator from Sarawak Digital Economy Corp'n and NEXEA

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'High demand for energy-related critical minerals creates supply chain pressures', a deep dive from the World Trade Organization

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• Download: 'Europe and the Indo-Pacific - Convergence and Divergence in the Digital Order' from the International Institute for Strategic Studies

• Japan: An interview intro to Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank's moves to develop regional startup ecosystems in the country, centered around Japanese universities

• South Korea's LG Electronics invests $60M in Bear Robotics, US firm specializing in AI-driven autonomous service robots, part of a transition for the company towards software-defined robots

• Japan: Takanawa in Tokyo to launch Takanawa Gateway City program in July, looking at tech startup and business creation in collaboration with University of Tokyo and other institutions

• India: Competition Commission launches investigation into Google over unfair and discriminatory practices allegations directed at Google in-app billing system

• China: Didi Chuxing ride-hail giant and Alibaba's Ant Financial reportedly in talks with Ofo bike-share firm around joint buyout, valuing Ofo at near $2BN

• Australian competition regulator calls for consumer, business and industry feedback on developments in and competition between search services, alongside trends such as generative AI use and search quality

• National Incubation Center of Cambodia launches, sited in Royal University of Phnom Penh, to build tech skills in the Kingdom's youth, with key startup relationship in place with South Korea

• Indonesia: AwanTunai raised $27.5M Series B with lending capital and risk management fintech focusing on SMEs in the fast-moving consumer goods sector

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China: "...electric vehicles with built-in fridges and even in-car karaoke systems are considered passé. Instead, carmakers are turning to increasingly novel add-ons from beds to cooktops to boost sluggish sales."

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• Australia: A brief intro to Great Southern Bank's new all-in-one mobile app, Australia’s first end-to-end digital banking platform focusing on businesses with less than 10 employees

• China: A little more on the successful small-scale tests of CASIC's T-Flight hyperloop train, using magnetic-levitation and a low-vacuum section of track to reach high speeds

• Thailand: Bangkok Business Challenge 2024, Asia's longest-running global student startup competition - applications are open

• Critical tech: February 2024 round-up of critical and emerging technology news coverage is now online, items from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific alongside wider-world tech news

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Silicon batteries: 'StoreDot’s near-term goal is a 100-mile charge in 5 minutes. In about 2 years the company expects that its EV batteries will drop to a 4-minute charge, towards a goal of 2 minutes...'

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In wider-world technology news:

» Putin signs ‘CBDC, Digital Assets Payments’ Bill into law, apparently fast-tracked in bid to help domestic companies use digital tokens and CBDCs to evade sanctions

» Major Russian companies reportedly under mandate to accept digital ruble payments from October 2026; smaller firms to accept the CBDC by October 2027

» United Kingdom commits $45M to $1.4BN European Union research and innovation fund, aiming to develop and manufacture semiconductors in Europe

» France rolls out National Strategy for quantum technologies with projected investments of $1.1BN over 4 years with additional investments via private sector

» Ericsson and Nokia reportedly expanding in-house chip design capabilities to better compete in 5G and beyond, effectively following Huawei's lead

» Interlune, targeting lunar explorations for helium-3 with plant construction in 2028 and commencement of mining by 2030

» MIT Tech Review looks at how open source tech, as provided by VotingWorks, may help improve trust in election systems

» McDonald’s states global technology system outage due to a configuration change by a third-party tech services provider

» Tor Project released a new Tor bridge for World Day Against Cyber Censorship designed to help users in heavily censored regions access the internet

» Online now: '2023 Cryptocurrency Gains by Country' from Chainalysis

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Europe's burgeoning startup hubs: "By 2021, some 98 cities across 28 countries in Europe had produced a unicorn — a start-up business with a valuation of at least $1BN."

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