Asia's tech news, weekly: March 26th 2024

India & France on SDGs, China space-ground comms, Australia & Just Walk Out tech, RISC-V chip news, Japan & quantum, Hong Kong CBDC bid, India deep-tech policy...

• Japan: Taiwan's TSMC to partner Sony and Toyota for over $20BN investment in second Japan plant, producing chip-on-wafer-on-substrate semiconductor packaging

• China preps launch of Queqiao-2 satellite with goal of relaying data between Chinese landers, rovers and spacecraft with ground stations in future lunar missions

• India and France partner for Indo-Pacific Triangular Cooperation Fund focused on climate solutions and UN Sustainable Development Goals outcomes in Western Indian Ocean and wider Indo-Pacific region

• South Korea's cloud firm, MegazoneCloud, lands solutions role with Europe's Terra Quantum, looking to develop quantum and deeptech applications for Asia and South Korea

• China's Starfive Technology chip design firm to open R&D center in Hong Kong, focusing on the company's RISC-V chips and alongside partnership looking at data center-focused chips

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"In 2023, Malaysia shipped RM975 million worth of rare earths to China, making it the second-largest source of imported ore for the Asian giant behind Myanmar, according to trade statistics from Beijing."

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• Hong Kong Monetary Authority rolls out Phase 2 of e-HKD Pilot Program, opening applications for proposals on potential use cases of a digital HK dollar

• Malaysia: MYStartup and Growth Charger accelerator unveil 26 startups selected for the MYStartup Pre-Accelerator Cohort 3 Programme

• China's Alipay+ to test Web3 vouchers with its D-Store platform, looking at small F&B business adoption across Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Chinese tourists visiting these countries

• Stripe payments giant expands Amazon partnership, implementing Amazon Just Walk Out payments tech in Australia and Canada, requiring only a card check-in on store entry

WEF: Industrial Metaverse

• Mastercard partners China's Alipay for near real-time cross-border payments, and for remittances to China, one of the largest recipient countries

• China: Ecarx auto tech firm, backed by Geely exec, unveils 7-nanometer AD1000 system-on-a-chip, claiming over 256 trillion operations per second

• Japan's recent cybersecurity outreach to Pacific Islands nations, connecting gov't officials and comms providers from Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati

• Australia: A brief look at the work of ELO2 Consortium, one of two consortia working with Australian Space Agency funding on the Moon to Mars Trailblazer Program Stage 1

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"A made-in-Taiwan satellite network could do more than give Taiwan an alternative communication system. It could establish Taiwan as a producer of key technology..."

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• China: Damo Academy, Alibaba's research arm, announces expected delivery of server-grade RISC-V processor later this year

• India: National deeptech startup policy reportedly now in the final stages of inter-ministerial consultations, with sights on an underpinning fund-of-funds

• Japan: New ABCI-Q supercomputer, designed to advance quantum computing research, to be powered by NVIDIA hardware and platforms

• Zed Philippines launches Mastercard Titanium credit card with no fees, transaction or service costs, targeting Gen Z and with unlimited 'virtual cards' as method to safeguard personal details

• Apple reportedly in preliminary talks with China's Baidu around possible partnership to use Baidu’s generative artificial intelligence technology for Apple devices in China

• A brief overview of results from a recent Australian study comparing Hydrogen batteries and lithium-ion batteries in both technical and financial performance

• Hong Kong Science & Tech Parks Corp unveils 74 global startups for biggest iteration of Elevator Pitch Comp 2024, drawn from semi-finals in HK, Silicon Valley, Stuttgart and Singapore

• China: Research advances in use of magnetic rail-gun technology to launch space vehicles at hypersonic speeds, tho viability remains uncertain

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EU Global Gateway Initiative: '...high-quality infrastructure and invest in environment, health, education and research, energy, and digital connectivity... can offer SE Asia valuable alternatives to the BRI...'

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• China: Xpeng electric vehicles maker to launch a cheaper EV brand as price competition heats up, compounded by falling sales

• South Korea: More on Rebellions AI chip-maker, partnered with Samsung and Korea Telecom and aiming to be 'Korea’s NVIDIA' for specialized processor chips

• South Korean Gov't joins Extreme Tech Challenge and UN Development Programme for 'Peace, Justice & Inclusive Society Startup Competition', to align tech innovation with Sustainable Development Goals

• Former president of Federated States of Micronesia, David Panuelo, to join Indo-Pacific Security Initiative from the Atlantic Council Scowcroft Center for Strategy & Security

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Video: 4 hours from the recent Build Startup Festival in The Philippines

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• India: An overview of the challenges India's nascent chips industry faces, both in terms of domestic funding capability and from China's chip industry export ambitions

• China-made surveillance cameras installed on Romanian NATO base raise concerns around cyber- and national security

• Australia: EnergyLab climate-tech startup accelerator unveils Decarb Debrief, a review of impact in 2023 - alumni collectively raised Au$289M in 2023, with Australia-based startups securing Au$124M

• Philippines: Axie Infinity rolls out developments in Yield Guild Games, moving into a 'guild protocol' model, effectively positioning as an infrastructure layer for blockchain gaming

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Vietnam's cybersecurity challenges: "Despite having the 12th largest internet user population globally, Vietnam's cybersecurity vulnerability has increased due to regular cyber-attacks..."

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• Japan: Fujitsu partners government-backed Riken research institute for generative AI tech in protein analysis, cutting a portion of drug development time by a factor of 30

• South Korea: A brief overview of the recent 'K-Startup and OpenAI Matching Day’ that took place in Silicon Valley, with 10 Korean startups set to gain from OpenAI support

• China: Nio EV major to launch sub-brand under the name China Ledao / Onvo in May this year, with models to primarily compete with Tesla Model 3 and Model Y

• Available now: 'Philippines Venture Capital Report 2024', from Boston Consulting Group and Foxmont Capital Partners

• Malaysia: An intro to Graphjet Technology, converting palm kernels into graphite for EV batteries and commencing production in H2 2024 with carbon and cost reductions compared to synthetic graphite

• China's TikTok is now under a national security review in Canada, in addition to a February 2023 ban from government devices

• Hong Kong: An overview of the upcoming BlockShow X BlockDown Asia 2024 event, and the Cointelegraph Accelerator Startup Connect element connecting Web3 and crypto startups with leading VCs

• Biden administration reportedly considering adding a number of Chinese semiconductor firms linked to Huawei to tech access and exports blacklist

• Thailand: Ramathibodi teaching hospital at Mahidol University gains US grant for WiFi tech feasibility study and pilot project, aiming to boost digitally-supported healthcare

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"BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund is represented by the blockchain-based BUIDL token, is fully backed by cash, US Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, and will provide yield paid out via blockchain rails every day..."

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• ICYMI: China General Nuclear Power Group partnered Laos government in 2023 for renewable energy base incorporating wind, solar, hydro and energy storage, feeding power generated in Laos to Yunnan province

• Animoca Brands invests in UAE's Eesee, web3 company allowing users to place small bids on high-value assets like cryptocurrencies, NFTs and tangible assets

• Philippines: A brief interview intro to AllSchool, an all-in-one digital campus solution which includes use of blockchain to issue and verify student certificates

• Vietnam: TechCoop raised over $5M with end-to-end digital and supply chain services for agri-focused SMEs and small farmers

WEF: Cybersecurity Futures 2030

• Startup Island TAIWAN and Singapore's Action Community for Entrepreneurship ink MOU to facilitate 'soft landing' support for startups in both countries

• Malaysia: StartupPenang500 applications are open to April 30th for 8-month Penang-focused startup development program

• 5 Australian and New Zealand startups that collectively raised over $36M in the past week, working on solutions in fintech, foodtech, advertising and more

• Philippines: Kaya Founders VC firm hits second close of 2 SEA tech startups funds, building on 44 companies currently with target of another 30-40 investments over 4 years

• Malaysia: Penang Digital Creative Week 2024 is approaching - applications for projects and proposals close April 26th

• India's Tech Mahindra IT services major partners IBM for 'Synergy Lounge' in Singapore, looking to boost enterprise-level adoption of next-gen tech services AI, automation, cloud computing and beyond

• Malaysia: A brief intro to First Move, an early-stage startup VC fund

• Download: National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Roadmap for The Philippines (pdf link)

Critical technologies: February 2024 summary

In wider-world technology news:

» Microsoft and Amazon to end Russian access to cloud platforms by month-end in response to new European Union sanctions over invasion of Ukraine

» Global semiconductor-related funding in February 2024, looking at 49 startups that raised over $800 million across quantum tech, photonics and more

» Meta unveils SceneScript for 3D scene reconstruction, combining artificial intelligence and augmented reality

» 28 jailed for up to 18 months for online harassment in France's largest cyberbullying case to date, with musician named as ringleader

» NVIDIA unveils new flagship B200 AI-focused chip, alongside growing focus on software and 'microservices'

» A quick overview of NVIDIA's importance in quantum computing, spanning research, education, innovation and hardware

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IndoPacific tech news: Other editions

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