Asia's Tech News, Weekly: March 8th 2025
Malaysia-ARM chips, China-Pakistan astronauts, Honor's $10BN AI bid, China boosts RISC-V moves, South Korean space goals, Japan's ultra-compact moon rover, Vietnam data centre funding...
• Malaysia is to invest over $250 million across the coming decade, leveraging ARM Holding expertise, to build out the country's AI and semiconductors ecosystem / full item
• India: Reliance Jio telco is to introduce a cloud-based PC platform, alongside JioBrain AI services, likely to have major impact given the telco's 460 million-plus subscribers / full item
• China and Pakistan ink astronaut training agreement that could see the first international astronaut on China's Tiangong space station / full item
• India: Micromax consumer electronics major launches 'Startup Energy', partnering China's Jinchen to manufacture high-efficiency solar panels in India / full item
• In January, the Bank of Papua New Guinea, Japan's METI, and Soramitsu developer completed a Proof of Concept for a PNG central bank digital currency, the Digital Kina / full item
• Australia: Esper secures Au$5M to identify and map critical minerals, and more, from space / full item
China: "...home appliance manufacturers such as Haier, Hisense and TCL Electronics have joined automakers and tech heavyweights like Huawei and Tencent in saying they will be using DeepSeek’s models." / full item
• China: Honor smartphone maker is to allocate $10BN over 5 years to developing AI for its devices, moving to develop a system of AI-powered PCs, tablets and wearable tech / full item
• Australia: Hackers claim to have published a trove of sensitive data belonging to IVF patients after a 940GB hack on Genea, one of Australia's largest fertility providers / full item
• Malaysia: ARM semiconductor and software design giant is set to ink an agreement to establish a base In Malaysia / full item
• China: Cities including Guangzhou, Inner Mongolia's Hohhot, Ganzhou, and Wuxi have taken steps to enhance administrative efficiency with 'AI employees' / full item
• Singapore's DBS bank expects to cut circa 4000 roles over 3 years as artificial intelligence takes work currently done by humans / full item
• South Korea: National space agency is to invest a combined $562.5M in R&D projects in 2025 in bid to lift South Korea into position as 1 of 5 global leaders in aerospace, and space, sectors / full item
• China is reportedly to issue guidance to boost use of open-standard RISC-V chips nationwide for the first time, further lifting efforts to curb dependence on foreign technology / full item
• Vietnam: Saigon Asset Management unveils plans for $1.5BN data centre campus in southern Vietnam, alongside launching a $300M fund to boost data centre investment in the country / full item
• Australia: Feasibility licenses have been awarded for 3.2GW offshore wind energy projects off the coasts of New South Wales and Victoria, set to power millions of homes / full item
• China: World's largest power-class floating wind turbine preps for testing, claiming one turn of the blades as capable of supplying electricity for a family for 2-4 days / full item
• 'Vietnam's Semiconductor Industry: Progress and Outlook Beyond 2025', a snapshot overview of key details / full item
• Taiwan's TSMC to invest 'at least' $100BN in chip manufacturing plants in Arizona, US, facilities over 4 years, adding to earlier pledge of $65BN investments in the country / full item
China's EVs-to-humanoid-robots pivot: "Technical know-how and existing supply chains give Chinese electric-vehicle makers a significant head start in the sector..." / full item
• China: Taiwan's Foxconn commences $137 million New Business Development Group HQ construction in Henan province, looking to focus on EVs, energy storage and emerging industries / full item
• Korea AeroSpace Administration's strategic plans for space transportation, satellites, and space science exploration have been approved, looking to become a space power / full item
• Vietnam's Vingroup conglomerate inks MoU with JTA Investment Qatar private equity fund for potential investment of $1BN in EV maker, VinFast / full item
• Philippines: World ID Orb verifications are now available in select cities in Bulacan province, tho implementations so far have been conducted as pilots in private settings / full item
• Philippines: Packworks finds sari-sari stores made significant sales of premium items, a significant development in the 'corner stores' market / full item
• China: Companies ramp up orders for NVIDIA H20 AI chip, created specifically to satisfy US tech curbs, in response to the success of DeepSeek's alternative model / full item
• Japan: Research team has developed world's largest 'biohybrid' robot hand, combining cultivated human muscle tissue and traditional robotics / full item
• Japan: Dymon Co ultra-compact Moon rover launched via SpaceX rocket from NASA Kennedy Space Center, set to be world's first private firm to explore and photograph lunar surface / full item
• Australia's Fleet Space satellite exploration firm partners US hydrogen company, Koloma, to speed discovery and development of natural hydrogen, globally / full item
• South Korea: Prosecution service formally launches specialized cryptocurrency crime investigation unit to fight crypto scams and coin fraud / full item
• AUKUS security grouping looks to Japan for possible joint research on artificial intelligence-backed drones for use in surveillance, information collection and more / full item
• Japan: ispace preps for its Resilience moon lander to attempt touchdown on June 6th, which may make ispace the first Japanese private company to accomplish the feat / full item
India is now exporting Apple components to China and Vietnam, illustrating the success of the government's 'Make In India' initiative / full item
• Vietnam: Techcoop agri-tech platform closes $70M Series A round with end-to-end solutions for export-oriented supply chains, particularly focused on MSMEs and 'farmer clubs' / full item
• 'How Japan is championing a regional startup economy', from the World Economic Forum / full item
• Vietnam: Prime Minister shares that his government is looking to rapidly issue a licence for Starlink to provide satellite internet services in the country under a pilot scheme / full item
• Thailand Tourism Authority partners China's Baidu search giant to lift its image among Chinese tourists following safety concerns around a recent abduction in the country / full item
• India's Paytm fintech app partners US AI firm, Perplexity, to integrate AI-powered search, giving 'instant and reliable information on financial planning, market trends, and everyday queries' / full item
• South Korea: US Avride self-driving tech company partners Hyundai Motor Co to expand Avride robotaxi fleet, with deal also signed to jointly develop and operate self-driving vehicles / full item
• China: EHang autonomous aerial vehicles firm partners JAC Motors and Guoxian Holdings to build an eVTOL manufacturing base in Hefei in Anhui prefecture / full item
• Indonesia: Bumame health-tech startup gains pre-A funding, backed by 500 Global, to develop platform delivering advanced health diagnostics, proactive screenings, and personalized health plans / full item
• China: Zhipu AI raised over $137M in new funding, just months after landing a 3 billion yuan investment / full item
• Singapore has charged 3 with fraud, believed to be concerning movement of advanced NVIDIA chips from Singapore to China's DeepSeek artificial intelligence firm / full item
• Taiwan's TSMC is reportedly looking at investment in South Korea's AI-focused semiconductor firm, FuriosaAI, which is separately in acquisition negotiations with Meta / full item
• Australia: Tendl secures Au$2M pre-seed with AI-driven platform to streamline tendering process for government suppliers, making it easier to write, submit and complete tenders / full item
Japan's KDDI successfully tested drone delivery to a remote village, Urayama, covering 7km and delivering a 3kg package autonomously, using Starlink services across no-coverage areas / full item
• 'Bangladesh's government fact-check page seeks to tackle disinformation, but critics say it risks turning the government into an arbiter of truth.' / full item
• PwC India launches the Emerging Tech Startup Challenge - applications close May 5th / full item
• A brief overview of the recent Singapore Int'l Foundation Climate Hack 2024 Pitch Day, and the 3 teams that won on the day / full item
• New Zealand: Startup Weekend Tairawhiti 2024 is set for April 26-28 on the North Island, a 54-hour sprint to go from idea to MVP / full item
• Australia: Zeller rolls out 'Zeller for Startups', aiming to address and simplify the unique financial management challenges faced by Australia's tech startups / full item
• Download: 'Global Islamic Fintech Report 2024/25' from Qatar Financial Centre / full item
• Indo-Pacific Insight, Weekly: March 1st 2025 Vietnam in the South China Sea, Cambodia's border SEZ, Indonesia-Russia defense talks, China-Laos AI Centre, Pacific Islands & France, DPRK's new warship... / full item
In wider-world technology news:
» Holland's Fortaegis BV is in investor talks to raise over $10M to build specialized chips featuring security including physical 'fingerprinting' and software architecture / full item
» Amazon Web Services unveils Ocelot quantum computing chip prototype / full item
» Demo from AI-HR tech startup in Y Combinator's current cohort sparked a backlash on social media, with one commentator describing it as 'sweatshops-as-a-service' / full item
» OpenAI launches GPT-4.5, its largest model to date, with costs involved potentially limiting the model's continued use / full item
» In 2024, DISA Global Solutions, a US background-screening and drug-and-alcohol testing firm, suffered a data breach impacting 3.3 million people, revealing Social Security numbers and more / full item
» Global Startup Pitch 2025 travel-focused competition is open for applications / full item
» Starcloud gains NVIDIA partnership with space-based data centers, aiming to leverage solar energy for operations and dodge water-cooling issues by using vacuum / full item
» Google is testing 'Career Dreamer', an AI tool to help people explore career possibilities by finding patterns across experience, education, skills, and interests / full item
More than 20 civil service employees resigned late February from the US Department of Government Efficiency, refusing to use their expertise to 'dismantle critical public services' / full item
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And here's the link to the LinkedIn edition of Asia's Tech News, Weekly to March 8th 2025:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/asias-tech-news-weekly-march-8th-2025-startup-news-asia-omckc/