Asia's Tech News, Weekly: May 10th 2025
China's EUV chips breakthrough, Hong Kong magnetic med-tech, Singapore-EU digital trade, New Zealand social media ban, Indonesia vs WorldCoin, Cambodia-Japan QR payments...
• Hong Kong: 'CUHK unveils world-first magnetically driven patient-derived blood hydrogel robot for precise brain tumour therapy' / full item
• Asia Pacific and Japan saw 51 billion web attacks in 2024, driven by AI use, up from 29 billion attacks in 2023, with Australia, India, and Singapore the most-targeted / full item
• Singapore and the European Union ink European Union-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement, EUSDTA, to enhance digital connectivity and streamline trade / full item
• Vietnam: VinFast launches small EB 6 e-bus, adding to its range of zero-emission commercial vehicles / full item
• More on Google's first geothermal energy deal in Taiwan, partnering geothermal energy developer Baseload Capital to bring 10 megawatts of clean power online / full item
"Meet China’s newest and most powerful Chinese domestic solution, the CloudMatrix 384 built using the Ascend 910C... in some metrics is more advanced than NVIDIA's rack scale solution" / full item
• Indonesia: Ministry of Communication & Digital has suspended operation permit of Worldcoin cryptocurrency and World ID system over lack of correct licensing / full item
• China's Momenta autonomous driving startup partners Uber for robotaxi services for international markets outside of the US and China / full item
• Hong Kong: Student team from HK University of Science & Tech has developed a 3D food printer powered by AI that can customize soft meals in 3 minutes for the elderly / full item
• New Zealand PM has proposed a social media ban for under-16s, modelled on Australian laws and set to mandate that digital platforms verify the age of users, or face heavy fines / full item
• Malaysia: Digital bank, Boost Bank, announces milestone of having disbursed close to $35M in financing to hundreds of Malaysian SMEs / full item
Video: 'Every Orbital Rocket Launch - 1957-2024' / on YouTube
• New Zealand Government is allocating $71M from its yearly $290m 'strategic science' fund towards boosting high-tech exports, focusing in this round on magnetic and materials tech / full item
• Asia Pacific: Google expands AI Opportunity Fund by $12 million to help more workers, SMEs and nonprofits in APAC make the most of AI in their communities / full item
• Malaysia: State-owned Center for Technology Excellence Sarawak expands skills training with Amazon Web Services, aiming to become Malaysia's premier AI state by 2027 / full item
• National Bank of Cambodia and Payments Japan Association ink MoU for cooperation on cross-border QR code payments between Cambodia's KHQR and Japan's JPQR / full item
• China: Ant Group is reportedly planning to list its overseas unit in Hong Kong / full item
"Brussels-based renewable lobby group SolarPower Europe has expelled Chinese electronics giant Huawei from its members amid an ongoing EU bribery investigation..." / full item
• Vietnam: Here's an intro to ELBOT, delivering a 6-axis robot arm targeting manufacturing competitiveness, labor quality, automation and beyond / full item
• South Korea: Presidential candidate states he would 'allow government agencies such as the National Pension Service and the Korea Investment Corporation to invest in virtual assets' / full item
• US Treasury Department seeks to bar Cambodia-based Huione Group from access to US banking system, accusing Huione of aiding North Korea's Lazarus Group launder crypto / full item
• Huawei CloudMatrix 384: Built using the Ascend 910C, competing directly with NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 and, on some metrics, more advanced than NVIDIA's rack-scale solution / full item
• Malaysia: Maybank sets RM200 daily transaction limit for reload services, aiming to limit opportunities for cyber fraud / full item
• New Zealand: Ministry for Women and online safety organisation Netsafe launch 'Free to Lead' toolkit help women and their employers address and prevent digital abuse / full item
• Philippines: A quick intro to the 3 winning student startups from the Big 3 Startup Showdown hackathon, working on solutions in online bookings, AI-powered fintech, and venue reservation / full item
• 'Indonesia emerges as new hub for Chinese solar firms amid Trump's tariffs on Southeast Asia' / full item
• New Zealand's central bank raises concerns around AI adoption posing risks to financial stability in latest Financial Stablity Report / full item
• How Gen Z Became the Most Gullible Generation: 'The almighty algorithm is fueling conspiracy theories among young people and ruining their ability to tell fact from fiction...' / full item
'The most recent releases of cutting-edge AI tools from OpenAI and DeepSeek have produced even higher rates of hallucinations — false information created by false reasoning — than earlier models...' / full item
• "Chinese researchers have cracked a barrier to the home-grown production of advanced chips by building an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source platform..." / full item
• South Korea: NextRise 2025 innovation fair is set for June 26–27 in Seoul, expecting to feature 500+ startups, 250+ global corporates and VCs, and over 3,600 business meetings / full item
• Macau: BEYOND Expo 2025 is set for May 21 to 24, presenting innovation, investment, and global collaboration opportunities focusing on consumer tech, climate tech, and healthcare / full item
In wider-world technology news:
» Apple is reportedly partnering Amazon-backed Anthropic for 'vibe-coding' platform that will use AI to write, edit, and test developer code / full item
» Amazon's Project Kuiper partners L3Harris to develop military communication solutions / full item
» 'Mark Zuckerberg Says Social Media Is Over' / full item
"Duolingo announced plans this week to replace contractors with AI and become an 'AI-first' company..." / full item
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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/asias-tech-news-weekly-may-10th-2025-startup-news-asia-vmgyc/
For those looking for a more geopolitically-focused update, and one with a focus on the 'smaller' pictures that underpin the bigger developments, you may be interested in the daily Indo-Pacific 5x5 newsletter over on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/indo-pacific-insight-7294644948576976896/
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https://indopacificinsights.substack.com/
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