Asia's tech news, weekly: May 30th 2023
Australia's SEC drops DLT, HK's cyber-scams headache, TSMC & Germany, e-bikes and battery-swaps in Vietnam, Samsung and Korean CBDC, China metaverse funding, tech nearshoring in Mexico...
• Taiwan's Quanta Computer electronics manufacturer to invest $1BN in northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon in 'nearshoring' move, taking it closer to US end-markets
• Australian Securities Exchange abandons blockchain tech or distributed ledger tech for revamp of Clearing House system, and now seeks a more conventional solution
• China: Tencent launches WeChat Pay palm-recognition payment in Beijing, allowing rail users to pay by placing hand on scanner which reads palm prints and vein structure
• South Korea: Dutch chipmaker ASM to invest $100M in expanding innovation and manufacturing facility in Hwaseong, focusing on semiconductors and R&D
Sophos State of Ransomware 2023 report: "Singapore reported the highest rate of ransomware attacks in this year's study, with 84% of organizations being hit in the previous year..."
• Startup Island Taiwan Podcast: 'Corporate Culture Decides The Success of Taiwan’s Cutting Edge Chips - A Conversation With Author Of ‘Chip War’'
• China: Deepfake scam surfaced in Inner Mongolia in which perpetrator used AI-driven face-swap tech during video call to impersonate victim's friend, duping a transfer of $622K
• Hong Kong: 1,408 victims collectively lost HK$26.1M from January to March this year to phishing and other cyber-scams
• Australia's Fleet Space Technologies hits $350M valuation with 'nanosatellites' with focus on identification of mineral deposits from space
• China: Gotion High Tech battery firm unveils L600 lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate battery, claiming to power a range of 1000 kilometers on a single charge
• Taiwan's TSMC in talks for German subsidies, potentially covering 1/2 of $10.7BN construction cost, with top subsidies being discussed placing Germany on par with Japan's TSMC bid
• China: Gov't of Zhengzhou in Henan Province unveil policy proposals to support metaverse firms, including plans for $1.42BN fund
• Singapore's Circles partners E& International for digital telco JV in Abu Dhabi
5G Networks Are Performing Worse. What’s Going On?: "Even the most robust 5G networks are barely cracking 1 gigabit per second, well short of the...stated ideal download speed of 20 Gb/s."
• Malaysia: Securities Commission orders Huobi Global to cease operations and promotional activity in the country due to the firm operating a digital asset exchange without registration
• China: HaomoAI self-driving car firm launches latest generation of low-priced autonomous delivery bot, following April launch of AI-backed DriveGPT
• South Korea: Taiwan's Gogoro e-bikes firm expands in partnership with Korea's Bikebank, launching the Dotstation brand
• Vietnam: An intro to Selex Motors, backed by Asian Development Bank, offering low-cost e-bikes and a network of pay-as-you-go battery-swap lockers
• China: State-sponsored Volt Typhoon hacking group identified by Microsoft as engaged in activities aimed at disrupting critical infrastructure organizations in the US
• Australia: AustCyber and Stone & Chalk launch AustCyber Innovation Network, aiming to boost innovation, fortify cyber security communities, and provide collaboration opportunities
• South Korea: Samsung Electronics and Bank of Korea to run joint research to develop central bank digital currency ecosystem
• Australia: An intro to 3 of the country's agri-tech startups, working on vertical farming, biotech, and indoor farming solutions
"The first drugs designed with the help of AI are now in clinical trials, the rigorous tests done on human volunteers to see if a treatment is safe - and really works - before regulators clear them for widespread use."
• India: EMO secures $1.2M with batteries for light EVs, running a cell-agnostic platform claiming full fire safety, 20-minute fast charging, and 120% improvement in battery life
• Singapore's Lazada unveils LazzieChat, an eCommerce-focused AI chatbot powered by OpenAI ChatGPT tech
• Australia's Immersion Group backed by Japan's Nissui seafood major with land-based cultivation of methane-reducing seaweed for use in cattle feed
• Malaysia: A brief preview of the upcoming Metaltech 2023 conference, an event focusing on smart machinery and smart manufacturing
• New Zealand: Gov't to partner New Zealand Steel to shrink carbon footprint of Glenbrook steel mill, including construction of electric arc furnace
• Australia: Former NSW digital gov't minister Dominello to take seat on Tech Council of Australia board, ensuring the board maintains a bi-partisan model
• Applications open for Founder Institute Sri Lanka & South Asia 2023 program, with multiple info and match-up events now scheduled
• Investree Philippines crowdfunding platform launches 'SME: The Heart of Investree' campaign, aiming to boost accessibility and affordability of working capital for the country's SMEs
• Australia: Latest edition of Silicon Beach Virtual Pitch Night from Silicon Beach Australia is set for June 1st, with pitch slots available
• Hong Kong: Amazon Web Services partners The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong to establish Cloud Innovation School
• Philippines: Kickstart Ventures to speed deployment of $180M startup fund, with sights on 4th fund once current fund is depleted
• Available now: 'ASTN Sports Innovation Report 2023' from the Australian Sports Technologies Network, looking at a sector now on-par with fintech, valued at Aus$4.25BN
• China: Jiangsu to permit digital yuan for education-related payments in public school tuition, accommodation fees, on-campus vendors, and exam registration
• Singapore: Crypto Asia Expo 2023 set for June 7-8, looking at all things crypto, blockchain, web3 and beyond
• TikTok commences testing of AI-driven chatbot in the Philippines, apparently using as-yet unknown third-party AI provider rather than in-house tech from either TikTok or parent, ByteDance
• China's Shein online fashion giant reportedly looking to Mexico for manufacturing hub, facing increased US lawmaker scrutiny
• MoneyHero, Asian personal-finance comparison site, to go public via SPAC - 'blank-cheque' company - backed by billionaires including Peter Thiel, with 9.8M monthly users
• Etiqa Philippines partners UBX open finance platform to offer 'Insure Now, Pay Later' plan to consumers with or without credit cards
• South Korea: Taiwan's Taishin Bank launches TaishinPay QR payment service for Taiwanese tourists, via Hana Bank subsidiary, GLN International
• Indonesia: Gov't-backed Startup Studio Indonesia accelerator program opens applications for 7th cohort
• Following China ban on Micron chip-maker, US House of Reps committee chair proposes trade curbs on Changxin Memory Technologies, China's main Micron competitor
In other news…
» US IRS to launch program posting cyber attachés across 4 continents to combat tax and financial crimes in crypto, decentralized finance, peer-to-peer payments and mixing services
» Meta makes bid for Twitter clone, to be partially integrated with Instagram, and decentralized and interoperable with Mastodon via ActivityPub protocol
» Ford EV owners gain access to Tesla's 12000 superchargers across the US and Canada in new partnership, with app-based payments integration underway
» Web3 startup Keyp is working on Game Wallet, a GameBoy cartridge intended to double as a cryptocurrency cold wallet
» Dubai plans new landmark building, Crypto Tower, aiming to be first building to be built using a smart contract, featuring community ownership due to each square foot being represented by an NFT
» International Committee of the Red Cross launched initiative to encourage players of first-person shooter video games to follow the 'rules of war'
» Apple unveils multibillion-dollar deal to build some components in the US, with Broadcom designing and building 5G components
» Sanctions now on 4 large-scale entities believed to employ thousands of North Korean IT workers in generating illicit revenues for WMD and missile programs
More of Asia’s tech news headlines:
• App / Twitter / Facebook / LinkedIn / Connect / Web / Insta