Asia's tech news, weekly: May 9th 2023
Economy-of-Things in Japan, EV ride-hailing in India, South Korea's K-Chips Act, Alipay+ in Singapore, lithium extraction in Australia, alt-proteins in Thailand...
• India: Army to develop Command Cyber Operations and Support Wings in recognition of growing issues in technology, online operations and communications
• Japan's Sumitomo partners Vodafone for new 'Economy of Things' business, aiming for ecosystem within which vehicles, devices and machines interact and transact via secure digital platform
• South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group to launch $36.5M fund to invest in tech startups from Japan and Korea
"...we are seeing adversaries, both nation-state and criminals, starting to experiment with the ChatGPT-type generation to give them English language opportunities."
• Australia: Applications close July 7th for fintech startups to enter the Pitch, backed by AWS, Fintech Australia and others
• China: Galaxy Space preps military applications, aiming for broadband and 5G connectivity for satellite constellations to assist hypersonic weapons program
• India: BluSmart Mobility ride-hail and charging provider raises $42M with all-electric ride-hail fleet of 3500 vehicles and plans for 10K EVs in 2024
• South Korea: Gov't recently passed K-Chips Act, a package of tax breaks and subsidies aimed at boosting the country's tech and semiconductor manufacturing sectors
• Australia: Adelaide's Paladin Space is developing an orbital collection-and-compacting solution to clear space debris
• Singapore: Network for Electronic Transfers payments group partners China's Alipay+, integrating payment option into SGQR system available to 11000 merchants
"...cyber security firm McAfee said 47% of users in [India] have either directly faced, or know individuals who have faced AI voice cloning-based cyber scams in the first three months of this calendar year."
• Japan sees rise in cyber-attacks, believed to originate from one source, in approach to May G7 Summit, set to host leaders of UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, and the EU
• Singapore Early-Stage Emerging Tech Startups 2022 landscape report is now available from SGInnovate, looking at physical sciences-, life sciences- and engineering-focused solutions
• State-run China Telecom joins generative AI stampede with CTYun cloud unit's forthcoming release of LLM service
• Singapore: Dyson tech major to construct next-generation batteries plant in Singapore to focus on new products, part of an ongoing Sg$1.5BN investment in the city-state
• Japan: Sumitomo trading house preps for sales of insect-based feed for farmed fish in Japan later this year; sights on generating 30,000 tonnes of insect feed by 2030
• India: Esmito battery-swap provider partners ElectricFuel EV charging service for 'Energy as a Service' platform and network to widen access to affordable, high-performance battery-swapping solutions
"Only 6 million of 260 million registered users actively paid with the digital [yuan] currency at the end of 2021 – a fraction of the billion devotees that transacted with Wechat and Alipay."
• Australia: Novalith gains Au$23M Series A with lithium extraction method cutting costs across processing, plant and plant footprints by up to 65%, 50%, and 25%, respectively whilst using 90% less water
• BNP Paribas to partner Bank of China, linking corporate client accounts to digital yuan wallets to integrate in smart contracts, supply chain finance, cross-border payments and more
• Indonesia: Bukalapak e-commerce giant recorded net loss of over $68M in Q1 2023 compared to net profit of $993M in Q1 2022
• Hong Kong: CMCC Global VC firm to launch $100M fund to back startups focused on blockchain projects, across Asia
• Malaysia's proposed revision of nation-wide 5G provision: "Allowing untrusted suppliers in any part of the network also subjects Malaysia's infrastructure to national security risks."
• A brief overview of the costs and challenges involved in Taiwan's TSMC establishing new semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the US
"...IPv6+ and its forerunner New IP are part of an explicitly political strategy formulated in 2017 by [China’s] Ministry of Industry & Info Tech... One focus of the...campaign are African countries."
• Australia: 'Microsoft on Wednesday argued against Australia focusing too much on sovereign tech capabilities and data storage requirements, telling a parliament inquiry it would harm competition and security.'
• Thailand: An interview with Thai Union's alternative protein managing director, a standalone position dedicated to alt-proteins, cultivated meat and seafoods, and more
• Cambodia: A brief intro to 5 of the Kingdom's startup incubators and accelerators
• Philippines: A brief video interview with ICT Department official, Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, discussing the country's startup ecosystem
• Australia: Inaugural Foodpreneurs Festival set for May 19th at Sydney Startup Hub, showcasing founders in food and drink, sustainability and packaging
• Philippines: A brief look at the recent Women In Blockchain event held in Manila, delivered by Binance and Yield Guild Games
"Taiwanese authorities have estimated there are 20 to 40 million attempted cyberattacks every month from Beijing..."
In other news…
» Amogy looks at converting ammonia to energy as a climate-friendly solution for shipping fuel, raising $139M from backers including Saudi Aramco
» NATO to open Japan liaison office to facilitate consultations with security partners South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, in part looking at cyber-defence
» Canada's University of Waterloo to end Huawei partnership, citing desire to safeguard scientific research and IP, and with concerns over espionage and foreign interference
» Researchers find Fleckpe trojan virus has been active since 2022, with 11 infected apps installing on 620,000 devices…via Google Play
"Florida has essentially banned the use of central bank digital currencies...its regional neighbor, North Carolina, as well as several other US states, seem likely to follow soon."
» Italian firm providing drinking water to nearly 500K people hit by technical disruptions following ransomware attack, affecting 125 municipalities in southern Italy
» Twitter: "...complying with more gov't [data access and post deletion] demands under Elon Musk. The company has not refused a single request since Musk took ownership..."
» Twitter identity verification under Elon Musk? "...someone has a phone and paid $8."
» Mozilla, parent of Firefox browser, acquires Fakespot, AI-driven service that helps identify fake online reviews to improve online shopping
» Google rolls out passkeys as a more secure option for account log-in
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