Asia's Tech News, Weekly: November 16th 2024

Samsung's China chips, Japan semicon moves, NZ fusion energy, India cyber-fraud issues, Malaysia mulls nuclear energy, Korea-Thailand space tech, Japan-Peru critical minerals, Gujarat semiconductor...

Nov 16, 2024

• Japan: Government commits more than $65 billion in additional funding for semiconductor and AI tech development to 2030, with home-grown Rapidus a key beneficiary / full item

• Southeast Asia's data center growth: "The headline story will be the increasing importance of the SJB [Singapore-Johor-Batam] corridor..." / full item

• Samsung is reportedly to curb supply of chips 7nm and smaller to China firms, aligning with US limitations on tech access, with Intel likely next to cut supply / full item

• New Zealand: OpenStar Technologies hits a domestic nuclear fusion energy milestone, generating plasma for the first time / full item

• Philippines: "M-commerce is estimated to comprise 13.2% of the total retail market in the Philippines, which is projected to reach $83.7 billion (P4.7 trillion) by 2025..." / full item

• China's CAS Space commercial space launch firm launched 15 satellites into orbit including one for the Sultanate of Oman, marking the firm's first overseas customer / full item

"Cyber fraud is mounting in India to the point where the Indian government estimates it could amount to 0.7% of the country’s GDP — over $14 billion — within the next year..." / full item

• Malaysia: Government is considering small modular reactors as a power source, seeing SMRs as a small, safe, and more cost-effective energy option into the future / full item

• China: Dongfang Electric Corp unveils 26MW offshore wind turbine, world’s largest in capacity and size with 310m blade radius at 185m in height / full item

• Japan's Hyundai Motor has partnered China's HaomoAI autonomous driving software firm for China-market EV, set to feature generative AI-backed DriveGPT systems / full item

• Cambodia: Bakong Tourists app launches, a collaboration between Nat'l Bank of Cambodia and Mastercard, aiming to smooth local payments for international visitors / full item

• South Korea's Perigee Aerospace space launch firm and Thailand's Geo-Informatics & Space Tech Development Agency ink MOU to develop Thai space infrastructure and capabilities / full item

• Japan and Peru are set to ink collaboration agreement on minerals mining, with Japan providing development and tech expertise to resource-rich Peru / full item

Singapore Venture Funding Landscape 2024

• 'Looking to the skies: The importance of satellite cybersecurity' - "More than 7,500 operational satellites are estimated to be in operation, with thousands of launches planned..." / full item

• China's CATL in October launched the Freevoy battery for hybrid vehicles, claiming over 400km in fully-charged range, and 280km on a 10-minute charge / full item

• 'Semiconductor back-end manufacturing, less capital-intensive than strategic front-end chipmaking, is dominated by China and Taiwan, but Vietnam is among the fastest-growing countries' / full item

• Malaysia: Plug In startup conference is set for Petaling Jaya in Kuala Lumpur, December 2nd - panels & spotlights, pitches, exhibitions & networking / full item

• Japan: Bank of Yokohama and IBM partnered to trial generative AI for loan document creation, seeing potential time savings of up to 19,500 human processing hours annually / full item

• Singapore's Nium payments platform and JP Morgan's Kinexys boost collaboration on data supply to validate bank accounts in international payments to Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong / full item

"...by 2028, 23% of music creators' revenues will be at risk due to Gen AI..." from the report, 'AI & Music Market Development of AI in the Music Sector and Impact on Music Creators in Australia & NZ' / full item

• Malaysia: Labuan Financial Services Authority launches Shariah-compliant blockchain plan, and tax incentives, looking for the island territory to become a leading digital financial hub / full item

• Indian Coast Guard commences construction on $70 million Mahipalpur data center, connecting 109 offices and 88 ships / full item

• Vietnam: Government states that online retailers Shein and Temu must formally register before end-November or face having web domains and apps blocked in the country / full item

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co notified Chinese chip design firms it is halting production for them of chips at 7 nanometres or smaller, aligning with US sanctions / full item

• Australia: eLumina battery-tech startup launches $20M Gold Coast battery & EV charger pilot factory, partnering TAFE for industry-focused jobs and training / full item

• India: Gujarat rolls out India's first dedicated state-level semiconductor policy, with expected jobs boost of up to 53,000 / full item

• China: Baidu search giant deepens AI tech bid with text-to-image generation, no-code app creator, and AI-supported smart glasses / full item

• Taiwan: Hexa Renewables has installed the world's largest floating solar array off Taiwan's western coast, capable of supplying approximately 74,000 households / full item

• Indonesia's GoTo Group, and China's Tencent and Alibaba Cloud deepen partnership with Tencent committing $500M to a third data center, cloud services and talent development / full item

• Chip firms including TSMC and GlobalFoundries complete pre-agreement negotiations for grants under Chips & Science Act for US facilities, with Biden-Trump transition raising questions / full item

• Singapore: An interview intro to Transcelestial, delivering laser-based wireless connectivity / full item

• India: Odisha state startup, Bon V Aero, launches Air Orca, a fully autonomous logistics drone service, focusing initially on post-disaster support and delivery services / full item

Malaysia: "Johor, the southern state which borders Singapore, has drawn about 50 data center projects in the last three years, including from ByteDance and Microsoft." / full item

• JUST Finance, UBX open finance platform and consortium of Philippines banks partner for PHPX, a blockchain-based, multi-currency stablecoin exchange, targeting the Philippines' $40BN remittances space / full item

• Australia: Canada's BTQ Technologies quantum computing firm partners Macquarie University on advanced quantum algorithms and secure communications research / full item

• New Zealand gov't finalises Digital Identity Services Trust Framework, mandating rules and regulations for service providers / full item

• China: Construction begins in Ningxia on first of 3 large-scale green hydrogen facilities, targeting 16,500 tonnes annually for transportation, green ammonia and methanol / full item

• Hong Kong's Animoca Brands Web3 firm raised an additional $10M for Mocaverse, its platform for building open metaverse spaces, with an eye on consumer crypto adoption / full item

• South Korea: Ministry of Startups & SMEs has launched new 'Startup Korea Special Visa for Foreign Entrepreneurs and Startups' initiative, selecting on criteria including business viability / full item

• Download: 'Building the Australia-Asia Tech Corridor - Australian Investment in Asia’s Startups', a discussion paper from Tech Council of Australia and AsiaLink Business / full item

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp is reportedly to receive ASML's most advanced chipmaking machine before year-end, second only to Intel / full item

• China's Geely is reportedly mulling $95M stake in Germany's Volocopter eVTOL firm, gaining 85% ownership - "...the deal would slash the startup’s valuation from a peak of $1.9BN in 2022 to about $110M..." / full item

• India: ePlane Company eVTOL startup raised $14M, targeting manned air taxi testing by mid-2025 / full item

• Philippine Startup Week's 6th edition is on now, showcasing the Filipino tech startup ecosystem and featuring speakers from Product Hunt, Google Cloud, Ideaspace and more / full item

• China's PepperHi venture studio gains angel backing with global markets entry services for China firms, with initial focus on Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam / full item

• Download: 'Report on the Philippine Financial System, H1 2024' from the Philippines' central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas / full item

"Although TSMC plans to make 2-nanometer chips [abroad] in the future, its core technology will stay in Taiwan..." / full item

• "[Thailand's] Anti-Online Scam Operation Centre efforts have led to the suspension of 365,404 bank accounts linked to fraudulent activities, averaging 1,128 accounts suspended daily..." / full item

• China's Oppo smartphone giant and Hong Kong Polytechnic University are to launch a joint AI and imaging research centre, with Oppo pledging US$4.2M over 5 years / full item

• Canadian gov't has ordered TikTok social media giant to cease operations in Canada by the end of 2024, citing security concerns and TikTok handling of user data / full item

• 'The State of Fashion 2025' / "81% of consumers [in China] engaged in live commerce in 2023..." / full item

• Download: 'Empowering Australia's Digital Futures - Data Centres, essential digital infrastructure underpinning everyday life' / full item

• 5x5 Asia: 5 quick-fire tech news items in 5 minutes or less. Episode 2 is now online - semiconductors, space-tech, blockchain, quantum, and laser-based wireless / full item

• APEXE Nations Report has been launched by Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network, ranking countries' innovation and startup potential and effectiveness / full item

• Download: 'The Future of Commerce - On The Cusp Of Change', the 2024 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study "...[In SEA] mobile wallets are now neck-and-neck with cash." / full item

• "Over the last decade Singapore has received the most investment from Australia overall, representing 52% of Australia’s outgoing tech investment." / full item

"...despite Trump's threat to repeal Biden’s 2022 Chips and Science Act... experts say they don’t think he’ll ultimately do much more than perhaps tweak it around the edges." / full item

In wider-world technology news:

» What's in the new Building Chips in America Act and what does it mean for the semiconductor industry? From the World Economic Forum / full item

» Canada's Photonic Inc gains access to 19-mile Telus PureFibre network in British Columbia for real-world testing of quantum communications and encryption / full item

» Google Maps update blunder displayed the location of Ukrainian military systems, with the tech giant scrambling to remove images / full item

» Apple has reportedly added iOS 18 security feature that reboots iPhones after a few days of inactivity, incidentally making it harder for police to break into suspects’ devices / full item

» "AI hallucinations can also have a severe impact on cybersecurity. They may lead organisations to miss real threats due to the AI's bias from flawed training data..." / full item

» Amazon looks to smart glasses tech for delivery drivers in bid to speed the final stretch of order deliveries to customers / full item

» Mastercard sets sights on e-commerce verification using on-device biometrics and tokenization by 2030, phasing out passwords and card number entry / full item

AI vs creatives: "...Runway AI announced it was partnering with Lionsgate Studios, makers of... John Wick movies, to develop 'cutting edge, capital efficient, content creation opportunities'." / full item