Asia's Tech News, Weekly: October 25th 2025
Motors without rare earths, China's space moves, South Korea & climate-tech, AMD R&D in Taiwan, Pakistan's China-launched satellite, Singapore's Agnes AI agent, Indonesia's digital economy...
If you find Asia’s Tech News, Weekly interesting, why not support the newsletter by treating me to a cup of coffee via PayPal? Just this small bit of support helps me keep the updates coming
• Japan’s Honda Motor invests in Canada’s Enedym and rare earth-free motors, and associated patents / full item
• China: International Deep Space Exploration Association - IDSEA - was officially lauched in Hefei, Anhui Province / full item
• Philippines: Subic Bay Freeport strengthens ‘startup gateway’ credentials with launch of SBMA Business Acceleration Hub and Subic Bay Angel Investor Network / full item
• South Korea’s Gyeonggi Province unveils plan to foster 3 climate-tech ‘unicorn’ companies by 2030, positioning climate innovation as a growth pillar in Korea’s regional economy / full item
• Taiwan: AMD is reportedly to establish 2 new R&D hubs for photonics, AI, and more, with Ministry of Economic Affairs and university partnerships in the mix / full item
“SpaceX has deactivated over 2,500 Starlink terminals allegedly used by scam operations in Myanmar...” / full item
• Here’s a brief overview of South Korean tech solutions to the voice-phishing element presented by recent Cambodia-based scam compounds / full item
• South Korea: Proposed merger between Naver and Upbit crypto exchange operator, Dunamu, could create a company with profits totaling $2.1 billion a year / full item
• Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, SUPARCO, launched the country’s first Hyperspectral Satellite from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre / full item
• Singapore’s HitPay partners Triple-A crypto payment solutions provider to bring stablecoin acceptance to 20,000 small and medium-sized businesses / full item
• China’s Neolix autonomous delivery firm raised $600M, led by UAE’s Stone Venture, as the race to put self-driving ‘robovans’ on the road heats up / full item
• Philippines–Thailand Technology Corridor: A framework designed to deepen collaboration in digital innovation, technology ecosystems and inclusive economic growth / full item
• Malaysia: MEASAT enters agreements with China’s Guodian Gaoke and StarWin for IoT services supported by China’s Tianqi Low Earth Orbit constellation / full item
• With Bank of Thailand guidance, Ant International, National ITMX, and Krungthai Bank partner for cross-border payments between Thailand and China via PromptPay / full item
• South Korea: New $7.3M Women Startup Fund initiative looks to expand femtech, AI, and smart-manufacturing opportunities for women-led startups / full item
• “Agnes AI, an agent developed and trained in Singapore... surpassed 2M registered global users with approximately 150,000 daily active users since... launch in July...” / full item
“...in Manila’s financial district, around 60 young men and women monitored and controlled [AI] robots restocking convenience store shelves in distant Japan.” / full item
• “The FCC has moved to shut down HKT’s US business, claiming its close links to state-owned China Unicom Americas make it a national security risk.” / full item
• “The Indonesian government has collected Rp 10.21 trillion ($615 million) in taxes from the digital economy sector between January and September 2025...” / full item
• India: Muse Wearables partners the RuPay system under the National Payments Corporation of India to roll out the country’s first wearable payment ecosystem / full item
• China: Wind-solar major, Mingyang Smart Energy Group, is developing a 50-megawatt offshore wind turbine, set to be the world’s most powerful / full item
• Japan’s NTT Data inks MoU with India’s NPCI Int’l Payments to enable acceptance of Unified Payments Interface for Indian tourists in Japan / full item
• Anthropic is to open South Korea office as part of Asia expansion: “Out of the top five (Anthropic) users globally, three are in Asia: Korea, Japan, and India...” / full item
• Australia: Here’s a quick intro to 2cloudnine and SeaStock, which together raised Au$8.2M in the week past / full item
• “The debut of iPhone Air has driven China’s telcos into finally embracing e-SIMs...” / full item
• Malaysia secures $3.55B in digital investments at Singapore International Cyber Week 2025, achieving results under the nation’s Malaysia Digital (MD) initiative / full item
• City University of Hong Kong inks MoU with Joincap Capital around HK$150K for support to 15 CUHK startups / full item
“Under the new 15th Five-Year Plan... proposals, China will develop new strategic industrial clusters in areas such as new energy, new materials, aerospace, and the low-altitude economy...” / full item
• “Palau has taken a major step toward digital security with the Senate’s unanimous passage of the Cybersecurity Act...” / full item
• IBM, National University of Singapore, and Chiang Mai University have partnered for AI and quantum tech innovation across ASEAN / full item
• “A transitioning global semiconductor supply chain can serve as an immediate incentive for formally establishing an India-Japan-South Korea trilateral.” / full item
• Here’s an overview of upcoming launches in the AI-enabled smart glasses sector, with a deep dive into China’s offerings / full item
• China: “BYD recalls over 115,000 Tang Hybrid and Yuan Pro vehicles in China due to design and battery flaws, raising fresh concerns over EV safety and quality...“ / full item
• “Pakistan has stepped into the global semiconductor arena with the launch of INSPIRE (Initiative to Nurture Semiconductor Professionals for Industry, Research & Education)...” / full item
• Cambodia: “...likened to China’s Great Firewall, would route all internet traffic through a centralized set of servers, allowing the government to block websites...” / full item
• “MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and Mizuho Bank intend to issue the stablecoins under a unified standard for use in corporate fund settlements....” / full item
• “Singapore will create an agency with powers to block harmful online content on platforms including TikTok and Facebook...” / full item
“With... basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data... T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications - sent by satellites unencrypted...“ / full item
In wider-world technology news:
• “Uber plans to offer drivers and couriers in the US ways to make money through the company’s app when they’re not ferrying around people or food.” / full item
» “Trump’s crypto ventures — from NFTs and memecoins to DeFi and stablecoins — have earned over US$1 billion, sparking conflict-of-interest questions.” / full item
» “US e-commerce giant [Amazon] aims to automate 75% of its operations, potentially eliminating need to hire more than half a million workers...“ / full item
» “Anthropic is expanding its deal with Google to use as many as one million of the tech giant’s artificial intelligence chips, worth tens of billions of dollars...” / full item
» OpenAI is launching Atlas, a ChatGPT-powered web browser that will compete directly with Google Chrome / full item
More of Asia’s Tech News:
• LinkedIn / Twitter / Facebook / Substack / Threads / Pinterest / Web
And here's the link to the LinkedIn edition of Asia's Tech News, Weekly to October 25th, for those who prefer:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/asias-tech-news-weekly-october-25th-2025-startup-news-asia-osg5c/
Cool update thx