Asia's Tech News, Weekly: October 9th 2024

AirNZ & Starlink, minerals security, Google & Thailand, Philippines digital tax, Japan & NFTs, Bytedance-Huawei LLMs, China hydrogen train, Meta APAC AI accelerator, Malaysian coffee-tech...

• Thailand: Google is to invest $1BN in building a Thailand data centre and cloud computing region to meet SEA demand for AI, creating 14K jobs annually until 2029 / full item

• China: CRRS Corp Qingdao Sifang unveils hydrogen train capable of 200kmph, claiming 745 miles on a single charge, capable of refueling in 15 minutes and emitting only water / full item

• India joins Minerals Security Partnership, US-led coalition of 14 countries and the European Union aiming to expand, diversify and stabilize critical minerals supply chains / full item

• Taiwan's GlobalWafers subsidiary, MEMC, hit by data breach exposing names, Social Security numbers, government ID numbers, passport numbers and more / full item

• Swift global financial messaging network will launch live trials of digital asset and currency transactions with banks in the US, Europe and Asia in 2025 / full item

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"63% of employees in the four surveyed countries in the Asia-Pacific region take risks with security... (98%) knew what they were doing was risky while they were doing it but did it anyway." / full item

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• China: Shijian-19 reusable satellite launches to research low Earth orbit radiation's impact on seeds, potentially generating beneficial mutations such as short breeding cycles / full item

• Air New Zealand is to roll out Starlink in-flight WiFi service in 2025, joining United Airlines and Air France in trialling satellite connectivity technology / full item

• Australia Post vehicle fleet is to be used to audit mobile network coverage across 180,000km of roads across the remote interior, with results to inform improvements / full item

• South Korea, Japan and the US are to boost joint efforts to combat North Korea's hacking activities, in response to a rise in attacks on global virtual currency exchanges / full item

• Philippines: IGNITE 2024 Conference & Expo takes place in Manilla, October 10-11, featuring thought leaders from The Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia / full item

GITEX Asia Tech Conference 2025

• India's first energy transition-focused startup accelerator preps for its first cohort, targeting startups in decarbonisation, energy storage, 'new energies' and related fields / full item

• South Korea's Hyundai and Google's Waymo, autonomous driving tech firm, have partnered to bring Hyundai EV's to Waymo's US robotaxi fleet in 2025 / full item

• A broad overview of the cybersecurity and related infrastructure concerns for Pacific Island Nations / full item

• Australia: University researchers have developed a battery component using food-based acids, potentially making lithium-ion units more efficient, affordable and sustainable / full item

• China's growing interest in vehicle-to-grid technologies - V2G - wherein EVs double as mobile power banks, sending stored energy back to the grid / full item

• Australian government in August launched the Cable Connectivity & Resilience Centre to help ensure undersea cable networks in the Indo-Pacific are resilient and secure / full item

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Japan's PM: "Using blockchain technology, NFTs, and more, we will look to maximize the value of a multitude of analog local products, such as food and tourism experiences..." / full item

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• China: "...[Beixiazhu township] was the place to be for ambitious merchants hoping to strike gold in the country's booming livestreaming e-commerce industry - until the competition simmered to a boil..." / full item

• Singapore: Meta rolls out new artificial intelligence accelerator, and incubator, for APAC startups that integrate Meta's Llama AI model into their products / full item

• Delegates from Vietnam's Da Nang met with Australia's NSW Investment and Stone & Chalk innovation community to discuss cooperation and knowledge-sharing / full item

• South Korea's SK On preps for mass production of prismatic batteries for the first time, supplying to China's Geely electric vehicles maker / full item

• Australia: Founders Factory WA Nature Tech Accelerator program launches with 6 startups selected, working in agri-tech solutions, marine restoration and more / full item

• Philippines: New law passes, placing 12% tax on offshore firms providing digital services, impacting products and services including search, webinars, mobile apps, games and more / full item

• Korea-origin AI startup, MarqVision, secures $16.5M Series A with intellectual property protection platform, scanning messaging and platforms globally for counterfeit sales / full item

• China: TikTok parent firm, ByteDance, is to develop an AI model trained primarily using Huawei chips as 'tech war' pressures grow on access and supply chain / full item

• Taiwan: Financial Supervisory Commission takes major crypto step, allowing professional investors to buy into overseas crypto-based Exchange-Traded Funds / full item

• Australia's NSW Gov't partners India's Afthonia Labs incubator for accelerator to help NSW startups enter and thrive in Indian markets, selecting 8 fintech firms for cohort 1 / full item

• US Dep't of Commerce issues preliminary duties on solar energy imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, addressing competition from China-owned manufacturers / full item

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"Between 2024-2030, Vietnam aims to become a global center for semiconductor human resources and establish basic capabilities in research, design, production, packaging, and testing." / full item

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• Japan: Honda-backed Ashirase launches device for the visually-impaired, guiding individuals via shoe-worn device that vibrates based on information from a smartphone app / full item

• Singapore: 2024 GovWare Conference & Exhibition is set for October 15-17, part of Singapore Int'l Cyber Week and focusing on cybersecurity / full item

• Australia: Telstra telco to create a 'digital twin' of international network assets, aiming for AI-powered modelling to automate systems and solve issues / full item

• Philippines: Clout Kitchen AI startup raises $4.45M with gaming- and pop culture-focused fan engagement, with first product an AI-driven in-game 'buddy' / full item

• Malaysia's Sipjoy takes win at most recent Alibaba Cloud Startup Demo Day with digital solutions for coffee shops / full item

Indo-Pacific Critical Tech Forum 2024

• Australia: Antler VC closes 2nd Australia fund, raising $17M more than planned to hit $77M, and bringing forward Queensland program launch to February 2025 / full item

• Philippines: International Finance Corp'n, a World Bank Group member, invests over $7M in First Circle, a smart banking firm focused on Filipino SMEs / full item

• Pakistan's TraversaalAI takes overall win at Meta APAC AI Accelerator Finals in Singapore with virtual tutor using Meta's Llama AI to deliver learning resources in both Urdu and English / full item

• 8 Australian and New Zealand startups that raised over $66M between them in the week to October 4th, working in biotech, ad-tech, the future of work and more / full item

• Masayoshi Son, founder of Japan's SoftBank Group, sees AI tech running a range of daily household activities inside 2-3 years, covering health, payments, ordering and more / full item

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"From January to August 2024, Australians reported $43.4m in losses from scams on social media to Scamwatch, with close to $30m relating to fake investment scams." / full item

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• South Korea: Global Content Insight 2024 event is set for November 21-22, providing networking for, and with, Korean content producers across K-Pop, K-Drama and more / full item

• Video: 'The global race to build fully functional quantum computers', an Australia-focused overview from ABC News / full item

• China: A brief intro to Cofe+ from Hi-Dolphin Robot Tech, a fully-automated coffee kiosk that uses a robotic arm to fulfil orders / full item

• Download: 'The Digital Asset Investable Universe' from Galaxy / full item

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Australia: "Seven of the most popular [auto] brands collect some level of driving data through a connected services feature and send that data back to the company." / full item

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In wider-world technology news:

» BlackRock and Microsoft prep $30BN AI infrastructure fund, with NVIDIA and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX participating / full item

» Dubai Airports is to install world's largest solar roof, featuring more than 62000 panels, generating 60,000 MWh while cutting CO2 emissions by 23,000 tonnes annually / full item

» Space42 launches, result of merger between UAE firms, Yahsat satellite operator and Bayanat geospatial AI services provider, valuing Space42 at near $3BN / full item

» Uber and Avride partner for delivery robots & autonomous vehicle additions to Uber and Uber Eats, soon to deploy Uber Eats sidewalk robots in Austin, Texas / full item

» "Malicious actors, even if they tried, could not have an impact at scale such that there would be a material effect on the outcome of the [2024 US} election..." / full item

» "Bitcoin shattered expectations by breaking the $70,000 barrier before halving, signaling a new era..." - Crypto Banking Report 2024 from Coincub / full item

» Adobe rolls out public beta of Adobe Content Authenticity web app, allowing artists and creators to digitally 'sign' work and authenticate authorship / full item

» The case for public data banks: "Public AI data banks could democratize access to data, reducing Big Tech's dominance and fostering innovation in AI." / full item

» Asia's Tech News Last Week: Japan supercomputer, Filipino batteries, Singapore datasec, Project Indus LLM, Khmer agritech, Karnakata & space, Vietnam & SpaceX, semiconductors, metaverse students... / full item

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US & UAE: "The agreement was formalised last Monday, with the two countries' national security advisers endorsing 'common principles for cooperation on AI'..." / full item

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