Critical technologies news coverage in June of 2024 for obvious reasons touched on a huge range of developments, issues, challenges and successes, both within the broad Asia Pacific and in the wider world.
Headlines in the critical and emerging tech space this month touched on, for example: Norwegian rare earth deposits, and their potential impact on tech supply chains; space hazards caused by the break-up of a ‘dead’ Russian satellite; NVIDIA’s price cut on China market chips, a bid to better compete with Huawei; Malaysia’s moves into the global semiconductors space, driven at both state and federal levels; and many more.
Hit the links below to read the articles behind each critical tech news headline in full.
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IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024
- Download: ‘Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024’ from the International Energy Agency / full item
- Quantum, a critical technology: ‘Global public investments in quantum technology reached $42 billion in 2023’ from McKinsey & Co Quantum Technology Monitor / full item
- Major critical and rare earth minerals deposits found in Norway and Greenland, potentially delivering a game-change to supply chain challenges / full item
- Nexperia, semiconductor maker owned by China’s WingTech, to invest $200M in expanding capacity at main production site in Germany, despite growing scrutiny around subsidies / full item
- Etched AI startup raised $120M, focusing on specialised chips for running specific AI models used by OpenAI and Google Gemini, stepping into competition with NVIDIA / full item
Deloitte: Generative Artificial Intelligence in Asia Pacific
- Germany’s Black Semiconductor raised $274M aiming to develop next-gen semiconductors using graphene and operating with light for efficiency / full item
- Download: ‘Emerging Resilience in the Semiconductor Supply Chain’, a May 2024 report from BCG and the Semiconductor Industry Association (pdf link) / full item
- UK’s Venture Hub AI firm looks to raise $50M to buy servers featuring NVIDIA processors, aiming to charge clients an hourly fee to use server clusters / full item
- Break-up of defunct Russian satellite creates debris cloud in orbit, forcing ISS astronauts to shelter in other docked spacecraft / full item
- US-based Virtus Solis looks to build first space-based solar farm, transmitting electricity across the planet at any time and possibly using SpaceX Starship for construction / full item
Australia: “Northern Territory has defined mineral resources for 17 globally recognised critical minerals…[and] has geological potential for a further 12 emerging critical minerals.” / full item
- India and US agree to co-invest in South American lithium project, and rare earths deposit in Africa, to diversify mineral supply chains, alongside a range of other partnership projects / full item
- NVIDIA cuts price of China-focused AI chip, developed to accommodate US-led advanced tech restrictions, in bid to compete with Huawei chip locally / full item
- Taiwan: Taipei, New Taipei City, Tainan and Kaohsiung vie for new NVIDIA plant / full item
- Taiwan’s Foxconn partners NVIDIA global chip-making giant for electric vehicle AI software / full item
Europe’s security role in the Indo-Pacific – making it meaningful
- Japan: Nat’l Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Tech and IBM partner to develop quantum computer with 10,000 qubits, 75 times more than current quantum computers run with / full item
- South Korea: SK Telecom and 6 partners including Nokia unveil X Quantum alliance, aiming to grow the quantum ecosystem via joint marketing and opportunity exploration / full item
- Australian quantum tech firm, Diraq, to produce sample chip devices using GlobalFoundries plants, with chips featuring both quantum-focused and standard circuitry / full item
- Japan: Synspective satellite startup inks agreement with Rocket Lab USA to launch 10 satellites by 2027 in move towards a constellation to enable near-real-time global observation / full item
“Materials Nexus… used its machine learning algorithm to identify and analyse over 100M combinations of materials that could produce a viable rare-earth free magnet.” / full item
- Philippines: US firm Intelsat becomes first foreign firm to provide infra support to mobile network operators, telecoms carriers and ISPs / full item
- China’s ByteDance, parent firm of TikTok, is now working with chips firm, Broadcom, on a restrictions-compliant 5 nanometer AI-focused processor design / full item
- South Korea: Gov’t to offer $12.2 billion in loans for semiconductor chipmakers from July, alongside tax breaks for other ‘national strategic technologies’ / full item
- Micron chipmaker is considering Malaysia for production of AI-focused high-bandwidth memory chips, alongside test production lines in the US / full item
- “Acer – with 7,725 employees and NT$241.31 billion in revenue last year – has joined other major Taiwanese tech developers by embracing… a shift over the past few years toward South and SE Asia…” / full item
China: “Recent insolvencies, such as that of Shanghai Wusheng Semiconductor, have raised concerns about widespread closures…. 23 semiconductor companies withdrew their IPO applications…” / full item
- India to host annual SEMICON event in September, the world’s leading semiconductor industry event / full item
- Japan: Toyota, Nissan, Honda and others announce collaboration on advanced AI and semiconductor tech for next-gen vehicles, supported by gov’t / full item
- A quick overview of news from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel and Asus, outlined at Taiwan’s recent Computex 2024 event / full item
- A brief look at Malaysia’s opportunities, and challenges, in the semiconductor industry / full item
- Singapore: NXP Semiconductors and TSMC subsidiary to build $7.8 billion chip wafer plant in the city-state, with production set for 2027 / full item
- Malaysia unveils $5.3 billion National Semiconductor Strategy, a 3-phase plan to strengthen the country’s position in semiconductor related technologies and supply chains / full item
IEA Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024
- ‘Decoding The $150 Bn+ Semiconductor Market Opportunity For Indian Startups’, an overview drawn from Inc42’s ‘The Rise Of India’s Semiconductor Startups Report 2024’ / full item
- Taiwan: Foxconn unveils plans for advanced computing center in Kaohsiung, partnering NVIDIA for platforms and processing / full item
- ‘Silicon Malaysia Map’ from Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Ass’n, an at-a-glance outline of the nation’s key industry participants / full item
“…the stolen files include details on future AMD products, datasheets, employee and customer databases, property files, firmware, source code, and financial documentation.” / full item
- China’s Chang’e-6 reentry capsule returned to Earth on June 25th, completing 53-day mission and returning with near 2kg of samples from the moon’s far side / full item
- China: First 18 satellites commencing build-out of China’s G60 Starlink mega-constellation of over 12,000 satellites is set for August 5th / full item
- South Korea’s Innospace secures contracts for $1.5M from Italy’s CShark and Thailand’s EOS ORBIT to place satellites into orbit / full item
KPMG Venture Pulse Q1 2024 – Asia findings
- India: Jio Platforms gains approval from space regulator to operate satellites, overtaking Starlink and Amazon services in provision of satellite-delivered internet / full item
- Japan: A brief overview of Tanegashima Island, home to the nation’s rocket launch center, and hopes for startups, tech jobs and Immigration as drivers for local revival / full item
- ‘Australia’s space race: From red dirt to the stars’ / full item
- China: Space Pioneer rocket developer completes $207 million funding round focusing on development of reusable rockets, building on kerosene-oxygen work / full item
- South Korea proposes Mars landing by 2045, with $72 billion spend projected until then on space exploration and preparations / full item
- China: Chang’e-6 lunar vehicle successfully landed on the moon’s far side, with preparation underway to collect material samples / full item
Verizon: 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report
- China: Landspace commercial rocket firm partner files documents for Honghu-3, a constellation of 10,000 satellites spanning 160 orbital planes, China’s third of this size / full item
- China’s Chang’e-6 to make lunar landing attempt in bid to collect the first samples from Apollo crater on the far side of the moon / full item
- Australia: Monash University targets space industry credentials with appointment of Aus Space Agency and former CSIRO chief as chancellor, and NASA Jet Propulsion Lab exec hire / full item
- ‘Indonesia’s $5 billion deal with Tesla is only part of its all-in strategy on nickel mining’ / full item
- Download: ‘Mongolia Mining 2024 report’, looking at all aspects of the industry and touching on lithium and rare earths, technology and service providers, and the companies involved / full item
Australian National Robotics Strategy
- Australia: Gov’t orders 5 China-linked firms to divest shares in Northern Minerals rare earths project, citing national interest concerns / full item
- Malaysia: Taiwan’s Elite Material Co to commence construction of $190M facility in Penang, producing substrates for circuit boards and semiconductors / full item
- TSMC investigates rectangular panel substrates for semiconductors, rather than current round wafers, in bid to facilitate chiplet approach and create more useable surface area / full item
- Malaysia: US-based MKS Instruments to build wafer fabrication and equipment production in Penang, with construction set for 2025 / full item
Chainalysis: 2024 Crypto Crime Report
- South Korea: Sapeon and Rebellions artificial intelligence chipmakers to complete merger by Q4 to boost foothold in the global AI chips market / full item
- “TSMC has achieved its heft while keeping most of its factories and employees in Taiwan… How it navigates global expansion will influence the fate of entire industries and economies.” / full item
- “…estimated that the Indian semiconductor market will exceed $55 billion by 2026. Moreover, the country’s domestic electronics production output is projected to surpass $300 billion by 2030.” / full item
- Taiwan’s Foxconn partners NVIDIA global chip-making giant for electric vehicle AI software / full item
- Australia’s Space Machines Company inks Launch Service Agreement with NewSpace India, government company under Indian Space Research Organisation, for SMC’s next sat launch / full item
Thailand: “…data showed that from January 2022 to March 2023, a total of 1,704 factories ceased operations… domestic manufacturers faced fierce competition from low-priced imported goods…” / full item
- China Manned Space Engineering Office selected 10 astronauts for 4th astronaut cohort, with Hong Kong and Macao astronauts participating for the first time / full item
- Thailand: China’s GalaxySpace satellite maker establishes first overseas ground test station for low Earth orbit services at Mahanakorn University / full item
- Chinese satnav industry hits $74BN output, has 20,000 entities and employs near 1 million; Beijing and Moscow to boost cooperation on BeiDou and GLONASS GPS alternatives / full item
- Taiwan: Taipei, New Taipei City, Tainan and Kaohsiung vie for new NVIDIA plant / full item
China: “…Beijing even released an open-source [OS] called OpenKylin with the express purpose of lowering reliance on Windows. But the new system doesn’t seem to be any more popular than Linux…” / full item
- Indo-U.S. Global Challenges Institute preps for launch, an initiative of the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology and the Association of American Universities / full item
- India and US agree to co-invest in South American lithium project, and rare earths deposit in Africa, to diversify mineral supply chains, alongside a range of other partnership projects / full item
- Russia’s central bank adopts China’s yuan as its official benchmark currency, ends trading in USD and euros following expansion of Ukraine war sanctions / full item
- China: Some AI chip firms are now reportedly designing less-powerful processors to maintain access to TSMC in bid to side-step US-led sanctions / full item
World Economic Forum: Quantum Security for the Financial Sector
Indo-Pacific tech news editions
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