China’s tech news in August 2024 covered a huge range of technologies, developments, concerns and challenges. These included, for instance: China’s fast-increasing number of satellite launches, and accompanying advances in space capabilities; Shein’s new supply chain hub, and ongoing rivalry with Temu; big-money investments in China’s notion of a ‘low-altitude economy’; Huawei’s Ascend 910C processor, touted as an NVIDIA-equivalent; and many more.
Plus: Asia’s tech news, weekly newsletters >
McKinsey: Navigating the physical realities of the energy transition
- China: Zero Gravity Aircraft Industry, maker of a 6-seat electric vertical takeoff & landing vehicle, raised $14M, looking to refine tilt-rotor craft and move into mass production / full item
- China: IBM has reportedly shut down R&D in China, laying off over 1000 employees in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian / full item
“TikTok makes choices about the content recommended and promoted to specific users, and by doing so, is engaged in its own first-party speech,” [US Circuit Judge] Shwartz said. / full item
- China: New communications satellite enters geostationary belt, with ChinaSat 4A satellite reportedly to ‘provide users with voice, data, radio and television transmission services’ / full item
- China: Galactic Energy completes 3rd Ceres-1 solid rocket launch, sending 6 sats into orbit from a mobile sea platform / full item
- Download: ‘Towards Green Building Value Chains – China and Beyond’, a June 2024 Insight Report from the World Economic Forum and BCG / full item
- China: Bank of China establishes $4.21 billion fund-of-funds to invest in tech innovations, forming the fund in partnership with local governments and industry / full item
China: “…[with] Trump saying he wants Bitcoin to be ‘mined, minted and made’ in the US, upstart rivals see an opportunity to finally wrest business from Bitmain…” / full item
- China: Shein gains approval for phase 1 construction on a $514M supply chain hub in Guangzhou, set to span at least 800,000 square metres / full item
- China: Honor smartphone maker, former Huawei unit, gains undisclosed investment from China Mobile parent firm in preparation for IPO / full item
- China: Shein-Temu rivalry hits new low with Temu accused of being an ‘unlawful enterprise built on counterfeiting, theft of trade secrets, infringement of IP rights, and fraud’ / full item
- China: UAV test flight successfully carries near 3.2 tons of cargo, completing 40-minute flight with potential altitude claimed of 7300 metres and 2200km range / full item
HSBC: Asset Tokenization in the Quantum Age
- China: Mission proposed to launch an exoplanet observatory in 2028, aiming to detect a potential ‘second Earth’ for the first time / full item
- China: Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area – Beijing E-Town – to focus on key segments of industrial applications chains, with flagship robotics & automation projects / full item
- China: Two spacecraft believed to have successfully reached lunar orbits following initial launch issue that left them stranded in low Earth orbit / full item
“Semiconductor industry leaders predict chip rivalry will lead to supply chain split, with few prioritising Chinese market, survey says” / full item
- China: WeRide self-driving giant delays $440M US IPO, citing need for additional time to address documentation requirements / full item
- China: Avatr, EV JV between state-owned Changan Automobile and CATL battery-maker, takes 10% share in Huawei’s auto subsidiary, Yinwang, looking at full-stack tech integration / full item
- China: CATL EV batteries major has backed AutoFlight eVTOL firm, moving into the low-altitude economy space / full item
- China: AeroHT, electric vertical take-off and landing affiliate of Xpeng EV firm, raised $150M, gaining from the country’s low-altitude economy bid / full item
Global megatrends: Shaping the future of societies, economies, and values
- China’s Gotion High-Tech battery manufacturer takes 25% in Slovak batteries R&D firm, InoBat, building on Volkswagen partnership for European markets / full item
- ICYMI: China Energy Engineering Corp inks $972M contract to construct major solar energy plant in Saudi Arabia / full item
- China’s ByteDance debuts new text-to-video AI app, Jimeng AI, with speculation around eventual TikTok integration / full item
- Infographic: ‘China 2024 – Metrics of a Rising Power‘ from BryceTech / full item
- China: Huawei reportedly in testing phase of newest processor, Ascend 910C, with potential clients told that the chip is comparable to NVIDIA H100 / full item
Swarms Over The Strait: Drone Warfare in a Future Fight to Defend Taiwan
- China: Digital infrastructure providers told to reduce emissions and energy consumption, plus consider closing small facilities, under new green plan / full item
- China: Country’s largest-yet cargo drone completed 20-minute test run with cargo of 2 metric tons / full item
- Two US firms enter strategic collaboration to develop small nuclear battery in bid to narrow gap with China’s coin-sized Betavolt nuclear battery / full item
- ‘Delayed or on track? Here’s a midpoint report card on China’s bid to be global AI leader by 2030’ via Channel News Asia / full item
“…considered the best-performing open-source LLM family [Facebook] Llama models have become a default foundation model that many Chinese startups use…” / full item
- China: ‘For Alibaba and several Chinese AI startups, open-source AI presents an opportunity for faster commercialization and global recognition.’ / full item
- China: Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Tech launch of first G60 mega-constellation sats sees Long March 6A rocket disintegrate, creating hazardous debris cloud / full item
- ‘HP has set an internal goal of making up to 70% of its notebooks outside China, and is looking at Singapore and Thailand as potential production destinations’ / full item
- China: US is set to issue proposed rule barring China-developed software in autonomous vehicles at Level 3 and above, also delivering US road-test ban / full item
CCData: Stablecoins and CBDCs Report
- China cyberspace ID: 71 ‘net apps, 10 gov’t apps reportedly in National Network ID Authentication Pilot, including WeChat, Taobao, Xiaohongshu, Tencent’s QQ / full item
- China: Fudan University establishes $56M brain-computer interface research centre in Shanghai / full item
- China: Audi’s new e-cars series will not feature Audi 4-ring logo due to ‘brand image consideration’, given co-development with China’s SAIC, local suppliers & tech / full item
- China: State-run Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Tech launches first batch of G60 mega-constellation sats, with sights on 15K+ sats to overtake Starlink’s 5.5K / full item
China: “Except for a few top-tier companies…most auto parts companies are meeting demands even at a loss in order to retain customers” / full item
- A little more on China’s US IPO-bound Windrose electric trucks firm, offering semi trucks with 670km range under full load, backed by fast-charging claiming 245-mile range in under 36 mins / full item
- China: Mercedes-Benz becomes first foreign automaker approved for Level 4 urban/highway fully-autonomous driving tests in Beijing / full item
- China: Long March 3B rocket places 2nd of new series of high-orbit geostationary comms satellites, providing no images, platform info, potential uses or customer info / full item
- Unilateral restrictions on China access to AI chips from suppliers including Micron and SK Hynix, and production equipment, now under US consideration, potentially in force by September / full item
- ERIAKOS fraud campaign ID’d by Recorded Future dodges automated safety scans with over 600 mobile-only fake web shops using Facebook ads to steal personal and financial data / full item
China: “…proposed infrastructure includes…data communication, positioning, navigation… space situational monitoring for ground-based, near-Earth, cislunar, lunar surface & deep space…” / full item
- China: Space Pioneer commercial launch firm continues towards first launch of Tianlong-3 rocket despite uncontrolled launch and explosion in June / full item
- Singapore’s DBS Bank and partner, China’s Ant International, roll out blockchain-based instant and multicurrency treasury and liquidity management solution, DBS Treasury Tokens / full item
“In addition to making the chips that power the [AI] boom, the company appeals to many Taiwanese who believe that TSMC’s success will determine the… island’s ability to fend off China” / full item
- Malaysia: Maxis telco and Huawei enter strategic collaboration on Joint Innovation Center in Malaysia, looking at wide range of cutting-edge technologies / full item
“”Indonesia will become the 2nd largest [EV battery] material producer in the world, 2nd only to China… fill the gap in Indonesia and even the entire ASEAN battery industry” / full item
- India: “The unit in Karnataka will soon become the 2nd-largest Foxconn plant after China’s unit. It will create 40,000 direct jobs, especially for middle-level educated individuals…” / full item
- Southeast Asia Outlook 2024-34: “Over the next decade, Southeast Asia should outpace China in GDP growth and foreign direct investment…” / full item
Cushman & Wakefield: Asia Pacific Data Center Market H1 2024
Asia Tech newsletters:
August 2024
- August 28th: Digital banking in Thailand, quantum computing in India, crypto mining & electricity in Laos…
- August 21st: Flying cars in China, Taiwan partners Microsoft for AI, Australia’s sustainable lithium extraction…
- August 14th: Indonesia and EV batteries, HP backs away from China, Vietnam’s EV charging subsidies…
- August 7th: Vietnam’s digital business goals, crypto trading in Hong Kong, Australia’s space launch opportunities…
