India’s technology news headlines in August of 2024 spanned a range of developments, including: India’s quantum computing achievements, in line with the National Quantum Mission; the potential for positive results from AI on India’s economic activity; India’s many space-technology developments, from vehicles to launch systems and satellites; competition between Indian states to host Foxconn City manufacturing facilities; and more.
Plus: Asia’s tech news, weekly newsletters >
Inc42: The Rise of India’s Semiconductor Startups
- India: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka compete to attract Taiwan’s Foxconn for ‘Foxconn City’ facilities, each offering thousands of acres for construction / full item
- India: NxtQube drones infrastructure gains seed funding, targeting Universal Docking Station compatible with multiple manufacturers, battery-swapping, and drone swarm docking / full item
FinTech in India: “The survey highlighted that 84% of FIs and FinTechs in India prioritise strategies to understand and meet evolving customer demands…” / full item
- India: PhonePe digital payments major rolls out Credit Line on UPI service, linking users credit lines to the national Unified Payments Interface / full item
- Tamil Nadu’s Space Zone India launches Rhumi-1, the country’s first reusable liquid-solid fuel rocket, from a mobile platform, delivering 3 cube-sats and 50 PICO-sats under 1kg / full item
- India: Country’s first small-scale quantum computer nears completion, feeding into National Quantum Mission with plans for 24-qubit computer in 3 years and 100-qubit system within 5 / full item
“India is set to become a global leader in the semiconductor industry, with demand projected to cross $80 billion by 2026 and $110 billion by 2030” – US International Trade Administration / full item
- Taiwan’s Foxconn preps to construct battery energy storage systems unit in India, potentially leading to a tie-in to Foxconn’s 3+3 focus on EVs, digital health and robotics / full item
- India-Australia RISE Accelerator applications close September 15th for startups and SMEs with agri-tech solutions / full item
- India: An overview of the current state-of-play in the Indian LLM space, looking at the opportunities and challenges in the country’s AI sector / 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
- India: Coursera e-learning platform rolls out 10 Professional Certificates from Google and IBM which align with National Skills Qualification Framework / full item
- India: 3rd Small Satellite Launch Vehicle completes launch and assessment, placing sat in orbit and paving the way for low-cost, fast-turnaround, low-infrastructure launches / full item
- India: Zepto ‘instant delivery’ startup finalizes $340M funding, valuing the firm at $5BN, racing to take market share in India’s fast-growing quick-commerce market / full item
- Japan’s Incubate Fund Asia VC firm closes 3rd fund with corpus of $30M, with 80% focus on India’s early-stage startups / full item
- India’s Kazam preps for roll-out of EV charging infrastructure to Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, alongside further build-out of Indian 2- and 3-wheeler charging / full item
Report: “…in India, 31% of working hours will either be automated or augmented by generative AI… an additional $675 billion in economic value…” / full item
- India has granted a $300M loan to Vietnam to boost maritime security, alongside discussing cooperation in AI, cloud computing, semiconductors and more / full item
- India: Madhya Pradesh state may be set to gain Google Cloud startup hub and Center of Excellence, alongside interest from NVIDIA chip giant / full item
- India: Andhra Pradesh state government and Google prepare MOU, ‘AI for Andhra Pradesh, Powered by Google‘, looking at AI applications in agriculture, skills, healthcare and beyond / full item
- India: Punch secures $7M seed with comprehensive stockbroking platform focusing on risk awareness, beginner guidance and ease of use / full item
Indian Tech Startups Funding Report H1 2024
- India: EtherealX raised $5M seed funding to develop fully-reusable medium-lift launch vehicles, focusing on returning both upper stage and booster sections / full item
- India: WazirX, crypto exchange that suffered $230M cyberattack, proposes remedy of users accessing 55% of their assets, but locking 45% in Tether-equivalent tokens / full item
- India: Tata Group’s Assam semiconductor plant is expected to be operational by mid-2025, with projected jobs boost of 27K positions in total / full item
- India: Vaanam private sector space-tech accelerator launches in Tamil Nadu, set to host the country’s 2nd launchpad / full item
- India: GalaxEye Space secures $6.5M in new funding to launch inaugural ‘Drishti Mission’ satellite, with use cases in defence, agriculture, aquaculture and beyond / full item
Mapping the Blockchain ecosystems in India and Australia
- Near 300 small Indian banks back online and able to access payments systems following tech service provider ransomware attack / full item
- India: Bharat Web3 Association boosts cybersecurity focus following $230M hack on WazirX crypto exchange, looking also to lift consumer protections / full item
- Inidia’s T-Hub startup incubator inks MOA with Malaysia’s Beyond4 accelerator ecosystem, targeting cross-border innovation and market access opportunities / full item
- ‘Taiwan-India Chips Cooperation and the Logic of Choosing India’ / full item
Critical technologies, globally: August 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…
