Critical technologies news items in October 2024 spanned an obviously huge range of issues and subjects, including: China’s plans for quantum communications satellites; Australian lithium extraction developments; India’s plans for satellite-delivered internet services, and the spectrum available; TSMC’s success in semiconductor yields at the company’s new Arizona plant; and many more, each linked below.
“Critical technologies are current and emerging technologies that have the capacity to significantly enhance or pose risk to a country’s national interests, including economic prosperity, social cohesion, and national security”
AXA Future Risks Report 2024
- Niron Magnetics launches commercial-scale production of rare earth-free magnets, potentially cutting wind turbine industry reliance on raw materials from China / full item
- Democratic Republic of Congo sets sights on ‘better investors, more investors and diversified investors’ for critical mineral deposits and infra, seeing security in diversification / full item
- Available now: Future Risks Report 2024 from AXA, a survey of the opinions of 3012 experts in 50 countries, and 19003 members of the public in 15 countries / full item
Myanmar: “Starlink, which is not yet licensed in Myanmar, is in high demand… There may be more than 3,000 Starlink dishes in use in the country…” / full item
- Earlier this year, the Quantum Delta NL consortium of the Port of Rotterdam Authority secured a world-first scalable quantum internet connection in the port of Rotterdam / full item
- OpenAI is working with Broadcom and TSMC on its first in-house AI chip, alongside use of AMD and NVIDIA chips, to both diversify and build high-demand infrastructure / full item
- Arm chip licensing firm issues notice that may terminate Qualcomm license to use Arm chip design IP, potentially impacting any Qualcomm-linked smartphone or PC / full item
- ‘Asia’s Space Ambitions – Driving the Next Chapter in Global Space Competition’, articles from NBR touching on China, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Singapore & India / full item
- Abu Dhabi Technology Innovation Institute and UAE Space Agency partner for quantum infrastructure for ground-space communications / full item
“Vast’s Haven-2 concept joins 3 other commercial space-station proposals… submitted to NASA, and would string together modules launched from 2028 through 2032.” / full item
- SpaceX Starship test flight returns first stage booster to launch pad for the first time, using mechanical arms to secure the unit / full item
NBR: Asia’s Space Ambitions – Next chapter in global space competition
“…supply chain risk intelligence firms… have had no trouble signing up customers… Interos inked large contracts with the Defense Department and Canada’s Coast Guard and Royal Navy….” / full item
- Singapore: DBS Bank rolls out DBS Token Services to further grow blockchain options for institutional clients, integrating smart contract capabilities with existing services / full item
- China: A broad overview of the many steps taken to implement a national blockchain infrastructure / 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
- Thailand: Google to invest $1BN in building 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
- Australia: An intro to Novalith, producing battery-grade lithium faster, cheaper and greener / full item
“…supply chain risk intelligence firms… have had no trouble signing up customers… Interos inked large contracts with the Defense Department and Canada’s Coast Guard and Royal Navy….” / full item
- Australia: Q-CTRL quantum infrastructure software firm secured an additional $59M, with focus on ‘middleware’ for hardware providers / full item
“Chinese scientists have mounted what they say is the world’s first effective attack on a widely used encryption method using a quantum computer.” / full item
- Australia: UK’s Quantum Motion opens lab in Cicada Innovations space in Sydney, looking to tap into Australia’s research talent pool / full item
Lazard: The Geopolitics of Supply Chains
- Japan: Gov’t commits to quantum encryption by 2030, enlisting Toshiba, NEC and others with public-private investment over 5 years to prepare for next-gen cyber-attacks / full item
- Australia: An overview of the nation’s moves into quantum technologies, focusing on PsiQuantum, the firm chosen to lead the way / full item
- Australia: An overview of quantum tech firm, Q-CTRL, following its recent $86.3M Series B extension / full item
Video: ‘The global race to build fully functional quantum computers’, Australia overview from ABC News / YouTube
- China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp’n launches 2nd group of 18 satellites for 14,000-sat ‘Thousand Sails’ mega-constellation, aka ‘G60 Starlink’ / full item
- China: BeiDou sat-nav system gained $1.78BN in commitments for new projects, deepening competition with GPS and targeting integration with vehicles, agriculture and more / full item
- India looks to auction, not allocate, satellite spectrum for sat-delivered internet, raising possibility of Starlink service alongside home-grown Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries / full item
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- China: Intel is planning a $300M investment to expand chip packaging and testing in Chengdu, expected to bolster the Chengdu plant’s role in Intel’s global supply chain / full item
- Taiwan may soon establish overseas support hubs for chip-making firms to help in acquiring land, electricity, water, and workers, boosting partnerships in the process / full item
- Taiwan’s TSMC reportedly achieves 4% higher yields at its first US plant in Arizona, at this point surpassing Taiwan facility yields / full item
Video: ‘How quantum computing will reshape Australia’s economy’, an interview with Rita Gatt, National Lead Partner on Regulation, Security and Risk with Deloitte / YouTube
- South Korea: Rebellions chip-maker partners Samsung Foundry, Arm, and ADTechnology for AI CPU chiplet platform, looking for scalable power and processing efficiency / full item
- The Philippines is betting that its low costs and ample workforce could help attract manufacturers. Talent shortage is one of the main challenges for global chipmakers… / full item
- TSMC-NVIDIA 30-year collaboration is reportedly under strain, following repeated test failures of new NVIDIA Blackwell semiconductor series / full item
thoughtworks: Technology Radar – today’s technology landscape
- More semiconductor and chip-manufacture exports to China face restrictions, including NVIDIA A800 and H800, and impacts likely on those sold by Intel and AMD / full item
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Arizona’s Amkor, a major global semicon packaging firm, partner for first chip packaging facilities in the US / full item
- Japan: Rapidus chipmaker and Denso auto supplier partner to share design methods for advanced chips, targeting standardization in Japan for AI and autonomous vehicles / full item
- The Philippines is looking to develop 128,000 semiconductor industry-focused engineers and technicians by 2028, further growing its place in packaging and assembly / full item
- Subsidiary of Taiwan’s GlobalWafers, MEMC, hit by data breach exposing names, Social Security numbers, government ID numbers, passport numbers and more / full item
“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
- 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
“India-based IC design startup L&T Semiconductor Technologies revealed it’s developing 15 products, which will be mass-produced in two years…” / full item
- India continues space position with Chandrayaan-4 mission targeting a lunar south pole landing for samples collection, potentially in 2028 / full item
- Video: A 25-minute look at India’s fast-growing space industry, from Bloomberg / full item
- China: Deep Blue Aerospace offers first 2 tickets for seats on a vehicle taking passengers into space in 2027, priced around $210K and with plans for more ticket sales in November / full item
- China: Fifth Gaofen-12 satellite enters orbit for China’s Earth observation system, with stated focus areas including land surveys, urban planning and road network design / full item
- Philippine Space Agency, the European Union, and PH Dept of Science & Tech launch CopPhil Centre, infrastructure program and satellite data mirror site / full item
“Satellite internet market in India is set for growth and has the potential to generate US$1 billion revenue in the near future.” / full item
Accenture: Supply chains networks in the age of generative AI
- India: Space Based Surveillance project approved for Phase 3 launch of 52 AI-backed satellites over 5 years to boost land and sea surveillance capabilities / full item
- Australia: Paladin Space lands $100K SA State Gov’t grant to further develop space debris removal technologies, looking to new machine learning techniques for image analysis / full item
- Space Kidz India launches ShakthiSAT, a globally-minded initiative to train 12000 female high school students in aspects of space technology / full item
- China is to launch 2-3 quantum communications satellites in 2025, and one in 2027, connecting with ground-based networks in pursuit of global coverage / 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
- Space42 launches, result of merger between UAE firms, Yahsat satellite operator and Bayanat geospatial AI services provider, valuing Space42 at near $3BN / full item
- 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
- 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
“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
- ‘Risks On The Horizon’, a European Commission Joint Research Centre examination of emerging risks across a range of domains / full item
- Download: Thoughtworks Technology Radar, a twice-yearly look at tech tools, techniques, platforms, languages and frameworks / full item
The Politics of Subsea Cables in Indonesia
- Australia: Parliamentary inquiry rejects calls for ban on AI-generated images and videos in election campaigns despite near-certainty of the tech being used for disinformation / full item
- Australia-China research identifies new method for lithium extraction from saltwater, with lower environmental impacts and faster processing, and freshwater as a by-product / full item
- Australia-linked Ioneer gains US federal permit for Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine, potentially supplying lithium for 370K EVs a year and quadrupling US production / full item
- Australia: University researchers develope battery component using food-based acids, potentially making lithium-ion units more efficient, affordable and sustainable / full item
- Taiwan: University researchers announce development of world’s smallest quantum computer, for the first time using a single photon to perform quantum calculations / full item
“Sophgo was founded by Micree Zhan… Zhan is also the co-founder and chair of Bitmain, the largest Bitcoin ASIC designer and a provider of water-cooled crypto mining systems.” / full item
- Taiwan’s TSMC suspended shipments reportedly for Sophgo, a China-based chip designer affiliated with Bitmain crypto-mining firm, after chip made for Sophgo appeared on a Huawei AI processor / full item
“TSMC halted shipments to the client around mid-October after it realised semiconductors fabricated for that entity had found their way into Huawei products…” / full item
- Japan: Gov’t rolls out plans for a 300MW wind farm off Hokkaido coast to boost energy for new Rapidus semiconductor manufacturing facility, and new SoftBank data centre / full item
WEF: Navigating cyber resilience in the age of emerging technologies
- Taiwan’s Foxconn partners NVIDIA to construct the world’s largest factory for NVIDIA’s GB200, a chip focused on artificial intelligence systems / full item
- India: Tata Group continues global semiconductor supply chain bid with subsidiary semicon plant in Kerala, in partnership with Taiwan’s PSMC / full item
- Asia Tech Weekly: Australia lithium, TSMC & Huawei, Thai-China space launch, DPRK Linux hack, Starlink & Myanmar, Johor datacenters, Indonesia vs Temu, Apple Music & China Mobile, PH-EU space data… / full item
- Thailand: Prime Minister invites China to build a satellite launch base for providing 6G technology in Thailand / full item
- China: Domestic firms dominate state-owned China Telecom $2BN server procurement shortlist, likely continuing moves to eliminate foreign hardware from its networks / full item
- China Telecom has trained LLMs using domestic-only AI chips – most likely Huawei Ascend chips – with one model reportedly using 1 trillion parameters / full item
WEF: Chief Risk Officers Outlook – October 2024
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