Fostering Order in the Indo-Pacific: What the European can learn
- China: Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, EAST, achieves milestone by maintaining plasma operation for 1066 seconds, a key moment in nuclear fusion research / full item
- China built out record amount of wind and solar power in 2024 – The nation put up 357 gigawatts of solar and wind, a 45% and 18% increase… / full item
- China has tested a 6-legged robot dog in -40°C Antarctic conditions, reportedly capable of carrying up to 100kg / full item
- China: Nayuta Space gains funding to develop reusable stainless steel rockets using methane-liquid oxygen engines, looking to achieve reusability of both 1st and 2nd rocket stages / full item
- China: An overview of the global reach of Alipay+ in the seamless payments space / full item
- China: Deepwise med-tech firm raised near $69M with AI and internet-based solutions in personal health management, screenings, identification of diseases and more / full item
DeepSeek – What the Headlines Miss: “Real export restrictions on AI chips only started in October 2023, making claims about their ineffectiveness premature…” / full item
- China: ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has earmarked over $20BN in capital expenditure for 2025 with half focused on data centres and networking equipment for AI / full item
- China: Fourth batch of 18 sats for the planned 14000-satellite ‘Thousand Sails mega-constellation launched via Long March 6A rocket, successfully achieving orbit / full item
- China unveils a Mach-4 commercial drone prototype, capable of 4 times the speed of sound, targeting supersonic passenger jet services by 2030 / full item
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- The U.S. Commerce Dep’t and FBI are both investigating a little-known telecoms hardware firm founded by senior Huawei veterans in China over possible security risks… / full item
- China unveils ‘Crimson Skyblade’ in nuclear fusion quest for unlimited clean energy’ / full item
- China: Researchers move to assess viability of laser-delivered, wireless power transmission from lunar orbiters to supply spacecraft during long night on the moon’s surface / full item
- More than 2 dozen Chinese entities were added to US restricted trade list in the Biden administration’s final days, including Zhipu AI, a significant developer of large language models / full item
Breaking the Nexus: The Military, Money, and Myanmar
- China: State Administration for Market Regulation to tighten oversight of online platforms and livestream e-commerce ‘to ensure a more balanced and healthier market environment’ / full item
- China: Alibaba’s cloud computing unit launched a AI-based coder, reportedly capable of building an application ‘in minutes’ / full item
- China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology calls for nationwide trials of private 5G networks’ / full item
- China: Zhejiang University and Mirror Me startup unveil quadriped robot, Black Panther 2, capable of a 100-meter dash in under 10 seconds under controlled conditions / full item
- Video: China’s EHang eVTOL firm successfully completes unmanned flight in Shanghai / full item
- …China appears well-positioned to lead in battery recycling. Yet the very factors that drove its rapid ascent in EV manufacturing… are also introducing unique hurdles… / full item
- The Dep’t of Commerce has issued a final rule that will prohibit the sale and import of connected vehicle hardware and software systems as well as completed connected vehicles from the PRC and Russia’ / full item
- China: US Commerce Dep’t is to impose new export controls on biotech equipment and related tech, raising national security concerns around AI and data science / full item
- China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp’n completes satellite launch for Pakistan, the first of a planned 3-sat group / full item
- Chinese officials are reportedly evaluating a potential option for Elon Musk to acquire the US operations of TikTok if the short-video app company fails to fend off proposed ban / full item
- China: Jielong-3 solid rocket launched from a mobile sea platform, placing 10 Centispace sats into orbit to boost signals from systems including Beidou and GPS / full item
Lowy Institute: Five One-Chinas – The contest to define Taiwan
- Shanghai and Beijing set sights on global brain computer interface industry, rolling out ambitious action plans / full item
- Telecom Egypt, the country’s main telecom services operator, inks commercial agreement with China Mobile Int’l to expand digital services / full item
- Türkiye telco, Turkcell, and China’s Huawei completed a world-first 2.4Tbps field trial over 160 kilometers on a live transmission network / full item
- China: Ministry of Industry & Info Tech calls for nationwide 10G optical trials this year as part of national ‘new information infrastructure’ strategy / full item
- China: Research institute floats possibility of high-end RISC-V processors for data centers in 2025, taking RISC-V to a new level of chip competition / full item
- China: Big Fund 3, a $47BN state-backed fund, launched phase 3 with investments into 2 other funds focused on the country’s semiconductor and advanced-tech industries / full item
- China is effectively transforming the traditional product-centric automotive industry business into a services-centric Internet of Mobility business model. / full item
- According to one assessment, Chinese car manufacturers planned to release some 90 new models in the fourth quarter of 2024 and about 90% of them were EVs. / full item
- China: Shijian-25 satellite launches to test on-orbit refuelling, and tech to extend satellite lifespans / full item
- China: Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co reports satellite-to-ground laser transmission milestone of 100Gbps, for high-resolution imagery, a speed equivalent to 10 full movies in 1 second / full item
- …wrong to conclude that export controls aren’t working just because DeepSeek has developed a model that’s as good or nearly as good as OpenAI’s. That conclusion would be mistaken for 2 reasons… / full item
Old age poverty and active ageing in ASEAN: Trends
- China completes world-first satellite-based remote surgeries, with operations conducted via Apstar-6D broadband satellite 36,000km above the planet / full item
- Here’s a brief look at China’s short video economy, and its likely responses to a possible drop in users and creators / full item
- China’s surging electric vehicle output has ignited demand for automotive chips, but domestic firms remain reliant on foreign suppliers for more than 90 per cent of their needs… / full item
- China: Government expands smartphone trade-in subsidy program, boosting domestic firms like Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo, with knock-on downturn likely for Apple device sales / full item
- BYD surpassed its 2024 sales target of 4M EVs with just over 4.27M, up 41.3% vs 2023. The Chinese EV and battery giant is likely to overtake Honda and Ford in 2024 global sales… / full item
- China: An overview of new-generation Long March rockets, commercially-developed launch vehicles, and others, that are expected to see their first flights in 2025 / full item
- China’s AgiBot releases large-scale AgiBot World Alpha dataset for humanoid robotics developers, providing foundational models, standardized benchmarks and more / full item
- China: ‘An anticipated sales decline after a government subsidy expires at the end of [2024] is expected to exacerbate the financial squeeze that is throttling smaller EV makers, analysts said.’ / full item
- China: Nio EV maker breaks 30K monthly milestone, claiming 31,138 vehicles delivered in December, up 72.87% from December 2023 / full item
- China: Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology, aka Genesat, raised $137M to further develop manufacturing for the 14000-sat G60 Starlink mega-constellation, aka Qianfan and Thousand Sails / full item
- China: Tesla Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory project passes inspection, just 7 months from start of construction, targeting 10K commercial storage batteries annually / full item
- China: Alibaba Cloud cuts AI model pricing by up to 85% in response to ongoing price wars in the domestic AI services market / full item
- China: ‘Legacy’ chips used in everyday goods are set to face additional US tariffs in a bid to protect market-driven producers from heavily state-subsidised competition / full item
- Indonesia Battery Corp looks to Japanese and South Korean partnerships, alongside raw material suppliers in Australia and South America, in response to US China-related tariff concerns / full item
Hong Kong Fintech Ecosystem Report – March 2025
- Hong Kong: Legislative Council discusses new stablecoin bill amid ongoing moves to establish the city as a global cryptocurrency hub / full item
- Malaysia’s Hong Leong Bank and China’s WeBank Tech Services, subsidiary of China’s largest digital bank, ink agreement for fintech and AI collaboration and services growth / full item
- Indonesia: China’s BYD EV giant targets completion of $1BN plant in Indonesia by year-end, looking at annual production of 150,000 EV units / full item
- Several Chinese-owned solar panel makers have shut down or scaled back their operations in Malaysia, industry sources say as US tariffs, and scrutiny, rise / full item
- Online now: Q4’24 Venture Pulse Report, Asia findings, from KPMG: Hong Kong’s IPO market ranked among the top 5 global IPO venues during 2024… / full item
- Yamaha Motor and BMW have backed Phoenix Tailings, a US-based rare earths processing firm boasting minimal emissions, adding to diversification of supply chains / full item
- Thailand: OPPO and RealMe smartphone manufacturers found to have included pre-installed loan apps on devices without Bank of Thailand approval / full item
- Taiwan: Government Service Network hit by an average of 2.4M cyber-attacks every day in 2024, double the 2023 total, according to a report by the National Security Bureau / full item
- A brief overview of how the recent Honda-Nissan deal may be a key move in responding to the explosive growth of China’s BYD / full item
- With significant investments and strategic policies, India appears poised to carve its niche in the global semiconductor landscape. But how realistic is the dream… / full item
Critical technologies, globally, in January 2025
Asia’s tech news, weekly in January
- To January 25th 2025: On LinkedIn & on Substack
- To January 18th 2025: On LinkedIn & on Substack
- To January 11th 2025: On LinkedIn & on Substack
- To January 4th 2025: On LinkedIn & on Substack
