Asian Tech Roundup: Canada calls out Chinese threat

Plus: India bypassing Russian tech ban

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at Canada’s backhanded compliment of Chinese cyber ops, Indian companies’ dealings with Russia and the ongoing battle for rare earth minerals.

Australia

• The Australia-Asia Power Link, the world’s largest renewable energy generation and transmission project, has received key government approval. Source
• Australian scientists are exploring more efficient ways to extract rare earth metals such as gallium and germanium from mining waste, to reduce dependency on China, where most natural deposits are situated. Source
• Australia's competition authority is suing phone retailer Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications, over alleged dubious sales practices. Source

China

• Canada has called out the threat from Chinese state hackers, describing the scale, tradecraft and ambition of the country’s cyber espionage activities as "second to none". Source
• Alibaba has agreed to pay $433.5m to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders in the US, which alleged the company had misled investors about its monopolistic practices. Source
• The USA is finalising rules to limit investments in Chinese R&D into semiconductors and microelectronics; quantum information technologies; and certain AI systems. Source
• ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has been named the richest person in China, worth an estimated $49.3 billion. Source
• China has allegedly cracked down on the export of rare earth minerals with new restrictions and expanded state ownership of production facilities. The semiconductor industry relies on rare earth materials. Source
• A proposed US ban on Chinese EV hardware and software would effectively banish the Sweden-headquartered automaker Polestar from the market, the company says. Source
• According to Bloomberg News the EU is set to investigate Chinese online retailer Temu over the alleged sale of illegal products via the platform . Source

India

• Jio Payment Solutions has received approval from India’s central bank to operate as an online payment aggregator, similar to Google Pay. Source
• The government has issued a warning to social media firms after more than 200 hoax bomb threats spreading online disrupted travel across the country in October. Source
• Indian companies are reported to have been shipping advanced technology to Russia, in contravention of an international ban. Source
• Canada says the Indian government is using spyware to track its opponents abroad. It comes after the killing of a Sikh separatist in the country. Source
• India’s competition commission has put out a tender for a “Digital Forensic Service Provider” to help law enforcement extract encrypted data from devices. Source

Indonesia

• The government has banned Apple devices, including the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Series 10, from sale in the country, because Apple has failed to meet its minimum local investment requirements. Source
• The country has also blocked Google Pixel phones for the same reason. Source

Japan

• SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has spoken about a $150 million robot factory the company is due to open in Saudi Arabia in December. Source
• Toyota Motor and NTT will invest 500 billion yen ($3.26 billion) in R&D to develop AI self-driving software, says Nikkei. Source

South Korea

• Samsung is to allay investor concerns over the performance of its semiconductor business, which suffered a 40% quarter-on-quarter drop in profits. Source
• Samsung is to temporarily shut down half of its foundry production facilities to save money, according to reports. Source
• Founder of tech giant Kakao, Kim Beom-su (aka Brian Kim), has been granted bail after being arrested on allegations of share price manipulation. Source

Thailand

• The government has approved $2 billion of new investments in datacentres and tech manufacturing, including a $968.12 million investment in a datacentre by Alphabet. Source
• Thai Airways has deployed new AI-first networking technology from Juniper Networks. Source

Taiwan

• TSMC has allegedly cut off shipments to Chinese chip designer Sophgo, over allegations it was trying to circumvent US sanctions. Source
• Taiwan’s Alchip Technologies is testing 2nm semiconductor technology for ASICs, pushing the boundaries of AI chip design. Source

Other Asia

• Malaysia: Meta has weighed in against Malaysia's planned requirement for social media companies to be licensed by January, saying it is too hasty and could damage innovation. Source
• Singapore: The country has seen a sharp rise in tech startup activity as a result of Sino-American political tensions. Source
• Vietnam: Teachers at Coventry University have launched GameAid, a project aiming to show teachers in Vietnam how they can use generative AI to their benefit. Source