Asian Tech Roundup: Indian banker warns of AI-induced instability

Plus: Indonesia tells Google and Apple to remove ecommerce app Temu

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at a banker’s fears that AI could tip India into economic instability, Indonesia’s Temu ban and Vietnam going all in on IPv6

China

• Data centres in China should continue to use Nvidia chips rather than switch to Chinese brands to avoid “high costs" and “complex engineering”, a government-backed research institute has said. Source
• Chinese manufacturers will make 72% of all LCD panels, up from 66% last year, with a nearly 100% share in ultra-large 90 – 115 inch screens. Source
• China’s answer to Instagram, Xiaohongshu, saw revenues increasing to over $1billion in the Q4 2024. The app generated $200 million in net profit in the quarter. Source
• China has accused the US of inventing the hacking group codenamed Volt Typhoon, which the US says has links to Beijing, in order to discredit China and cover up its own espionage activities. Source
• Intel China has said it prioritises security after a Chinese industry group called for a review of its products. Source

India

• The governor of the Reserve Bank of India has warned of the risk of economic instability with the use of AI, particularly if it is dominated by a small number of players. Source
• India has become the second-biggest supplier (after China) of restricted critical technologies – including microchips, circuits and machine tools - to Russia, according to US and European officials. Source
• Wipro announced higher-than-expected revenues, falling 1% to 223.02 billion rupees ($2.65 billion) in Q2, but above analysts’ forecasts. Source
• Meanwhile IT services company Infosys registered a 2.3% increase in revenue. Source
• The High Court in Delhi ordered Wikipedia to take down a page featuring an ongoing defamation lawsuit between the Wikimedia Foundation and publisher Asia News International. Source
• The government is looking into the issue of ‘objectionable’ content and ‘obscene scenes’ on over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms. Source
• Adani Group is talking with two Israeli firms about a semiconductor joint venture. Source

Indonesia

• Indonesia has ordered Apple and Google to remove Chinese ecommerce app Temu from their app stores, saying that Temu has not been licensed to operate in the country and also citing competition concerns. Source
• Indonesia Battery Corporation (IBC) and a unit of China's CATL have formed a partnership to create a battery manufacturing plant in Indonesia. Source

Japan

• Following a call by Japan for increased participation in US-led military alliances, pro-Russian threat actors began a coordinated DDoS attack campaign this week against Japanese organisations, says Netscout.
• Chipmaker Rapidus and car parts supplier Denso are to partner in designing advanced chips for AI and self-driving vehicles . Source
• British fintech firm Wise has won approval for direct access to Japan's bank payment clearing network . Source

Taiwan

• Taiwanese firm Artilux and a researcher from the University of Massachusetts claim to have demonstrated room-temperature photonic quantum computing in integrated silicon photonics with germanium–silicon single-photon avalanche diodes. Source
• TSMC, which is currently building facilities in Dresden, Germany, is planning more plants in Europe with a focus on AI chips . Source
• And TMC predicts that overall revenues in 2024 will be 30% up on the previous year. Source
• 168,000 documents stored in an insecure AWS bucket by OwlTing, a Taiwanese travel and blockchain solutions company, inadvertently exposed personally identifiable information of more than 765,000 people, mostly customers of Taiwanese hotels. Source
• Taiwan has set carbon pricing at NT$300(US$10) per ton of CO2, a level that has please neither environmentalists who say it is too low, or industry including tech who complain it’s too high. Source

Vietnam

• Vietnam is planning universal fibre to the home, and to convert all its networks to IPv6 next year. Source
• Vietnam has attracted a major investment in data centres from South Korea’s Hyosung, following in the footsteps of Samsung. Source

Other Asia

• Australia’s planned ban on social media for teens could remove a valuable communications line for some. Source
• TikTok has announced major layoffs, mainly targeting content moderation teams in Malaysia and other regions. Source
• North Korean hackers are using a new strain of malware to target Linux-based ATMs. Source
• South Korea is seeking to plug a spate of leaks of industrial secrets by imposing harsher penalties. Source
• Delta Electronics, a supplier to Nvidia, is to build green energy plants including for hydrogen fuel cells in India and Thailand. Source