Asian Tech Roundup: Apple’s desperate price cuts

Plus: Malaysia and Indonesia push back against the tech giants

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at Apple’s attempts to stem falling sales in China, as well as other countries’ attempts to address the power balance between them and some of the world’s richest companies.

Sales of non-Chinese smartphones in China plunged by more than 47.4% last year as a trade war on chips and technology with the US continues to play out. The latest instalment of this tussle saw the US blacklisting the largest battery maker in the world, CATL, whose products are used by Tesla, among others, and Tencent, both ostensibly on military grounds. Safe to say in China, US brands like Apple are not flavour of the month and sales have been plummeting, thanks also to the struggling economy. This week saw Apple take the highly unusual step of discounting its flagship products as well as older models to attract buyers. Will it work? Probably not, since Huawei has stepped in with major discounts of its own.

Elsewhere, Indonesia and Malaysia have been pushing back against US tech giants, the former standing firm on its insistence that smartphones sold in the country should have 35% of components manufactured in the country. Apple has said it will build a factory for AirTag manufacture, but Indonesia says that while welcome, this does not make Apple compliant, and iPhone 16s remain banned.

On 1^st January Malaysia introduced new regulations covering all social media and messaging platforms with at least eight million registered users in the country. So far Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat have applied and been granted licences to operate, but reportedly others affected, including Google and X, have not yet applied.

China

• The US has blacklisted CATL, the biggest EV battery maker in the world, and Tencent which operates the social media app WeChat. Both deny working for the Chinese military. Source
• An attack on the US Treasury last month has been linked to state-backed hackers Silk Typhoon. Source
• Lenovo is to build a factory in Saudi Arabia capable of producing millions of PCs and servers per year. Source
• As demand for its phones falls in China, Apple kicked 2025 off with a rare discount in its iPhone products in China, taking as much as CNY500 (£55) off top models. Source
• Akamai is to stop providing CDN services to China. Source
• Chinese company KST Digital Technology Limited has allegedly been disguising drone parts destined for Russia as a Taiwanese brand TRC to evade sanctions. Source
• China's BYD now sells more electric vehicles than Tesla. Most sales are domestic but BYD is expanding rapidly into European and Southeast Asian markets. Source

India

• India has put forward a set of Digital Data Rules with tough penalties and cybersecurity requirements. The rules also give citizens greater control over their data. Source
• Funding for India's space sector fell by 55% year-on-year in 2024 to $59.1 million, the first fall in at least five years. Source
• Food delivery company Swiggy is to launch a standalone app in 76 cities to allow users to buy from its Instamart 'quick commerce' platform. Source
• Booking app MakeMyTrip introduces a part payment feature for international flights, allowing customers to pay 10% - 40% upfront and settle 45 days later. Source
• More than more than 90 websites associated with Indian government departments redirect to scam sites, according to an investigation by Techcrunch. Source
• Meta is appealing a Rs 213.14 crore ($25 million) fine for alleged abuse of its dominant position. Source

Japan

• Convenience store chain Lawson has deployed remote virtual workers, acting through cartoon avatars, to staff its stores late at night. Source
• Chipmaker Rapidus is to supply 2nm silicon prototypes to US semiconductor and software giant Broadcom in June, ahead of this technology becoming widely available. Source
• NTT and NEC are to build a high-speed network in Indonesia as a joint venture. Source
• Japan has published details of a years-long series of attacks attributed to a China-backed source dubbed “MirrorFace” or “Earth Kasha”. The alleged attacker has also been linked to the APT 10 gang. Source
• Honda is working with AWS to move the company’s vehicle designs from hardware-based to software-defined technology. Source
• Electronics firm Casio has confirmed 8,500 individuals had personal data stolen in October when it was attacked with ransomware by Russia-linked crime group RomCom aka Storm-0978. Source
• At CES, Toyota demonstrated robots that can fold t-shirts, a challenging test of dexterity. Source
• Chipmaker Renesas Electronics is cutting around 1,000 jobs, owing to weak demand for its chips. Source

Malaysia

• Google and X have not yet applied for an operating licence, which became required for social media and messaging firms with at least 8 million local users to operate in Malaysia from 1^st January. Source However WeChat and TikTok have been granted licences after applying. Source
• Environment minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has said datacentres will need to pay a premium for access to the country’s energy and water. Source
• Malaysia aims to become an energy and chip manufacturing hub this year, according to prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. Source

South Korea

• SK Hynix plans to reportedly HBM and DRAM production by 70% this year to boost market share. Source
• Troubled Samsung's fortunes hinge on continued demand from Nvidia, the FT reports. Source
• Samsung's quarterly profits missed estimates by a large margin, as it pivots towards providing high-end chips to Nvidia. Source
• Meanwhile the company has said it will reveal its latest latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S25, on 22nd January. Source

Taiwan

• TSMC has reported a record quarterly revenue of NT$868.4 billion for October-December 2024, a 38.8% year-on-year increase. Source
• Taiwan says online disinformation, which it blames on the Chinese government, has doubled in the last year. Source
• Taiwan has requested assistance from South Korea to investigate a Chinese-owned cargo ship suspected of damaging an undersea communication cable near Taiwan's northern coast. Source

Other Asia

• Singaporean datacentre company Digital Edge has raised more than $1.6 billion in new capital. The company is owned by Stonepeak, a New York-headquartered investment firm. Source
• Apple remains unable to sell the iPhone 16 in Indonesia despite agreeing to build manufacturing facilities in the county. It still fails to comply with local content rules, a government minister has said. Source