Asian Tech Roundup: Big tech's antitrust angst

Plus: Pakistan's Great Firewall tribute act

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Asian Tech Roundup: Big tech's antitrust angst

Mining company Northern Minerals said it had suffered a security breach with stolen data including corporate, operational and financial information being published on the dark web. Source
Australia's eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has ended legal action that aimed to force social media platform X to take down a video of a knife attack. X's owner, Elon Musk, called it a win for free speech. Source

The EU has announced hefty tariffs aimed at slowing down EV imports from China. Source
US sanctions on Chinese semiconductors may backfire, warns Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. Source
An unnamed government in Southeast Asia has been the target of a "complex" and long-running Chinese state-sponsored cyber espionage operation dubbed Crimson Palace, according to Sophos. Source
China has turned on the world's largest solar farm in northwestern Xinjiang. The 200,000-acre site can generate about 6.1 billion kWh of electricity every year, enough to power a small country. Source
China's Chang'e-6 lunar module has landed on the far side of the Moon and begun its journey home after collecting soil and rock samples. Source

Ten percent of all equity funding in India went to green-tech startups in 2024, with venture capitalists contributing nearly 60% of $1.5 billion total. Source
Daniel Kokotajlo, an ex-OpenAI whistleblower, has alleged that Microsoft tested the GPT-4 AI model in its Bing search engine in India, without its safety board's approval. Microsoft later confirmed the allegations. Source
India's small neighbourhood shops are under increasing pressure from online rivals like Swiggy, Zepto and Zomato which are following the Amazon model. Source
A student was arrested for hacking into the Telangana police department's networks and attempting to sell stolen data. Source
India's proposed EU-style antitrust law is being opposed by a US lobby group that represents some of the biggest tech companies. Source
Infosys, India's second-largest software maker, has increased its CEO Salil Parekh's compensation by 17.3% to 662.4 million rupees ($7.9 million) in fiscal 2024, at the same time as it recorded its slowest ever annual growth. Source
Wealth management company 360 One WAM, has agreed to acquire Indian mutual fund investment app ET Money for about $44 million. Source
Meta is rolling out Meta Verified for creators, a paid monthly subscription that comes with features like the verified badge, account support and impersonation protection in India, Brasil, Indonesia and Colombia. Source

Japan has passed a new competition law to prevent mobile app store operators like Apple and Google from monopolising app sales and operations in those stores. Source
Canon is in discussions with India to provide semiconductor lithography equipment for chip manufacturing as it aims to compete with industry leader ASML. Source
Japan is mulling legislation to support the commercial production of advanced semiconductors. Source
The number of personal information breaches in Japan in 2023 was up 58% on the previous year, the government said. Source
Advantest has said that rocketing demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) used for AI workloads has boosted its memory tester business. Source
UL Solutions has opened a new battery enclosure material screening (BEMS) laboratory in city of Ise in central Mie Prefecture, on the island of Honshū. The lab will primarily supply the automotive industry. Source

TikTok parent ByteDance plans to invest around 10 billion ringgit ($2.13 billion) in an AI hub in Malaysia, according to investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz. Source
Malaysia is looking to attract $100 billion of investment for new fabrication plants, advanced chiplet packaging, and fabs for memory and logic over the next seven years. Source

A hacker called GhostR claims to have stolen over 34GB of data belonging to Singapore-based Absolute Telecom PTE Ltd. Source
Taiwan's Vanguard International Semiconductor Corporation and Netherlands firm NXP Semiconductors announced plans to create a manufacturing joint venture called VSMC to build a new 300mm semiconductor wafer manufacturing facility in Singapore. Source
Google has said it has invested $5 billion total in infrastructure in Singapore, after completing an expansion of its datacentres and cloud facilities. Source
The government has launched Project Moonshot, an open source testing toolkit to help assess the safety of AI large language models. Source

Two "fabless" AI chip startups, Rebellions and Sapeon, have agreed to merge in a bid to take on Nvidia. Source
Apple has been fined an un-troubling 210 million won ($153,000) for collecting users' location data without their consent. Source
A union of workers at Samsung Electronics has staged its first ever strike. The NSEU is seeking commitments to improve the performance-based bonus system and an additional day's leave. Source
Two workers at a Samsung Electronics chipmaking plant have been hospitalised due to exposure to radiation. Source
South Korea will generate 70% of its power from renewable sources by 2038, up from 40% now, according to its Basic Electricity Plan, to meet the growing demand for electricity as datacentres and semiconductor factories expand. Source

Electronics giant Foxconn reported a 22.1% year-on-year revenue rise in May, a record high. Source
Chipmaker TSMC says it considered moving out of Taiwan due to the threat from China but ultimately ruled it out. Source

Andariel, a North Korean threat actor, has been using a new backdoor called Dora RAT in attacks against schools and private businesses in South Korea. Source
Pakistan is implementing a Great Firewall-like system, using deep packet inspection to monitor and block content from being seen by citizens, similar to that built by China. Source