Asian Tech Roundup: Japan’s zeta-class supercomputer plans

Plus: India’s Supreme Court says storing child porn is illegal despite an earlier ruling to the contrary; China’s massive stimulus package; and North Korea’s IT freelancer spies

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at Japan’s plans to build a supercomputer 1,000 times faster than the current best-in-class, India’s Supreme Court overruling a regional court over the legality of child porn, and North Korean attempts to insert spies into US corporations.

Australia

• Virgin Australia is to modernise its retail capabilities through the phased implementation of the SabreMosaic AI-driven platform. Source
• Tech leaders from top Australian companies have urged their peers to embrace new tech and change. Source

China

• The People’s Bank of China has unveiled a massive new stimulus package to get the country’s economy back on track. Source
• ByteDance has launched new AI language models focused on video generation. Source
• Alibaba subsidiary DingTalk has launched new workplace collaboration tools using AI, known as DingTalk 365. Source
• Chinese state-backed hackers have been attacking US ISPs in an attempt to access sensitive data, according to the Wall Street Journal. Source
• The FBI is investigating Chinese billionaire investor Shan Xiangshuang, who has a stake in many Silicon Valley companies, over whether intellectual property may have been transferred back to China. Source
• Sales of foreign smartphones in China fell 12.7% in August, compared to 2023. Source

India

• The Supreme Court of India has overruled a Madras High Court judgment which had said that storing child pornographic material without intention to transmit is not an offence. Source
• Infosys and Swedish EV maker Polestar are to establish a technology hub in Bengaluru to focus on Polestar's in-car infotainment, software and electrical engineering, user experience and cloud digital services. Source
• A partnership between Indian defence company Bharat Electronics, Indian image sensor startup 3rdiTech and the US Space Force is to build a fab for defence integrated circuits in India. Source
• China’s Xiaomi has asked the Competition Commission of India to withdraw its investigation into the firm, claiming the report contains sensitive commercial information. Source
• The US’s Analog Devices (ADI) and India’s Tata Group have signed an agreement to explore making semiconductor products in India. Source
• Insurance company Star Health has sued Telegram and a hacker after Reuters reported that the hacker was using Telegram to leak personal data and medical reports of customers. Source
• AWS in engaging in a government scheme to procure high-end GPUs for AI Mission which aims to bolster the nation’s computing infrastructure. Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud have also shown interest. Source
• Telecoms firm Airtel has rolled out a new AI-powered network solution to alert users about spam calls and messages in real-time. Source
• The death of a 26-year-old EY executive apparently from exhaustion has prompted a government investigation. Source
• Indian fintech startup Jupiter is looking to buy a stake in SBM Bank India. Source

Japan

• Japan plans to build a $750 million “zeta-class” supercomputer by 2030 that will be 1,000 times faster than the current most powerful devices. Source
• The number of fake Facebook accounts posing as Japanese brokerages has surged, with around 10,000 identified between August 2023 and May 2024. Source
• Hitachi has worked with Nvidia to develop an AI-based railway safety monitoring system, known as Hyper Mobility Asset Expert. Source
• A number of datacentres are opening in the Fukushima region, aiming to attract startups involved in AI and other digital technologies. Source
• Chipmaker Kioxia has decided to delay a potential $10 billion stock market flotation as global semiconductor stocks have fallen. Source
• Three of Japan's largest banks are each planning to up to 5 billion yen ($35 million) in chipmaker Rapidus ahead of the start of mass production of cutting-edge in 2027. Source
• Japanese antitrust regulators have apparently opened an investigation into Broadcom’s VMware licensing practices. Source

Vietnam

• Vietnam's FPT is to start back-end processing of semiconductors, with plans to employ 10,000 people in this area by 2030. Source
• Samsung plans to spend $1.8 billion on a new OLED display factory in northern Vietnam, focusing on products for automotive and technical applications. Source
• SpaceX plans to invest $1.5 billion in Vietnam, according to the government. Source

Other Asia

• The Monetary Authority of Singapore has ordered e-commerce platform Qoo10 to suspend payment services, due to merchants’ complaints about delayed payments. Source
• Samsung has launched a massive recruitment drive for high school graduates in South Korea, aiming to place them in skilled roles like R&D as well as more manual work like production lines. Source
• The Bank of Thailand has received five applications for virtual banking licenses, but only plans to issue three – after an assessment period. Source
• The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has reportedly partnered with Samsung to build a major semiconductor manufacturing facility in the UAE. Source
• According to Google-owned security firm Mandiant, North Korean spies are joining Fortune 100 companies as IT freelancers. Source