China’s tech news headlines
December round-up
China’s tech news headlines in December 2022 covered items as diverse as Hangzhou Internet Court’s ruling on NFTs, US sanctions on China’s semiconductor industry, maritime port systems automation, driverless ‘robotaxis’ in Beijing, and many more. Hit the links below to read each article, online and in full.
You can also get Startup News Asia’s tech news updates in our weekly newsletters, via Substack and LinkedIn.
CSET: Chinese AI Investment in Southeast Asia
- ICYMI: In acquiring Germany’s Hamburg shipping terminal “COSCO presents national and economic security risks not through a single investment in any European port, but because of three key factors…”
- RT @tony_zy: Photo editors. Please STOP juxtaposing clear identifiable faces of protesters along headlines like “Xi faces stiffest challenges” esp. when you’re unsure abt those specific protesters’ demands. It might be a few clicks but it could be a decade difference if they’re implicated.
- China’s Aiways electric car manufacturer to build vehicle and battery assembly plant in Thailand, following large order from Phoenix EV e-mobility service provider
“After receiving an order for up to 150,000 electric cars from Thai eMobility service provider Phoenix EV a few days ago, the Chinese electric car manufacturer has now announced plans for an assembly plant in Thailand.”
- “…subscribers to the top 100 Chinese YouTube accounts at 169 million, with influencer channels accounting for 45% of that fan base. If YouTube is blocked in China, how is this possible?”
- China: Hangzhou Internet Court rules that “NFT collectibles condenses the creator’s original expression of art and has the value of related intellectual property rights”
BDA Partners: SEA FinTech Investment Landscape
- Huawei and Saudi Ministry of Comm’s and IT ink MOU with goal of a ’10GPS Society’, and with Huawei gaining at cloud computing region in the Kingdom
- China’s Enovate Motors EV firm launches JV with Saudi Arabia’s Sumou Holding to establish manufacturing and R&D base with planned annual output of 100K electric vehicles
- China: More than 30 tech firms to be added to US blacklist, including YMTC semiconductor firm found to have breached Huawei supply sanctions
- Alipay+ cross-border digital payments giant rolls out year-end promo with e-wallet partners from Hong Kong, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia
- China: Senior Automation raises $14M Series A+ funding with driverless solutions for port transport, boasting only 150 employees, 110 of whom are in R&D
- China’s Tencent Cloud partners South Korea’s Nexon global video publisher to launch Nexontown metaverse platform
“Nexontown, available in South Korea, currently houses open halls, camping sites, classrooms, and conference halls where users interact with each other using items and characters from Nexon’s online games set in the virtual world.”
- China: Botinkit raises near $10M pre-Series A with automated cooking robots, providing both hardware and software
- China: “Huawei’s inventory of smartphone chips designed by semiconductor unit HiSilicon reached zero in the third quarter, according to a Counterpoint report.”
- ICYMI: Some US gov’t officials reportedly considering calling for TikTok US unit to be sold in order to allay long-standing security concerns
- China to invest $143.6 billion in subsidizing the country’s semiconductor industry; but no longer to support ‘compound’ projects due to often-overestimated financial feasibility
- China: PonyAI autonomous vehicle firm gains driverless road test permit for 10 robotaxis to learn in challenging urban traffic scenarios across a 20KM square area in Beijing
“Pony.ai will deploy ten driverless robotaxis for testing in challenging urban traffic scenarios across a 20 square kilometer (7.7 square mile) area in the pilot zone in Yizhuang, Beijing. The autonomous vehicles will be tested without anyone in the vehicle; a safety officer will monitor the test vehicles remotely.”
- State-run China Digital Asset Trading Platform launch ceremony set for January 1st, running on the ‘China Cultural Protection Chain’ blockchain
- India: “The [Enforcement Directorate] has also charged Vivo India for money laundering, alleging more than 50% of its turnover has been transferred to China to avoid paying taxes…”
- Australia: Dep’t of Home Affairs, ASIO and ASD now scrutinising use of Hikvision and Dahua surveillance cameras, citing similar security concerns raised in recent UK and US bans
- Japan: Huawei switches focus to Japan’s smartwatch market as US limits bite, releasing devices for business users which don’t require cutting-edge semiconductors
- Taiwan bans TikTok, Douyin and Xiaohongshu from public sector devices as it has been listed as ‘a product that endangers national information and communication security’
- Taiwan: 700 private surveillance cameras containing chips made by a subsidiary of Huawei found to be transmitting online due to security vulnerabilities
“Based on information posted about the cameras on the website, the commonality in many cases is that the devices contain HiSilicon’s Hi3516 semiconductors. HiSilicon is a fabless semiconductor company based in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and is fully owned by Huawei.”
- Hong Kong: Gov’t attempted to pressure Google to remove ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ protest anthem from search results; Google refused.
- Thailand: Huawei, Ministry of Commerce and Office of Commercial Affairs launch digital training through ‘Digital Bus’ to boost ICT knowledge in local gov’t and community
- Australia & TikTok: “…Chinese law stipulates that domestic organisations must ‘support, assist and co-operate with the state intelligence work’
- Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, subsidiary of Foxconn, to sell off minority stake in Tsinghua Unigroup, China’s semiconductor giant
- Taiwan: Foxconn may face fine over ‘unauthorised’ investment in China-based chipmaking firm, Tsinghua Unigroup
- Taiwan: Gov’t launches investigation into TikTok over allegations that the platform is operating illegally on the island via an affiliate company
Lowy Institute: Asia Power Index, 2023 edition
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