in December 2023
Our critical technologies coverage for December 2023 spans those technologies, and their component parts, supply chains and – importantly – emerging risks and considerations affecting each. In specific, we capture coverage of: critical minerals and rare earths; space launch, satellites and related tech; supply chain issues whether in availability or transport; and the underpinning digital concerns that are now a fundamental component of any discussion.
Critical technology news items captured in December 2023 spanned: alternatives to lithium batteries tech; semiconductor manufacturing, funding and the mitigation of related supply chain risks; quantum computing and cryptography, and related cybercrime risks; the rise of RISC-V as an advanced-microchips architecture; and many more.
Other editions: Asia’s tech news, daily (via LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter/X); and Indo-Pacific technology newsletters, weekly.
CSIS: NATO’s role in protecting critical undersea infrastructure
- Critical minerals: “The existing rare earths refining process is a nightmare… That’s why there are so many companies promising new methods, because we need new ones.”
- Video: ‘US-ASEAN Partnership, Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ from the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers, an hour-long discussion from the CIPR International Conference 2023
- Download: ‘Indo-Pacific Security in 2030-35 – Links in the Chain’ via the Hague Center for Strategic Studies
- “How secure is European maritime trade with the Indo-Pacific? Sea lines of communication between the two regions pass through several chokepoints…”
- 24M Technologies sees production ahead for ‘semisolid-state’ EV batteries near 40% cheaper than lithium-ion, and with 50% energy efficiency boost
CBDCs:
“Central bank digital currencies are the bad idea that won’t go away. There are simpler, more straightforward ways of solving the problems that CBDCs are deemed to address…”
- US Dep’t of Energy announces discovery of what may be the world’s largest lithium deposit in California, an estimated 18M-tons worth up to $540BN
- ‘US Department of the Treasury has sanctioned the Sinbad cryptocurrency mixing service for its use as a money-laundering tool by the North Korean Lazarus hacking group’
- North Korean cybercrime group, BlueNorOff, found to be using a new, fairly simple yet very functional malware that aids attackers commit financial crimes targeting Apple’s MacOS
- Available to download: ‘Crypto Country – North Korea’s Targeting of Cryptocurrency’ from Recorded Future’s Insikt Group
- North Korea believed to now have a second nuclear reactor online, raising new concerns over weapons development
Quantum technology’s future impacts, today:
“…a global effort to plunder data is underway so that intercepted messages can be decoded after Q-day in what he described as ‘harvest now, decrypt later‘ attacks…”
- Millennium Space Systems gains US Space Force approval for production of 6 satellites for medium Earth orbit to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles
- True Anomaly, US space firm, secures $100M with hardware, software, systems and orbital vehicles to aid clients with identifying and managing threats to assets in space
- Helicity Space is working on a fusion drive proof-of-concept for space travel, potentially capable of travelling from Earth to Mars in just 2 months
- Amazon inks contract with SpaceX for 3 launches of Project Kuiper satellites using SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, effectively using SpaceX to launch a Starlink competitor
- SpaceX’s newest launch includes first 6 StarLink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities, aiming to enable mobile networks to provide texting, calling and browsing globally
Innocuous gadgets, data & privacy:
“Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.”
- Can CPUs be reconfigured to work in a similar way to GPUs, and soften a semiconductors supply crunch in the process?
- The Coming Boom in Rare Earths: “…it is an unprecedented level of funding and hasn’t been seen from the U.S. government since World War II, basically.”
- In November, India launched part 1 of its critical minerals auction in 8 states, valued at $5.4BN and spanning minerals including lithium, potash, vanadium, graphite and rare earths
- Singapore: Atomionics rolls out ‘virtual drill’ tech using gravity and AI to define ore bodies, looking to cut customer costs and development times for minerals projects
- China: Gov’t bans export of technologies used to create rare earth magnets, adding to export restrictions on minerals graphite and germanium
- US Dep’t of Energy announces discovery of what may be the world’s largest lithium deposit in California, an estimated 18M-tons worth up to $540BN
EY 2024 Geostrategic Outlook – Thrive in ongoing geopolitical complexity
- Australia: Gov’t to allocate $17M for up to 5 industry-specific centres to aid organisations in responsibly applying AI to business practices
- Tech majors including Bosch, Infineon and Qualcomm partner to launch Quintauris in Germany to explore and promote global adoption of RISC-V chips open standard for next-gen hardware
- China: A very brief outline of the Deep Underground and Ultra-low Radiation Background Facility for Frontier Physics Experiments, exploring fields including particle physics, nuclear astrophysics and life sciences
- Millennium Space Systems gains US Space Force approval for production of 6 satellites for medium Earth orbit to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles
- 24M Technologies sees production ahead for ‘semisolid-state’ EV batteries near 40% cheaper than lithium-ion, and with 50% energy efficiency boost
Semiconductors in Europe & Indo-Pacific Economies: Supply Chain Risks
- Australia: Green Gravity and Wollongong Resources mining firm partner to explore gravitational energy storage tech at up to 8 sites in New South Wales,, utilizing unused mine shafts
- Australia’s largest grid-forming battery set for construction in New South Wales’ Hunter region, twice the initially-planned size and aiming for mid-2026 operation
- A brief intro to some of the companies, and technologies, in Europe focusing on non-lithium batteries and energy storage
- Australia: H2site and Gold Hydrogen partner for Yorke Peninsula natural hydrogen pilot plant using process claiming to recover over 95% of available hydrogen alongside valuable co-products including helium
- Australia’s AGL energy giant partners US firm, SLB, for large-scale nickel-hydrogen battery trial site in South Australia, looking at stationary energy storage options beyond lithium-ion batteries
MERICS: ‘Here to stay’, China’s state-affiliated hacking for strategic goals
- Japan’s Itochu trading house and Osaka Gas partner for hydrogen business, taking 40% in Denmark’s Everfuel hydrogen producer with goal of hydrogen supply chain and domestic production base
- Australia: Planning now underway for $425M Riverbend Energy Hub in SA, aiming to convert 200K tonnes of landfill into hydrogen annually upon completion
- Australia: AGL energy giant and Renewable Metals battery recycling firm partner to investigate viability of lithium battery recycling facility at AGL Hunter Energy Hub
Quantum technologies:
“Toshiba is a global leader in the field. It has successfully sent and received quantum encrypted data transmitted 600 kilometers between Tokyo and Osaka…”
- Australia: Ark Energy lithium-iron phosphate battery approved for construction, with Richmond Valley Battery Energy Storage System set to be the largest of its kind globally on completion
- Australia: Gov’t opens applications for $18.5M funding to establish Australian Centre for Quantum Growth to develop quantum workforce and relationships with international counterparts
Quantum Australia 2024 Conference & Careers Fair – February 20-22
- ‘Safeguarding semiconductor IoT security with post-quantum cryptography: Q&A with Crypto Quantique CEO’
- ‘The Indian Quantum Ecosystem 2022-2023’, available to download now
- Critical minerals: “The existing rare earths refining process is a nightmare… That’s why there are so many companies promising new methods, because we need new ones.”
- ‘Examining China’s Grand Strategy For RISC-V’, an analysis from The Jamestown Foundation looking at the open-standard chips architecture as a hedge against US-led tech sanctions
- Taiwan: More on Foxconn’s diversification moves into industries from electric vehicles to satellite technologies
- China: Hexin Technology CPU developer announces processor based on RISC architecture, featuring 110 billion transistors and built on the IBM Power ISA open standard
Jamestown Foundation: Examining China’s Grand Strategy For RISC-V
- China: Biren AI chip firm gains $282M Guangzhou government-backed investment, in part a bid to develop domestic supply chain
- Japan: Toshiba Corp and Rohm Co partner for boosted production of power semiconductors, key to energy efficiency in EVs and factories, setting $902M budget with 1/3 coming from gov’t
- China: Changxin Memory Technologies chipmaker delays IPO, instead looking at a fundraising round built around $19.5BN valuation
- Vietnam: NVIDIA chip giant to establish a Vietnam base as part of the country’s moves to develop a semiconductors industry
- India to roll out revamped electronics and semiconductor industry incentive scheme to boost development of component plants, aiming for support ecosystem for global entities
“For China, one way around technology transfer restrictions is advanced packaging, because so far it’s a safe space that everyone invests in…”
- South Korea and the Netherlands to boost cooperation in tech spanning semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum research, alongside feasibility of Korean-built nuclear energy stations
- South Korea: Samsung and the Netherland’s ASML partner for $760M investment in Korean advanced chip plant, with SK Hynix chip giant collaborating
- Download: ‘Assessing India’s Readiness to Assume a Greater Role in Global Semiconductor Value Chains’ from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (pdf)
- China: ChangXin Memory Technologies DRAM firm presented research on gate-all-around transistors, signaling developments towards ability to produce 3-nanometre chips
- South Korea: The inaugural US-ROK Next Generation Critical & Emerging Technologies Dialogue took place in Seoul, an upgrade on bilateral tech cooperation
“…10900 chip-related companies have lost their registration in 2023… That means an average of 30 Chinese chip-related companies closed their doors each day in 2023.”
- China: UK’s Arm Holdings chip-maker has laid off more than 70 software engineers in China, relocating some roles outside of the country, ‘to focus on direct support for local developers’
- South Korea: A deep dive into Samsung’s challenges with cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing
- India: A brief intro to InCore, working on semiconductor chip design with a particular focus on RISC-V open-standard architecture
- India’s semiconductor challenges: “There is a lack of an ecosystem for deep tech and semiconductor startups which impacts their growth at every step…”
- India: CtrlS Datacenters adds Intel next-generation processor R&D lab to Bangalore facility, looking to develop new microprocessor architectures
- Can CPUs be reconfigured to work in a similar way to GPUs, and soften a semiconductors supply crunch in the process?
“India is looking at semiconductor packaging
as a low-hanging fruit to capture a share
of the global semiconductor supply chain…
ATMP and OSAT are good starting points…”
- China: Phase II of Guangdong Semiconductor & Integrated Circuit Industry Equity Investment Fund initiated, a $1.5BN local gov’t version of national Big Fund
- China: SigmaStar chip maker sets sights on $780M IPO via Shanghai Star Market, building on the country’s bid for semiconductor and high-tech independence
- South Korea has launched its first military satellite, via SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, gaining independent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities
- China: Landspace to launch its 3rd methane-oxygen Zhuque 2 rocket in January 2024, with satellites as payload
- Australia unveils lunar rover prototype proposed for Australian Space Agency ‘s$50 million Moon to Mars Trailblazer program, potentially taking part in future NASA Artemis mission
- China: CERES-1 Y9 commercial rocket launch delivered 2 satellites into orbit, one featuring remote sensing and laser comm’s, the other a part of 100-sat StarPool Plan constellations
Europe in the Crosshairs: PRC United Front Targets Semiconductor Sector
- China: Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Tech secures $84.8M Series A with R&D, design and ‘smart manufacturing’ for mass-production of satellites and components
- Japan: iQPS draws high interest with small-sats using synthetic aperture radar, imaging Earth’s surface with microwaves and allowing observation regardless of night, environmental conditions and clouds
- More on Japan’s iQPS small-satellites firm, looking to to mass produce compact, inexpensive microwave-based radar satellites
- India: T-Hub incubator launches Space Tech Incubation Program to boost India’s evolving space technologies sector, looking initially to boost 10 startups
- China: Jielong-3 solid rocket successfully launches from mobile sea platform in Guangdong, with payload likely related to 13000-satellite Guowang mega-constellation
ASPI: Derisking authoritarian artificial intelligence
- In November, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency was hacked, potentially exposing sensitive space-related technology and data
- China’s Space Program in 2023: ‘From heavy-lift reusable rockets to satellite internet, a look at China’s progress on top space priorities’ via The Diplomat
- Australian Space Summit & Exhibition 2024 set for late May – details here
- China: Galactic Energy launch firm secures $154M for development of reusable Pallas-1 rocket, capable of delivering 5000kg to low Earth orbit or 3000kg to 700km sun-synchronous orbit
- China successfully adds 2 satellites to Beidou positioning system – but fails with staging rocket re-entry landing in inhabited area
- China National Space Admin and Egyptian Space Agency ink cooperation agreements for Egypt participation in China’s International Lunar Research Station project, China-led BRICS satellite constellation and more
“The 12,000-sat G60 Starlink project,
along with the 13,000-sat Guo Wang
national network which is currently
under construction, is widely seen as
China’s answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink“
- Amazon inks contract with SpaceX for 3 launches of Project Kuiper satellites using SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, effectively using SpaceX to launch a Starlink competitor
- Air New Zealand joins other airlines in partnering Starlink for in-flight connectivity, looking to add free passenger internet access
- SpaceX’s newest launch includes first 6 StarLink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities, aiming to enable mobile networks to provide texting, calling and browsing globally
Deloitte & NASSCOM: Emerging technology hubs of India
- ‘Semiconductors in Key European and Indo-Pacific Economies: Geopolitical Risk in the Supply Chains into 2030 and Beyond’, research from the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies
- “How secure is European maritime trade with the Indo-Pacific? Sea lines of communication between the two regions pass through several chokepoints…”
- Google DeepMind’s GNoME AI tool described over 2.2 million new materials, with over 700 now produced and undergoing testing
- Japan’s Toshiba and Singapore’s SpeQtral boost existing collaboration around quantum key distribution hardware to deliver Singapore’s National Quantum-Safe Networks+ project
ASPI: State-sponsored economic cyber-espionage for commercial purposes
Indo-Pacific Tech news: Daily
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