Items linked here collect a range of articles drawn globally, rather than from one particular country, in November 2023, and broadly cover critical and emerging technologies, and the supply chains that underpin them, spanning:
- semiconductors and chip manufacturing;
- critical minerals and rare earths;
- space launch technologies and systems; and
- satellites and associated technologies.
Other editions: Asia’s tech news, daily, (via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter/X) and weekly Indo-Pacific tech newsletters.
Deloitte: NewSpace – the India perspective
“…automakers from General Motors to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and major suppliers like BorgWarner are researching, or have developed, motors with low- to zero-rare earth content such as magnet-free externally excited synchronous machines (EESMs), which generate a magnetic field using electric current.”
- ICYMI: UK’s Advanced Electric Machines raised $29M to scale production of EV motors containing no rare earths or copper, further growing existing market presence
- Quantum computing and space: “…from enhanced sensitivity and precision of quantum sensors and clocks, to global quantum secured communication and the quantum internet…”
- ICYMI: Qualcomm and Google join for next-gen wearables built on open-source RISC-V chips architecture, touted as an alternative to Arm ecosystem
pwc Digital Trust Insights 2024 survey findings
- ‘Loose Connections: Rethinking Semiconductor Supply Chains’ from Lloyd’s, built on surveys and interviews of over 140 semiconductor firms and insurance risk professionals
- One of the problems with small satellites: “Miniaturization can only go so far before it comes to a crashing halt against some very fundamental laws of physics.”
- ICYMI: UK gov’t awarded Space Forge $611K to build first manufacturing platform in space to create crucial defense items including semiconductors for radars and frontline communications
- China: Importers & exporters must now report transactions, orders and shipments of rare earths, oxide products, crude oil, iron ore, copper ore concentrates, potash fertilisers and more
- Australia: Liontown Resources secures Au$1.13BN backing for completion of Kathleen Valley lithium project, with sights on production by mid-2024
World Economic Forum: Quantum Readiness Toolkit
- China’s Tsingshan preps for $233M investment in Chilean mining firm SQM, gaining access to 11,244 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate at a preferential price until 2030
- India: RecycleKaro, taking lithium ion battery waste and processing it into cobalt, nickel and manganese
- China: Alibaba cuts quantum computing laboratory and team from research arm, donating lab and experimental equipment to Zhejiang University
- Australia’s Q-CTRL and Quad Investors Network partner to grow quantum workforce in Australia and US, with quantum-focused Black Opal learning platform made available to TAFE students
- ‘Australia and the United Kingdom signed a joint statement to cooperate on quantum technology innovation, research and commercialisation’
World Economic Forum: Quantum Readiness Toolkit
- China to place Queqiao-2 sat in lunar orbit using Long March 8 rocket in early 2024, a 1200kg satellite with a lifespan of 8+ years, to facilitate communications for future moon missions
- Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom inks deal with Eutelsat OneWeb for low Earth orbit satellite services as backup for terrestrial fixed and mobile networks, undersea cables and microwave comms
- Taiwan: An overview of Taiwan’s moves into satellite-driven communications security
- Japan: Sky Perfect JSAT satellite operator and NTT Corp have partnered to sell Project Kuiper services in 2024, focusing on businesses and gov’t organizations in Japan
Australia & semiconductors:
“For Canberra, such an endeavour is of the same magnitude as America’s historic ‘moonshots’ during the 1960s and 1970s. It’s a once-in-a-generation challenge…”“It’s important to note that both AUKUS Pillar 2 and the Albanese government’s April 2023 publication of the Defence Strategic Review reflect a shift in Australia’s strategic thinking on defence and national security, and the important correlation and greater cooperation between industry, education and defence priorities, particularly when it comes to technology.”
“Delivering on that shift will be difficult and often costly, but this report provides a series of recommendations of what that correlation and cooperation could look like.”
- MangoBoost, a Seoul-Seattle startup developing data processing unit chips for data centers, secured $55M Series A, aiming to boost efficiency in existing server equipment
- Japan: More info on Canon’s new, potentially game-changing, nanoimprint lithography tech, used to print circuit patterns on semiconductor wafers
- Vietnam: Intel has reportedly shelved Vietnam chip manufacturing expansion plans, with sources citing excessive local bureaucracy and unstable power supply concerns
- Japan: Gov’t tagets $13.2BN in budget funding for chip production and generative AI tech, planning production, research, design and startup support
BryceTech: Small Satellites in 2023
- China: SMIC, the country’s largest chipmaker, posted a 80% profit drop in Q3 profits, tho income still reached $94M
- Australia: Another look at the country’s opportunities in the global semiconductors industry
‘Vietnam Sets Sights on Becoming Semiconductor Hub’, an interview with representatives from Vietnam’s FPT Semiconductor
- Japan’s Rapidus Corp chip-maker to partner Canada’s Tenstorrent to mass produce more-efficient semiconductors
- South Korea: Sapeon AI chip-maker unveils X330 NPU, targeting H1 2024 production and claiming X330 has ‘roughly twice the computational performance and 1.3 times better power efficiency’ than competitors
- China: SophGo chip-maker developes high-performance RISC-V chips based on designs from US firm, SiFive, with Shandong University successfully deploying a Sophgo RISC-V server
CSIS: Onboard AI – constraints & limitations for drones, satellites, vehicles
- Philippines gov’t and US Dept of State ink agreement explore opportunities to grow and diversify the global semiconductor ecosystem
- South Korea: An intro to 4 firms based in Pangyo Tech Valley, working on semiconductors, artificial intelligence and broad nanotechnology-driven solutions
- State-run China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund invested $1.99BN in Changxin Xinqiao chip-maker with stated focus on DRAM and 12-inch wafer design and manufacture
- Japan: The World Economic Forum looks at how Japan’s semiconductor industry is leaping into the future
- SEMICON Japan 2023 is set for December 13-15 in Tokyo – semiconductor manufacturing supply chains, insights, trends and innovations
“In the future, SMIC, startup foundry Nexchip, DRAM firm CXMT, and microLED startup Silan have plans to construct an additional ten fabs Therefore by the end of 2024, China is aiming to establish 32 large fabs, and all of them are about to focus on relatively mature processes.”
“The 44 fabs currently operated by Chinese companies exclude seven sites where construction is temporarily suspended. The 44 comprise 25 fabs at 300mm, 4 fabs in 6-inch wafers, and 15 fabs for 200mm wafers. The 22 under construction are 14 for 300mm wafers and 8 for 200mm wafers. The 10 wafer fabs in planning are all for 300mm wafers except one.”
- Chinese-owned Nexperia chip-maker to acquire Dutch semiconductor firm following Netherlands gov’t approval, gaining chips using ambient electricity sources such as light as a power source
- India may gain agreements for 3 more semiconductor fabrication facilities in the coming months, representing investment of $8-12BN
- South Korea: TelePIX space-tech firm partners Poland’s SatRev to supply satellite imagery data from proprietary satellite, focusing on greenhouse gases
- South Korea’s TelePIX inks MOU with Thrusters Unlimited, Mexican geo-info firm, building on Lat-Am and Caribbean-focus following partnership with Mexico’s Space Zero Gravity space-tech
- China’s space-tech moves: “By offering the chance to win missions from the space agency, China is pursuing a strategy used by NASA with Mr Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp…”
McKinsey & Co: Quantum Technology Monitor
- Quantum computing and space: “…from enhanced sensitivity and precision of quantum sensors and clocks, to global quantum secured communication and the quantum internet…”
- India: Skyroot Aerospace secures $27.5M backing, led by Singapore gov’t Temasek fund, with sights on the global small-to-medium size satellite launch market
“Yangtze Memory Technologies Co, China’s largest memory chip maker, has had to appeal for new funding after burning through cash reserves in its efforts to adapt to sanctions…”
“According to the Financial Times, YMTC has already used up $7 billion in capital it received from shareholders earlier this year, including from the state-run China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund.”
- China: iSpace completes the country’s first reusable rocket test, performing a 50-second ‘hop’, with the first stage of the launch vehicle running on methane and liquid oxygen mix
- China: Space Pioneer commercial llaunch firm announces new funding round for development of Tianlong-3 rocket, broadly comparable to SpaceX Falcon 9
- Malaysia: Aphelia wins Startup World Cup regional with wireless charging stations for use in space, impacting on overal satellite launch costs and extending sat lifespans
McKinsey: The economic potential of artificial intelligence
- South Korea: Nara Space successfully launched and placed Observer-1A satellite in orbit via SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, completing 2-way communication with Antarctica ground station
- China: First of a new series of Haiyang ocean monitoring satellites entered orbit, adding to capabilities in observation across environmental factors, and also marine navigation
- Taiwan’s Foxconn steps into space exploration as part of diversification moves with launch of 2 prototype low-Earth orbit satellites via SpaceX rocket, partnering Taiwan’s National Central Uni
China & space technologies:
“Shanghai is aiming to foster a complete industrial chain for commercial rocket production, with an annual production capacity of 50 commercial rockets and 600 commercial satellites by 2025…”
- Malaysia’s Planters Int’l launched SpaceANT-D satellite using SpaceX, aiming to monitor reforestation, illegal logging and other environmental concerns in deep jungle areas
- China: Landspace announces plans for reusable stainless steel launch vehicle, Zhuque-3, using methane-liquid oxygen propellant rocket engines
- China: Recent launches found to contain multiple satellite payloads, with no details beyond ‘experiment satellite for satellite internet technologies’
- A look at Australia’s opportunities in the space launch industry, building on elements including the country’s location allowing launch to orbit at a lower cost
- ICYMI: Seurat Technologies 3D metal-printing firm raised $99M in part from NVIDIA’s NVDAO VC arm, focusing on green energy-powered manufacturing allowing reshoring of supply chains
MERICS: Chinese state-affiliated hacking for strategic goals
- ICYMI: “Qatar’s state-owned energy firm has entered into a 27-year sales and purchase agreement with China Petrochemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, to supply 3 million tons of liquefied natural gas annually.”
- Pakistan’s Voyage Freight secures over $1M pre-seed funding with digitally-driven freight forwarding, seeing opportunities in the international shipping sector in Pakistan
- Japan and South Korea to collaborate on quantum technologies, with national research institutes set to sign MOU
- South Korea to launch its first locally-built surveillance satellite by month-end to better monitor North Korea, with SpaceX as carrier and sights on 4 more launches by 2025
Securing the Software Supply Chain: Managing Open-Source Software
- Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp to build $5.3BN factory in Japan, backed by SBI Holdings and the Japanese gov’t, in latest bid to expand Japan’s chip manufacturing base
- ‘Bolstering and Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains’, a study from the National Bureau of Asian Research, focusing on Japan, the United States and China
- Japan: Taiwan’s TSMC is reportedly considering a 3rd plant in Japan that will make 3-nm chips, potentially building on backing from Micron, Samsung and Japan’s PSM
- Canada’s Telesat sets sights on Taiwan and South Korea with Lightspeed Constellation low Earth orbit satellite project
Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map: 2023 Key Findings Report
Indo-Pacific Technology news
All-day tech news updates from across the broad – and increasingly strategically and technologically important – Indo-Pacific region, and across South and Southeast Asia:
- Indo-Pacific tech news, daily on Twitter
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- Indo-Pacific technology, daily on LinkedIn
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StormWall: DDoS attacks in Asia Pacific in Q3 2023
Indo-Pacific tech newsletters
Our weekly email newsletters go out on Substack and LinkedIn, providing readers with an at-a-glance grasp of the week’s technology news from the Indo-Pacific and Asia.
