China’s technology news headlines across April of 2024 obviously touched on a huge range of items, issues, applications and successes.
These are collected below and included, for instance: Developments in China’s lunar space station plans; Xiaomi mobile phone maker’s moves into electric vehicles; China’s moves to create a nation-wide computing power network; Huawei’s moves into high-end lithography, used in semiconductor production; China’s Tiangong space station’s successful on-boarding of new astronauts; and many more.
Hit the headlines below to read China’s tech news items from April 2024 in full.
Our other editions span daily updates, weekly newsletters, monthly round-ups, and quarterly collections.
ORF: China’s digital silk road in the Indo-Pacific
- China: Gov’t issues procurement mandate to phase out Intel and AMD microprocessors from gov’t computers and servers, alongside move to minimize use of Windows and foreign-made databases / read it here
- China: Huawei and partner, SiCarrier, file patents for low-tech alternative way to make advanced semiconductors, potentially side-stepping the need for extreme ultraviolet lithography / read it here
- Shein, Temu and similar fast-fashion platforms hit by legislation in France over environmental impacts, potentially leading to 10-Euro fines per article of clothing sold by 2030 / read it here
- “China continues to add new members to its International Lunar Research Station initiative, but many of these are subnational, suggesting issues attracting partners…” / read it here
- China: Xiaomi mobile phone maker unveils SU7 sedan, claiming better single-charge mileage than Tesla Model 3 / read it here
- China: National University of Singapore Guangzhou Research Translation & Innovation Institute opens its doors, with remit including startup incubation and promotion of entrepreneurship / read it here
- “The Chinese government plans to tap all the policy resources available to create a made-in-China electric vehicle supply chain, pressing three state-owned automakers to spend more on R&D.” / read it here
Safeguard Defenders: Chasing Fox Hunt
- China: An intro to Super Brain, artificial intelligence startup creating digital avatars for bereavement support / read it here
- China: Nio EV maker rolls out its first mass-produced 150kwh semi-solid battery pack, claiming a top range of 1055km and aiming for battery-swap integration later in the year / read it here
- China: Talent New Energy solid-state battery startup unveils prototype of new all-solid-state cell with ultra-high energy density, potentially capable of 2000km EV range / read it here
- People’s Bank of China to establish ‘re-lending’ program of near $70BN to boost innovation and project upgrades in the science and tech sectors, available to SMEs via 21 banks / read it here
- People’s Bank of China to establish ‘re-lending’ program of near $70BN to boost innovation and project upgrades in the science and tech sectors, available to SMEs via 21 banks / read it here
- China: Gov’t reportedly to launch ‘Ultra-Large-Scale Blockchain Infrastructure Platform for the Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on cross-border BRI-based projects / read it here
- China: General Motors to invest $300M in Momenta autonomous driving firm for self-driving tech in future GM China-market models / read it here
- China: Didi ride-hail major’s self-driving unit inks JV with GAC Aion EV maker, gaining license for mass production of fully self-driving electric robotaxis / read it here
- China: Nationwide computing power network moves forward, targeting operation in 2025 and aiming to widen access both to computing resources and the energy requirements underpinning them / read it here
MERICS: China – Aligning economic actors with Party goals
- China: ByteDance Singapore affiliate, Picoheart, invests in InnoStar Semiconductor’s licensable IP for system-on-chip tech, with use cases including in AI datacenters / read it here
- China: Origin Wukong quantum computer boosts data security with implementation of post-quantum cryptography / read it here
- China: ByteDance Singapore affiliate, Picoheart, invests in InnoStar Semiconductor’s licensable IP for system-on-chip tech, with use cases including in AI datacenters / read it here
- China: Origin Wukong quantum computer boosts data security with implementation of post-quantum cryptography / read it here
- China: Huawei now building huge Shanghai semiconductor R&D center, hiring globally-experienced personnel in bid to develop home-grown industry, de-fang tech restrictions, and gain global market advantage / read it here
- Video: ‘The power of fully driverless taxis in China’, a 15-minute overview from Nikkei Asia / read it here
- China-owned Nexperia, semiconductor-related firm HQ’d in the Netherlands, acknowledges ransomware hack, with confidential documents uploaded to darknet extortion site / read it here
- China-South Korea researchers publish on potential semiconductor breakthrough, with tellurium-based approach to materials / read it here
- China: A little more on Huawei’s $1.66 billion R&D facility in Shanghai, which includes a remit to develop lithography technologies for home-grown semiconductors / read it here
- ICYMI: “Wind parks in five EU member states – Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria – will undergo scrutiny to determine whether illegal subsidies have been granted to Chinese wind turbine producers…” / read it here
ASPI: Truth and reality with Chinese characteristics
- China: Former CEO of Arm China reportedly launching firm which will directly compete with Arm, developing chips under the RISC-V architecture / read it here
- China to leverage fast-evolving commercial space sector to speed mega-constellation ambitions, allowing state-owned firms to focus on civil and military programs / read it here
- China: Shanghai city gov’t to merge 2 major state-owned investment firms, creating an $18BN entity to boost innovation and tech firms / read it here
- China: Huawei to roll out MateBook Pro X laptop featuring Intel AI chipset running Huawei’s Harmony OS and Pangu LLM / read it here
- China: Major surveillance security loophole found in most Chinese-character typing apps, allowing keystrokes to be collected and decrypted / read it here
- China: ‘Xiaohong’ chip hits 504-qubit quantum computing milestone, the highest number of qubits in a superconducting quantum chip in the country / read it here
- China: May 3rd launch approaches for Chang’e-6 launch to collect first set of lunar far-side samples, building on technical, engineering, scientific and communications tech of past missions / read it here
China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR) in Southeast Asia: Progress and Challenges
- Chinese nationals barred from Hong Kong’s spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, even though 3 offering firms are mainland offshore asset managers with products tradable in Yuan / read it here
- China: Crew of three astronauts arrive at Tiangong space station following launch from Gobi desert Jiuquan spaceport, marking the 7th crewed mission to Tiangong / read it here
- China: AIsphere text-to-video firm raised over $13M in latest Ant Group-led funding round, just 2 months on from a similar raise, targeting catch-up to OpenAi Sora capabilities in 3-6 months / read it here
- Philippines: Binance, world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, faces a ban in the Philippines with financial regulator blocking access due to unlicensed activities / read it here
- Singapore: ANEXT Bank secures $148M in new funding from parent Ant Group with focus on cross-border digital banking and transactions for SMEs / read it here
- Hong Kong: Hang Seng Bank launches $4.2BN SME Power Up Fund to boost small business development, including cross-border opportunities in China’s Greater Bay Area / read it here
USIP: Transnational Crime In Southeast Asia – A Growing Threat
- Monetary Authority of Singapore extends ban on remittances to China in light of lack of action by PRC authorities to freeze channels / read it here
- Uzbekistan Angren District Rochi Energy Storage Project breaks ground to commence construction, China’s largest such energy storage investment overseas, to deploy lithium iron phosphate batteries / read it here
- Japan and European Union reportedly to enter talks on cooperation in advanced materials for next-gen chips and batteries in moves to reduce reliance on China on supply and materials / read it here
- South Korea faces challenge in balancing US and China relations in supply of semiconductor-related technologies and equipment / read it here
- ICYMI: Google to sue 2 app developers who allegedly uploaded 87 Play Store apps to enable crypto-based romance scheme fraud, tracing activities back to 2019 / read it here
- Thailand joins China-led International Lunar Research Station project, joining Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa and Egypt / read it here
The Chainalysis 2024 Crypto Crime Report
- Malaysia’s MOVE Digital, Capital A’s digital arm, partners China’s Ant International for wide-ranging integration of Ant fintech and payments technologies / read it here
- China’s ByteDance shuts down WhatsApp competitor app, LetsChat, in Africa due to Meta’s dominance on the continent / read it here
- Japan’s Toyota reportedly to use ‘smart drive’ tech developed with China’s Huawei and Momenta for global EV models / read it here
- Japan’s Toyota reportedly to use ‘smart drive’ tech developed with China’s Huawei and Momenta for global EV models / read it here
- Online now: March 2024’s collected tech news summaries from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific / read it here
- China’s NETA Auto enters mass production in Thailand, targeting output of 20,000 EVs annually / read it here
- A brief overview of the emerging competition in the wearable ‘smart rings’ market, with offerings from South Korea, China and India / read it here
Microsoft: East Asia cybersecurity – Same targets, new playbooks
- Malaysia: China’s Ant International unveils Digital Business Centre plans, expecting to hire 500 by next year for ‘huge operations centre’ with global tasking / read it here
- Malaysia: Blue Chip Venture Capital to invest in more than 10 semiconductor industry firms with $209M fund, looking in part to bring China’s semicon firms to Malaysia / read it here
- 3rd Malaysia-China Joint Committee Meeting on Science, Tech & Innovation Cooperation concludes with commitments to collaborate on research in key areas including space tech, AI, blockchain and advanced materials / read it here
- “Researchers…reported a nearly 325% jump in malicious cyber activity targeting the Philippines during the first months of 2024, compared to levels at the end of 2023. / read it here
- Video: ‘Indo-Pacific economic security – Issues and strategies’, a discussion of emerging issues and strategies for economic resilience and security across the region from The Atlantic Council / read it here
- A brief overview of emerging rivalry between India and Pakistan in the space domain / read it here
LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud Study 2023 – Asia Pacific
Tech news: Asia & Indo-Pacific
- Daily: On Twitter/X / On Facebook / On LinkedIn
- Weekly: Asia’s Tech News, Weekly – Linkedin & Substack
- Monthly: Asia & IndoPac monthly tech summaries
- Quarterly: Asian tech quarterly, every 3 months
