In April 2024, Japan’s technology news spanned an impressive range of items and developments. These included, for instance: Japan-Korea collaboration on satellite navigation systems; Oracle’s $8 billion investment in Japan-based AI infrastructure; Japanese space-tech to deal with the growing problem of orbiting debris clearance; Japan-EU cooperation on semiconductors and supply chains; and more.
Hit the links below to read each Japan tech news item from April of 2024 in full.
Our other editions span daily updates, weekly newsletters, monthly round-ups, and quarterly collections.
ORF: Indo-Pacific development cooperation as a diplomatic tool
- Japan: Tokyo Stock Exchange launches TSE Asia Startup Hub, aiming to be ‘an ecosystem where TSE and IPO stakeholders collaborate to encourage promising Asian companies to choose TSE for IPOs’ / read it here
- Japan: NTT Digital telco to launch cryptocurrency wallet by year-end, compatible with NFTs and with eyes on the gaming market, partnering with US-based NowGG platform for cloud and browser gaming / read it here
- Japan: An overview of the recently-launched Tokyo Innovation Base, the city’s bid to create a high-impact tech startup hub / read it here
- ‘From reactive to proactive: Japan’s advances in cybersecurity and cyber defence strategies’ from India’s Observer Research Foundation / read it here
- Japan’s Kaga Electronics’ proposed Mexico factory project selected by JP gov’t for its Indo-Pacific & Central-South America Regional Supply Chain Involvement Support Project / 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
ASPI: AUKUS Pillar 2 Critical Pathways – A road map for int’l collaboration
- Japan: Gov’t approves $3.9BN in new subsidies to home-grown chips firm, Rapidus, stepping up the country’s moves into semiconductor manufacturing / read it here
- Japan: Startup Genome to launch Global Hypergrowth Tokyo program, focusing on helping later-stage startups expand internationally / read it here
- Japan: An intro to the firms selected for cohort 1 of the Global Hypergrowth Tokyo program for late-stage scale-ups, an initiative from Startup Genome and Tokyo Metro Gov’t / read it here
- Japan looks at producing hydrogen primarily using waste heat from next-gen nuclear reactor, with field tests likely for 2028 / read it here
- The factors underpinning Taiwan chip-maker moves into Japan, creating production bases in a strategy that dovetails with Japan’s bid for a semicon industry revival / read it here
- Japan: Tokyo Uni of Science and DENSO Corp researchers make breakthrough in solid-state Li-ion batteries with non-flammable units capable of high- and low-temperature operation / read it here
- Japan: Ispace and Takasago Thermal Engineering partner to produce H2 using solar panel energy during space mission later this year / read it here
- Japan: Hokkoku regional bank launches stablecoin backed by bank deposits, available via its Tochituka app, enabling local transactions and with sights on person-to-person payments / read it here
- Japan: Astroscale space junk removal firm potentially targeting Tokyo listing in June, with the domestic space sector projected to hit $53BN in value by early next decade / read it here
ORF: China’s digital silk road in the Indo-Pacific
- 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
- ICYMI: Bank for International Settlements and 7 central banks, including Japan and Korea, partner for Project Agorá, exploring tokenization of bank deposits via ‘unified ledger’ / read it here
- Japan: Semiconductor materials maker, Shin-Etsu Chemical, to invest near $550M in new plant, targeting production in 2026 / read it here
- Japan to participate in AUKUS Pillar 2 component, joining Australia, the US and the UK in collaboration on defence tech across fields including quantum and artificial intelligence / read it here
Orbiting Now / Satellite orbit data
- A little more on the recent collaboration MOU between the Korean Positioning System and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite system, aiming for autonomous positioning services / read it here
- Japan: A brief intro to the tech startups selected for OIST Innovation Accelerator working on GenAI and LLMs, advanced prosthetics and more / read it here
- Japan and NASA partner for lunar exploration with Japan to develop rover vehicle for crewed and uncrewed use, and NASA providing launch and delivery / read it here
- Japan to increase penalties for monopolistic practices by tech firms to 20% or more of applicable nationwide sales, more than tripling the current antitrust law penalty / read it here
- Japan: Oracle to invest $8BN in AI infrastructure in Japan over 10, projecting growing demand for cloud computing / read it here
- Japan: Gov’t to fund 5 major technology companies to a total of $470M in bid to develop sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities / read it here
- Japan’s Astroscale publishes close-up image of space debris, 11 meters long, 4 meters diameter and weight of 3 tons, illustrating necessity of removal / read it here
- South Korea and Japan to collaborate on development and operation of satellite navigation systems in East Asia, looking to better enable the two systems to coexist and interoperate / read it here
- South Korea and Japan to collaborate on development and operation of satellite navigation systems in East Asia, looking to better enable the two systems to coexist and interoperate / read it here
- Japan’s Mizuho Bank and Taiwan’s Industrial Tech Research Institute ink major agreements on information exchange, startup matching and corporate connections / read it here
- India’s Polymatech Electronics inks MoU with Japan’s Orbray to expand semiconductor wafer production and expertise / read it here
Critical technologies, quarterly: First quarter 2024 news round-up
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
