The monthly round-up of critical technologies news from February 2024 gathered global coverage of those developments that are of crucial importance, whether economically or strategically, at the nation-state level.
The critical tech news summary for February 2024 captured items including, for instance: the European Union’s growing focus on critical techs; the Linux Foundation’s launch of the Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance; Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites and cybersecurity; China’s moves into the RISC-V chips architecture; and many more, covering space launch, satellites, semiconductors and beyond.
For more technology news from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific, you should take a look at our daily editions and weekly newsletters.
Deloitte: Global Semiconductor Industry Outlook in 2024
- Download: ‘Assessing the Global and Local Landscape of Critical Technologies’ from India’s Takshashila Institution (pdf)
- Malaysia: An overview of Malaysia’s position in terms of quantum technologies
- NVIDIA chipmaking giant takes third most valuable US company status, overtaking Google parent Alphabet and Amazon, in large part due to ongoing global focus on AI chips
“NVIDIA began 2023 worth $350 billion, and ended it at $1.2 trillion. At the start of the week, it stood at $1.8 trillion…
worth more than the entire Chinese stock market;
more than all the energy stocks in the S&P 500…”
- Sweden’s ConScience AB unveils ‘Qubit-in-a-box 0’ device, capable of simple quantum processes and of calibrating and verifying performance of quantum computing test setups
- ‘Quantum… may open a world of opportunities to researchers, but it will also likely make one of the most common encryption methods obsolete, which is why telcos are racing to secure Europe’s communication infrastructures’
- Linux Foundation launches Post-Quantum Cryptography Alliance, aiming to advance post-quantum tech around national security-aligned production-ready libraries and packages
- Axios provides a brief overview of how quantum computing technologies are beginning to move from made-to-order towards standardized manufacturing of some components, and infrastructures
“Quantum technology is on the minds
of at least some EU policymakers
but as the European Parliament elections
loom in June and the European Commission
enters the final months of its mandate,
will it be a priority in 2024?”
- US states of Colorado and Illinois focus on quantum technologies as Tech Hubs under the Chips & Science Act, with state governments creating additional funding
- Quantum Internet Alliance formally launched in February, with industry, academia, research and tech organization members currently across 9 European countries
- “The disparity between CubeSats and small satellites is stark… Five years ago, the two categories stood on equal footing. Today, small satellites outnumber CubeSats counterparts by approximately 4 to 1.”
“Three factors — supply chain security, sustainability, and subsidies — feature prominently as semiconductor companies expand into new countries or regions…”
- Global Foundries semiconductor ‘pure play’ foundry gains $1.5BN US CHIPS and Science Act funding to expand manufacturing and capabilities for chips for auto, IoT, aerospace, defense and other markets
- Intel is in talks with US Gov’t around more than $10BN in subsidies under a plan to grow semiconductor manufacturing on US soil
- ‘TSMC has already received a total of $8BN USD in Japanese government subsidies. Meanwhile, it is still haggling with the US government and hasn’t seen a single cent from the reported $15BN in tax credits and subsidies…’
“Space-based solar power offers tantalizing possibilities
for sustainable energy – in the future, orbital collection systems could harvest energy in space,
and beam it wirelessly back to Earth.”
- A brief intro to 15 space-technology startups from across the European Union, working on laser communications, space debris removal, data management and more
- Interlune, startup from former Blue Origin execs, quietly focuses on pitching to mine on the moon for a rare helium isotope, with deep-tech applications in quantum computing and beyond
- Amazon Project Kuiper constellation of over 3200 satellites to include features making it ‘highly resilient against electronic jamming, cyberattacks, and other threats’
- Skylo Technologies raised $37M with backers including venture arms of BMW, Samsung and Intel, focusing on direct-to-device satellite connectivity using existing satellite infrastructure
ORF: Fixing Cyber Vulnerabilities – A Quad Agenda
- ‘Tech Trends 2024’, Deloitte’s take on emerging technology risks, opportunities and developments likely to affect businesses this year
- “…then there’s the fear of a complete collapse of human knowledge and science as it becomes impossible to know what to believe because so much material is nonsense made up by AI”
- China: NVIDIA reportedly is now taking distributor pre-orders for its new China-specific artificial intelligence chip, priced on par with more powerful Huawei rival product
- ‘OpenAI has built a new generative video model called Sora that can take a short text description and turn it into a detailed, hi-definition film clip up to a minute long’
World Economic Forum: Quantum Security for the Financial Sector
- Industry majors join to launch AI-RAN Alliance aimed at integrating artificial intelligence into cellular tech to advance radio access network tech and mobile networks
- Australia: Diraq quantum firm secures $15M Series A-2 with focus into the future on development of a quantum chip produced via a standard semiconductor foundry
- Seoul National University Center for Quantum Information Science Education and US quantum tech firm, IonQ, ink agreement around developing a quantum workforce
- Online now: January 2024 round-up of critical technologies news, globally and from across Asia and the Indo-Pacific
- Australia: Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in WA gains NVIDIA CUDA Quantum platform, built around Grace Hopper Superchips, for quantum computing research
Digital Risks to the 2024 Elections: Democracy in an Era of Disinformation
- Australia: A transcript of the speech by Minister for Industry & Science at the recent Quantum Australia event, outlining opportunities in the sector
- Russian scientists have built a 20-qubit quantum computer with plans for 50 qubit computing by year-end, delivering on 2021’s 5-year $790M gov’t investment
- Sweden’s ConScience AB unveils ‘Qubit-in-a-box’ device, capable of simple quantum processes and of calibrating and verifying performance of quantum computing test setups
“…China’s leading chipmaker, predicted
a ‘global supply glut’ in the types of semiconductors
his company produces. Simultaneously, he announced a $7.5bn increase in capital expenditure…”
- Japan: “In June 2023, an obscure semiconductor materials supplier announced that it was set to be taken over by an investment fund in a $6.4bn deal….”
- South Korea: Rebellions AI-focused semiconductor firm raised $124M Series B, with next-gen chips targeting a price half that of NVIDIA equivalents
- “…recent RISC-V breakthroughs and applications in China, many with government funding, have raised Beijing’s hopes that the open-source standard could one day threaten the x86-Arm duopoly…”
Taiwan: “Within just 3 square miles, Hsinchu contains
more than 150 semiconductor companies and suppliers, more than 600 manufacturers, three universities,
and more than 160,000 highly skilled full-time employees…”
- China & semiconductor ‘chiplets’: “Wuxi’s government officials proposed establishing a $14 million fund to bring chiplet companies to the city, and it has already attracted a handful of domestic companies…”
- Japan: Gov’t backs research on cutting-edge fabrication tech with $300M for Leading-edge Semicon Tech Center, seeking coordination on nanotech, AI and more, and with support for Rapidus chip manufacturer
- South Korea: Ministry of SMEs & Startups launches Super Gap Startup Promotion Project plan to identify over 1000 deep-tech startups across 5 years, focusing on emerging techs including semiconductors and AI
- Japan: Rapidus semiconductor firm plans prototype production of 2nm chips by H1 2025, stepping into direct competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing’s 2025 2nm mass production plans
World Economic Forum: Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2024
- Japan: Leading-edge Semiconductor Technology Center gains gov’t backing to as much as $300M with sights on 1.4nm chip manufacturing know-how by 2028, in partnership with Rapidus semicon firm
- NVIDIA chipmaking giant takes third most valuable US company status, overtaking Google parent Alphabet and Amazon, in large part due to ongoing global focus on AI chips
China: “…Huawei Ascend 910B currently achieves
near 80% of the performance level of Nvidia’s A100.
Data-center service providers consider this chip
to be the preferred alternative for domestic companies.”
- Taiwan: “…we welcome startups and talents from Europe, the United States, Japan and ASEAN, to work with Taiwan, from IC design and manufacturing to packaging and testing—the entire pipeline.”
- Japan: An overview of the factors underpinning the country’s achievements in swiftly developing a semiconductor manufacturing industry
- World Semiconductor Council writes to India’s Prime Minister raising concerns over proposed tariffs on digital commerce and transfers of chip design data
- India: An overview of 4 schemes under the $10BN Semicon India programme, aiming to secure semiconductor supply chains, create jobs and more
Deloitte, NASSCOM, ISA: Opportunities for Indian downstream spacetech
Video: ‘Inside Micron Taiwan’s Semiconductor Factory’, part 1 of a 5-part series looking at Taiwan’s cutting-edge mega-factories
- India: Government commences evaluation of $21BN worth of semiconductor-related proposals, both domestica and international, with gov’t set to bear half of costs
- Japan: Government-backed research group to partner Tenstorrent Inc on the design of its first advanced AI semiconductor chip, built on open-standard RISC-V architecture
- Uni of South Australia Innovation & Collab Centre and Aus Centre for Business Growth partner to launch fully-funded 6-month Growth Ramp scaleup program for space startups, backed by SA Gov’t
- Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Tech raised $943M for low Earth orbit mega-constellation of 12000 satellites, with Shanghai gov’t aiming for end-to-end space ecosystem
- China: Jielong-3, or Smart Dragon-3, vehicle launched from a mobile sea platform, delivering 9 satellites into orbit
World Economic Forum: Quantum Economy Blueprint – January 2024
- China: Geely automaker launched 11 satellites with aim of providing more accurate navigation for autonomous vehicles, with 72 planned to be in orbit by 2025 and a final constellation of 240
- China: Satellite launch prep underway for 3 sats focused on lunar far-side and south pole missions, testing navigation and comm’s and featuring sat-to-ground laser and microwave ranging
- Japan: An intro to SKY Perfect JSAT, set to deploy orbital lasers to deliver high-precision ground surface data via LiDAR tech, alongside laser-driven space debris removal
“The disparity between CubeSats and small satellites is stark… Five years ago, the two categories stood on equal footing. Today, small satellites outnumber CubeSats counterparts by approximately 4 to 1.”
- China: Gov’t unveils Beijing Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovation and Development of the Commercial Space Industry 2024-2028, with sights on elements including ‘cross-border technology integration’
- Japan component of US Space Forces expected to activate this year, building on activation of South Korea component in December 2022
- South Korea: TelePix unveils NVIDIA-based AI processor geared for satellites, running 10 trillion operations per second to analyze large datasets in space in real-time
- Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launched its new H3 rocket, a delivery vehicle with a 6.5 metric ton payload capability
- Australia: Gilmour Space Technologies raised US$36M with launch vehicles and upcoming first test flight
Orbiting Now / Active satellite orbit data
- China: Space Circling space launch firm secures $13.9M to focus on launch vehicle engines for commercial space activities, with sights on mass production by year-end
- Download: ‘Growing and Sustaining Australia’s Space Engineering Capability and Competency – Policy Advice Paper’ from Engineering Australia (direct pdf link)
- India: Space sector set to grow with Indian cabinet approving FDI rules amendment allowing overseas investment in the sector, in some cases up to 100%
“I understand that SpaceX is possibly withholding broadband internet services in and around Taiwan — possibly in breach of SpaceX’s contractual obligations with the U.S. government…”
- China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp unveils 2024 plans for 70 launches of more than 290 spacecraft into orbit, with further 30 or so launches by commercial launch sector
- Australia: Quasar Satellite Technologies selected as 1 of 7 companies for 13th edition of US Air Force research Catalyst Accelerator with space domain awareness innovation
- Australia: Battery manufacturing supply chain set for Queensland with agreement inked with Japan’s Idemitsu for grid-scale production of vanadium flow batteries, an alternative to lithium-ion
- Taiwan is building its own ‘Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine’ AI model as part of $555M plan to both bolster identity and influence in the face of disinformation, and to expand into software development
NBR: Bolstering and Securing Semiconductor Supply Chains
- Amazon Project Kuiper constellation of over 3200 satellites to include features making it ‘highly resilient against electronic jamming, cyberattacks, and other threats’
- Malaysia: An overview of Malaysia’s position in terms of quantum technologies
- Australia: A transcript of the speech by Minister for Industry & Science at the recent Quantum Australia event, outlining opportunities in the sector
- Japan: An overview of the factors underpinning the country’s achievements in swiftly developing a semiconductor manufacturing industry
- Australia: Nickel to be added to critical minerals list in response to global price drops, with mining firms set to gain from funding support boost
South Korea: National Cybersecurity Strategy (direct pdf link)
- Australia: Japan’s NEC conglomerate and Canada’s D-Wave launch two quantum tech services for the Australian market, featuring cloud access to quantum computing alongside consultancy services
- South Korea: Rebellions Inc raised $124M to ramp up development of next-gen AI chips
- China: Nvidia reportedly is now taking distributor pre-orders for its new China-specific artificial intelligence chip, priced on par with more powerful Huawei rival product
- Intel, Japan’s NTT and South Korea’s SK Hynix partner on next-gen photonics chips, allowing communication using light instead of using electrons, with sights on semiconductor integration
“Prices of NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090… are soaring across Asian markets as people are willing to pay hefty sums of cash for them and then resell them in China or Hong Kong at a higher price…”
- US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework comes into effect Feb 24 with 13 countries participating to mitigate supply chain disruptions, ensuring each can access critical items and minerals
- India: Taiwan’s Taisys preps for $100M investment in India subsidiary to focus on semiconductor design and production for the auto and electric vehicle sectors
- Japan: Softbank Group founder reportedly exploring establishment of $100BN AI chip company, Project Izanagi, with sights on similar industry standing to NVIDIA, Intel and AMD
- South Korea: DeepX nears $90M funding with specialized AI-focused semiconductors, working with Hyundai Kia Motors Robotics Lab and others to enter mass production
- China: Gov’t initiates national China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform program to dominate solid-state battery supply chains, with 6 of the top 10 global auto battery makers involved
The impacts of lithium mining on Tibet and Tibetans
- Y Combinator rolls out list of 20 new sectors it aims to focus on for startup investment, including robotics, stablecoin finance, defense and space-tech
- Australia: Space Machines preps for launch of Australia’s largest private satellite to provide orbital logistics and services to maintain, refuel, repair and decommission satellites and other spacecraft
- North Korea’s first spy satellite, Malligyong-1, is believed now to be live following orbit changes detected that suggest Pyongyang has control of the craft
“In 2022, the bulk of its research and development engineers were based in China but [Taiwan’s] Alchip has begun moving roles overseas, many to Japan…”
- Australia: A quick intro to 7 of the country’s tech startups that collectively raised $10M in the week to Feb 8, working on decarbonization, health-tech, quantum computing and more
- Samsung wins its first 2nm AI chip order from Japan’s Preferred Networks Inc in switch from PFN’s past TSMC supply of advanced chips
- Taiwan: More on the Asia Silicon Valley 3.0 plan and its goals for the IoT industry in particular, with a 2022 output value in Taiwan estimated to be $67.2 billion
StormWall: Analysis of DDoS cyber-attacks in 2023 in Asia Pacific
Asia’s tech news: Other editions
Critical technologies, quarterly: Q4 2023 news summary
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