China’s Q4 2021 technology news
• October, November & December of 2021
• Technology and startup news headlines
• Quick reference for time-poor readers
• One-click access to each article
The fourth quarter 2021 collection is drawn from
Startup News Asia’s daily updates.
October 2021 | November 2021 | December 2021
October 2021 headlines
Digital Societies in Asia Pacific / GSMA
- China: Coach luxury fashion brand partners GQ China to release 6 NFTs on Ethereum, working with Singapore’s ZKBox
- China: TikTok owner ByteDance is hiring to build international shopping platform to compete with Alibaba, Amazon, offering made-in-China goods globally
- China: A look at Huobi cryptocurrency platform’s moves in response to the government’s banning of all crypto-related activities
- China: Xinchao Media Group backed by giants JD and Baidu for $400M with tech-driven elevator advertising displaying on 650K panels in 105 Chinese cities
- TechCrunch takes a look at the future of China’s work culture: “Weeks after crackdown, workers and executives still unsure of labor rules”
- China’s Hikvision camera products found to have issue that ‘permits an attacker to gain full control of the device’, giving the cameras ‘the highest level of critical vulnerability’
China Internet Report 2021 / Bain & Co (pdf)
- China: Huawei shifts focus to mobile payments, with Huawei Pay app seen as opportunity to become competitive against giants Alipay and WeChat Pay
- China’s Powerbridge Technologies to deploy 2600 high-performance bitcoin and ether mining rigs in Hong Kong
- China: Major mobile network operators to roll out nationwide 5G messaging integrating video, audio and e-payments, likely to compete with Tencent’s WeChat super-app
- China’s Binance cryptocurrency exchange launches $1BN accelerator fund in bid to boost adoption of Binance Smart Chain blockchain platform
- China’s ZTE Corp partners YesWeHack bug bounty platform to draw in 30K security researchers in bid to further secure ZTE products and discover vulnerabilities
- China’s gaming ban: “…government has restricted under 18s to only 3 hours of video games per week…so instead of playing games, kids are watching other people play them”
SCMP: China Internet Report 2021
- China’s Huawei inks cooperation agreement with Hungary’s East-West Intermodal Logistics and UK’s Vodafone to build ‘smart railway hub’ managed by 5G private network
- China: WeChat, Taobao and Meituan called to task by public over data access practices and privacy
- China’s Asia Digital Bank partners Bianjie blockchain tech provider to build out new digital infrastructure to bridge gap between centralised and decentralised finance
- Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund/HSBC JumpStarter 2022 Global Pitch Competition applications close November 28th, delivering opportunities in Guangdong-HK-Macao Greater Bay Area
- China: Tencent seen to sharpen focus on metaverse-related activities with new advanced gaming studio hiring across at least 46 positions
- China: Ongoing crypto crackdown sees authorities limit non-fungible tokens to digital collectibles ie they can no longer be traded for profit
APAC Ecommerce Report 2021 (pdf)
- China: ARCFOX premium electric vehicles brand to deliver 1000 5G-enabled vehicles running Huawei’s HarmonyOS operating system by year-end
- China: Washington revokes US licence of China Telcom, citing national security concerns, with the firm to cease services in the US within 60 days
- China: Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai R&D Innovation Center and Gigafactory Shanghai Data Center to commence operation in near future
- China: “Beijing has cracked down hard on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but China still has a thriving ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurs working on decentralized finance…”
- China: Tencent Cloud forms strategic partnership with Yusys Technologies fintech software firm to deliver cloud solutions to major banks in move to compete with Alibaba Cloud
- Biosolvit takes win at inaugural Macau Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition focused on Brazil and Portugal with product to absorb petroleum derivatives on land or at sea
- China’s ICONIQ Motors EV firm inks MOUs with Thailand’s Big World auto company and SEA telco OBON for smart city tech and 5G autonomous driving in Thailand’s Free Trade Zone
- China: Internet watchdog continues crackdown with regulations on user identification on domestic platforms, making it harder for censored individuals to register elsewhere
PwC: China’s economy and the global economy (pdf)
November 2021 headlines
KPMG: Venture Pulse Q4 2021 (pdf)
- China: Huice raises $312M with SaaS solutions enabling smart retail in round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2
- China: Tech giants sign ‘Digital Culture and Creative Industries Self-Regulation Convention’, 11 tenets that adhere to Communist Party gov’t technology controls
- China: A brief video intro to the QCraft self-driving mini-bus service in Wuxi, a 9-passenger vehicle with a driving charge of 200km
- China: Ministry of Industry and Info Tech to fast-track construction of 1000 battery swap stations for electric vehicles across 11 cities
- China: A video look at the Human Horizons HiPhi X electric vehicle, the most expensive Chinese EV
- China: Neolix autonomous driving tech firm partners FedEx to test autonomous electric delivery vehicles featuring a range of 100km
- China: Byton, previously highly-rated electric vehicle firm, heads for bankruptcy hearings, following missed worker payments and idled production lines
pwc: The Future Of Work – The journey to 2022 (pdf)
- China: Xiaomi smartphone giant to open 20,000 new offline shops across the country over 3 years, expanding its presence in lower-tier cities and towns
- China: NIO EV giant completes roll-out of 600 battery swap stations, adding to 455 supercharging stations, 567 destination charging stations and over 420,000 3rd-party charging poles
- China: Online brokerage firms operating across borders likely next targets in tech crackdown, with gov’t mouthpiece criticizing privacy and data transfer practices
- China: Huawei shifts focus onto infrastructure for coal mining companies and similar sectors as sanctions bite, sectors less dependent on semiconductors than existing Huawei units
- China: Xiaohongshu raises $500M in new round, growing fashion- and beauty-focused e-commerce
- China: Cainiao, Alibaba logistics division, to establish smart warehouse network across SE Asia, covering land area of 2,500,000m2 in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
- China: Baidu launches Xirang metaverse app, allowing users to explore virtual environments via smartphones, computers and VR goggles
Instagram: Asia’s tech news
- China’s Tencent leads $48M round in South Africa’s Ozow, fintech connecting shoppers directly to their bank accounts, gaining 70% of all instant, 3rd-party e-payments in the nation
- China: Wision AI gains Europe’s CE mark for AI-enabled, real-time polyp detection software used in colonoscopy procedures
- China: Baidu search giant to launch driverless Apollo Go robotaxi service in 100 cities by 2030 in bid to diversify its business beyond advertising
- China: Ministry of Industry and Info Tech tells app stores and platforms to suspend Tencent from updating apps or launching new apps
- China: Shanghai Data Exchange opens, aiming to be a hub for ‘data trading’ and listing 20 data products spanning industries including finance, transportation and communication
- China’s Binance Smart Chain invests in Project Galaxy, blockchain platform focusing on verified credentials to prevent false identities and qualifications in education and employment
ASEAN Strategy on Fourth Industrial Revolution (pdf)
- China: Baidu search giant and PonyAI self-driving vehicles firm to launch paid driverless robotaxi services across 600 pick-up points in 60 square kilometre area in Beijing
- China’s NIO electric vehicles maker and Shell energy giant partner for battery charging and swapping facilities, initially 100 stations in China, followed pilot stations in Europe
- Online event: ‘China’s Fintech Future’ set for December 2nd, looking at the country’s central bank digital currency moves and more
- Blockchain Association Singapore and China’s AntChain ink MOUs around collaboration, blockchain adoption and promotion in Singapore, China and across ASEAN
- Japan: Tencent to acquire 6.86% stake in Kadokawa media publisher, initially focusing on presence in anime
- Huawei ICT Competition Cambodia 2021 launches, partnering more than 10 local universities with the aim of improving skills, IT education and industry-university connections
- ICYMI: Alibaba Cloud to launch first Thailand data centre next year, stepping into competition with Tencent and Huawei with 2 and 3 Thai data centres respectively
pwc: 2022 Global Cyber Trust Insights (pdf)
- Digital Economy of Sri Lanka: National goals and Lessons from the South’ available now, benchmarking the country in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative participation
- Singapore’s Horangi cloud-focused cybersecurity firm partners Huawei Cloud for security solutions for organisations across 10 countries in Asia Pacific
- India and China: “…cracks started appearing in the investment relationship between [them], and since then Indian startups have largely moved away from Chinese venture capital.”
Cool Gram / Make your Instagram carbon negative
December 2021 headlines
Deloitte: 2022 Tech, Media, Telecoms Predictions (pdf)
- China’s DayDayCook direct-to-consumer brand launches The Good Food Accelerator Program in Hong Kong, seeking commercially-viable products and food solutions
- China’s SenseTime IPO plan uncertain as US blacklists company over AI-driven ‘facial recognition programs that can determine a target’s ethnicity’
- China: Nebula Brands e-commerce aggregator secures more than $50M with model of aggregating Fulfillment by Amazon vendors
- China: Baidu jumps on metaverse bandwagon with ‘Land of Hope’ app for the technology giant’s upcoming artificial intelligence conference, aiming for 10K simultaneous users
- Hydrogen energy: “China will account for more than 60% of global electrolyzer installations globally in 2022, with the market increasing fivefold over this year…”
- China: WeRide autonomous driving firm to make robotaxis available for public bookings via Ontime ride-hail app in 2022, with testing now underway
Meta Report on the Surveillance For Hire Industry
- China: Huawei unveils Smart Car Solution Innovation Center spanning 2000 square meters and 9 labs, focusing on enterprise auto customers and partners in joint activities
- China: Apple supplier Luxshare Precision to build ‘mega-plant’ to boost iPhone assembly capabilities, challenging rivals Foxconn, Pegatron
- China: A video look at Baidu’s metaverse platform, Xi Rang
- Download: ‘Rekindling Hong Kong’s Economic Growth Through Innovation’ report now available from Deloitte and Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund
- Binance reportedly in talks with Indonesia’s wealthiest family and state-owned telco around establishing a cryptocurrency trading exchange
ASEAN Strategy on Fourth Industrial Revolution (pdf)
Asia’s tech news, daily
Our other editions go out on a variety of channels – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, mobile app, e-newsletter and Medium.
Hit the links below to get today’s tech startup news from across Asia, and beyond, on your preferred platform.
Startup News Asia mobile app
Asia’s tech news on Instagram
Startup news on Facebook
Get startup news on LinkedIn
Technology news on Twitter
