Secure World Foundation: Global Counterspace Capabilities
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Indo-Pacific Insight
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Indo-Pacific 5×5: Daily geopolitics newsletters & downloads
December 2024
- Taiwan opposition parties used parliamentary majority to push legislation redirecting funding, potentially cutting tech-related activities by $609M / full item
- Taiwan delegation meets with Oman representatives around support and participation in Oman’s 3+7 year semiconductor program / full item
- Taiwan: US semicon giant, Micron Technology, inaugurated its recently-acquired office space in Taichung, accommodating 500 employees, looking at DRAM chip production / full item
- Taiwan: An overview of Taoyuan municipality’s moves towards becoming a new global innovation hub, building on 12000 factories and industrial output over $122BN / full item
- Taiwan: Here’s a brief intro to 5 sustainability-focused startups selected by Taiwan Startup Night and Green Tech Accelerator / full item
- Taiwan is to construct a large UAV testing facility in Chiayi County, looking to boost its drone manufacturing capabilities and gain a larger presence in global markets / full item
- Uber’s planned $950M acquisition of Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda in Taiwan was blocked by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission over concerns around anti-competitive outcomes / full item
- Taiwan is to launch the ‘Chip Team Taiwan’ initiative for robotics, drones and space industry supply chains to decrease external supply chain dependencies / full item
- Taiwan is in talks with Amazon around use of Project Kuiper satellite system for emergency communications; and potentially other providers as additional redundancy / full item
- Startup Island TAIWAN is opening a new hub in California’s Silicon Valley – take part in the celebration by registering at / full item
- Taiwan: An intro to Valtec AI, providing AI-backed drones and control systems for commercial fishing, delivering a lower-cost method for identifying and tracking shoals / full item
- Taiwan: International Startup Supporting Program in 2025 is now open for proposals from Taiwan’s tech startups / full item
- NVIDIA preps for mass production of Blackwell AI-focused chips by TSMC in early 2025, for the first time considering TSMC Arizona plant for production / full item
- Taiwan: Japan’s Tokyo Electron, Asia’s biggest semicon equipment supplier, launches $61.5M center in Tainan, looking to boost capacity to meet growing demand / full item
- Taiwan: TSMC may be considering 2nm production outside of Taiwan in response to tariff changes / full item
- Taiwan: TSMC has begun equipment installation at its 2-nanometer facility in Kaohsiung, preparing for trial production runs in H1 2025 / full item
- Malaysia’s Solarvest partners Singapore’s Vista Contracting & Investment for rooftop and utility-scale solar projects in Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and Cambodia / full item
- India’s Micromax mobile phone firm partners Taiwan’s Phison chips maker to develop high-end storage products for enterprise, automotives, and AI models / full item
Critical technologies news in February 2025
November 2024
- TSMC looks to mass produce chips on its N2 – 2 nanometer class – technology in late 2025, and A16 – 1.6nm class – process in late 2026 / full item
- Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute completes procurement of its first full-stack quantum computer from Finland’s IQM, set for installation in Q2 2025 / full item
- Advanced Micro Devices, AMD, is reportedly to enter the mobile devices market with new accelerated processing chips from a TSMC-produced 3nm process / full item
- Taiwan: AppsWorks incubator and Google for Startups Cloud Program partner for AI-focused startup growth / full item
- Taiwan: TSMC plans to establish 10 new factories worldwide in 2025, covering demand for 2nm processes and advanced semiconductor packaging, in part driven by AI growth / full item
- Taiwan proposes economic partnership agreement with the European Union, looking at participation under the European Chips Act / full item
- Biden administration confirms $6.6BN subsidy for Taiwan’s TSMC, alongside up to $5BN in loans, marking the first instance of a major CHIPS Act award reaching this stage / full item
- Taiwan: The first of 35 fully-automated trains debuts in Taiwan, produced by France’s Alstom, expected to cut 30 minutes from current commute on 23km route / full item
- Taiwan: An intro to the TAcc+ International SpaceTech Startup Supporting Program and some of the participating firms / full item
- Although TSMC plans to make 2-nanometer chips [abroad] in the future, its core technology will stay in Taiwan… / full item
- Taiwan: Hexa Renewables has installed the world’s largest floating solar array off Taiwan’s western coast, capable of supplying approximately 74,000 households / full item
- Firms including TSMC and GlobalFoundries complete pre-agreement negotiations for grants under Chips & Science Act for US facilities, with Biden-Trump transition raising questions / full item
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp is reportedly to receive ASML’s most advanced chipmaking machine before year-end, second only to Intel / full item
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co notified Chinese chip design firms it is halting production for them of chips at 7 nanometres or smaller, aligning with US sanctions / full item
Taiwan’s shift towards renewable energy is creating substantial challenges for industries… [TSMC] is now facing higher electricity costs in Taiwan compared to any other region where it operates… / full item
- Taiwan’s TSMC’s Arizona facility will roll out its first 4 nanometer chips in December, with production expected to ramp up through 2025, and 3nm chips slated for 2028 / full item
- Taiwan: Some SpaceX suppliers have reportedly transferred portions of manufacturing supply chains off the island, following SpaceX concerns over geopolitical tensions / full item
‘Semiconductor back-end manufacturing, less capital-intensive than strategic front-end chipmaking, is dominated by China and Taiwan, but Vietnam is among the fastest-growing countries’ / full item
- Intel CEO reportedly derailed the firm’s TSMC semiconductor discounts with ill-considered remarks, losing 40% price cut in the process / full item
- Tiger Research examines whether Taiwan is still pursuing the ‘Blockchain Island’ ambition / full item
- India’s Tata Group seals JV with Taiwan’s Pegatron to Tata’s iPhone manufacturing, with Tata taking 60% and adding to Tata’s Karnataka and Tamil Nadu plants / full item
- Vietnam: Taiwan’s Foxconn subsidiary, Shunsin, looks to invest $80M in integrated circuits plant in northern Vietnam, adding to Foxconn license for $383M circuit boards facility / full item
Taiwan’s petrochemical industry imported record amounts of Russian naphtha last month… ranking as Taiwan’s top supplier, a position previously held by the United Arab Emirates. / full item
Collision Course: The future of China’s carmarkers in Russia
October 2024
- Taiwan may soon establish overseas support hubs for chip-making firms to help in acquiring land, electricity, water, and workers, boosting partnerships in the process / full item
“TSMC halted shipments to the client around mid-October after it realised semiconductors fabricated for that entity had found their way into Huawei products…” / full item
- Taiwan’s TSMC reportedly achieves 4% higher yields at its first US plant in Arizona, at this point surpassing Taiwan facility yields / full item
- Taiwan: Singapore’s Keppel Data Centre Fund II inks JV with BlackRock-backed Digital Decarbonization Solutions Platform for 80MW Northern Taiwan data centre / full item
- FinTech Taipei conference takes place November 1-2, featuring presentations, exhibition and fintech startups demos / full item
- TSMC-NVIDIA 30-year collaboration is reportedly under strain, following repeated test failures of new NVIDIA Blackwell semiconductor series / full item
- Taiwan’s TSMC has notified US commerce department over customer orders for chip resembling Huawei Ascend 910B, potentially an attempt to circumvent tech restrictions / full item
“Taiwan is ‘very open’ to using new nuclear technology to meet surging demand from chipmakers devouring electricity in the AI boom, according to Premier Cho Jung-tai…” / full item
- Taiwan: ‘…ranks first in the world in AI hardware, but 26th in software, behind neighboring Singapore (third) and South Korea (sixth).’ / full item
- Taiwan: University researchers announce development of world’s smallest quantum computer, for the first time using a single photon to perform quantum calculations / full item
- Taiwan: Ministry of Digital Affairs maps out 5-year strategic plan to promote use of AI as a tool to boost efficiency of government operations, adding to NT$10BN AI startups plan / full item
- Taiwan: Ministry of Digital Affairs preps for NT$10BN (US$311M) program to cultivate local AI startups, projecting a return of NT$1 trillion in production value / full item
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Arizona’s Amkor, a major global semicon packaging firm, partner for first chip packaging facilities in the US / full item
Taiwan’s TSMC suspended shipments reportedly for Sophgo, a China-based chip designer affiliated with Bitmain crypto-mining firm, after chip made for Sophgo appeared on a Huawei AI processor / full item
“According to Reuters, Sophgo had ordered chips from TSMC that matched the one found on Huawei’s Ascend 910B. Up until this month, TSMC is said to have shipped ‘hundreds of thousands of chips’ to the company.”
“Sophgo was founded by Micree Zhan in 2019, who – per a report in The Information – indirectly owns more than 20 percent of Sophgo. Zhan is also the co-founder and chair of Bitmain, the largest Bitcoin ASIC designer and a provider of water-cooled crypto mining systems.” / full item
- Taiwan: I-Ke International Ocean Energy inks MOU to install Eco Wave Power energy generation units on Taiwan’s coastline, boosting the island’s green and renewable energy / full item
- Taiwan’s Foxconn partners NVIDIA to construct the world’s largest factory for NVIDIA’s GB200, a chip focused on artificial intelligence systems / full item
- Subsidiary of Taiwan’s GlobalWafers, MEMC, hit by data breach exposing names, Social Security numbers, government ID numbers, passport numbers and more / full item
- Taiwan: Financial Supervisory Commission takes major crypto step, allowing professional investors to buy into overseas crypto-based Exchange-Traded Funds / full item
- India: Tata Group continues global semiconductor supply chain bid with subsidiary semicon plant in Kerala, in partnership with Taiwan’s PSMC / full item
Maldives: Indian Ocean Security and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy
