Q1 2025: Critical Technologies

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Critical technologies in the news, globally, in Q1 ’25
March 2025      ●      February 2025      ●      January 2025

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Critical technologies: March 2025

• Amazon Web Services unveils Ocelot quantum computing chip prototype / full item
• NVIDIA is to open a quantum computing research lab in Boston, collaborating with Harvard University and MIT, and with firms including Quantinuum and Quantum Machines / full item
• Google has unveiled 2 new artificial intelligence models, Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER, optimized to power autonomous machines / full item
• NVIDIA debuts Groot N1, described as a foundation model for humanoid robotics / full item
• Holland’s Fortaegis BV is in investor talks to raise over $10M to build specialized chips featuring security including physical ‘fingerprinting’ and software architecture / full item
• Chip makers and supply chain firms called on European Commission to launch 2023 Chips Act follow-up, focusing on chip design, materials and equipment, in addition to manufacturing / full item
• Rolls-Royce seeks development partners for placing of its 10-foot nuclear micro-reactor on the lunar surface / full item
• OpenAI’s first Stargate site is projected to hold up to 400,000 NVIDIA chips / full item

• United Airlines has installed Starlink on its first regional aircraft, and expects to outfit 40 regional aircraft each month from May to year-end 2025 / full item
• China plans to prohibit non-state companies from mining rare earths, further tightening its control over a strategic sector that has emerged as a battleground in its trade war with the US / full item
• China: Companies ramp up orders for NVIDIA H20 AI chip, made specifically to satisfy US tech curbs, in response to the success of DeepSeek’s alternative model / full item
• Taiwan’s Hon Hai, aka Foxconn, launched its first traditional Chinese version of an AI LLM, with NVIDIA participating, to boost data analysis capabilities for future key technologies / full item
• India: Tech Mahindra IT services major rolls out a telco-focused LLM, targeting analysis of a range of data types, and scales, to aid firms with diagnostics and efficiency / full item

NVIDIA and xAI join AI Infrastructure Partnership consortium backed by Microsoft, MGX investment fund, and BlackRock, are to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US / full item

• Holland’s Fortaegis BV is in investor talks to raise over $10M to build specialized chips featuring security including physical ‘fingerprinting’ and software architecture / full item
• Malaysia is to invest over $250 million across the coming decade, leveraging ARM Holding expertise, to build out the country’s AI and semiconductors ecosystem / full item
• Malaysia: ARM semiconductor and software design giant is set to ink an agreement to establish a base In Malaysia / full item
• China is reportedly to issue guidance to boost use of open-source RISC-V chips nationwide for the first time, further lifting efforts to curb dependence on foreign technology / full item
• ‘Vietnam’s Semiconductor Industry: Progress and Outlook Beyond 2025’, a snapshot overview of key details / full item
• Taiwan’s TSMC to invest ‘at least’ $100BN in chip manufacturing plants in Arizona, US, facilities over 4 years, adding to earlier pledge of $65BN investments in the country / full item
• Japan: Rapidus semiconductor firm is reportedly struggling to secure orders, with questions raised around capacity beyond core semicon production / full item
• Dutch semiconductor machinery giant, ASML, is to upgrade a reuse-and-repair centre in Beijing, despite growing US-China tech tensions / full item
• China: State-backed Naura moves up in semiconductor equipment vendor rankings, taking 6th place by revenue in the world in 2024, up from 8th just one year earlier / full item

• ‘Global tech industry braces for ‘China shock’ in mature chips’ / full item
• Vietnam: ‘Ho Chi Minh City aims to train at least 9000 highly skilled workers with university degrees or higher in the semiconductor industry by 2030’ / full item
• China: Domestic extreme ultraviolet – EUV – lithography system, now testing at Huawei’s Dongguan facility, may be a global game-changer in semiconductor production, and supply chains / full item
• Taiwan: Google is reportedly to partner Taiwan’s MediaTek for the next version of its AI chips, Tensor Processing Units, looking to further reduce reliance on NVIDIA / full item
• China: Huawei has reportedly used shell companies to acquire over 2 million AI chip dies manufactured by TSMC, stockpiling enough high-bandwidth memory for more than a year of production / full item
• Malaysia: SkyeChip semiconductor designer is mulling IPO, potentially in H2 2025, building on the nation’s chips industry growth and aiming to leverage major SoftBank licensing deal / full item
• NVIDIA will spend hundreds of billions on US manufacturing, says CEO’ / full item
• Vietnam: Government has approved the country’s first chip wafer fabrication facility, investing approximately $500M / full item

• China: Huawei-owned HiSilicon gains Level 2 national certification for security reliability for Kirin X90, its never-before-seen System-on-Chip processor, deepening moves from foreign tech reliance / full item
• Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City announces plans to open a semiconductor plant by year-end, situated near Vietnam National University to boost opportunities for students and researchers / full item
• China: State-backed Naura moves up in semiconductor equipment vendor rankings, taking 6th place by revenue in the world in 2024, up from 8th just one year earlier / full item
• ‘Global tech industry braces for ‘China shock’ in mature chips’ / full item

Vietnam: ‘Ho Chi Minh City aims to train at least 9000 highly skilled workers with university degrees or higher in the semiconductor industry by 2030’ / full item

• China: Domestic extreme ultraviolet – EUV – lithography system, now testing at Huawei’s Dongguan facility, may be a global game-changer in semiconductor production, and supply chains / full item
• Taiwan: Google is reportedly to partner Taiwan’s MediaTek for the next version of its AI chips, Tensor Processing Units, looking to further reduce reliance on NVIDIA / full item
• Korea AeroSpace Administration’s strategic plans for space transportation, satellites, and space science exploration have been approved, looking to become a space power / full item
• China National Space Administration opens 2028 Tianwen-3 Mars mission to international cooperation and participation / full item
• South Korea: National space agency is to invest a combined $562.5M in R&D projects in 2025 in bid to lift South Korea into position as 1 of 5 global leaders in aerospace, and space, sectors / full item
• Australia: Esper secures Au$5M to identify and map critical minerals, and more, from space / full item
• Starcloud gains NVIDIA partnership with space-based data centers, aiming to leverage solar energy for operations and dodge water-cooling issues by using vacuum / full item
• Japan: ispace preps for its Resilience moon lander to attempt touchdown on June 6th, which may make ispace the first Japanese private company to accomplish the feat / full item
• Japan: Dymon Co ultra-compact Moon rover launched via SpaceX rocket from NASA Kennedy Space Center, set to be world’s first private firm to explore and photograph lunar surface / full item
• Australia’s Fleet Space satellite exploration firm partners US’ hydrogen company, Koloma, to speed discovery and development of natural hydrogen, globally / full item

• United Airlines has installed Starlink on its first regional aircraft, and expects to outfit 40 regional aircraft each month from May to year-end 2025 / full item
• China: 18 new satellites entered orbit, adding to the Thousand Sails megaconstellation in development, with this the first launch from a new launch facility / full item
• Australia’s Optera Solutions fabless semiconductor firm has been selected to join the Thales Space Business Catalyst Program in France, with ‘event-based’ optical sensors / full item
• The [Australian Electoral Commission] will use Starlink services as a backup telecommunications platform as part of our contract with Telstra for fixed line internet services… / full item
• India: SpaceX unveils deals with India’s dominant telecom industry firms, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, with plans to roll out Starlink internet services across India / full item
• China: iSpace commercial launch firm, aka Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology, secured new funding as it prepares for first launch of Hyperbola-3 reusable rocket / full item
• China launches new Tianlian data relay satellite to support human spaceflight’ / full item
• China: Beijing Ziwei Yutong Technology Co Ltd, aka AZSpace, looks to conduct orbital manned flight tests in 2027 or 2028 / full item
• Video: China’s Shenzhou-19 astronauts complete their 3rd spacewalk / full item
• In February, India raised the budget for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission to $2.32 billion, based on expanded task set which includes production of the nation’s space station / full item

“The [Australian Electoral Commission] will use Starlink services as a backup telecommunications platform as part of our contract with Telstra for fixed line internet services…” / full item

• India: SpaceX unveils deals with India’s dominant telecom industry firms, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, with plans to roll out Starlink internet services across India / full item
• Vietnam: Prime Minister shares that his government is looking to rapidly issue a licence for Starlink to provide satellite internet services in the country under a pilot scheme / full item

India and Starlink: “The cost disparity is a key factor. Globally, Starlink’s satellite internet plans range from $10 to $500 per month with an additional one-time hardware cost…” / full item

• India and Starlink: “The cost disparity is a key factor. Globally, Starlink’s satellite internet plans range from $10 to $500 per month with an additional one-time hardware cost…” / full item
• India is now exporting Apple components to China and Vietnam, illustrating the success of the government’s ‘Make In India’ initiative / full item
• Chip makers and supply chain firms called on European Commission to launch 2023 Chips Act follow-up, focusing on chip design, materials and equipment, in addition to manufacturing / full item
• China: Ministry of Finance 2025 central budget to allocate $55BN for science and tech, a 10% increase from 2024 constituting the 3rd-largest item behind defense and debt interest payments / full item
• China: Researchers have developed a prototype for a nuclear battery encased in silicon carbide semiconductor material, with a theoretical operational lifespan of thousands of years / full item
• China’s Baidu-backed StarFive Technology chip design house gains backing from government-owned HK Investment Corp, as the city steps into the RISC-V space / full item
• Taiwan’s TSMC is reportedly looking at investment in South Korea’s AI-focused semiconductor firm, FuriosaAI, which is separately in acquisition negotiations with Meta / full item
• China: Alibaba launches its first server-grade RISC-V processor, the C930, designed for high-performance computing and positioning as an alternative to Intel Xeon and AMD CPUs / full item

• South Korea is to establish a $34BN policy fund to support companies in strategic technologies, alongside new policies to attract cutting-edge industry talent / full item
• Samsung-Baidu collaboration on 2nm chips may now be on hold, with Donald Trump’s tightening semiconductor policies likely a contributing factor / full item
• Japan: Tenstorrent, US semiconductor firm backed by Amazon’s Bezos, is to launch an AI chip service in Japan charging users based on amount of data processed, reducing costs for developers / full item
• South Korea’s FuriosaAI artificial intelligence chip firm has rejected Meta’s $800M acquisition bid / full item
• China and Pakistan ink astronaut training agreement that could see the first international astronaut on China’s Tiangong space station / full item
• Rocket Lab launched a Japanese firm’s synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite from its New Zealand facility, the first of 8 planned missions for iQPS / full item

Critical technologies in the news:
February 2025

• Microsoft unveils new ‘Majorana 1’ quantum computing chip, claiming to use a new state of matter, not liquid, solid or gas / full item

‘Embracing the Quantum Economy’ from the World Economic Forum, and Accenture “…quantum computing alone expected to generate between $450 billion and $850 billion annually by 2035.” / full item

• PsiQuantum announces photonics solution to quantum computing chips manufacturing capable of achieving volumes needed for commercial viability, partnering GlobalFoundries / full item
• AheadComputing, co-founded by former Intel engineers and execs, raised $21.5M to build tech around RISC-V open standard chips architecture, alternative to current proprietary tech / full item
• Collateral damage in semiconductor supply chains: “…in its 2019 Corporate Social Responsibility report, TSMC admitted its facilities in Hsinchu consumed 63,000 tons of water a day.” / full item
• ASML semiconductor maker is to cease publishing the most closely-watched figure in quarterly financials, new order bookings, seeing it as increasing market volatility / full item
• Globalstar, Apple’s mobile satellite service partner, inks C$1.1BN contract with a Canadian firm to produce more than 50 satellites / full item
• Vodafone claims world-first satellite video call from a regular phone, partnering Starlink rival, AST SpaceMobile, for a direct-to-smartphone service set to launch in Europe / full item
• Shares in direct-to-mobile satellite firms drop after Apple enables iPhones with a T-Mobile cellular plan to join beta tests for SpaceX Starlink service in the US / full item
• Countries Draw Battle Lines Ahead of ‘European Launch Challenge’ / full item
• Meta unveils its ‘most ambitious subsea cable endeavor yet’, Project Waterworth, connecting 5 major continents and spanning over 50,000 kilometres / full item

India: “…we have agreed on TRUST, i.e. Transforming Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology. Under this, emphasis will be laid on creating strong supply chains of critical minerals…” / full item

• An overview of Indonesia’s challenges in developing its electric vehicles-focused industries, in spite of the nation’s nickel supply chain prominence / full item
• China: Cryptography standards body launches ‘Next-generation Commercial Cryptographic Algorithms Program’, with Chinese Cryptography Standardization Technical Committee oversight / full item
• New Zealand: Researchers are soon to test a potential game-changer in space propulsion on the ISS, combining plasma thrusters and superconducting magnets / full item
• Valar Atomics raises $19M, with a pilot small modular reactor site development contract with the Philippines Nuclear Research Institute / full item
• India: NTPC power company is looking to build 30GW of nuclear power capacity over the next two decades, 3 times more than initially planned, at a cost of $62BN / full item
• Japan’s Nat’l Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Tech and Intel partner to develop a quantum computer, with Intel providing its most advanced chips for the project / full item
• Japan takes hybrid quantum computing pole position with integration of Reimei quantum computer with Fugaku ‘traditional’ supercomputer / full item
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency successfully launches 5th satellite to further develop domestically-managed QZSS sat-nav positioning system / full item

• India’s first ‘Made-in-India’ semiconductor chip is expected to be launched by September or October this year, jointly developed by Tata Electronics and Taiwan’s PSMC / full item
• Singapore delivers 2025 fiscal budget and policy speech, pledging increased investment in industries including semiconductors, energy, and aviation / full item
• AheadComputing, co-founded by former Intel engineers and execs, raised $21.5M to build tech around RISC-V open standard chips architecture, alternative to current proprietary tech / full item
• Taiwan’s semiconductor output achieved a value of $152.69 billion in 2024, up 22.4% from a year earlier / full item
• India: US chips toolmaker, Lam Research, is to invest over $1.2BN in Karnataka state, with the nation targeting semiconductor market value of $63BN by 2026 / full item
• Taiwan: ASE Technology targets $1.6BN in leading-edge advanced semiconductor packaging revenue for 2025, with testing business seeing an 18% rise in Q4 2024 alone / full item
• Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs builds on TSMC’s moves in Europe, exploring semiconductor supply chain partnerships with Germany, Czech Republic and Poland / full item
• Taiwan’s TSMC preps for OpenAI chip production using TSMC 3-nanometer process, with OpenAI targeting mass production in 2026 / full item

• Taiwan: MediaTek chip designer remains optimistic inf the face of concerns over possible US tariffs / full item
• India: Suchi Semicon firm is to establish an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly & Test – OSAT – facility in Surat, locating near to Micron, Tata Electronics, and Kaynes Semicon facilities / full item
• Since early 2024, reports have emerged of idle computing centers in China. And in September, renting NVIDIA AI chips in the cloud was cheaper in China than in the US. / full item
• Taiwan’s TSMC is rumored to be building ‘Fab 25’, a large-scale 1 nanometer-focused fabrication facility in Shalun, with three plants set for 1.4nm processes / full item
• China: Beijing tech park established 8 new space-focused ‘laboratories’ in the city, alongside a new satellite internet industrial park, targeting a regular schedule of 100 launches / full item
• India: Nibe Ltd space firm gains BlackSky partnership for satellite imagery, analytics, and hi-res optical sat in move toward a sovereign, remote-sensing constellation / full item
• China’s national space endeavors have frequently grabbed headlines, but a transformation at the local level is playing another role in China’s broader space strategy. / full item
• Australia: Fleet Space and Koloma natural hydrogen company partner to identify hydrogen-forming geological formations using real-time 3D subsurface imaging from space / full item
• Australia: Gilmour Space targets mid-March for maiden flight of Eris rocket, potentially to be the first Australia-built rocket to reach orbit, and the first orbital launch from Australia since 1971 / full item
• China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp’n, CASC confirmed launch and orbit entry of ChinaSat-10R – Zhongxing-10R – communications satellite / full item
• Indian Nat’l Space Promotion & Authorisation Centre, IN-SPACe, has launched a $57.58M fund to help early-stage space technologies commercialize and reduce reliance on imports / full item

• 2025 India Space Congress is set for June, running with the theme of ‘Pioneering Innovations in Space Technology – India’s Journey towards Global Partnerships’ / full item
• Australia: Extraterrestrial Power unveils mass-manufacturable solar cell it estimates to be ten times more affordable than current space-application solar cells / full item
• Australia: Gilmour Space Technologies preps for first orbital launch with final approvals received for its maiden test flight of a 3-stage rocket / full item
• Japan’s SKY Perfect JSAT Asia-wide satellite TV major and US firm, Planet Labs, partner for Earth observation satellite constellation / full item
• The Australian Space Summit & Exhibition 2025 is set for 27 & 28 May in Sydney, with nominations now open for the Australian Space Awards / full item
• 5 Australian startups secured $3.6M collectively from NASA’s ‘Moon to Mars’ supply chain capability grants program / full item
• Japan: SKY Perfect JSAT to launch low Earth orbit imagery constellation, committing $230M to growing beyond geostationary business / full item
• China: Preparations are underway to launch 2 space station resupply cargo craft in Q3 2025, via the runway-capable, reusable, methane-liquid oxygen Zhuque-3 rocket / full item
• India: Satellite successfully launches and enters orbit, forming part of the Navigation with Indian Constellation – NavIC – positioning system, a domestic alternative to GPS et al / full item
• Singapore: Global Space Technology Convention & Exhibition 2025 is set for February 26 -27 / full item
• China: First launch of the new Long March 8A rocket delivered satellite internet payloads for the Guowang – aka SatNet – 23,000-sat mega-constellation / full item
• India: Recently-launched NVS-02 navigation satellite is stranded in a transfer orbit following failure of onboard propulsion, possibly to result in an unplanned re-entry to atmosphere / full item
• Vietnam plans regulations allowing Starlink to provide satellite internet services in the country while maintaining full ownership of any local subsidiary / full item

China: “Spacesail will provide satellite communications and broadband Internet services to these countries. This partnership is poised to create challenges for Elon Musk-owned Starlink…” / full item

• Shares in direct-to-mobile satellite firms drop after Apple enables iPhones with a T-Mobile cellular plan to join beta tests for SpaceX Starlink service in the US / full item
• Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are reportedly separately exploring deals to take over parts of Intel / full item
• China: Discovery of copper reserves of over 20M tons in Tibet is set to significantly boost China’s mineral industry with implications for global markets, technology, and geopolitics / full item
• Vietnam: Japan’s Kyushu semiconductor industry bodies explored Japan-Vietnam partnership opportunities in recent meetings / full item
• Malaysia: Taiwan’s ASE launches new $300M facility in Penang, its 5th in Malaysia, and more than tripling its floorspace in the country / full item

Taiwan: “We expect that this year… a much larger number of our large server companies, especially for AI servers, announcing that they’re going to be expanding their investments in Texas…” / full item

• South Korea’s FuriosaAI chips firm is reportedly in talks with Meta as the social media giant looks to develop AI infrastructure / full item
• ‘Megatrending 2025’ from The Pictet Group, an examination of the component parts of 7 key large trends / full item
• China Nat’l Space Administration and Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission ink MoU for Pakistan’s first moon rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-8 mission in 2028 / full item
• India-Australia Space collaboration is set to grow with the PRISM 2 initiative, building on a range of similar space-focused partnerships / full item
• China’s Spacesail ‘megaconstellation’ operator inks MoU with Malaysia’s Measat to expand its presence in wider SE Asia with satellite broadband, direct-to-device comms, and IoT solutions / full item
• Japan: ArkEdge Space observation satellite produced for Taiwan’s space agency has captured high-quality Earth imagery from a spacecraft smaller than a suitcase / full item
• Philippines: World Mobile blockchain-backed mobile network partners DITO CME, parent of Dito Telecom / full item

Emerging technologies:
January 2025

• Saudi Arabia announces new critical minerals investment project valued at $100BN, with JV between state-owned Aramco oil giant and Ma’aden mining firm also in place / full item
• NVIDIA unveils products including AI focused on robots and cars, advanced gaming chips, first NVIDIA desktop computer, and Toyota Motor deal for chips and software / full item
• NVIDIA acquires RunAI, gaining open-source software that optimises hardware for use by AI systems / full item
• What RISC-V Means for the Future of Chip Development’ from CSIS / full item

Download: ‘The Global Risks Report 2025′ from the World Economic Forum: “…the vulnerabilities associated with citizens’ online activities look set to continue deepening…” / full item

• Nokia is to deploy the first cellular network on the Moon as part of Intuitive Machines mission, integrating hardware onto the IM-2 launch set for February / full item
• OASIS Open launches standardization initiative, the Space Automated Threat Intelligence Sharing (SATIS) Technical Committee / full item
• Download: ‘Seraphim Space Index Q4 2024’, a quarterly review of global private investment in space technologies (pdf link) / full item
• Apple acquired a 20% stake in Globalstar satellite-telecoms firm, making a $1.5BN investment in satellite-focused iPhone connectivity / full item
• SpaceX ‘rideshare’ mission deployed more than 130 satellites, with payload featuring a range of imaging sats, a ‘pharmaceutical reactor’, and sats for NASA / full item

“…nearly 200 miles west of Dallas, the first data center associated with the $100BN Stargate venture from OpenAI, SoftBank Group Corp. and Oracle Corp is taking shape.” / full item

• Australia: An intro to Earth AI following $20M Series B funding, using geophysical survey data, remote sensing and satellite data, and more, to identify critical mineral deposits / full item
• Australia: Electralith raises $27.5M Series A to further develop sustainable, environmentally-friendly lithium extraction technology / full item
• Japan: Nine major companies and institutions, including Fujitsu and Institute of Science Tokyo, partner for world-first integrated system to combat deepfakes and false information / full item
• UK government to enact legislation, making the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes a criminal offence / full item

DeepSeek – What the Headlines Miss: “Real export restrictions on AI chips only started in October 2023, making claims about their ineffectiveness premature…” / full item

• Unlike traditional AI systems… AI agents can interact with external systems, make decisions and complete complex tasks on their own. / full item
• China: Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, EAST, achieves milestone by maintaining plasma operation for 1066 seconds, a key moment in nuclear fusion research / full item

“China built out record amount of wind and solar power in 2024 – The nation put up 357 gigawatts of solar and wind, a 45% and 18% increase…” / full item

• China unveils ‘Crimson Skyblade’ in nuclear fusion quest for unlimited clean energy’ / full item
• Korea Institute of Energy Tech inks MOU with Deep Fission, US startup working in nuclear energy, for a project working on small nuclear reactors / full item
• Saudi Arabia announces new critical minerals investment project valued at $100BN, with JV between state-owned Aramco oil giant and Ma’aden mining firm also in place / full item
• Quantum Brilliance, Australian-German firm, raised $20M Series A for portable quantum accelerators, aiming to boost computational power across data centres, robots, satellites and more / full item

“Quantum teleportation has been demonstrated over a fiber optic cable carrying classical traffic (like the Internet) for the first time. The work suggests it will be possible to take advantage of the benefits quantum communication offers without building a whole new infrastructure in parallel to what already exists…” / full item

• China: Research institute floats possibility of high-end RISC-V processors for data centers in 2025, taking RISC-V to a new level of chip competition / full item
• China: Jielong-3 solid rocket launched from a mobile sea platform, placing 10 Centispace sats into orbit to boost signals from systems including Beidou and GPS / full item
• In Sept 2024, over 30 companies including TSMC formed the Silicon Photonics Industry Alliance, SiPhIA, to focus on the next generation of chip energy and data transmission / full item
• Taiwan: Phoenix Silicon, the global no. 2 supplier of reclaimed wafers, broke ground on a new $76.3M plant in Taichung, expanding capacity to meet rising demand driven by the AI boom / full item
• Singapore: Micron chips major is to invest $7BN across 5 years in chip manufacturing in Singapore, with construction also commencing on a new HBM packaging facility / full item
• NVIDIA and TSMC prep for collaboration on silicon photonics tech, looking to boost data center efficiency / full item

NVIDIA unveils Project Digits, a ‘personal AI supercomputer’ that runs the entire NVIDIA AI stack: “It’s a cloud computing platform that sits on your desk…” / full item

• Japan’s Rapidus preps to provide 2nm chip samples to US semicon giant, Broadcom, with trial production set for April 2025, and mass production scheduled for 2027 / full item
• Taiwan’s TSMC has begun production of 4-nanometer chips in Arizona / full item
• Startup Funding in Q4 2024, from Semiconductor Engineering, capturing developments in chips, materials, artificial intelligence, memory, quantum computing and more / full item
• What RISC-V Means for the Future of Chip Development’ from CSIS / full item
• Bangladesh Government has approved the National Semiconductor Taskforce ‘to advance Bangladesh’s capabilities in testing, assembly, and chip design’ / full item
• China: Big Fund 3, a $47BN state-backed fund, launched phase 3 with investments into 2 other funds focused on the country’s semiconductor and advanced-tech industries / full item
• South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix secure promised funding for semiconductor plants in the US, tho uncertainty remains around possible Trump administration adjustments / full item

Powering the Future – Overcoming Battery Supply-Chain Challenges with Circularity: “…minerals often travel more than 50,000 nautical miles from the mine to the batterycell factory…” / full item

• NVIDIA unveils products including AI focused on robots and cars, advanced gaming chips, first NVIDIA desktop computer, and Toyota Motor deal for chips and software / full item
• China’s surging electric vehicle output has ignited demand for automotive chips, but domestic firms remain reliant on foreign suppliers for more than 90 per cent of their needs… / full item
• A brief overview of the challenges facing Bangladesh as it tries to position to take advantage of semiconductor industry opportunities / full item
• Taiwan: Executive Yuan approves ‘Southern Silicon Valley’ project to boost AI and semicon industries in Chiayi County, Tainan, Pingtung County, and Kaohsiung / full item
• South Korea: Ministry of SMEs & Startups unveils $2.23BN startups support plan for 2025, spanning 429 startup support programs led by 101 organizations / full item

“The space economy could be worth close to $1 trillion in the next 10 years… in 2024, the space economy market was worth just under $600 billion…” / full item

• India: SEMI is planning an Indian Semiconductor Academy to further boost the country’s chip ambitions, looking to partner technical institutes and universities for curricula and training / full item
• Taiwan: Foxconn subsidiary Fii Holdings USA takes equity stakes in 8 US companies in $344M investment, part of ongoing moves to diversify supply chains / full item
• China: ‘Legacy’ chips used in everyday goods are set to face additional US tariffs in a bid to protect market-driven producers from heavily state-subsidised competition / full item
• India successfully launched a navigation satellite aboard a domestically-produced rocket, boosting its independent satellite positioning system / full item
• 7 Indian privately-held startups chosen for first-of-its-kind India-US space and defence collaboration programme / full item
• The Philippine Space Agency, PhilSA, has opened applications to its Advanced Degrees for Accelerating Strategic Space R&D and Applications – AD ASTRA – Scholarships Program / full item
• The Philippine Space Agency in late October 2024 formally became a full member of the International Astronautical Federation / full item
• India: Pixxel, a Google-backed space-tech firm, successfully launched 3 of 6 hyperspectral imaging satellites aboard a SpaceX rocket / full item
• Taiwan: PARUS-T1 micro-satellite, designed and produced by Taiwan Space Agency, launched via SpaceX Transporter-12 and successfully achieved orbit / full item
• Japan: ispace Resilience lunar lander launched with SpaceX from Kennedy Space Center, expected to reach the moon and attempt landing towards the end of May / full item
• India completes Space Docking Experiment, SpaDeX, docking 2 spacecraft in orbit around 475 kilometers above the Earth, becoming the fourth country to achieve this / full item

• Australian Space Summit & Exhibition 2025 – Aus Space 25 – is set for May 27-28 in Sydney / full item
• Australia: A very brief snapshot of the country’s role in SpaceX Starship launches and recoveries / full item
• Australia: Kongsberg-Starsite partnership preps to build a 20-meter antenna in Western Australia, delivering a critical component in Moon mission support / full item
• Australia: Telstra partners SpaceX’s Starlink for sat-to-mobile text messaging, particularly for connectivity in remote and regional areas / full item
• Japan: Toyota moves into space technology with $44M investment in Interstellar Technologies as it pursues mass production of launch rockets / full item
• China: Shijian-25 satellite launches to test on-orbit refuelling, and tech to extend satellite lifespans / full item
• China: Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co reports satellite-to-ground laser transmission milestone of 100Gbps, for high-resolution imagery, a speed equivalent to 10 full movies in 1 second / full item

“…beyond the capabilities of Google Earth, the Soar platform draws on spatial data from… climatic patterns, historical photos and more – and puts it all in one free, open-access and searchable place…” / full item

• Vietnam: An overview of the potential for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet services opportunity in the country / full item
• China: An overview of new-generation Long March rockets, commercially-developed launch vehicles, and others, that are expected to see their first flights in 2025 / full item
• China: Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology, aka Genesat, raised $137M to further develop manufacturing for the 14000-sat G60 Starlink mega-constellation, aka Qianfan and Thousand Sails / full item
• India successfully launched the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in part to test docking tech needed for future space missions / full item
• Japan: An intro to ArkEdge Space, a low-cost micro and nano-satellite firm working on issues including disaster recovery and relief, sustainable development and more / full item
• China: Nayuta Space gains funding to develop reusable stainless steel rockets using methane-liquid oxygen engines, looking to achieve reusability of both 1st and 2nd rocket stages / full item
• China: Fourth batch of 18 sats for the planned 14000-satellite ‘Thousand Sails mega-constellation launched via Long March 6A rocket, successfully achieving orbit / full item
• Here’s a brief look at the implications of India’s decision to allocate, rather than auction, satellite spectrum, a decision that introduces opportunities for firms including SpaceX / full item
• China: Researchers move to assess viability of laser-delivered, wireless power transmission from lunar orbiters to supply spacecraft during long night on the moon’s surface / full item
• India: OrbitAID raises $1.5M pre-seed funding for in-space demo of docking and refuelling operations, looking to expand facilities for on-orbit servicing operations / full item
• Last year, the Union Cabinet approved a $119M VC fund focused on the growth of India’s space sector, managed by the Indian Nat’l Space Promotion & Authorization Center, IN-SPACe / full item
• An introduction to 5 of Australia’s high-performance space firms, and the people behind them / full item
• India: More on the Indian Space Research Organisation Space Docking Experiment, SpaDeX, recently delivered to orbit for testing / full item

• China completes world-first satellite-based remote surgeries, with operations conducted via Apstar-6D broadband satellite 36,000km above the planet / full item
• Indian Space Research Org’n is planning 10 orbital launches in 2025, potentially taking launch activity to double figures for the first time; and a first crewed flight, H1, possibly in 2026 / full item
• Yamaha Motor and BMW have backed Phoenix Tailings, a US-based rare earths processing firm boasting minimal emissions, adding to diversification of supply chains / full item

“The space economy could be worth close to $1 trillion in the next 10 years… in 2024, the space economy market was worth just under $600 billion…” / full item

• The Annual Letter from the Future Today Institute, looking at 2025 Macro Themes, and delivering the 2024 Signals Review / full item
• Taiwan’s MediaTek inks agreement with Italy’s Exein to embed Exein cybersecurity systems on billions of chips under MediaTek’s Genio platform / full item
• Singapore: Germany’s Siltronic chipmaker and Taiwan’s Vanguard Int’l chip firm have partnered Institute of Tech Education to develop students for roles in Singapore’s semiconductor industry / full item
• Malaysia: Economy minister sees Malaysia producing its own chips and GPUs in 5-10 years, boosted by growing data center investments in the country / full item
• China: Research institute floats possibility of high-end RISC-V processors for data centers in 2025, taking RISC-V to a new level of chip competition / full item

“…wrong to conclude that export controls aren’t working just because DeepSeek has developed a model that’s as good or nearly as good as OpenAI’s. That conclusion would be mistaken for 2 reasons…” / full item

• Vietnam: Government issues decree providing support up to 50% of initial investment costs for businesses in semiconductor and AI R&D / full item
• Japan: TSMC commences production at Kumamoto Prefecture plant, manufacturing 12-28nm chips for cars and image sensors, with Governor proposing a third TSMC plant / full item
• Thailand: In December, Foxconn subsidiary UNIQUE Integrated Technology gained approval for a $306M factory build to export semiconductor machinery and equipment / full item
• China Aerospace Science & Tech Corp’n completes satellite launch for Pakistan, the first of a planned 3-sat group / full item
• In December, the Pacific Islands nation of Nauru inaugurated the region’s first Starlink Community Gateway / full item

How is the $500bn Stargate Project poised to impact India’s AI landscape? “…will pave the way for collaboration opportunities between the two countries especially on the talent front…” / full item