Asian Tech Roundup: Asia slaps on ‘Do not DeepSeek’ labels
Plus: China retaliates against US tariffs
Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at Asian governments banning DeepSeek, China’s reaction to US tariffs and Samsung.
China’s DeepSeek burst onto the world stage last month, but concerns about its ties to the Chinese state are already limiting its growth. Governments in both Taiwan and Australia, as well as separate government departments in South Korea, have banned use of the tool on government devices; but at the same time, a South Korean AI startup has launched a DeepSeek-based tool running on a domestic cloud server, keeping all information safe and local.
Australia
- Privacy commissioner Karly Kind says government agencies haven’t done enough to protect “digital doppelgangers” - separate people who share details like their name and date of birth, whose records become intertwined. Source
- The government has banned DeepSeek products, applications and web services from being used on any government device system or device, due to security concerns. Source
China
- Beijing has retaliated against US tariffs by announcing a series of measures against US businesses, including an antitrust investigation into Google and export controls on resources like tungsten. Source
India
- Tata Technologies has admitted to being the victim of a ransomware attack affecting “a few” IT assets. Source
- India has removed the 2.5% import duty on certain smartphone components, including printed circuit board assemblies, camera module parts and USB cables. Source
Japan
- SoftBank has partnered with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to create "Cristal Intelligence,” an AI platform designed for enterprise applications. They are also creating a local partnership called SB OpenAI Japan. Source
Singapore
- Nvidia GPUs used to train DeepSeek’s AI systems may have been imported through Singapore – a fact supported by the company’s Q3’25 results, which show the tiny country as its second-largest market. Source
South Korea
- Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong has been acquitted of all chargers relating to a 2015 merger between Samsung affiliates. Source
- Government departments including the finance, environment, foreign, trade, defence and unification ministries have all blocked or shared plans to block access to Chinese AI model DeepSeek. Source 1 Source 2
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited South Korea to discuss AI with domestic companies including SK Hynix and Samsung. He also announced a strategic partnership with messaging giant Kakao. Source
- AI startup WRTN has launched a local AI service on messaging app KakaoTalk, based on DeepSeek’s R1 model. The model is stored on a local cloud and inputs will not be shared back to DeepSeek. Source
- Private companies, including LG AI Research and SK Telecom, have called on the government to improve South Korea’s AI infrastructure. Source
- Samsung knocked Intel off the top spot in the revenue rankings of semiconductor manufacturers. Samsung’s ascendancy seems to be partly driven by a resurgence in memory prices along with AI related tech demand. Source