‘Cease and desist’ Japan tells Google: Asian Tech Roundup

Plus: India’s outsourcing giants feel the economic pressure

Welcome to Computing's weekly roundup of tech news in Asia. This time we look at Japan’s increasing impatience with the quasi-monopoly power of US Big Tech, and the unwelcome impact of US-driven market turmoil on India’s big hitters.

American Big Tech enjoys near monopoly (or actual monopoly) power thanks to its global ubiquity, its army of expensive lawyers and lobbyists and, generally, the backing of the US government. But it doesn’t always have things its own way. Meta is currently in court in the US arguing that it is not a social media monopoly, in the UK Google faces a £5 billion private class action lawsuit alleging overcharging for ads, and this week Japan, which has never before taken legal action against US Big Tech, issued a cease-and-desist notice against Alphabet for forcing Google Play and Chrome on vendors of Android smartphones.

Whether Japan’s ire has been raised by the US’s tariff regime is not clear, but this burden is clearly unhelpful to India’s tech services giants such as Tata and Wipro, which see a slowdown in their business as a result of the turmoil.

China

• China has accused the US of launching cyberattacks against critical industries in February, naming three NSA agents and two universities as being involved. Source
• The country has also stopped the delivery of all Boeing aircraft to Chinese airlines. Source
• The emergence of DeepSeek and the chip embargo has energised China’s AI sector, furthering the drive toward self-sufficiency and attracting billions in government funding. Source
• China has jailed nine people for their part in a large-scale online and telecom scam that targeted Indian citizens. Source
• Chinese startup Zhipu AI has initiated it's first steps towards an initial public offering. It would be the first of China's emerging AI companies to become public. Source
• Several low-cost Android smartphones from Chinese manufacturers have been found to include pre-installed fake versions of WhatsApp and Telegram . Source

India

• India's top software-services exporter Tata Consultancy Services has reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results and warned that uncertainty around US tariffs was prompting clients to rethink discretionary projects, particularly those in the retail, automobile and travel sectors. Source
• Wipro, India's fourth biggest IT exporter saw it’s share price fall as it predicted a fall in revenues in the next quarter thanks to political uncertainties. Source
• Samsung India has launched a Home Appliances Remote Management tool, which will enable remote diagnostics, troubleshooting and repair of home appliances via an app. Source
• AI platform Gupshup has been shedding staff in what it says is part of a consolidation strategy following a period of expansion. Source

Japan

• The opening ceremony of the World Expo 2025 was held in the Japanese city of Osaka on Saturday. The Expo theme is "Designing Future Society for Our Lives" and showcases innovation and cutting-edge technology including space tech. Source
• The Japan Fair Trade Commission has issued a ‘cease and desist’ order to Google parent company Alphabet, for anticompetitive practice. This is the first time such an action has been taken against a US ‘Big Tech’ company. Source

South Korea

• Anticipating tariffs, Korean manufacturers exported 24% more tech products in March than February, with exports to the USA jumping 19.4%. Source
• South Korea announced that it is to increase support for its semiconductor industry by around 25% to 33 trillion won ($23.25 billion). Source

Taiwan

• TSMC, the AI semiconductor manufacturing behemoth is set to report a 54% leap in first-quarter profit on Thursday with estimated earnings at T$347.8 billion ($10.74 billion) for the first three months of 2025. Source
• Taiwan President Lei Ching-te has stated that Taiwan’s first phase of tariff talks with the US have gone “smoothly.” President Lei said he wanted to use this challenge as an opportunity to promote a “Taiwan plus the US” trade layout . Source

Other Asia

• Electricity consumption from the manufacture of AI chips has soared by more than 350% worldwide between 2023 and 2024, according to new research from Greenpeace East Asia. Most of the growing demand for electricity in countries such as Taiwan and South Korea has been met by fossil fuel burning. Source
• Bhutan is looking into the use of “green” cryptocurrencies, powered by hydroelectricty to boost its economy and create jobs. Source
• 60% Samsung phones are made in Vietnam with many destined for the US, putting pressure on both vendor and country in terms of US tariffs. Source
• A Pakistani threat actor has been targeting various sectors in India including railway, oil and gas, and external affairs ministries with remote access trojans. Source
• Communications platform Discord is experimenting with age verification in Australia and the UK. Source