Asian tech roundup: Chips ahoy

Plus: Alibaba cancels cloud spin-off

Welcome to Computing's fortnightly roundup of tech news in Asia. This week is all about chips, with SMIC signalling a return to over-supply; Japan investing in new semiconductor fabs; and Intel cancelling a plant in Vietnam.

Australia

• Port operator DP World Australia has said that operations are back to normal after a cybersecurity incident forced it to suspend operations for three days. Source
• Australia's second largest ISP Optus went offline for 9 hours affecting millions of individuals and businesses. Source

China

• Internet giant Alibaba has cancelled its plan to spin out its cloud business into a separate unit. Source
• China's biggest chipmaker SMIC said that trade wars and political tensions have led to a global glut of semiconductors. Source
• Nvidia has developed special underpowered AI chips for China in its latest bid to avoid US restrictions. Source
• Big sales of Huawei phones contributed to a 11% rise in China's total smartphone shipments in October, in a development seen as a threat to the iPhone. Source
• China's YMTC is suing US chipmaker Micron for patent infringement. Source
• The US financial services division of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has been hit with a ransomware attack. Source
• China's Ant Group has received government approval to release products powered by its Bailing AI large language model to the public. Source
• The world's biggest iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry saw sales decline last month after China launched an investigation into the company. Source
• "Fierce competition" is forcing Chinese electric carmaker and Tesla rival Nio to cut 10% of its workforce, its CEO said. Source
• The EU's Thierry Breton has told TikTok to increase efforts to counter disinformation on the social media platform, including how it protects the integrity of elections and minors. Source
• China has revealed plans to mass-produce humanoid robots, which it says will be as disruptive as smartphones. Source
• Chen Shaojie, founder and CEO of game-streaming site DouYu, has been arrested by Chinese authorities. Sources say the police are investigating illegal content on the platform. Source
• China claims to have installed "the world's fastest internet," a backbone network that can reach 1.2 tbps (1,200 gbps) across a 1,860-mile line. Source

India

• Tesla plans to double the number of components it imports from India, trade minister Piyush Goyal has said. Source
• Indian technology distributor Redington has reported a 22% decline in quarterly profit due to a slowdown in demand for gadgets and higher expenses. Source
• InterGlobe Enterprises, which backs Indian airline IndiGo and US company Archer Aviation aims to launch an all-electric air taxi service in India in 2026 that it claims will be competitive in cost terms with road services. Source
• Threat actors are targeting Indian marketing professionals to hijack Facebook business accounts. Source

Japan

• Japanese chipmaker Rapidus plans to open a sales office in the US by the end of the financial year as it seeks to expand its global reach. Source
• Taiwanese chipmaker Powerchip has selected Miyagi in northern Japan to build a $5.4 billion foundry, with funding support from Japanese financial firm SBI Holdings. Source
• Japan is to spend 2 trillion yen ($13 billion) to support efforts to boost its chip industry, adding to the government's efforts to revitalise an industry where Japan was once a key player. Source

Singapore

• French cloud firm OVHcloud has announced a new datacentre in Singapore. The launch is part of its plan to establish 15 new sites by 2024. Source
• Singaporean fintech startup EduFi, which aims to helps students secure loans to fund their studies, has raised $6.1 million in a pre-seed round. Source

South Korea

• Members of the family that owns Samsung are to sell nearly 2.6 trillion won (US$2 billion) of shares in the company's affiliates to cover inheritance taxes. Source
• More than 80% of South Korean smartphone sales in the third quarter were Samsung devices. Source

Vietnam

• Apple supplier Luxshare Precision Industry has been granted government permission to invest an additional $330 million in its plant in Vietnam's Bac Giang province. It will produce cables, communications equipment, touch pens, smart positioning tags and smartwatches. Source
• Intel has dropped plans for a major chipmaking investment in Vietnam that could have nearly doubled its operations there, according to reports. Source

Other Asia

• Bangladesh's National Telecommunication Monitoring Center has exposed a database online that hackers have compromised. It includes a huge amount of personal information, including passport details, fingerprint photos and blood types. Source
• Chinese nation-state hacking groups have been targeting 24 Cambodian government organisations, according to Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 researchers. Source
• Indonesia has started up the largest floating solar plants in south-east Asia with the inauguration of the 145MW Cirata power plant. Source
• Pakistan-linked APT SideCopy has used a WinRAR vulnerability to target Indian government entities in order to deliver remote access malware. Source
• ST Telemedia Global Data Centres is building a new datacentre in Cavite in the Philippines. Source
• Taiwan is to probe whether Taiwanese companies have been helping Huawei to set up secret chip factories in China to evade US sanctions. Source
• Malaysian law enforcement authorities have taken down a phishing-as-a-service operation called BulletProofLink. Source
• Nepal has said it will ban TikTok because social harmony and goodwill are being disrupted as a result of the video app. Source