Asian Tech Roundup: Australia's and India's encryption backdoor plans

Plus, China and Japan in race to put humans on the moon again

Asian Tech Roundup: Australia and India's e2e backdoor plans

Image:

Asian Tech Roundup: Australia and India's e2e backdoor plans

Mike Burgess, director general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, and Reece Kershaw, commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, have called for "accountable encryption," whereby tech firms would be required to decrypt messages for law enforcement. Authorities in Australia are already legally allowed to intercept encrypted information, but companies are not obliged to decrypt those messages. Source
Australia is to fund US start-up PsiQuantum to the tune of AU$940 million ($620 million) in a bid to create "the world's first utility-scale quantum computer." Source
Elon Musk's attempts to fight a takedown order by the Australian government of footage of a bishop being stabbed has angered politicians on both sides. The opposition will back tougher laws for social media. Source
Australia's national science body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, believes the country, along with other APAC territories, should develop its own AI foundation models since currently the vast majority are produced by the US and China. Source

China is about to launch another mission to the far side of the moon as it seeks to land a human on the moon by 2030. Japan, with US help, is hoping to reach that goal by 2028. Source
The revised State Secrets Law has come into effect, compelling firms - including social media giants and network operators - to monitor and remove posts containing "sensitive information." Source
Huawei recorded a Q1 2024 profit of 19.6 billion yuan ($2.7 billion), representing an annual growth rate of 564%, in spite of Western sanctions. Source
Elon Musk met China's premier Li Qiang, after sealing a deal with tech giant Baidu to use the company's mapping and navigation systems. Musk appears to be laying the ground for testing autonomous vehicles in China. Source
Sales of Apple's iPhone in China fell by 19.1% in Q1 compared with 2023, putting it behind local competitors Vivo and Honor. Source
Tencent is to release its long-awaited Dungeon and Fighter game for mobile devices on 21st May. The company's shares rose 4.5% on the news. Source
Chinese researchers managed to obtained advanced Nvidia AI chips by purchasing Dell and Supermicro servers through resellers, despite a US ban. Source
Ant Group is talking to the Indonesian government about bringing its digital payment service Alipay+ to the country. Source
Taiwan's King Yuan Electronics Co., a massive presence in semiconductor testing and packaging, is pulling out of mainland China, blaming US sanctions. Source

Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) is planning to build a solar and wind farm five times larger than the area of Paris in the deserts of Gujarat. Source
Tech Mahindra's shares jumped 13.2% on news of a turnaround plan that promises to reverse several quarters of declining revenues. Source
WhatsApp says it will close operations in India if forced to break end-to-end encryption in accordance with a law that would require it to "enable the identification of the first originator of the information" when ordered by the High Court. Source
Indian ride-hailing start-up Ola is cutting about 180 jobs, including CEO Hemant Bakshia who was only appointed four months ago. Ola ceased operations in the UK, Australia and New Zealand in April. Source

Amnesty International has accused Indonesia of buying spyware through a "murky network" involving Israel, Greece, Singapore and Malaysia. Source
On a trip to South East Asia, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said his company will invest $1.7 billion over the next four years in cloud services, datacentres and AI in Indonesia. Source

With help from the US, Japan is aiming to put a human being on the moon by 2028, ahead of China. Source
Meta is being sued by four Japanese investors who say they lost money after believing false investment ads using fake celebrity endorsements on Facebook and Instagram. Source

Malaysia is looking to create the largest integrated circuit design facilities in Southeast Asia and will offer several measures to attract investors, the government said. Source
Swiss electrical instruments maker LEM has opened a €15.7 million factory in Penang, Malaysia to make current and voltage sensors. Source
China's IC packaging and test service provider ATX Semiconductor Group opened a factory in Melaka, Malaysia, after investing US$55 million in the facility. Source

South Korea's fair trade commission has accused Google of unfairly bundling YouTube Music and YouTube Premium to the detriment of domestic services. Source
Samsung says that continuing demand for AI will reduce supply of high-end chips and mark a rebound in the global memory chip market. The company's shares rose after it reported a 10-fold rise in Q1 profit. Source

In addition to plans for Indonesia (see above) Microsoft will also open its first regional datacentre in Thailand to boost availability of cloud services. Source
Taiwanese chipmaker UMC said it expected a rise in wafer shipments in the second quarter of 2024 but added that automotive and industrial demand will remain low. Source