Asian Tech Roundup: China's chip fund and Samsung on strike

Plus: Indian politicians adopt deepfakes

The Australian Electoral Commission has warned it has limited scope to protect voters from deepfake videos and phone calls imitating politicians in upcoming elections. Source
Australian organisations are not facing up to the risks associated with the data they hold, says prominent cyber lawyer. Source

China has launched a CNY344 billion ($47 billion) investment fund for chip technology. It is the third version of the 'National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund', and will both manage venture capital and take an active role in providing assistance to investees. Source
China is seeking to invest 6 billion yuan ($830 million) in a government-led project to develop solid-state batteries. Source
Chinese chipmakers SMIC and SXMT are seeking to source more key materials domestically, to counter US sanctions. Source
Cloud giant Alibaba is planning to sell convertible bonds to raise $4.5 billion in order to buy back some of its own US shares. Source
Tesla has told some component suppliers to diversify production out of Taiwan and China by as early as next year. Source
In an apparent U-turn from his previous position, Elon Musk criticised US government tariffs on Chinese EVs, saying they distort the market. Source
Apple has cut the price of its iPhones in China, driving a 52% uptick in sales across the region. Source

Politicians across India are using deepfakes to reach voters, despite federal government disapproval of the technology. Source
The southern state of Tamil Nadu is using AI to prevent elephant deaths on railway lines. Cameras, using an AI trained to recognise elephants, alert officials, who slow down trains and guide the animals away to prevent collisions. Source
The Adani Group is considering launching its own presence on India's e-payments network, and is in talks with banks to finalise plans for a co-branded credit card. Source
India added 10GW of solar capacity to its grid in Q1 this year, an increase of almost 400% YoY. Source
Transparent Tribe, a threat actor allegedly tied to Pakistan, has been linked to new attacks targeting Indian government, defence and aerospace sectors using cross-platform malware written in Python, Golang and Rust. Source

Japanese security researchers have discovered that BloodAlchemy malware used to target Asian governments is a modified version of Deed RAT, which is itself believed to be a successor to ShadowPad. Source
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plans to produce small gas-powered turbines for datacentres looking to generate their own power. Source
Japanese firm TEPCO has unveiled a new robot to be used to remove fuel debris from stricken nuclear reactors at Fukushima. Source

Countries and companies have signed themselves up to new agreements prioritising AI safety at the international AI Safety Summit in Seoul. Source
South Korean researchers have demonstrated a solid-state sodium-air battery that delivers a much higher discharge potential of 3.4 V than other metal-air batteries resulting in high energy density and energy efficiency. Source
Samsung's latest high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips have yet to pass Nvidia's tests for use in its AI processors due to heat and power consumption issues. Source
Members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) have been conducting a rare demonstration for higher wages. Source
iFixit and Samsung have ended a two-year partnership aimed at improving tools, parts and resources for DIY repairs. Source
The government has launched the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA), its first dedicated space agency. Previous space research had been split across multiple government departments. Source

Lai Ching-te, Taiwan's newly elected president, has called for the country to become an "AI island." Source
Indonesia's new president, Joko Widodo, has ordered government officials to stop creating new apps. The country's central and regional governments collectively operate a fleet of 27,000 apps, with little integration but plenty of overlap. Source
A new North Korean threat group called Moonstone Fleet has been observed delivering custom ransomware, using a combination of hands-on-keyboard tactics, social engineering and a fake game to breach multiple large companies, according to Microsoft. Source
Officials in Vietnam have requested that Foxconn reduce its power use by 30% at its assembly plants, in a bid to avert a repeat of power shortages last year. Other companies were also asked to make cuts. Source
Google is to invest $2 billion in Malaysia to create its first data centre and Google Cloud region in the country. Source