Malaysia targets $100B in investments to supercharge its semiconductor ambitions
PM Anwar has bold vision which follows Google investing $2B for first Malaysia data centre
Welcome back,
This week Malaysia is all over the news. I love Malaysia, but it is rarely at the forefront of much to do with technology, be that startups, investing, manufacturing etc. But that could change in the future if Prime Minister Anwar has his way. He is touting plans to raise as much as $100B to revitalise its chip industry, and turn it into a design and production hub.
Malaysia has made progress though, it just snagged a $2B investment from Google which plans to develop its first data centre in the country. And, hey, Apple is opening a physical store in the country, which will join Singapore and Thailand as its only IRL outputs in Southeast Asia.
Elsewhere, we have news of Shein’s planned UK IPO; ByteDance is apparently planning for the worst in the US; Luckin Coffee is far from dead; India is mulling China-style limitations for mobile gaming addicts; there’s a US IPO for a digital comic startup; plus pics of the most unique Apple Watch case you can find.
Thanks again for subscribing and see you again next Monday—if not sooner…
Jon
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News in focus
Malaysia eyes $100B in chip investment after snagging billions from Google
We already know (and have written) that America’s big tech firms are investing billions of dollars into Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, to build the infrastructure that will enable them to deploy AI and cloud computing services. Malaysia is the latest in the region to land its AI windfall—as Google pledged to invest $2 billion, including its first data centre and a cloud facility—but there’s more.
The Malaysian government has laid out ambitious tech goals lately, including a plan to woo venture capital investors, and now it is looking to stimulate its semiconductor industry with a target of over $100 billion in investment. Yes, you read that figure correctly— Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim wants to advance Malaysia from its existing position as a testing and packaging hub for the industry:
Anwar said the investment being sought would be for integrated circuit design, advanced packaging and manufacturing equipment for semiconductor chips.
Malaysia also wants to establish at least 10 local companies in design and advanced packaging for semiconductor chips, with revenues between $210 million to $1 billion, Anwar said in a speech at an industry event.
The Southeast Asian country will allocate $5.3 billion in fiscal support to meet these targets, he added, saying further details would be announced later.
The programme is aimed at creating some 60,000 new engineers to take advantage of the need to move manufacturing away from China but with the goal of remaining neutral. Already, the state of Sarawak is showing potential through deals with UK-based firms.
Malaysia hasn’t been a major market for tech firms, nor has it really seen a burst of tech startups compared to its neighbours. But the success of tech and startups in Singapore and Indonesia has inspired Southeast Asia to explore high growth opportunities. The question is whether the country can flip to the design part of the process, and gain traction globally.
Further reading: Southeast Asia is the new battleground for tech production
Shein plots UK IPO as US and EU turn up pressure on Chinese e-commerce firms
Shein is reportedly days from filing for an IPO in London, ending some six months of speculation about its blockbuster listing, which has been tipped to reach a $100B valuation.
The IPO had been expected to happen in the US—where it had even filed initial papers for a listing—but political pressure has seen the firm pick London, despite the fact that pressure on that side of the pond is also increasing. UK lawmakers are pushing for increased scrutiny of Shein and in particular its supply chain and allegations of faced labour that some believe have helped it offer items at low prices.
At the same time, rival PDD—parent to rival Temu—surpassed Alibaba as China’s top US-based stock in our previous edition and found itself caught in the EU’s regulatory-firing laser, often deployed against Apple, Google and others. It must now comply with tougher rules on illegal/harmful content and fakes after it crossed 45M users to become a “very large online platform (VLOP)”—that’s a real term—alongside heavyweights like Amazon, Meta et al. That’s a fate Shein will face in the near future.
Temu is also catching heat in the US where lawmakers have stepped up efforts to penalise it for links with forced labour companies. The reality may be different going from a report in The Information:
Most of the goods sold on Temu are made by small factories in China whose operations are micromanaged by Temu staffers, which tell the factory owners not only what to make but how to price the goods, according to the suppliers, a review of their seller agreements and screenshots of Temu’s supplier system. Temu also handles the marketing and shipping for sellers. By exercising such ironclad control over goods sold on its platform, two-year old Temu has managed to squeeze prices to rock bottom levels, turning itself into a hugely popular retail site for Americans looking for cheap clothing, jewellery and household gadgets.
Both firms, though, will be concerned with a new US development: customs officials have reportedly cracked down on some logistics partners that work with Temu, Shein and others over concerns that cheap goods are entering the US without paying tariffs.
GrabGPT
Grab announced an agreement with OpenAI. I’m actually not going to shit all over this piece of news. Yes, I do think it is fairly basic in its scope—Grab has a fairly nondescript outline of the collaboration—but it is interesting to see OpenAI behaving like a corporation by announcing what are essentially MOUs with paying customers for clout on both sides. It didn’t do anything for Grab’s share price, but expect to see more of these ‘local’ announcements across Asia to help OpenAI boost its credibility in the region and the local firms to give themselves a little kudos by hanging with the cool kid from America.
TikTok gets US ban appeal date but prepares contingency plan
September is when TikTok will be able to make its appeal against the US law forcing its exit from the country, according to an appeals court. Parent firm ByteDance has until January 19 next year to make the change or face a ban, according to the bill.
On one hand it is fighting, but on the other ByteDance appears to be preparing for the worst with a contingency plan. Reuters reports that it is working to clone the algorithm developed for its 170M users in the US in a move that could allow it to comply and divest the business. The company denied the claims—without providing specifics—but it is notable that Reuters said the cloning began before the TikTok exit bill was ratified.
Nonetheless, the potential ban has reportedly led the firm to hold off plans to launch its e-commerce business in Europe so that it can fully focus on its US battle.
Chinese firms rebrand as US to avoid sanctions
Skirting US political issues might not necessitate changing jurisdiction as Shein has done. Instead, some Chinese firms are simply rebranding as American to dodge crackdowns. That’s according to a Wall Street Journal story that found firms that were tagged as Chinese military affiliated entities had taken up new names and licensing deals from the US in order to try to keep their businesses going.
China
More Chinese technology companies might turn to convertible bonds after Alibaba and JD.com raised a combined $6.5B by issuing notes link
Indeed, Lenovo issued $2B in convertible bonds to a Saudi Arabia sovereign fund to finance debt repayment and expansion plans link
In more Sino-Saudi links, Saudi Arabian fund Prosperity7 has backed Zhipu AI, China’s most prominent generative AI start-up, in a roughly $400M investment round that values the company at about $3B link
Big Tech is China’s top AI investor, as we wrote last week, and that was reinforced as Alibaba backed education startup Zhejiang Jingzhunxue with $27M to expand its generative AI portfolio link
Elsewhere, Alibaba is shuffling veterans for retirement to inject younger execs as part of its rebuilding link
It sold its stake in e-commerce branding services firm Baozun for $21.8M link
Tencent launched its Yuanbao AI assistant app to catch up with Baidu and expand its AI footprint link
Huawei is racing to fill the void left by Nvidia in China, with home-grown chips becoming popular components in ‘AI boxes’ link
China set up its third planned state-backed investment fund to boost its semiconductor industry, with a registered capital of $47B link
In related news; China plans to invest more than $830M in solid-state battery research, according to sources link
AI tutors are quietly changing how kids in the US study, and the leading apps are from China link
Luckin Coffee was left for dead after a fraud scandal but, four years on and it has rebounded—it isn’t profitable yet though link
Tesla is preparing to register its 'Full Self-Driving' software with authorities in China link
Police raids in China to stem billions of dollars in illicit foreign-exchange transactions have highlighted the continuing use of cryptocurrencies—alleged cases involving crypto flagged in May alone include an underground bank tied to 13.8B yuan ($1.9B) of illegal transfers, a gang implicated in about 2B yuan of unauthorised conversions and unlawful money changers that in some cases transacted more than 1B yuan link
Didi reported bigger losses as it bears the cost of incentives and developing EVs link
In what feels like a rare win for Apple, a Chinese court ruled in favour of the iPhone-maker in a case involving controversial app store fees link
India
India will have to attract a wider range of semiconductor suppliers if it is to succeed in building a robust chip industry in the country, according to the leader of an influential trade association link
Stripe has temporarily moved to an invite-only model for new account sign-ups in India due to an undisclosed issue with regulatory policy in the country that it is so far failed to crack link
Electric bike startup Zypp Electric is expanding to Southeast Asia after it landed a $15M investment from a Japanese oil and energy conglomerate—the money is said to be part of a larger round that’s closing in the next month or two link
EV cab operator BluSmart plans to raise over $300M to add thousands of cars to its fleet in the next three years to battle Uber and Ola link
India could take a leaf out of China’s book and impose time limits on gaming to tackle addiction link
Indian conglomerate Reliance Group is making another bold consumer move with the launch of JioFinance, an app that aims to be a one-stop shop for UPI digital payments, loans and insurance link
Jio Financial Services, part of Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s $232 billion Reliance, is muscling into India’s crowded fintech market with an app that offers a range of services from bill payments to digital banking and insurance advisory — putting the conglomerate on a collision course with hundreds of startups vying for a piece of the action.
Learning nothing from Reliance, fellow conglomerate Adani is keen to battle with Reliance, Walmart and clothes in India’s e-commerce, payments race, according to a report—good luck… link
Google, Amazon and Apple are among a lobbying group that’s opposed to an EU-like antitrust proposal in India link
Infra.Market, which helps construction and real estate firms procure materials, raised $50M link
Avendus, India’s top venture advisor, confirms it’s looking to raise a $350 million fund link
Southeast Asia
Apple has a tiny physical retail footprint in Southeast Asia but that is about to get a little larger with the opening of a store in Malaysia this month—that adds to retail outlets in Singapore and Thailand link
Lazada and Shopee are under fire in Indonesia, where the national antitrust agency is investigating their local units over suspected violations of anti-competition rules—no details were released (it looks to be over delivery partners) but Lazada, which was investigated first, could face a maximum fine of 50% of its net profits or 10% of its sales earned during the time of the alleged breaches link
Rhea, a Singapore- and New York-based reproductive health service provider, landed $10M in new funding link
Indonesia rushed out a vote-counting app for this year’s election. It did not go well… link
Vietnamese EV maker VinFast considers delaying its planned $4B plant in the US, source says link
South Korea
Webtoon, a digital comic startup owned by messaging app Line’s parent firm Naver, filed for a US IPO that could raise as much as $500M at a valuation of $3B-$4B—it claims 150M users across the world and a slim profit already link
Samsung faces a new probe after chip chip workers were exposed to radiation link
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics' union is threatening to stage its first ever walkout link
Sleep diagnosis AI startup HoneyNaps bags $12M Series B funding link
Electric air taxis could come to Korea in 2026 courtesy of a partnership between Kakao Mobility and Archer, a startup backed by Stellantis and Boeing which has run tests in India and other countries link
Terraform Labs and co-founder Do Kwon have reached a “settlement in principle” with the US SEC, according to a court entry—this is one to watch just for the numbers link
South Korea’s semiconductor inventories dwindled by the most since 2014, underscoring the pace at which demand is outstripping supply as customers rev up their purchases of devices needed to develop artificial intelligence technologies link
South Korea retail investors are loving the myriad of “risky” AI-focused cryptocurrencies that are available to trade—this is interesting but also more a function of Korea being a massive trading market link
Japan
SoftBank is prepared to commit $9B a year to artificial intelligence investments, even as the Japanese tech group holds back firepower for bigger deals aimed at accelerating what could be its most radical transformation to date link
Japan is reportedly announcing new rules to mitigate tech secrets and IP leaking out overseas link
Crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin lost more than $300M in digital assets from a hack link
And finally: Sam Byford, former Verge journalist and friend of ATR, looks at what may be the coolest Apple Watch accessory—a case that revives Japan’s iconic Infobar phone from the early 2000s link
Image via Sam Byford, Multicore (you should subscribe to his newsletter here)
