Issue #43 of Data+AI in Asia
Welcome to the latest ‘Data+AI in Asia’! The week, the newsletter covers industry and policy news from Thailand, China, Malaysia, India, Singapore, and South Korea.
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Enjoy!
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This week in Data+AI in Asia:
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Nvidia Plans to Invest in Thailand
Nvidia is set to announce investment plans for Thailand, joining companies such as Alphabet and Microsoft. Thailand's Commerce Minister, Pichai Naripthaphan, said the US chip designing firm would announce investments during CEO Jensen Huang's trip to Bangkok in December. Claiming Nvidia as an investor in Thailand would be a boost for Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, which has received multibillion-dollar investments in recent years from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to build data centers and other cloud infrastructure.
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Read more here (paywall)
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Malaysia Has Approved 12 Data Center Projects Worth US$20.9bn in 2021-2024
The Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) has approved 12 data center investment projects worth MYR90.2 billion (US$20.9 billion) from 2021 to 2024, including cloud computing and data hosting. Six projects, totaling MYR68.9 billion (US$15.99 billion), have been completed and are operating. Malaysia remains the key data center growth market in ASEAN, with industry experts predicting 5.6 GW of new data center energy demand over the next decade. Limited renewable energy capacity is a bottleneck, but policy launches are expected to ease this. Google has launched its first data center and cloud region in Malaysia, with a US$2 billion investment expected to support over US$3.2 billion in positive economic impact and create 26,500 jobs by 2030.
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Read more here
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China’s WeRide Files for US IPO
Chinese self-driving start-up WeRide has filed for a US$119.4 million IPO on Nasdaq and a private placement of US$320.5 million. The company was approved to go public in the US last year by China’s securities regulator. WeRide also plans to raise around US$320.5 million in a concurrent private placement. The company was founded in Silicon Valley in 2017 and launched a robotaxi service in China in 2019. The IPO would be one of the largest US listings by a Chinese firm since Didi's in 2021.
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Read more here
And here (paywall)
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Nvidia Expands Its Collaborations in India
Nvidia has expanded its partnerships with India's major firms, including Reliance Industries, and launched a lightweight AI model for the Hindi language. The new small language model, dubbed Nemotron-4-Mini-Hindi-4B, has 4 billion parameters and was trained using real-world Hindi data, synthetic Hindi data, and an equal amount of English data. Indian IT services firm Tech Mahindra is the first to use the Nvidia offering to develop a custom AI model called Indus 2.0. Nvidia is also partnering with India's IT giants Infosys, TCS, and Wipro to train about half a million developers to design and deploy AI agents using its software. Small language models are trained on smaller and more specific datasets, making them more attractive for companies with scarce resources.
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Read more here (paywall)
And here
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Singapore’s Keppel to Nearly Double Its Data Center Capacity Across Asia
Singaporean conglomerate Keppel plans to double its data center capacity across Asia, aiming to reach 1.2 GW in three to five years. The expansion will focus on Malaysia, India, Japan, and Indonesia. The company, which has state-backed Temasek Holdings as a top investor, plans to lease the new data centers to major cloud service providers. The expansion plans come as there is an increasing demand for facilities to meet the computing needs of AI. Keppel is developing a new data center in western Tokyo and is building an 80 MW data center campus in northern Taiwan. Keppel is also eying Europe, where the company will collaborate with Aermont Capital to explore opportunities.
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Read more here (paywall)
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US Proposals to Curb AI and Semiconductor Investments in China
The US Treasury Department is finalizing rules to restrict US investments in China in sensitive technologies, including AI, semiconductors, microelectronics, and quantum computing. The rules are part of US efforts to limit the flow of US capital, technology, and expertise into China, which could support the country’s military and undermine US national security. The final rules are expected to be released next week. The US has passed sweeping export controls since October 2022 to restrict China's access to advanced semiconductor technologies, particularly those used in AI applications, and has imposed hefty tariffs on Chinese imports. The Treasury has invited citizens and companies to submit suggestions for defining the scope of the regulations and transaction restrictions.
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Read more here
And here
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South Korea to Enact Law for the AI Industry
Earlier this week, Korea's Prime Minister, Han Duck-soo, announced plans to collaborate with the National Assembly to pass an AI Act, aiming to establish a legal framework for the AI industry and ensure safe technology use. The proposed Act consolidates seven AI-related bills since 2022. The government will support research, investment, infrastructure, and professional development. The Act was first introduced as early as 2021 but has been pending due to political disagreements. South Korea recently launched a presidential committee to create an AI strategy and coordinate research and development efforts, aiming to become one of the top three AI leaders globally in the next three years.
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Read more here