Welcome back,
It looks like Apple and Indonesia will finally bury the hatchet and conclude a standoff that banned sales of the newest iPhone in the country for nearly six months. The issue is unlikely to have hurt Apple. Indonesia is a growing market, but lower priced Android devices dominate the market.
Still, it’s good to end the bad publicity and Apple is going to bring manufacturing to the country for the first time so there’s plenty to keep an eye on.
Elsewhere, Alibaba continues to make waves in AI, there’s more concern about how Chinese buyers are circumventing US restrictions to get their hands on Nvidia tech and we have some numbers to quantify just how big TikTok Live may be. In short: huge!
See you again next Monday—have a great rest of your week,
Jon
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Indonesia’s government says it will lift a months-long ban on the sale of Apple’s newest iPhones after the US firm reached an agreement to invest $1 billion into the country and launch R&A training programmes.
Yes, we’ve been here before with the government announcing a deal is close but this time looks like being the charm.
It’s not immediately clear how much Apple has committed to invest to end the stalemate. Bloomberg reported the top number as $1 billion (which Apple had pledged in January), but Reuters simply said “more than $300 million” in its article, which quoted extensively from a government press event.
The deal is notable—Indonesia has a strong record of having big tech firms play ball to do business on its soil—but the reality remains that Apple isn’t a top selling brand in the country, and its previous models are still available to purchase. That’s important because they likely sell in higher volume given that they’re more affordable.
Apple may see Indonesia as a growth market, but without a budget iPhone, it isn’t likely to become a leading seller. Still, Apple isn’t short on money so why not explore manufacturing in the country and keep the government on its side.
There’s been chatter for some time about how Chinese companies are circumventing US restrictions designed to prevent them from accessing tech from major firms like Nvidia, and now there’s tangible evidence that the cracks may be significant.
The Wall Street Journal has details of how traders in China are selling Nvidia-based systems using third parties in nearby regions:
James Luo, a vendor in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen, said he received an order for more than a dozen Blackwell servers from a customer in Shanghai in January. The client deposited around $3 million into an escrow account for the order, according to transaction records and a contract seen by The Wall Street Journal, and Luo said he planned to ship the servers by mid-March.
Chinese resellers including Luo said they used entities registered outside of China to purchase Nvidia servers from companies in places such as Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan. These companies, which include data-center operators and authorized Nvidia customers, buy the servers for their own use and resell a portion to China, they said.
These aren’t new allegations—the idea of middlemen companies selling or renting to Chinese companies has been covered by the press for months—but it appears to be being taken more seriously.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, police charged three men with defrauding one supplier who was wanting Nvidia gear.
Finally, in second order effects, the need to buy older semiconductors and niche products for Chinese companies is pushing prices down and “sending shockwaves” through the chip industry.
We wrote about Alibaba’s AI-themed resurgence in the previous newsletter and last week it previewed a new AI model to challenge the established players.
The e-commerce giant also attracted attention for its much-improved video and image generation capabilities, which certainly look to rival Sora and others that have taken an early lead. It is also taking a leaf out of the DeepSeek playbook by releasing open source versions of the video generation model.
As for DeepSeek, it is fast-tracking its new AI model and it is changing its pricing to offer cheaper rates during off-peak hours to help ease demand spikes.
In related news: Microsoft urged Trump’s team to ease AI chip restrictions for US-friendly nations like India, Switzerland, and Israel—the firm fears strict controls could push them toward Chinese alternatives
The numbers are according to a lawsuit from the District of Columbia Attorney General which alleges the service is exploiting children.
The US market is said to have accounted for $400 million of that $1.7 billion figure which came from 2023. There’s a huge amount of growth predicted, with the suit claiming that the live-streaming feature is on track to gross $77 billion by 2027.
Didi is raising new funding at a $5 billion valuation as it seeks capital to grow its self-driving car unit link
Here’s a long-winded deal: Baidu has finally acquired YY Live from Joyy for $2.1B to close out a deal process that first began in 2020—the deal was originally for $3.6B before being paused due to regulators delaying approval link
VC fund HongShan Capital, formerly part of Sequoia, is seeking around $400M in loans from banks to fund its acquisition of audio equipment maker Marshall Group link
AI chip firm Biren is revisiting a plan to list in Hong Kong in an IPO that could raise $300M—it previously looked into Hong Kong and Shanghai as IPO destinations link
Huawei has significantly improved the yield of its latest AI chips, reaching nearly 40%—double last year’s rate—marking a major breakthrough in China’s semiconductor efforts link
The Trump administration is planning stricter US semiconductor curbs and urging allies to tighten restrictions on China’s chip industry—officials recently discussed limiting Japanese and Dutch engineers from servicing semiconductor equipment in China link
Chinese companies are ramping up orders for Nvidia’s H20 AI chip amid surging demand for DeepSeek’s low-cost models, reinforcing Nvidia’s market dominance—Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance have sharply increased orders since DeepSeek’s recent rise to prominence link
Chinese firms now drive nearly a third of new investments in Vietnam, thanks to relocations to avoid US tariffs—Vietnam has benefited from US-China trade tensions but its record $123.5 billion surplus with the US could make it a target for Trump’s policies link
Tesla finally introduced Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system in China—but immediately the system was exposed for racking up fines for traffic violations such as driving in cycle lanes link
China is making progress on tech self-sufficiency but it is struggling to master high-end machine tools to the level that’s needed link
Shenzhen plans to “fully compete” in emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, announcing $22.07B in “new-type infrastructure” investment link
Chinese manufacturer Hikvision failed to overturn a US ban on equipment approvals link
China has abruptly replaced Jin Zhuanglong, the tech czar overseeing Beijing’s efforts to build a world-class, cutting-edge chip industry and rival the US as a high-tech superpower—he disappeared from public view last December fueling speculation about his position link
Crypto trading is surging in India with trading volumes on four major exchanges more than doubling to reach $1.9B in Q4 driven by young Indians seeking extra income amid sluggish wage growth link
AWS plans to invest $8.2B in Maharashtra, according to India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology link
A US court ruled that a top Byju’s official hid $533 million from lenders, dealing another blow to the troubled Indian tech firm link
Lock screen platform Glance launches AI-powered shopping experience as it raised more money from Google, which is already an investor link
India’s Paytm received a show cause notice from the country’s financial crime agency for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act—the notice concerns Paytm’s acquisition of Little Internet and Nearbuy India between 2015 and 2019, a period when they were not its subsidiaries, the company said link
Arm Holdings will establish a base in Malaysia under a deal set to be signed this week, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said—the move aligns with Malaysia’s $5.6B push to expand its semiconductor industry amid shifting global supply chains link
Malaysia will discuss Trump’s proposed chip tariffs with the US, warning of potential harm to local firms link
Singaporean and Thai authorities have arrested a 39-year-old man in Bangkok for allegedly conducting dozens of high-profile data breaches worldwide—known by aliases like ALTDOS, DESORDEN, GHOSTR, and 0mid16B, he has been one of the Asia-Pacific region’s most active hackers since 2021, according to cybersecurity firm Group-IB, which helped track him down link
Philippines-based PLDT is eyeing a bigger stake in its fintech play Maya with plans to buy KKR’s share in the business—PLDT owns around 38% with KKR’s share around 30% link
eFishery, once a rising star in Indonesia’s startup scene, is in far worse shape than expected, with investors likely to recover less than 10 cents per dollar link
Scam calls and texts in Thailand more than doubled to a record 168 million in 2024, according to anti-scam tech firm Whoscall, before authorities intensified their cyber fraud crackdown. link
Despite a China-led crackdown rescuing thousands from Myanmar this month, scam centers in Southeast Asia continue to thrive, fueled by lawless borders and a booming global fraud industry. link
The Philippine Army disclosed a cyberattack following reports that a local hacking group claimed to have breached its systems and accessed highly confidential documents link
TikTok said it will invest $8.8B in Thailand data centres, although it isn’t whether that is entirely separate to a recent $3.8B pledge link
Thailand’s tourism authority is teaming up with Baidu to reassure Chinese travelers after viral reports of a Chinese actor’s alleged kidnapping link
The company behind Upbit, Korea’s top crypto exchange, faces a 3-month partial suspension after violating local rules link
Coupang beat Q4 profit estimates despite slower-than-expected sales growth link
SoftBank is said to be in talks to borrow $16B to fund investments into AI, according to The Information link
Ars Technica looks at how North Korea pulled off a record $1.5B crypto hack on Bybit link
