China has expanded its renewable energy portfolio with a pioneering floating solar power installation in the Yellow Sea. The one-gigawatt facility, activated by state-owned utility CHN Energy, transforms unoccupied ocean space into a clean energy powerhouse while supporting marine aquaculture beneath its vast solar arrays.

Located off Shandong Province’s coastline, the floating solar power plant stretches across 1,223 hectares of the ocean surface, positioning photovoltaic panels eight kilometres from Dongying City’s shore. The installation’s scale and innovative design mark a significant shift in how nations might approach renewable energy infrastructure in marine environments.

The facility, constructed by CHN Energy’s subsidiary Guohua Energy Investment Co., demonstrates the feasibility of large-scale marine solar installations. When operating at total capacity, the floating solar power system will generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 2.67 million urban residents while preventing the emission of 1.34 million tons of carbon dioxide.

The installation features advanced marine engineering, utilising large-scale offshore steel truss platforms secured by fixed pile foundations. The platforms, designed specifically for open-sea conditions, support the array of photovoltaic panels while ensuring structural stability in the maritime environment.

The project’s power transmission system marks another technical milestone, implementing China’s first 66-kilovolt offshore-to-onshore cable configuration for high-capacity, long-distance transmission in the photovoltaic sector. This infrastructure development paves the way for future offshore renewable energy projects.

According to a company statement, the solar farm’s annual output translates to significant environmental gains, with projected savings of 503,800 tons of standard coal. These metrics align with China’s broader carbon reduction targets and demonstrate the scalability of offshore solar technology.

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Maximizing ocean space: the dual-use approach

The project introduces an innovative dual-use model, integrating fish farming operations under the solar arrays. This approach maximises the economic potential of the ocean space while maintaining its ecological function. The combination of aquaculture and energy generation could serve as a blueprint for future maritime infrastructure projects.

Each platform measures 35 meters in width, and the facility employs a 66-kilovolt offshore cable paired with an onshore cable for high-capacity, long-distance transmission – the first such implementation in China’s PV sector.

Impact on global renewable energy development

This installation demonstrates the viability of large-scale offshore solar projects. Key advantages include:

• Efficient use of available ocean space
• Natural cooling effects from seawater, potentially improving panel efficiency
• Reduced land-use pressure on coastal regions
• Strategic positioning near population centres
• Integration opportunities with existing maritime industries

The project provides valuable data for the renewable energy sector, particularly regarding marine-based solar installations’ performance and maintenance requirements. Its implementation offers insights for coastal regions worldwide facing similar energy and land-use challenges.

As coastal nations seek to expand their renewable energy capacity, this project offers a tested template for large-scale offshore solar deployment.

The facility’s operational data will help inform technical standards and best practices for future marine solar installations. Its data insights could accelerate the adoption of offshore solar technology in other regions, particularly in countries with extensive coastlines and growing energy demands.

The post China’s floating solar power plant makes waves with world-first ocean installation appeared first on TechWire Asia.

Following the ban on Temu in Indonesia in October 2024, the Chinese e-commerce sensation’s meteoric rise has hit a regulatory wall in Southeast Asia. The platform, known for its low prices and aggressive marketing, faces mounting resistance from regional regulators determined to protect domestic markets.

The latest setback came from Indonesia, the region’s largest economy, where authorities ordered Temu’s removal from app stores in October 2024. The decision, after the platform’s registration was rejected earlier this year, marks a decisive shift in how Southeast Asian nations are responding to the influx of Chinese digital retail giants, prioritising local merchant protection over unrestricted market access.

Temu’s journey in Southeast Asia tells a compelling story of ambitious expansion meeting regulatory reality. Since its launch in 2022, the platform has successfully disrupted US and European markets. The company then set its sights on Southeast Asia’s burgeoning digital economy. The company began its regional push through the Philippines and Malaysia in 2023 before expanding into Thailand, Brunei, and Vietnam in early 2024.

But the platform’s signature strategy of rock-bottom prices and massive advertising spend has sparked regional regulators’ concerns. Indonesia’s Trade Ministry views Temu’s business model as potentially destructive to its 64 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). 

The country’s response goes beyond just targeting Temu – it has implemented broader measures, including a ban on e-commerce transactions through social media platforms and increased taxation on cross-border digital retail. Vietnam has followed suit, threatening to ban Temu and fellow Chinese e-commerce player SHEIN by the end of November 2024.

Vietnamese authorities cite the platforms’ lack of proper business registration and operational approvals, highlighting the region’s growing scrutiny of unauthorised e-commerce operations. The pushback comes as Southeast Asia’s digital retail market reaches new heights of revenue. 

According to research from Google, Temasek Holdings Pte, and Bain & Co., online spending will rise about 15% this year to $263 billion in the region. The burgeoning middle class with increased disposable income is helping fuel online shopping and e-commerce growth. The massive market potential explains Temu’s aggressive expansion strategy, despite the regulatory headwinds it’s encountering.

Indonesia’s regulatory response has been particularly comprehensive. Beyond the Temu ban, its crackdown on social commerce forced TikTok Shop to acquire a stake in the struggling local platform Goto to maintain its presence in the market. The move demonstrates Indonesia’s commitment to protecting its digital retail ecosystem while ensuring foreign platforms contribute meaningfully to the local economy.

For Temu, whose parent company PDD Holdings (formerly Pinduoduo) has operated successfully in China since 2015, the Southeast Asian regulations present a new challenge. Unlike its relatively smooth expansion in Western markets, the platform must now navigate a complex web of protectionist policies designed to shield local businesses from what regulators view as potentially predatory pricing practices.

The resistance to Temu’s expansion reflects a broader trend in Southeast Asian digital commerce regulation. Countries are increasingly implementing measures to ensure foreign platforms contribute to, rather than disrupt, local economic development. These include:

• Mandatory local business registration,
• Strict tax compliance requirements,
• Consumer protection regulations,
• Data localisation rules,
• Minimum pricing guidelines.

As Southeast Asia’s digital economy continues to evolve, the outcome of Temu’s regulatory challenges could set important precedents for how the region manages foreign e-commerce platforms. The question remains whether Temu can adapt its business model to meet local requirements while maintaining the competitive pricing that fueled its global growth.

For now, Southeast Asian nations appear committed to protecting their domestic digital retail ecosystems, even if it means turning away major global players. Their stance could reshape how international e-commerce platforms approach the region’s promising but increasingly regulated market.

The post Can Chinese giant Temu crack Southeast Asia’s protective wall? appeared first on TechWire Asia.

If something is free, you’re the product. Think about it: how do companies offering a free service make money? Sure, there’s always the hope that by offering a free version of a product, users will like the service so much, they’ll upgrade to a paid-for tier. But that’s a business model that’s not often lucrative – not many free service users upgrade, even when it’s something they use all the time.

Instead of relying on the hope of eventual conversion of customers to paying price tiers, free VPN providers are able to sell information about you on the open data market. In fact, some free VPN providers are quite open about their relationships with data brokerage companies, organisations that buy and sell user data. And it’s worth remembering two things:

• Users of VPNs are more likely to have something they wish to hide, so their details are of higher value than most,
• All data from your devices passes through the VPN providers’ systems, giving them carte blanche to examine online activity.

There are some more mundane reasons, too, why free VPN services might not work as you expect:

• Speed. Slow internet speeds. Free tiers of anything don’t offer the best experience. Free service users will end up sharing a limited amount of bandwidth, so expect traffic to move at a crawl.
• Streaming. Streaming media might not be possible, and if it is, won’t be worth watching. Some VPNs block streaming traffic by default, and those that do allow it will rate-limit throughput, so your experience will be average at best.
• Malware. VPN applications downloaded to your computer or phone need very deep access to your device’s operating system. That’s an open invitation to bad actors to offer an app that includes malware, spyware and ransomware.
• Advertising. One way free VPN providers can monetise is to show you intrusive ads. Normal ad-blockers and browser extensions won’t be able to stop this, so be prepared to be inundated with messages about dubious goods and services.
• Limited options. Free tiers from VPN companies will probably only offer a few ‘virtual endpoints,’ that is, where your connection ‘comes out’ in the world. If you need a connection to appear as if it’s coming from somewhere specific, you may be out of luck. (And don’t forget that most streaming services, for example, block traffic to and from VPN providers as a matter of course.)

Why you should pay for a VPN

Although there are no guarantees that any provider is above board, at least by paying for a service you have some weight with the providing company in the eyes of the law. Issues around speed and bandwidth will – or should – be addressed faster, and you will have some legal recourse in the event of a dispute that’s difficult to resolve.

In some territories, there are also guarantees of money-back if the service provided proves unsuitable. If you were relying on being able to stream media from a different country, for example, and it proves impossible with your chosen VPN service, you can back out of the arrangement.

Paid-for VPNs typically offer their customers more endpoints, so users have many more options at their disposal to experiment with, plus features like split-tunnelling (choosing which apps use the VPN and which don’t) become available options. Plus, you should get better connection speeds and much less traffic throttling (slow-downs) at peak times.

The final point to note is that choosing a VPN you’re willing to pay for gives you more choice, so you can pick the provider whose features you want, rather than being constrained by the few free VPNs that you can get to work in your circumstances.

Do you really need a VPN?

If your issue that a you hope a VPN might cure is personal or business data privacy, there are many other ways to ensure your data stays secure, before you part with any cash for a VPN service.

Companies like Microsoft (Windows and Office 365) and Google (Chrome, Maps, Search etc.), social media platforms, plus most popular websites already collect data about you and your organisation. These processes will continue whether or not a VPN is active. Additionally, your mobile provider in the case of phones or ISP (internet service provider) will likely have access to, at least, a list of everywhere on the internet you connect to (through looking up resource names, like ‘secret-website.com’ on your behalf).

VPNs provide some protection and extra freedom when using captive wi-fi (such as in a hotel) or when using public wi-fi networks, like in your local coffee shop. But the vast majority of internet traffic today is encrypted, so without a specific use-case, using a VPN – free or paid – might be more than you really need.

Final thoughts

VPN providers that advertise paid-for services are businesses that are subject to the rule of law. In most countries, law-enforcement can force them to produce log files from their systems that show all connections that are made to and from their platforms. In just a few cases, VPN companies don’t keep those files for more than a few seconds, but it’s nearly impossible to determine which those providers are, as such information is private and rarely available to see.

The ‘safest’ VPN is one that you build yourself, using – for example – a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from a public cloud company, and installing the required software, such as OpenVPN or Wireguard. But that’s beyond the scope of this article!

If you need a VPN, be sure of why you need it, and be prepared to pay for the service if you do.

The post If you use a VPN, you should pay for it appeared first on TechWire Asia.

The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into the popular Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, marking one of the first significant enforcement actions in the EU under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The probe, announced on October 31, 2024, centres on concerns ranging from selling illegal products to potentially manipulative platform design features that could harm consumers.

Temu’s meteoric rise in the European market since its launch in April 2023 has caught regulators’ attention. The platform, which was designated as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) on May 31, 2024, reported a staggering 92 million monthly users as of September 2024—more than double the 45 million threshold required for VLOP status. The rapid expansion has brought increased responsibility under the DSA’s stringent regulations.

Key areas of investigation

The Commission’s investigation will focus on four primary concerns:

1. Product compliance and seller verification

The investigation focuses on Temu’s system for preventing the sale of non-compliant products in the EU. Regulators are concerned about the platform’s ability to prevent suspended rogue traders from returning to the marketplace and stop the reappearance of previously identified non-compliant goods.

2. Addictive design features

The Commission will scrutinise Temu’s game-like reward programs and other potentially addictive design elements. There are concerns that these features could negatively impact users’ physical and mental well-being, raising questions about the platform’s responsibility for protecting consumer interests.

3. Recommendation systems

The EU investigation will examine how Temu recommends content and products to its users. Under the DSA, platforms must be transparent about their recommendation algorithms and provide users with at least one easily-accessible option that isn’t based on personal profiling.

4. Research data access

The Commission is also investigating whether Temu has met its obligations to provide researchers access to publicly-available platform data, an essential requirement for transparency under the DSA.

Regulatory framework and potential consequences

If the Commission’s suspicions are confirmed, Temu could face significant consequences for violating Articles 27, 34, 35, 38, and 40 of the DSA. Executive Vice-President for Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, emphasised the importance of compliance, stating, “We want to ensure that Temu is complying with the Digital Services Act. Particularly in ensuring that products sold on their platform meet EU standards and do not harm consumers. Our enforcement will guarantee a level playing field and that every platform, including Temu, fully respects the laws that keep our European market safe and fair for all.”

The road ahead for Temu in the EU

The Commission’s investigation follows preliminary analyses of Temu’s risk assessment report, dated September 2024, and responses to formal information requests made in June and October 2024. While the investigation has no set deadline, the Commission has indicated it will be treated as a priority.

The probe doesn’t automatically indicate guilt, and Temu will have the opportunity to address the concerns through committing to remedy issues. The investigation will involve gathering additional evidence through information requests, monitoring actions, and interviews.

Th investigation represents a significant test of the DSA’s enforcement capabilities and could set important precedents for other online marketplaces operating in the EU. It’s worth noting that the Commission’s action doesn’t preclude separate enforcement measures by national consumer protection authorities or market surveillance bodies, particularly under the upcoming General Product Safety Regulation, which takes effect on December 13, 2024.

The case against Temu demonstrates the EU’s commitment to enforcing its digital regulations and ensuring that rapid business growth doesn’t come at the expense of consumer safety and any platform’s responsibilities to its customers. As the investigation unfolds, it will likely serve as a benchmark for how the DSA can be used to regulate large online platforms and protect European consumers in the digital marketplace sector.

The post EU vs Temu: shopping platform faces safety investigation appeared first on TechWire Asia.

The Indonesian Ministry of Industry has said that Google’s Pixel phones can’t be bought by Indonesians from domestic retailers because the US company does not ensure 40% of their ‘content’ comes from Indonesia. Content can comprise firmware or some form of investment in the local population, as well as the physical components of a phone. Spokesperson Ministry Febri Hendri Antoni Arief said, “The local content rule and related policies are made for fairness for all investors that invest in Indonesia, and for creating added value and deepening the industry structure here.”

The most recent ban follows on from a similar limit on sales of Apple’s iPhone 16 placed in late October this year. Both bans also apply to phones used by tourists and visitors to the country.

Apple iPhone and Google Pixel ban

Apple had promised to invest $109 million in local infrastructure, including educational initiatives, but to date has only committed $95 million. According to Statista, $109 million is accrued in revenue by the Cupertino, California-based company roughly every ten hours, with the required shortfall of $14 million taking about an hour and a quarter’s global income.

Apple Academies – Apple’s choice of Indonesian investment – train students in the use of development tools and methods used to produce software for the company’s devices that run iOS, macOS, tvOS and iPadOS.

Companies wishing to sell their consumer tech devices have to seek certification from the Indonesian government, having proved that they are ploughing money into the local economy. How that investment is manifest is agreed between the Indonesian authorities and the company in question.

Korea’s Samsung and China’s Xiaomi have created manufacturing and assembly plants in Indonesia, and currently, Samsung holds 16.5% of the Indonesian handset market. Mi phones from Xiaomi comprise 18.4%, according to statistics from Counterpoint.

As part of the same survey, Counterpoint’s senior analyst, Febriman Abdillah, stated that there is particular demand in Indonesia for mid-range phones ($200-$399) at present, a bracket that excludes Google and Apple’s offerings other than as luxury items.

The Indonesian government implements its embargoes by means of withholding IMEI certifications for new handsets. That has the effect of making phones impossible to use with a domestic carrier for data, calls or texts. Phones could still operate as wi-fi-only devices – potentially an option for tourists entering Indonesia with a new device. Given the strictures in place at present, however, the government’s edicts have effectively stopped all sales to the domestic market.

Both Apple and Google can still qualify for the necessary certifications to re-open trade in the country, but at the time of writing, neither company had commented on the developing situation. Apple’s Tim Cook visited Indonesia in April 2024 as part of the negotiations over Apple’s inbound investment, but the company’s shortfall means that it, like Google, exists in a state of limbo with regards handset sales. Google’s ban comes just days after that affecting Apple, showing that the Indonesian government is sticking to the letter of its edicts, even if US technology companies are not.

The post Indonesia blocks sales of latest Pixel and iPhone models appeared first on TechWire Asia.

Following an agreement in April 2022 between the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), several sites using the SFlix and MyFlixer domains have been blocked in the last week by the country’s site-blocking programme aimed at parties disseminating pirated media.

The Motion Picture Association is a industry body based in the US comprising movie studios and relatively new members Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, who joined the Association in 2019 and September 2024, respectively.

The Philippines’ site blocking programme officially launched in January 2024, and means that movie piracy sites engaged in contraventions of domestic Philippines copyright laws can be blocked voluntarily at local level by ISPs (internet service providers) without needing a court order. Several sites were blocked in May 2024 (PDF) after a review of their activities by the IPOPHL’s IP Rights Enforcement Office.

The two latest targets, SFlix and MyFlixer, occupy several TLDs (top level domains) and access to them has been blocked after complaints from the rights-holders as represented by the MPA..

“A thorough examination of the evidence presented and the evaluation report submitted reveals that all the cited websites are hosting pirated versions of movies or TV shows, allowing users to access these illegal copies by downloading or streaming them,” the IPOPHL said in a statement.

Movie piracy measures in detail

The complaint cited several items, including Top Gun: Maverick and Jumanji: The Next Level as among the material being distributed over six domains; “a small, non-exhaustive sample of the widespread infringement,” the submission to the IPOPHL said. ISPs taking part in the blocking include Globe Telecom, SkyCable, and DITO.

The anti-piracy section of the MPA, the ACE (Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment), has provided technical training and equipment to IPOPHL in the past, to help it develop the necessary facility to prevent access to sites IPOHL wishes to act against, including methods such as DNS and IP address filtering and blocking.

Copyright holders such as Hollywood studios and streaming services, as well as trade bodies like the MPA, also continue to lobby search engines to get sites they claim infringe their intellectual property de-listed from SERPs (search engine results pages), with de-indexing taking place in specific countries from 2022. The COVID epidemic saw a large rise in instances of piracy, with the Philippines quoted as being a country where media piracy has taken place on a large scale since.

In a posting on the Office of United States Trade Representative website (PDF) from the MPA dated October 28, 2021, the industry body stated “[…] the Philippines has been known to serve as a safe haven for some top piracy websites.”

A YouGov survey commissioned by the Coalition Against Piracy (another trade body, one that represents content creators and media distributors in Asia) stated that 61% of consumers in the Philippines admitted to using pirate media services in 2022, up from 49% two years previously.

While the opaque nature of actions taken to block sites and remove search engine listings worries some campaigners, the resulting blocks are quicker to be implemented than those progressing through legal channels.

In a paper (PDF) published by the Office of the United States Trade Representative in 2022 detailing “Foreign Trade Barriers”, the Philippines is detailed in general terms as follows:

“Corruption is a pervasive and longstanding problem in the Philippines. […] Both foreign and domestic investors have expressed concern about the propensity of Philippine courts and regulators to stray beyond matters of legal interpretation into policy making, as well as the lack of transparency in judicial and regulatory processes.”

The post Philippines fights movie pirates appeared first on TechWire Asia.

These business opportunities have attracted several drone manufacturers and service providers into the Japanese drone landscape. In recent months, the market also witnessed rapid adoption of advanced technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI), making drone application delivery smarter and more seamless.

BVLOS drone applications gaining traction 

Elsight, a carrier-agnostic, AI-powered connectivity solutions company, has been actively contributing to the growth of autonomous drone applications in the Japanese market. The company’s entry took off last year, when it inked a partnership with Navicom Aviation, which led to the integration of the Elsight connectivity platform with ACSL, Japan’s largest drone manufacturer. Elsight is supplying its Beyond the Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) connectivity platform called Halo to ensure the reliability of ACSL drones’ communications and overcome the obstacles in flying over Japan’s mountainous regions.

Japan’s rugged terrain combined with the country’s densely populated urban centres creates access and transportation challenges throughout the country. In an interview with TechWireAsia, Elsight CEO Yoav Amitai explained there are significant opportunities for autonomous drone applications in Japan, especially for public safety and logistics, including the supply of essential goods in difficult-to-reach communities, as well as for agriculture and critical infrastructure applications in remote locations.

Although Japan had started the use of drones in many sectors – particularly in logistics and defence – until recently, the stability of cellular communication connections, which is necessary for long-distance flights beyond the visual line-of-sight, remained a barrier due to the country’s complex geography. And this is the primary reason behind ACSL’s selection of Elsight’s Halo technology for its drone operations, which is designed specifically for drone flights beyond the visual line-of-sight based on integrating LTE, 5G, and satellite communications.

“Just a second of connectivity loss between the drone and the operator can mean the end of the flight. Our technology brings together multiple cellular links because the whole is stronger than any singular link. If needed, satellite communications are integrated as well,” explained Amitai.

“Just as important, our Halo platform enables one drone operator to control many drones simultaneously from a remote location. This advantage scales the entire drone ecosystem.”

The collaboration between ACSL – the first drone manufacturer to be approved as a full member of the Japan Defense Equipment Industries Association (JADI) – and Elsight, which enabled its customer Airobotics to earn the first Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Type Certificate for beyond-visual-line-of-sight flights for its drones, has opened a new chapter in the autonomous drone market in Japan.

Enhancing drone capabilities for broader applications 

ACSL has been promoting the expansion of drone use in Japan in various fields, including increasingly longer flights and more complex routes and applications.

“Currently, the most practical applications of drones involve flights within visual line of sight. However, with the approval of Level 4 flights, drones are now expected to operate much closer to daily life, autonomously covering more distances and wider areas,” said Satoshi Washiya, CEO of ACSL.

In Japan, there is also significant potential for drones to be utilised in the response and management of natural disasters.

“In this context, we have high expectations for our collaboration with Elsight to address the critical challenge of ensuring reliable communication, which is key to expanding the scope of drone operations,” Washiya added.

To address the challenges associated with varying altitudes during a flight, Halo integrates and aggregates communication channels from the four major Japanese cellular providers and satellite providers to a single, bonded communications pipeline, ensuring robust and secure connectivity.

In addition to delivering uninterrupted service, Halo enables the controlling of the drone to take place in any remote location, even the other side of the globe. It can also allow for one drone operator to control a full fleet, not just a single drone. 

“With the introduction of Halo, ACSL’s drones are able to have uninterrupted LTE communication connectivity enabling flights in areas that were previously difficult to reach,” Washiya explained.

ACSL is already using Elsight’s Halo technology in its postal service project for drone deliveries in mountainous areas and remote communities.

As part of Elsight’s expansion in Japan, the company has partnered with Navicom Aviation to pursue opportunities in both the defence and commercial markets in Japan. Navicom distributes specialised communication equipment and technologies for unmanned aircrafts and drones in Japan.

“In Japan, where BVLOS drone operations are gaining traction, we believe that connectivity and communication functions with high reliability will quickly become key drivers to accelerate this industry,” said Koji Hiratsuka, CEO of Navicom Aviation.

Boosting efficiency and safety with autonomous drones

“When using aggregated cellular multi-links providing high bandwidth, low latency, and low power usage, BVLOS missions can be controlled directly from headquarters, rather than from the drone’s remote control,” commented Hiratsuka on the technical and business advantages of integrating Halo in drone missions.

“That’s a huge advantage as all personnel in the control room can see a wider lens of precise visual information as opposed to flying from remote control consoles, ensuring that no critical data is missed.”

From a business perspective, many of the Halo features enable a drone operator “to eliminate human intervention, leading to greater flexibility, cost reduction, and improved safety,” he added.

Elsight will be demonstrating Halo at the Japan International Aerospace Exhibition this week in Tokyo.

The post The growing drone connectivity opportunity in Japan appeared first on TechWire Asia.

NIQ recently released its much-anticipated Mid-Year Consumer Outlook: Guide to 2025 report, which found 40% of consumers globally would accept a product recommendation from their AI assistant. The report also said 40% would leverage AI to automate and speed up their everyday shopping decisions. This makes it essential for companies to assess which AI advancements are going to appeal to consumers and provide options to support older consumers.

Trust in AI technologies still slow

Despite the acceptance of AI to help with decision-making, the survey stated that 56% of global respondents said they would avoid sharing personal details virtually because they do not trust AI technologies to protect the privacy of their data. This was compared with 18% who would be willing to share personal information.

Nearly half (49%) said they feel most comfortable with person-to-person support interactions and would wait longer for support from a human.

Omnichannel and in-app experiences

The social commerce revolution has led to the evolution of omnichannel, with an 11.6% increase in global online sales performance and the rise of gamification, with 36% of consumers saying they would spend more on a purchase because of an in-app experience.“There is increasing demand for AI-driven insights based on large quantities of granular data that only NIQ can deliver,” said Tracey Massey, COO of NIQ. “Having your finger on the pulse of current and expected consumer behavior that is benchmarked globally is now table stakes to establish and maintain any competitive advantage.”

Technology accelerating Gen Z consumer behavior

Further research from NIQ has found technology is becoming a key driver in accelerating consumer behaviour for Gen Z, defined as anyone born between 1997 and 2012.

NIQ recently collaborated with the experts at World Data Lab to put together a first of its kind, comprehensive generational spending report focused on Gen Z, the “Spend Z” report. The report found online reviews from other shoppers are paramount when shopping, with 53% of the Gen Z population likely to make purchases on social media or live stream platforms.

“Gen Z is here, they are ready to spend, and companies need to know how to pivot to serve them. Understanding what makes this generation different is key to unlocking the greater than $12 Trillion USD growth opportunity they represent,” Massey said. “Companies are trying to understand the opportunities for growth with Gen Z, and how they are influencing others. ‘Spend Z’ is just one example of how NIQ helps our clients uniquely achieve their ambitions by anticipating and meeting consumer needs.”

For more information, please visit www.niq.com

The post How tech is impacting consumer behaviour in the age of AI appeared first on TechWire Asia.

The Northernmost island in the Japanese archipelago, Hokkaido, is perhaps best known for its hot springs, cold winters, spider crab delicacies, and ski-ing. But close to Chitose airport near Sapporo, the island’s capital, a new construction site represents what many think epitomises a revitalisation of the Japanese economy.

The Rapidus Corporation is a Japanese startup that is building a new semiconductor fabrication facility in partnership with IBM. The plant will make wafers based on Big Blue’s 2nm designs which were developed in the US.

The timing of the Rapidus project means that the plant should be coming on line when international trade is being negatively affected by poor US-China relations and supply chain issues caused by the continuing conflicts in the Ukraine and Palestine. Prime time to sell much needed chips, therefore.

The supply-chain shortages stemming from the COVID epidemic sharpened focus for policy-makers all over the world, highlighting just how reliant multiple industries are on microprocessors.

Like many countries, Japan is desperate not to have a repeat of the situation when in 2021, large swathes of industry were at an effective standstill due to supply chain issues outside its control.

Japan economically re-imagined

From its heady days in the 1980s when Japan produced around half the world’s silicon wafers, the country’s market share in semiconductor chip fabrication has dropped to just 10%, a victim of a larger national economic decline and the emergence of China and Taiwan as the powerhouses of chip design and manufacture.

But Japan is not trying to recapture the glory days of its technological past by repeating the same type of economic protectionism that was the hallmark of its Asian Tiger phenomenon. Instead, its policy makers have taken the example set by US, Taiwanese, and European chip makers in forming international conglomerates that jointly design, build and distribute silicon microprocessors.

Since 2021, the Japanese trade ministry has embarked on a more hands-on approach [PDF] to boosting specific sectors of the economy, eschewing the libertarian, market-first economics that many have blamed for the country’s stagnation over the last 30 years.

The government’s policies include huge subsidies in areas of industry it wishes to promote, so medical suppliers, semiconductor chip fabrication and technology companies, and renewable energy hardware manufacturers are being offered attractive packages to locate either in Japan or in countries nearby.

The trade ministry says its commitments to revitalisation measures in these sectors will be “large-scale, long-term [and] well-planned.”
Tokyo is using carefully formulated regulatory policies to promote what it terms ‘mission-oriented projects’ such as promoting green technology, renewable energy and high-tech production facilities like that going up on Hokkaido island.

Semiconductor chip fabrication in Hokkaido

As Japan’s northernmost main island, Hokkaido’s abundant fresh water supplies and a mature renewable energy infrastructure make it a good fit for manufacturing technology that will help create a greener technological future.

It’s also the home to several world-class universities, which it’s hoped, will supply the next generation of researchers and engineers needed for Japan to return to its lost, technological powerhouse status.

The IBM 2nm chip design will, according to IBM, increase battery capacities, lower the power requirements for computers (especially important for power data centres and burgeoning demand for AI) and help improve technologies around real-time processing, such as image recognition and autonomous transport.

The Hokkaido plant is expected to employ around 1,000 people by 2027, and is backed by major Japanese companies like Toyota and Sony. Investment from the private sector is bolstered by significant government contributions. The Japanese authorities have pledged around $27bn in investment in technology development and research over the next three years.

The post Japan rekindles with 2nm chip fabrication plant appeared first on TechWire Asia.

As technology companies expand globally, they are increasingly finding that homogeneous offerings are not as attractive to potential customers as their success in the past and elsewhere might have suggested.

Based largely in the West, entities like Apple, Google, Stripe, Mastercard and Visa struggle to achieve the market penetration that they have become accustomed to. This is particularly true in emerging markets in South America, the Indian subcontinent and some areas of the APAC region.

Although there are similarities between the burgeoning middle classes in countries as disparate as Brazil and Pakistan, for example, companies are learning that desired solutions for each geography turn out to be very different. In large countries like India, internal regional differences mean that vendors of technology and digital financial products have to tailor their offerings more than in the more homogeneous North America and Europe.

Asian businesses have opportunities in fintech

One might expect organisations with global reach from the finance sector would find the going easier, given that money and trade are ubiquitous. However, attitudes vary greatly among businesses and consumers on the ground, among what Google once termed the NBU – the next billion users. The day-to-day activities and cultures in emerging markets differ widely, with each area presenting unique challenges that simply can’t be solved without significant granularity. And the ensuing variation in product requirements removes the economies of scale on which the financial and technology sectors rely.

That opens the way for Asian businesses local to the area to adopt some of the more successful approaches of Western and Chinese companies, but address their relatively limited audience with offerings that fit local needs and problems. Smaller companies like KhataBook and OKCredit, Jio, and GoJek have succeeded where Mastercard and Deutsche Telekom have failed, for example.

The Chinese model of Asian businesses

The examples of success presented by Chinese global entities like Tencent and WeChat are more difficult to pin down due to the intermingling of the state and the private sector in that country – it’s an economic model that has no parallel anywhere else. But it is worth noting that 40% of China’s GDP is created without direct government involvement, giving rise to one of the most dynamic aspiring middle classes in the world. Big companies like Tencent succeed despite, not because of, government involvement.

Outside companies have not been given unfettered access to the Chinese market, and the intermingling of business, commerce, finance, and citizenship has found its home in centralised multi-purpose apps that remain unique to China. (Although Elon Musk’s X has aspirations to be the West’s de facto version.)

Companies entering emerging markets from outside will usually find resistance at the state level for their offerings because governments not only want to retain control of their financial systems but are also rightly unwilling to see valuable tax income lost to the bookkeeping genius of big multinational companies. One only has to look at the amounts of tax paid across Europe by American tech giants to realise that developing nations governments’ fears are well-founded. Better for local companies, subject to local laws and taxes, to digitise their compatriots than for another Starbucks to monetise and spirit its tax dollars overseas.

While big tech’s appetite for profits and shareholder dividends continues, companies based in the US’s West Coast and European capitals may have to settle for margins that are thinner than they might expect if they have set their sites on new markets. This is due to the need for a granularity of offerings as diverse as the territories they wish to operate in. With the implicit backing of state governments in developing territories, domestic companies and innovative startups are at an advantage on several levels.

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