Category: Asia Focus

Malone Lam, a 22-year-old Singapore citizen and former Miami resident, has pleaded guilty in Washington to leading an international cybercrime enterprise that stole and laundered cryptocurrency worth more than $245 million.

Lam admitted one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy before US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Tuesday, September 8. Prosecutors said he organised a network that targeted cryptocurrency holders through social engineering scams, online intrusions and, on some occasions, break-ins at victims’ homes.

The US Attorney’s Office for the District

The yen could surrender part of its sharp September advance and move back towards the upper 150s per dollar if expectations for faster Bank of Japan tightening and large-scale pension-fund repatriation fail to materialise, Barclays has warned.

The caution comes after the Japanese currency surged to its strongest levels since February, helped by mounting conviction that the central bank will lift its policy rate at its September 17-18 meeting and by speculation that major domestic investors will shift more money out

The Philippines has finalised a $34.4 billion artificial intelligence infrastructure masterplan targeting a thirtyfold increase in AI-ready data centre capacity to 1.5 gigawatts by 2033, while two US-headquartered hyperscalers assess potential sites in Luzon.

The Philippines AI+ Infrastructure Masterplan 2026-2033, launched by the Department of Information and Communications Technology on September 8, sets an initial goal of deploying about 400 megawatts by 2030 from a baseline of roughly 50 MW. The programme is designed to combine public infrastructure spending with substantially

China’s oil demand is expected to fall by 600,000 barrels a day, or 8.9%, in 2026, marking a third consecutive annual decline as high crude prices and faster electric-vehicle adoption curb fuel consumption, according to Sinopec Group’s research arm.

The Sinopec Economics & Development Research Institute said petrol and diesel would account for most of the reduction, with petrol demand projected to drop 8.7% from a year earlier to 149 million tonnes and diesel consumption to fall 11.4% to 164 million

Malaysia is considering Huawei’s Ascend 910C processors for a RM2 billion sovereign artificial intelligence project, potentially placing Chinese hardware at the centre of infrastructure designed to keep sensitive national data under domestic control.

The government is seriously evaluating Huawei’s AI accelerators for the initiative, although no final procurement decision has been announced and the number of chips under consideration remains unclear. The project would be operated by state-linked Telekom Malaysia, which was selected through a public tender and already works with

Indonesia suspended flights at airports serving Jakarta and Lampung on Sunday after ash from the erupting Mount Anak Krakatau spread across western Java and southern Sumatra, disrupting hundreds of services and prompting aviation authorities to impose temporary closures.

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the country’s busiest gateway, halted operations after volcanic ash was detected around the airport. The suspension, initially imposed during the early hours, was extended as officials monitored changing ash concentrations and wind patterns.

Radin Inten II International Airport in Lampung also

Singapore’s government will not intervene in Singapore Airlines’ decisions on whether to provide further capital to Air India, Senior Minister K. Shanmugam said on Saturday, stressing that commercial judgments must remain with the carrier’s board and management.

Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security and Home Affairs Minister, said the government maintains a strict principle of not directing individual investment decisions by Temasek portfolio companies. Singapore Airlines, rather than state investor Temasek, is the shareholder in Air India and

DeepSeek is planning to install at least 160,000 Huawei Ascend 950DT artificial intelligence accelerators at a new data centre in Inner Mongolia, a deployment that could become one of the largest known clusters built around Huawei’s advanced AI processors.

The Hangzhou-based AI developer is expected to use the chips primarily for inference, the process of running trained models and generating responses, rather than for the more computing-intensive task of training frontier systems. DeepSeek continues to rely on Nvidia accelerators for training,

The yen remained on course for its strongest weekly advance in more than a month on Friday, while the dollar gave back much of an initial jump after stronger-than-expected US employment data lifted expectations of a Federal Reserve rate increase this month.

The Japanese currency traded around 155.7 per dollar after a volatile session, having surged sharply earlier in the week as investors increased bets that the Bank of Japan could tighten policy faster than previously anticipated. The move brought the

A Japanese industry consortium has begun full operations at a shared humanoid-robot training facility in Chiba Prefecture, pooling costly equipment, staff and industrial data to accelerate factory and logistics automation.

J-HRTI, short for Japan Humanoid Robot Training & Implementation, opened its Kanto Data Factory in Narashino on August 26 with 35 humanoid robots across about 1,400 square metres. The centre can expand to 40 machines and is designed to generate, label and test the physical data needed to train robots for

China’s data industry expanded to 6.78 trillion yuan in 2025, registering 15.7 per cent annual growth as artificial intelligence drove demand for specialised datasets, software and data-processing services.

Figures unveiled at the 2026 China International Big Data Industry Expo in Guiyang, Guizhou province, showed that data-related software products, including AI application software, and data-resource products involving token services generated a combined 4.99 trillion yuan. The two categories accounted for 73.6 per cent of the industry’s total output, underlining the growing commercial

Forest City Special Financial Zone has clarified that its incentive for qualifying fintech and technology-enabled financial services is a 5% corporate tax rate rather than a blanket tax exemption, drawing a distinction between the Johor-based programme and Malaysia’s separate national digital incentives.

The clarification sets out the eligibility framework for companies considering operations in Pulau 1 of Forest City, where qualifying fintech businesses, Financial Global Business Services operations and foreign-owned payment system operators can apply for the special rate. The incentive

Asian equities traded cautiously on Friday as South Korea’s Kospi fell sharply, with investors cutting exposure to heavyweight technology stocks ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s closely watched Jackson Hole address.

The Kospi closed 1.79% lower at 6,788.88, shedding 123.49 points and snapping a three-session advance. Samsung Electronics dropped 3.38% to 257,000 won, while SK hynix fell 4.45% to 1.653 million won as investors locked in gains following an earlier technology rally fuelled by strong results from Nvidia. Foreign and

Singapore is preparing to provide almost S$70,000, or nearly Dh200,000, in direct financial support for every citizen child as it confronts a record collapse in fertility and mounting pressure from an ageing population.

The new SG Child Support Package will extend government assistance from birth through age 17, replacing a system that concentrates much of its financial help around a child’s early years. Payments under the redesigned framework are scheduled to begin in April 2027.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong unveiled the package

Alibaba Group Holding’s powerful insiders have stepped in to buy shares after its $10.2 billion equity placement, but their show of confidence has done little to settle investor unease over dilution and the rising cost of the company’s artificial intelligence ambitions.

Founder Jack Ma bought more than HK$600 million worth of Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares over consecutive trading days, while chairman Joe Tsai and chief executive Eddie Wu together purchased more than HK$200 million of stock. The buying helped shares

Alibaba Cloud has opened its third data centre in South Korea, increasing local computing capacity as businesses accelerate investment in artificial intelligence, cloud applications and data-intensive services.

The facility, launched on August 18, expands the company’s Korea region only about 14 months after its second data centre began operating. Alibaba Cloud established its first South Korean data centre in 2022 after entering the market in 2016, reflecting a faster infrastructure build-out as demand for generative AI and enterprise AI agents increases.

The

Standard Chartered has become the first bank to distribute a regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, opening access to Anchorpoint Financial’s HKDAP for eligible institutional clients and partners as Hong Kong pushes tokenised money deeper into mainstream financial services.

The London-headquartered banking group said it will help qualifying customers integrate HKDAP into financial and commercial operations. Planned applications include money-market fund subscriptions, settlements with asset managers, transfers between entities within the bank’s international network and cross-border payments.

The move gives HKDAP a major

Malaysia’s palm oil research agency is advancing a bio-based immersion coolant for data centres as the country searches for ways to curb the heavy water and electricity demands created by its fast-growing artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board has developed Sawit EcoTherm, a non-conductive dielectric fluid made largely from palm-derived materials that allows servers and other computing components to be immersed directly in coolant. The technology eliminates the need for conventional evaporative cooling towers and is being positioned for

President Donald Trump has ordered a substantial reduction in US military exercises with South Korea, linking the decision to Seoul’s refusal to support Washington’s campaign against Iran and his effort to preserve diplomatic space with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump instructed Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale down the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises just hours before the drills were due to begin on Monday. The 11-day exercise, involving about 18,000 South Korean troops, nevertheless started as scheduled as

China’s yuan is facing stronger appreciation pressure after coordinated US-Japan action lifted the yen and rippled through Asian currency markets, complicating Beijing’s efforts to support an economy where export strength contrasts with weak domestic demand.

The yuan has gained about 3.6 per cent against the dollar this year, making it one of Asia’s strongest-performing currencies. The advance has persisted despite falling Chinese government bond yields and a widening yield disadvantage against US Treasuries, conditions that would normally encourage capital to

Nintendo will begin officially selling the Nintendo Switch 2 and original Switch in Indonesia in December, giving the Japanese games company its first direct hardware presence in Southeast Asia’s largest economy while leaving a significant gap in its digital offering.

The December 2026 launch was announced by Nintendo executive officer Juro Takeuchi at a business conference in Jakarta. Distribution will be handled by PT Nusantara Interactive Niaga, part of the Salim Group, with Nintendo’s Singapore operation involved in the market

Taiwan’s cabinet is preparing to raise defence spending by about 16 per cent in 2027, pushing total security-related expenditure above NT$1 trillion for the first time as Taipei accelerates military modernisation amid sustained pressure from Beijing.

The proposed allocation is expected to exceed NT$1.1 trillion, or roughly US$34 billion, when broader defence-related spending is included. The package is due to be unveiled on August 20 and will cover the armed forces as well as expenditure linked to the coast guard,

SK Hynix shares briefly plunged by the daily limit in pre-market trading on Thursday, marking the chipmaker’s second near-30% flash crash on Nextrade within about ten days and intensifying scrutiny of thin liquidity on South Korea’s alternative stock exchange.

Eleven shares changed hands at 1.168 million won each at 8 am Seoul time on August 6, about 30% below the previous Korea Exchange closing price. The stock quickly recovered most of the loss and ended Nextrade’s 50-minute pre-market session down roughly

Chinese optical-component shares fell sharply on Wednesday after reports that Washington is preparing restrictions on data-centre equipment from China, raising fresh concerns over access to the world’s largest artificial intelligence infrastructure market.

Zhongji Innolight dropped about 10% in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, while Eoptolink Technology also lost 10%. Suzhou TFC Optical Communication declined roughly 6%. The CSI 300 Telecommunication Services Index fell as much as 9% during early trading before trimming some losses.

The sell-off followed disclosures that the administration of