This Week in Asia #2: Echoes of Asian Tech at CES 2024

For week 2, we don't have a central story this week but we have a major event where all the hardware manufacturers and AI startups are heading to CES 2024 in Las Vegas, and we share the key stories that we are reading that dominate the headlines of Asia across the week.

CES 2024 [Overview: Verge, CNET and Engadget]

• From predicting future to better sex: Four unique AI products at CES 2024 by Yu Yifan, Nikkei Asia Review. Our Take: The adult industry always sets the standard on the technology that eventually dominates, for example, the VHS video standard in the 1980s. Svakom, a China-headquartered sex toy maker showcased its new product at CES 2024 with an innovative twist despite CES does not allow explicit adult content on the show floor.
• CES 2024: Everything revealed so far, from Nvidia and Sony to the weirdest reveals and helpful AI by Christine Hall, TechCrunch. Our Take: Toyota and Hyundai who have invested in hydrogen fuel for automobiles in the past decade as a hedge against electric cars, have come out swinging about hydrogen cars this year. One argument is that their EV rollouts have not gone too well.
• Sony’s Afeela needs to be more than a feeling: Stepping into the Sony Honda car by Sean Hollister from The Verge. Our take: They still do not want to tell us if they want to put the whole Playstation in the car.

China

• China’s Boeing Alternative Starts to Look Enticing by Tim Culpan, Bloomberg. Our Take: Boeing's recent fumble is destabilizing the duopoly between Airbus and itself and airlines are scrambling to look for an alternative. Yes, there is COMAC in China.

Taiwan

• Lai leads DPP to historic third term in Taiwan by Chen Yun, Lin Hsin-han and Huang Ching-hsuan from Taipei Times. Our Take: We expect at least another few years of China being not happy with the current Taiwanese government. Nevertheless, this is the first consequential election in 2024. It will set the stage for China and US relations. We hope that they start talking and stop threatening each other so that they don't sleepwalking into war.

India

• How the World’s Most Valuable Learning App Became a Trap: Byju’s could have been a socially relevant enterprise. But it chose to be a gigantic sales machine that has now been stalled by Andy Mukherjee, Bloomberg. Our take: Contrast this with what Sal Khan did with Khan Academy, Byju is now a shadow of itself and an inflated Indian startup unicorn falling flat.

Southeast Asia

• Singapore semiconductor startup Silicon Box raises US$200 million to hit US$1 billion valuation by Claudia Chong, Business Times. Our Take: Singapore is leading the deep tech race in the region, where semiconductors are one of the key areas in which they dominate the rest of Southeast Asia. It is important to note that Silicon Box calls itself an advanced chiplet interconnection company specialising in cutting-edge semiconductor integration services.
• EFishery takes on global aquaculture in a balancing act by Jofie Yordan from Tech in Asia (now under SPH Media). Our Take: EFishery, an Indonesian startup looks to expand beyond its shores and India is the first market. Will this spur copycats in India or EFishery show that they are capable of expanding to another market? That is the question.

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