Huawei aims for growth, Malaysia moves into batteries

The inside story on the Asia tech trends that matter, from Nikkei Asia and the Financial Times

Hi everyone, this is Lauly, your #techAsia host this week, saying hello from warm and humid Bangkok. I hope you are enjoying the summer so far.

I am thrilled to be in the Thai capital this week, not only because I got the chance to meet my colleagues who gathered from across the region for a Nikkei Asia editorial meeting, but also because I finally reunited with my longtime friend who I hadn't seen for more than 10 years.

We were very close when we both did a post-graduate program in the U.K., and we remained in touch from time to time when I returned to Taiwan and she to China. But after she joined a very large Chinese tech company, a frequent target of Washington, we drifted apart over the years due to the nature of our jobs and the escalating U.S.-China tech war. She was no longer able to freely share insights into her work and life like before, and I respected that.

So I was surprised when she contacted me a while ago saying that she has been relocated outside of China, which gives her more flexibility to meet and catch up. And when we met at a mall in downtown Bangkok and hugged each other, I felt grateful that I still had this friend. And happily, the feeling was mutual.

But something unexpected happened during the trip. My colleague Annie Cheng Ting-Fang and I had planned to get a massage one night at 9 p.m., but just 20 minutes before our appointment, China's largest memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies posted a stock filing saying it aimed to raise more than $8.54 billion in what would be the country's biggest initial public offering by a chip company.

Never in my life did I think I would write a spot news story on my smartphone while getting a foot and shoulder massage, but that is what I ended up doing. I don't think my muscles relaxed at all.

Despite the awkwardness, I am glad we did the story. It is a very good timing for CXMT to go public, as the world is struggling with constrained supplies of memory chips due to skyrocketing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. "Whoever has memory chips is the winner, as they get to assemble and ship their products," one of my industry friends said.

While memory supplies remain tight, some other shortages seem to be easing a bit. A source of mine recently invited me to a local restaurant in the northern city of Taoyuan for what he described as the best goose in Taiwan. My source, an executive with a leading chip substrate supplier, was in a very good mood. Over lunch -- which was indeed the best goose I have ever had! -- he told me that the supply of high-end glass cloth has finally improved a bit due to improving production performance at a new Taiwanese supplier.

However, he emphasized that this will not affect the leading position of Nittobo, as the Japanese maker's capacity and quality are still unmatched.

"But the increasing output by the new supplier helped. We finally have a bit more materials to make into chip substrates, which means there can be more chips, more products in the markets, and more revenues will be generated," the source said.

Huawei is the only major Chinese smartphone maker that aims to increase shipments this year amid the ongoing memory chip crunch, according to this scoop by Nikkei Asia's Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li.

The company has raised its annual shipment target 20% from last year to some 60 million smartphones. That strikes a stark comparison with domestic peers like Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, which all cut their shipment forecasts several times due to struggles securing memory chips and skyrocketing component costs.

The ambition comes as Huawei looks to expand its market share both at home and overseas. On Tuesday, the company hosted its third international launch event in Kuala Lumpur, introducing its smartphones, wearables and a tablet in a bid to regain its international presence.

Huawei's leading technological capability on all fronts, from networking and AI to consumer tech, has given the company an edge when it comes to accessing components and parts from domestic suppliers amid the ongoing supply crunch, supporting its ambitious smartphone target.

Nvidia has more than halved the number of Asian customers authorized to buy its AI chips after creating a new "white list" of companies that have passed tougher compliance checks aimed at preventing the products from reaching China, writes the Financial Times' Zijing Wu.

Over the past few months, the $5.1 trillion chipmaker has intensified due diligence in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. The renewed vetting excluded more than half of Nvidia's previous customers, although companies that failed the initial review could make changes and reapply, one of the people said. Many of the companies affected are so-called neocloud providers, specialized cloud platforms purpose-built for AI workloads.

The moves reflect a broader U.S. effort to close loopholes in export controls that have allowed advanced AI chips to reach China through third countries despite years of restrictions.People with knowledge of the move said Nvidia has tightened its compliance process following pressure from Washington, which is seeking to clamp down on intermediaries that have helped create a thriving black market for the chips.

As part of the new checks, Nvidia staff visit customers' data centers, verify contracts and interview end users to establish that the businesses are genuine, the people said.

The U.S. Department of Commerce is also involved, providing oversight and political backing, according to one of the people.