Asia Weekly IT News in Brief for the Second Week of October


Supermicro directly denies spy chip allegations in its products.
On the 6th, Supermicro refuted a Bloomberg article claiming that spy chips were embedded in servers it supplied to Apple and Amazon. Bloomberg Businessweek had previously reported on the 4th that Chinese People's Liberation Army agents had planted spy chips on Supermicro's motherboards. Supermicro stated that it had not been contacted by any government agency regarding the article, and Apple and Amazon also denied any issues. Meanwhile, the U.S. stock market fell sharply due to concerns about technology stocks being unstable due to the spy chip issue.


Grab Adopts Microsoft Azure as Its Preferred Cloud Platform
Microsoft and Grab, Southeast Asia's leading mobile O2O platform, signed a strategic partnership on the 10th. Grab plans to leverage Microsoft's machine learning and other AI capabilities to transform digital services and mobility in Southeast Asia. Grab currently operates in 235 cities across eight Southeast Asian countries. As a first step in the partnership, Grab will adopt Microsoft Azure, its cloud computing platform, as its preferred cloud platform, and Microsoft will make a strategic investment in Grab.


IDEMIA adds JCB cards to Google Pay.
IDEMIA is partnering with JCB to launch Google Pay in Japan on the 9th. Japanese users can now use the contactless mobile payment method by simply tapping their JCB credit, debit, or prepaid card registered to Google Pay at QUICPay-enabled convenience stores, supermarkets, drugstores, and other merchants. To use it, Japanese users must add their JCB card via the Google Pay app on an Osaifu Keitai (mobile wallet) compatible smartphone (NTT) running Android 5.0 or higher.


NTT Docomo Launches Prepaid SIM Card with Wi-Fi
NTT Docomo announced on the 9th that it has added Wi-Fi functionality to its Japan Welcome SIM prepaid card service, allowing Japanese tourists to easily use "Docomo Wi-Fi" hotspots throughout Japan without going through complicated authentication processes. The Japan Welcome SIM and Wi-Fi service provides access to Docomo Wi-Fi public wireless LAN hotspots throughout Japan, including major tourist destinations, train stations, airports, and cafes. NTT also announced that it will launch "Plan XL," a 2GB plan for customers who want large amounts of data and fast speeds, from October 9th.


Vesper Opens Two New Offices for the Asian MEMS Market
Vesper announced on the 6th that it is opening two new offices in Seoul, South Korea, and Shenzhen, China, to meet the needs of its Asian customers. These offices will house field application engineers who will strengthen support for existing customers and develop designs for new clients. "We've opened this new office to meet the growing demand for MEMS microphones in connected devices," said Matt Crowley, CEO of Vesper. According to an audio solutions report released by Yole Development, demand for MEMS microphones is rapidly growing, reaching over 5.6 billion units and generating over $1.1 billion in revenue in 2018.