Tech China Post #112

China issued a Fintech Development Plan that looks to boost technology investments in financial services to provide more digital products to increase customer satisfaction by 2021. The Plan also mentions a number of technology areas such as AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity. (link)

Megvii, China’s AI startup, plans to go public in Hong Kong. Megvii has raised over $1 billion in funding. Megvii is known for facial recognition technologies. (link)

Baidu is expanding its cloud service starting in Singapore, one of the biggest cloud markets in Southeast Asia. Baidu is competing with Alibaba and Tencent to capture Asia’s emerging but early cloud market. (link)

It is reported that after fives years of research, Chinese government and China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, will soon be ready to launch a sovereign digital currency. Given China’s transformation from a cash-only to an fairly advanced digital payment-driven economy, it would not be a surprise to see China issuing a sovereign digital currency in the next few years. (link)

Ethiopia plans to launch its first satellite by the end of 2019 with research and development and infrastructure support from China. (link)