Top Stories: Japan to earmark $13 billion to revive its chip industry

Here are the five most important stories we are tracking today — Wednesday, November 15, 2023.

1️⃣ China's Tencent income slides in Q3 despite revenue growth

• Chinese technology giant, Tencent, has announced a noteworthy 10% year-on-year surge in its total revenue, reaching an impressive RMB 154.6 billion (USD 21.5 billion) in the third quarter of 2023.
• Tencent's domestic games revenue for the quarter grew 5%, driven by titles recently launched by Tencent for the first time in China. Tencent's online advertising business also bore fruit, with a substantial 20% surge in revenue, driven by robust demand for advertising within its video content.
• The tech giant's fintech business, its second-largest business unit, reported a commendable 16% climb in sales. This growth can be attributed to the stellar performance of its wealth management services and online transactions.
• However, Tencent faced a 9% dip in net income in Q3, a decline from the previous year when the company had a strong quarter after divesting stakes in portfolio companies such as SEA. The net income for the quarter stood at 36.2 billion yuan ($5.0 billion), a figure that, despite the decline, surpassed expectations.

2️⃣ Japan to earmark $13 billion to revive chip industry

• Japan's Economy Ministry is gearing up to allocate a substantial ¥2 trillion ($13 billion) in subsidies, signalling a renewed commitment to revitalize its chip industry.
• The country's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is actively pursuing an additional budget of ¥1.85 trillion, supplementing the existing funds earmarked for chip-related subsidies.
• The allocation, embedded in a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year, is poised to support key players like Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC and the chip foundry venture Rapidus, dedicated to advancing cutting-edge chip manufacturing in Hokkaido.

3️⃣ Apple is expected to release an OLED iPad Pro in 2024

• The new OLED iPad Pro displays are expected to bring deeper blacks, faster refresh rates, and improved contrast compared to the mini-LED technology that Apple uses for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro at the current time. 
• With an OLED display, the brightness of each pixel can be controlled individually, which means TV shows, movies, and other content that uses high dynamic range lighting will look much more realistic and true-to-life than on a mini-LED display, depending on how high Apple can boost brightness. OLED displays are also known for having better viewing angles than LED displays.
• The first OLED iPads are expected to come in sizes that are similar to the current iPad Pro sizes, providing one smaller 11.1-inch model and a larger 13.1-inch model. In the future, OLED iPad models could be as large as 15 inches, but Apple is sticking to smaller screen sizes for now.

4️⃣ Huawei to ditch the AndroidOS for HarmonyOS

• The company has announced that it will roll out HarmonyOS to 100 Android models over the next year. Starting in April 2024, Huawei smartphone users will be able to update their devices to HarmonyOS.
• Initially unveiled in 2019, HarmonyOS is designed to be a true alternative to Google’s operating system juggernaut that other companies can use too.
• Since 2019, the Chinese company has made substantial investments in its proprietary app ecosystem.

5️⃣ Nothing Phone's new chat app brings iMessage to Android

• UK phone brand Nothing has partnered with Sunbird to enable iMessage exclusively on the Nothing Phone, allowing Android users to use this feature on their phones.
• The feature will roll out to users in North America, the EU, and additional European countries beginning this Friday, November 17th.
• Nothing says that the messages are encrypted, emphasizing that "at no point can Sunbird access your messages or Apple ID." However, to enable this functionality, you must provide another company with your iCloud account's email address and password.

Follow all of Techloy's coverage of the technology news happening locally and globally and get up to date with what's happening in the key markets within the region.