Welcome back,

This week we look at an Indian antitrust probe that’s targeting Amazon, Flipkart, Samsung, Xiaomi and other top tech firms for allegedly colluding together for online sales. There’s the summary from India’s major semiconductor event—which included a rallying call from PM Modi—a US crackdown on cheap e-commerce imports and controversy in China, where it is claimed the government has harmed the tech industry.

Last week’s ATR Original story was unfortunately postponed to this week, but there’s a growing pipeline of stories that you can look forward to reading regularly starting from this week.

That’s all for now, I’m off to Singapore for a week—have a great one and catch you later with our next Original story.

Best,

Jon 

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India’s antitrust division is notoriously active and its latest investigation is probing how e-commerce giants Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon allegedly colluded with smartphone firms such as Samsung and Xiaomi to exclusively launch products on their platforms. That discriminated against “ordinary sellers’ and is said to be in violation of antitrust laws, according to a report that Reuters got wind of.

In a 1027-page report on Amazon and a separate 1,696-page report on Flipkart, both dated Aug. 9, the CCI investigators said the two companies were found to have created an ecosystem where preferred sellers appeared higher in search results, elbowing out other sellers.

“Each of the anti-competitive practices alleged … were investigated and found to be true,” said both reports, which are not public and are being reported by Reuters for the first time.

The report alleges that the preferential treatment wasn’t limited to smartphone sales. It claims preferential treatment and discounts cause “catastrophic impact on the existing competition in the market.”

The report isn’t yet public yet so it remains to be seen how it will impact the companies involved. But it represents a further setback to Amazon which has been under pressure from critics claiming it is missing opportunities, and the government after the commerce minister questioned its practice of price cuts.

India has made a sustained push into semiconductors for some time and last week it held an expo, Semicon India, which included speakers like Prime Minister Modi. The PM touted India’s goal to become a global leader in chipmaking, as you’d expect, but that was backed up with announcements from a range of top players in the space, too:

• Global semiconductor body SEMI and its peer IESA announced an agreement to boost the industry ecosystem in India

• A new US State Department initiative will see increased investment in expanding India’s semiconductor industry—with India joining Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, and Vietnam in the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) fund

• Tata Electronics and Tokyo Electron partnered to bolster semicon equipment infra, Tata also partnered with ASMPT Singapore

• Fujifilm Electronic Materials, the semiconductor solutions arm of the digital camera maker, plans to enter India soon 

• Larsen & Toubro is the latest conglomerate to enter chipmaking, it plans to invest more than $300 million to create a unit

USA targets Temu/Shein loopholes in crackdown on cheap imports

We’ve seen Southeast Asian markets look to counter the sale of cheap goods from China with regulation to raise the bar on the value of imported goods, now the US is making a similar move as Reuters reports.

The Biden administration said on Friday it was moving to curb low-value shipments entering the U.S. duty-free under the $800 “de minimis” threshold that has been exploited by Chinese e-commerce firms such as Shein and PDD Holdings.

White House officials said they will propose a new rule to deny the exemption to packages that contain low-value goods subject to Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods, Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum products and Section 201 on “safeguard” tariffs on products including solar products and washing machines.

Not great timing for Temu’s planned/upcoming IPO.

Interesting, both Amazon and Walmart had explored using this loophole that looks like it will be closed.

The FT has a controversial piece on “How China has ‘throttled’ its private sector” which includes some choice paragraphs and references:

The crisis in the sector partly reflects the slowdown in the Chinese economy, which has been buffeted by the protracted Covid-19 lockdowns, the bursting of its property bubble and the stagnation of its equity markets. As bilateral tensions have risen, US-based investors have also largely pulled out.

But it is also the direct result of political decisions taken by President Xi Jinping that have dramatically changed the environment for private business in China — including a crackdown on technology companies regarded as monopolistic or not attuned to Communist party values, and an anti-corruption crusade that continues to ripple through the business community.

Already, there’s been some reaction. Data provider IT Juzi, which supplied the data cited by the FT, has denied that it put out those figures. 

Energy Singularity is raising $500M to advance affordable next-generation nuclear fusion technology link

Food delivery giant Meituan launched its Keeta app in Saudi Arabia link

Self-driving truck startup TuSimple is attempting to transfer assets to China to fund a new AI-driven animation and gaming venture (!!?)—the shift has led to a $450M dispute over the company’s future link

The US House voted to bar new DJI drones link

Alibaba founder Jack Ma urges the firm’s business empire on its 25th anniversary to remain steadfast and ‘believe in the future’ link

Douyin—China’s TikTok—has emerged as a rising contender in the country’s e-commerce market once dominated by Alibaba and JD.com, despite slowing growth link

The Beijing-based short-video platform, which has been aggressively expanding into the online shopping business, increased gross merchandise volume (GMV) by 46% year-on-year between August 2023 and July 2024, said Wei Wenwen, the president of Douyin’s e-commerce unit, at a company event in Shanghai on Monday

Chinese authorities have detained the CFO of Transsion, Africa’s largest smartphone supplier, adding to pressure on the Shanghai-listed manufacturer as it seeks to fend off intensifying competition and accusations of patent violations link

AI chip startup Biren Technology, one of China’s top challengers to Nvidia that was last valued at $2.1B, reportedly hired Guotai Junan Securities to guide its executives through the IPO process link

Ant Group is reportedly refinancing a $6.5B credit line link

Swiggy may now raise $1.4B from its impending IPO, a potential increase of $150M from its original target link

Playbook Partners announced the first close of $130M for a new growth stage fund—it is founded by ex Reliance Jio executive Vikas Choudhury and it aiming to close at $250M link

Logistics startup Delhivery, once backed by SoftBank, has challenged the accuracy of competitor Ecom Express’s metrics in its IPO prospectus, accusing them of misrepresenting Delhivery’s business data. link

There’s concern that a new antitrust rule will raise the bar on regulatory scrutiny with M&A deals, potentially impacting acquisitions for startups—deals over 20B rupees ($240M) that involve companies with significant operations in India must get approval from the Competition Commission of link

In a major boost for “reverse flipping,” India has simplified the approval process for merging startups based abroad with their Indian arms by removing the need for time-consuming clearance from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). link

WhatsApp now allows small businesses in India sign up for a Meta Verified badge which enables them to send customised messages to customers link

Workers at Samsung went on strike for five days last week in protest against low wages link

Apple supplier Jabil plans to set up a South India plant with a $238M investment link

Adtech startup InMobi raised $100M in debt financing as the profitable Indian firm looks to “significantly deepen” its AI initiatives and fund acquisitions ahead of a planned IPO next year link

Wealthtech startup Centricity raised $20M led by Lightspeed India at a $125M valuation link

Electric bike startup Ather filed for IPO that could raise $370M link

India banned dozens of illegal betting apps that masqueraded as ecommerce and forex trading portals link

Fintech firm Nium, last valued at $1.4B, is pushing back plans for a US IPO to shore up its team and grow revenue link

Genesis Alternative Ventures has closed its second debt fund at $125M link 

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen acquired Singapore-based staking startup StakeWithUs to broaden its services for cryptocurrency investments link

Chinese ‘Crimson Palace’ espionage campaign keeps hacking Southeast Asian governments link

Indonesian crypto exchange Indodax faces a $20M loss from an apparent exploit link

The 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index: Central & Southern Asia and Oceania (CSAO) region leads the world in cryptocurrency adoption, according to a new report by Chainalysis link

Elsewhere, the report noted that stablecoin payments in Singapore hit a record $1B in Q2 thanks to growing merchant transactions link

South Korean police arrested two former Samsung officials for allegedly stealing chipmaking technology valued at over $3.2B to set up a similar plant in China link

South Korea convened an international summit seeking to establish a blueprint for the responsible use of AI in the military link

Samsung Electronics is reporting planning to cut jobs outside of Korea, potentially up to 30% in some divisions—it employees 267,800 staff, or which 147,000 are based overseas; India is tipped to cut 1,000 of its 25,000 staff link

Gaming giant Krafton invested $90M in Spoon Labs, which runs short-form K-drama streaming platform Vigloo link

Chip startup Rapidus is planning to raise nearly $700M from new shares aimed at existing investors like Toyota, Sony, SoftBank, and MUFG Bank and new targets that include domestic banks link

Japanese blockchain Oasys is focusing on Korea after partnering with an affiliate of top telco SK to onboard potentially “millions” of new users link

Pakistan’s new internet firewall, modelled after China’s infamous censorship system, marks a significant shift in the country’s control over the web link

North Korea’s infamous Lazarus Group lost access to nearly $5M in stablecoins after issuers froze funds traced by blockchain investigator ZachXBT—it is progress but a drop in the ocean considering the group is thought to have extracted $3B from crypto hacks to date link