China plans AI export curbs but lets DeepSeek and MiniMax keep selling

China moved in mid-October to require licences for exporting a new list of AI technologies, then let DeepSeek and MiniMax keep selling abroad. Elsewhere in Asian tech, Australian datacenter plans ran into trouble, Grab raised the idea of using grocery data to spot disease, South Korea promised faster smart glasses rules and Jio's IPO drew heavy demand.

China restricts and then eases AI exports

China's Ministry of Commerce announced restrictions in mid-October by revising its Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export in China. Chinese companies must apply for a license to export tech. New entrants included 23 technologies related to large-scale models, intelligent agents, computing clusters, and information processing; tech issued under open source licenses is exempt. Last Friday, Chinese state media reported that DeepSeek and MiniMax received authorization to continue exports. Both are challengers to American AI vendors. The expanded catalogue also gives Beijing the ability to stop exports of AI it feels represents important sovereign capacity, such as potent bug-finders or military uses. The USA has imposed bans on sales of advanced GPUs to China.

Australian datacenter projects face pressure

Firmus called off its IPO on October 9. It operates four datacenters, two in Australia and two in Singapore, and plans more. Meta has committed to spend over $700 million with the company; private investors had ploughed over $2 billion into it. The float would have been Australia's largest for 20 years and aimed to raise around $5 billion, valuing Firmus over $40 billion. Investor sentiment soured, with would-be buyers reportedly asking Firmus to lower its share price and valuation by perhaps a quarter over optimistic revenue predictions. One founder did time after being convicted of insider trading. Separately, NEXTDC announced reduced revenue forecasts because its power supplier suspended work due to community and stakeholder opposition. Protestors blocked access and the local council barred use of relevant roads during consultation. NEXTDC's share price slumped almost 40 percent; it said its supplier will not resume work until at least February. Australia wants AI investment but requires new builds to bring renewable energy and pay grid enhancement costs.

Grab and smart glasses raise data and privacy questions

Singapore-based Grab suggested GrabMart grocery data could help detect disease outbreaks. It said retail purchases can supplement clinical surveillance because demand changes for over-the-counter products may appear before confirmed case reports. Grab wants to analyze customer behavior on GrabMart for an additional signal when demand changes across symptom-related product groups. It says its data cannot detect disease alone and is not deployed. It calls for smallest possible datasets, eligible product categories, coarse geographic areas, aggregate time windows, no raw transactions or personal data. Monitoring must be government-approved, targeted, and time-limited. It acknowledges the idea is a thought bubble experts should assess. Applications should use aggregate trends only and not drive personalized medical advice, individual targeting, insurance decisions, or automatic medicine search ranking changes. In South Korea, science minister Bae Kyung-hoon promised to accelerate smart glasses regulation to address unauthorized filming and misuse in settings such as exams. He said guidelines are underway and will be developed at a pan-ministerial level. President Lee Jae Myung recently mentioned the need during a cabinet meeting.

India's top telco IPO is vastly oversubscribed

Jio Platforms is India's top telco, having won over half a billion customers since its 2015 launch, helped by low price subscriptions and own-brand handsets, plus clever content bundling. The company will float this week by selling around a three percent stake. Investors have expressed interest to acquire 22 times more shares than the company will sell. Institutional investors are 70x oversubscribed. The IPO values the telco at just over $100 billion and aims to raise around $3 billion.

Sources: The Register