ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker: 2025 updates | Battle over Africa IP addresses | TikTok’s big Australian data centre unlikely
Plus, after a teddy bear talked about kink, AI watchdogs are warning parents against smart toys
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The updated picture is stark. China’s exceptional gains in high-impact research are continuing, and the gap between it and the rest of the world is still widening. In eight of the 10 newly added technologies, China has a clear lead in its global share of high-impact research output. The Strategist
Entrepreneur stirs controversy by scooping up millions of unused internet protocol addresses, mostly from Africa, and lease them to companies. This triggered lawsuits around the globe and left Africa’s internet-service providers struggling to expand capacity. The Wall Street Journal
TikTok has plans to build big data centres around the country, but has failed to get necessary approvals from the Foreign Investment Review Board for more than a year amid questions about whether foreign technology giants should be able to build, own and operate critical local infrastructure. The Australian Financial Review
ASPI
ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker: 2025 updates and 10 new technologies
The Strategist
Jenny Wong-Leung, Stephan Robin and Linus Cohen
The 10 new technologies that have been added to it are key to strategic advantage, including advanced computing and communication, artificial intelligence, and emerging neurotechnologies relevant to human-machine integration. The dataset has also undergone a full refresh to ensure accuracy and comparability. The updated picture is stark. China’s exceptional gains in high-impact research are continuing, and the gap between it and the rest of the world is still widening.
China leads tech race as Xi urges nation to ‘strive for scientific dominance’ The Australian
China dominates in technology research as ASPI urges governments to partner to reduce risk Capital Brief
We’ve updated ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker. This expansion incorporates 2025 data, adds 10 new technologies—from generative AI to brain-computer interfaces to geoengineering—and features a new at-a-glance overview of performance across all the technologies we track. Be the first to get early-access invites and launch updates: https://techtracker.aspi.org.au/
World
Global airlines race to fix jets as Airbus apologises following A320 recall
Reuters
Tim Kelly, Abhijith Ganapavaram and Tim Hepher
Global airlines scrambled to fix a software glitch on Airbus A320 jets on Saturday as a partial recall by the European planemaker halted hundreds of flights in Asia and Europe and threatened U.S. travel over the busiest weekend of the year. Airlines must revert to a previous version of software in a computer that helps determine the nose angle of the affected jets and in some cases must also change the hardware itself, mainly on older planes in service.
Australia
TikTok’s big Australian data centre dream hits Chalmers stonewall
The Australian Financial Review
Amelia McGuire, Michael Read, Ronald Mizen and Nicola Smith
TikTok has plans to build big data centres around the country, but has failed to get necessary approvals from the Foreign Investment Review Board for more than a year amid questions about whether foreign technology giants should be able to build, own and operate critical local infrastructure. The Chinese-owned video and social media platform asked local data centre operators to submit construction proposals earlier this year, despite being rebuffed by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on the issue, people briefed on the matter but unauthorised to comment publicly said.
Businesses given guidance but not rules on AI
The Australian
Greg Brown and Noah Yim
Labor will fall short of forcing businesses to declare when they use artificial intelligence, instead issuing “guidance” encouraging the use of visible labels on images and videos generated by the technology. The guidance is part of the National AI Plan to be released on Tuesday, as the Albanese government moves to deliver on productivity-enhancing initiatives recommended. The guide for businesses, content creators and AI developers recommends clear labelling when AI is used and the source for the content.
Australian Border Force passport system outage causes delays nationwide
ABC News
International travellers have faced major delays at Australian airports due to a nationwide passport system outage. The long queues cleared after the system issue was resolved. Melbourne and Sydney airports were the worst affected. Lines of inbound and outbound passengers waiting to have their passports processed snaked through the terminal. Australian Border Force was required to process them manually until the problem was fixed.
Telcos caution Labor on satellite mobile mandate
The Australian
Jack Quail
The government is to introduce legislation to establish a so-called universal outdoor mobile obligation that would mandate Australia’s three major carriers – Telstra, Optus and Vodafone parent TPG Telecom – to provide voice calls and SMS services in the outback. The Labor government has been warned to tread carefully in its bid to force telcos to provide mobile services in the bush via StarLink-style satellites, with industry saying the plan could lead to carriers relying on untested and unregulated technology.
China
Chinese parts supplier takes stake in leading Russian drone maker
Financial Times
Chris Cook, Charles Clover, William Langley and Haohsiang Ko
The owner of a major Chinese drone parts supplier has taken a stake in one of Russia’s leading drone companies, highlighting a deepening relationship between Moscow and Beijing’s military-industrial complexes. A company filing, listed Wang Dinghua as the new owner of 5 per cent of the shares in Rustakt, a manufacturer of the VT-40 first-person-view drone widely used by Russia in attacks on Ukrainian forces. While China has given Moscow greater access to its vast capacity to produce electronics than Kyiv, this new tie-up marks a previously unknown level of co-operation between a Chinese company and a Russian military supplier.
China warns of bubble risks in booming humanoid robots arena
Bloomberg
John Liu, Fran Wang and Jessica Sui
China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which sets economic strategy and shifts in policy, called attention to the proliferation of remarkably similar robots from more than 150 companies in the same field. The country must prevent that flood from overwhelming the market and squeezing out real research and development initiatives, agency spokeswoman Li Chao told reporters in Beijing. The government plans to speed up efforts to build mechanisms for market entry and exit, accelerate research and development of core technologies, and promote the consolidation and sharing of technology and industrial resources in the sector.
China’s tech giants take AI model training offshore to tap Nvidia chips
Financial Times
Zijing Wu and Ryan McMorrow
Top Chinese companies are training their artificial intelligence models overseas to access Nvidia’s chips and bypass US efforts to prevent their development of the powerful technology. There had been a steady increase in training in offshore locations after the US in April moved to restrict sales of the H20, Nvidia’s China-only semiconductors. Data centre clusters have boomed in Singapore and Malaysia, fuelled by Chinese demand. Many of these data centres are equipped with high-end Nvidia products, similar to those used by US Big Tech groups to train LLMs.
USA
Trump’s focus on drug war means big business for defense startups
The Wall Street Journal
Heather Somerville and Vera Bergengruen
Defense-tech companies and artificial-intelligence startups have found a vital new market in President Trump’s rapidly escalating drug war. Drone and imaging companies are assisting the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy with interdiction operations in the Caribbean. AI companies from Silicon Valley to Dubai are pitching platforms that promise to map the hidden networks of fentanyl traffickers. On the southern U.S. border, a counterdrone system developed in Ukraine is being repurposed to deflect incursions from Mexico.
The race to regulate AI has sparked a federal vs state showdown
TechCrunch
Rebecca Bellan
For the first time, Washington is getting close to deciding how to regulate artificial intelligence. And the fight that’s brewing isn’t about the technology, it’s about who gets to do the regulating. In the absence of a meaningful federal AI standard that focuses on consumer safety, states have introduced dozens of bills to protect residents against AI-related harms, including California’s AI safety bill SB-53 and Texas’s Responsible AI Governance Act, which prohibits intentional misuse of AI systems. While House lawmakers are reportedly trying to use the National Defense Authorization Act to block state AI laws.
California law regulating web browsers could have national data privacy impact, experts say
The Record by Recorded Future
Suzanne Smalley
Privacy changes required by a newly-enacted California law could mean web browsers will soon offer all Americans a mechanism to easily opt out of all data sharing and sales when surfing the web. In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law which amends the state’s trailblazing Consumer Privacy Act to mandate that web browsers create a turnkey tool for residents to opt out from data sharing once instead of having to do so each time they visit a website. Crucially, the law applies to Californians even when they are traveling out of state or using a virtual private network.
North Asia
Top South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang apologises over massive data breach
Reuters
Ju-min Park
South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang said personal information from its 33.7 million customer accounts was exposed via unauthorized data access. Coupang, dubbed the Amazon of South Korea, is the country’s top online retailer. The exposed data is limited to name, email address, phone number, shipping address, and certain order histories, but does not include payment details or login credentials, the firm said.
Japanese beer giant Asahi says ransomware attack may have exposed data of 1.5 million people
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Asahi said the compromised information includes names, gender, addresses and phone numbers, but not credit-card details. Asahi has seen no evidence the data has been published online and said the impact appears limited to systems managed in Japan. The disclosure follows a two-month investigation into the late-September incident, which forced production shutdowns, delayed product launches and disrupted order processing and shipping nationwide — causing shortages of Asahi’s beer and soft drinks.
Southeast Asia
ID project in the eye of the storm
Bangkok Post
Suchit Leesa-nguansuk and Komsan Tortemvasana
Thailand’s suspension of iris scans by Tools for Humanity, the company behind the World ID project, highlights the challenges the country faces in regulating emerging technology. The firm was co-founded by chief executive Alex Blania and Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI. The company markets its eye-scanning technology as a way for people to prove they are human, as AI systems become more adept at mimicking people.
Huawei, ZTE seal 5G deals in Vietnam after US tariffs, as ties with China warm
Reuters
Francesco Guarascio
For years, Vietnam was seen as reluctant to use Chinese technology in sensitive infrastructure, but in recent months it has embraced Chinese tech companies as sometimes frosty relations with its northern neighbour have warmed while ties with Washington have soured over tariffs on Vietnamese goods. A consortium including Huawei was awarded a $23 million contract for 5G equipment in April, weeks after the White House announced tariffs on Vietnamese goods. ZTE has won at least two contracts, one last week, totalling more than $20 million for 5G antennas.
South & Central Asia
WhatsApp, Telegram must ensure SIM binding with services under new government directions
Media Nama
Kamya Pandey
Indian Department of Telecommunications has issued directions to app-based communication service providers to make it impossible for their users to use services without a SIM. This comes after the DoT notified the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment Rules, 2025, which bring in the category of telecommunication identifier user entity under the scope of telecom regulations. The amendment called the Telecommunication Identifier User Entity.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Google’s global data hub plan for Christmas Island gets mixed reviews from locals
ABC News
Alistair Bates and Mietta Adams
Global computing giant Google has announced plans to transform the island into a crossroads of the world’s data superhighways. Christmas Island’s isolation, located more than 1,500 kilometres off the West Australian coast, has long hamstrung its communications with the outside world. The TalayLink will connect two underwater cables from Perth and Darwin to southern Thailand via Christmas Island.
Ukraine – Russia
Ukraine hits tankers in Black Sea in escalation against Russia
BBC
Danny AeberhardandTom Bennett
Ukrainian naval drones hit two oil tankers from Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” as they travelled through the Black Sea. Verified footage shows waterborne drones speeding through the waves into the vessels, before detonating into a ball of flame, sending black smoke into the air. The targeted tankers were named by Turkish authorities as the Kairos and Virat, both flagged to the Gambia. The attacks appear to be an escalation by Kyiv as it tries to hit Russia’s oil revenues, which are critical for funding its war in Ukraine.
Europe
Europe thinks the unthinkable: Retaliating against Russia
POLITICO
Victor Jack and Laura Kayali
After Russian war drones were shot down over Poland, NATO said it would boost the alliance’s drone and air defenses on its eastern flank — a call mirrored by the EU. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto slammed the continent’s “inertia” in the face of growing hybrid attacks and unveiled a 125-page plan to retaliate. In it, he suggested establishing a European Center for Countering Hybrid Warfare, a 1,500-strong cyber force, as well as military personnel specialized in artificial intelligence.
Keeping China at bay: EU countries tighten rules on port and railway bids
POLITICO
Martina Sapio
EU countries are taking a harder look at who builds, owns and works on key infrastructure like ports, IT and rail — and that concern is now spilling into a wave of legislation aimed at countries like China. Sweden is the latest to move, proposing this week to give local authorities new powers to block “hostile states” from bidding on infrastructure if their involvement could threaten national security. It’s also a worry in Poland, Austria and inside EU institutions — all of which are rushing to put in safeguards to block, or at least monitor, third-country investment in key tech and transport infrastructure.
Nexperia accused by parent Wingtech and Chinese unit of plotting to move supply chain
Reuters
Eduardo Baptista and Toby Sterling
Wingtech, the Chinese parent company of Netherlands-based Nexperia, accused its Dutch unit of conspiring to build a non-Chinese supply chain and permanently strip it of its control, escalating tensions between the two sides. Nexperia’s Chinese arm demanded the Dutch business halt overseas expansion, including in Malaysia. The Chinese unit claimed that the Dutch side was engineering a breakup, citing a $300 million plan to expand a Malaysian plant, and an alleged internal goal of sourcing 90% of production outside China by mid-2026.
UK
Text scammers make tens of thousands a month - and spend it on designer shoes and bags
BBC
Sima Kotecha and Guy Lambert
Det Ch Insp Paul Curtis is showing us around an evidence room piled high with designer shoes and handbags. The items here have been seized from financial fraudsters, some of whom send scam texts - known as smishing - to victims. The term “smishing” is a combination of “SMS”, or “short message service” - the technology behind text messages - and “phishing”. Fraudsters send fake text messages - apparently from a bank or other trusted company - to trick people into disclosing personal information such as passwords and Pin numbers. The intention is to defraud them out of their money.
Africa
The battle over Africa’s great untapped resource: IP addresses
The Wall Street Journal
Alexandra Wexler
Lu Heng would scoop up millions of unused internet protocol, or IP, addresses, mostly from Africa, and lease them to companies, mostly outside Africa, that need them badly. Normally, five regional internet registries spread around the world allocate IP addresses to service providers, cloud companies and others that can demonstrate that they or their clients need them to operate. Africa, which has been slower to develop internet infrastructure than the rest of the world, is the only region that still has some of the older addresses to dole out.
Big Tech
How big tech is creating its own friendly media bubble to ‘win the narrative battle online’
The Guardian
Nick Robins-Early
If you are looking to hear from some of tech’s most powerful people, you will increasingly find them on a constellation of shows and podcasts like Sourcery. Some of the new media outlets are created by the companies themselves. In addition to a16z’s media effort, Palantir launched a digital and print publication earlier this year called the Republic that mimics academic journals and thinktank-style magazines like Foreign Affairs. The journal is funded by the Palantir Foundation for Defense Policy and International Affairs.
How OpenAI and Google see AI changing go-to-market strategies
TechCrunch
Tim De Chant
For years, when it was time for startups to start selling their product, they could turn to any number of traditional playbooks. But as with so many things, AI is changing how companies prepare to go to market. The challenge for founders and operators, though, will be threading the needle. While there has been some chatter of startups hiring developers more versed and loosing them on typical Go To Market problems, there’s still a need for more specific domain expertise. Rather than just a simple query of a database, AI prompts can help startups find prospective customers that fit a very specific set of requirements.
Artificial Intelligence
After a teddy bear talked about kink, AI watchdogs are warning parents against smart toys
The Guardian
Eric Berger
As the holiday season looms into view with Black Friday, one category on people’s gift lists is causing increasing concern: products with artificial intelligence. Advocates are fighting against the $16.7bn global smart-toy market, decrying surveillance and a lack of regulation. The development has raised new concerns about the dangers smart toys could pose to children, as consumer advocacy groups say AI could harm kids’ safety and development. The trend has prompted calls for increased testing of such products and governmental oversight.
Underground AI models promise to be hackers ‘cyber pentesting waifu’
CyberScoop
Derek B. Johnson
Tier-based subscriptions, hacker specific training datasets and playful personalities are part of a growing underground criminal market for custom AI hacking tools. As legitimate businesses purchase AI tools from some of the largest companies in the world, cybercriminals are accessing an increasingly sophisticated underground market for custom LLMs designed to assist with lower-level hacking tasks. Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 looked at how underground hacking forums advertise and sell custom, jailbroken, and open-source AI hacking tools.
Swann develops AI security that confronts intruders and reminds neighbours to pick up after their dogs
The Australian
Jared Lynch
Home security is moving from passive monitoring to confrontational with new offerings capable of hurling profanities at burglars. Melbourne-based Swann is developing an artificial intelligence-powered system using tools from Amazon Web Services that can be programmed to sound a hyper-specific alert to notify a homeowner when a neighbour’s dog defecates on their lawn. The system is designed to combat relentless and pointless motion-detected alerts that can overwhelm users.
Misc
Will boats be a breakthrough for 3D printing tech?
BBC
Matthew Kenyon
Boats need to withstand the unforgiving nature of the marine environment. It’s one of the reasons why boatbuilding is a notoriously labour-intensive business. But after months of tweaking the chemistry, it took just four days for the first hull to roll off the printer at the new factory that Mr Logtenberg and his colleagues run. “We’re automating almost 90% of the boat-building process, and in superfast time,” he says. “Normally it takes weeks to build a hull. We print one now every week.” It’s the kind of story that 3D printing has long promised. A quick, labour-saving production process that drastically reduces costs.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue 2025
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is pleased to announce the Sydney Dialogue, the world’s premier policy summit for critical, emerging and cyber technologies, will return on 4-5 December. Now in its fourth year, the dialogue attracts the world’s top thinkers, innovators and policymakers, and focusses on the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology and security. TSD has become the place where new partnerships are built among governments, industry and civil society, and where existing partnerships are deepened.
Jobs
ASPI Defence Fellows Program
The ASPI Defence Fellows Program is a non-resident, mid-career fellowship designed to strengthen Australia’s defence ecosystem by supporting emerging leaders to undertake policy-relevant research aligned to the National Defence Strategy. Defence Fellows are those professionals who have been in the national security and defence field for seven or more years and demonstrate promise for moving into leadership roles or bringing new ideas and perspectives to the field. Applications for the 2026 Defence Fellows cohort are now open. Applications are due 6 January 2026.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
