TOP NEWS

* Google LLC will invest about 750 billion Indian rupees, or about US$10 billion, into India's digitization fund in the next five to seven years. The Alphabet Inc. unit will infuse the funds through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, as well as operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments, CEO Sundar Pichai said. Google intends to build products and services tailored to the country's needs and provide access to information in Indian languages, such as Hindi, Tamil and Punjabi.

* Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., or Foxconn, plans to invest up to US$1 billion in India, in a move to transfer its production outside China, Reuters reported. The investment will be allotted to the expansion of its Sriperumbudur plant in Tamil Nadu, where it assembles Apple Inc.'s iPhones.

➤ Chipmakers' $21B merger to boost reach in data center, auto markets – analysts

Analysts were generally positive on the deal, saying it will enable ADI and Maxim, which both manufacture analog chips, to pool their customer bases and their research and development resources to become a much stronger competitor.

➤ The Week Ahead: FCC explores adding additional companies to US subsidy ban list

With two Chinese telecommunications firms already on a list of companies deemed national security threats, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission is looking at what other names should be on the list.

TECHNOLOGY

* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder Jack Ma divested his shares from the Chinese e-commerce company, reducing his stake to 4.8% from 6.2%, according to the company's annual report released July 10. Ma cashed out shares worth an estimated US$9.9 billion based on Alibaba's share price July 10.

* Google India entered in a partnership with the Central Board of Secondary Education to train over 1 million teachers across 22,000 schools by the end of 2020, The Economic Times (India) reported.

* Microsoft Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. agreed on a strategic alliance to digitally improve operations and for the maintenance of buildings and mixed-use developments. The global tie-up will combine Microsoft's Azure internet of things platform and productivity cloud services with Samsung's smart devices and SmartThings platform.

* Japan Display Inc. is planning to bring some automotive panel production back to Japan after the disruption of its supply chain in China due to the pandemic, Reuters reported. Accordingly, Japan Display will strengthen production at its plant in western Japan.

* UNISOC Communications Inc. is moving forward with its planned initial public offering and 2021 listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's STAR Market after completing an equity restructuring with a capital increase of 5 billion Chinese yuan. The Chinese fabless semiconductor maker completed the registration on June 8 for the IPO.

* SK hynix Inc. will move its foundry hub to China, closing its current factory in Cheongju, South Korea, by 2022, Digital Daily reported. The company is aiming to target Chinese semiconductor design companies in a bid to increase net profit.

INTERNET AND OTT

* Microsoft spun off chatbot Xiaoice into an independent entity, TechCrunch.com reported, citing a company confirmation in Chinese. The new entity will reportedly license technologies from Microsoft for research and development in Xiaoice and will continue to use the Xiaoice brand in China and Rinna in Japanese.

* Baidu Inc.'s video streaming service iQIYI, which is offered by iQIYI Inc., will be the exclusive platform to stream Zheng Tu, a movie adapted from the namesake video game by Shanghai-based Giant Interactive Group Inc., STCN news reported.

* Facebook Inc.'s Thailand unit launched Boost with Facebook, a series of free, digital skills training webinars for small and medium-sized enterprises, which will be broadcast weekly via the Facebook for Business platform until Sept. 15, Manager reported.

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

* Hong Kong Disneyland will be closed down again, effective July 15, in the wake of a spike in coronavirus cases in the region, a Disney spokesperson confirmed to Variety. The theme park, which is co-owned by The Walt Disney Co., had resumed operations June 18.

* Hong Kong is shutting down cinemas once more from July 15 amid a fresh wave of coronavirus cases in the region, Variety reported.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce government plans this week to remove Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. from the country's 5G mobile networks, the Financial Times (London) reported. The move comes amid pressure from Conservative members of parliament and the U.S. government.

* Telekom Malaysia, through its global and wholesale arm TM Wholesale, partnered with Malaysian telco DiGi Telecommunications Sdn. Bhd. to deliver high-speed broadband services. Digi will leverage TM's fiber network capabilities to expand its services to more areas in Malaysia.

* Thai telco Advanced Info Service PCL partnered with Saha Pathana Inter-Holding PCL to form a joint venture, Saha Advance Network, Krungthep Turakij reported. The joint venture will focus on bringing Advanced Info Service's 5G and other network infrastructure to Saha Pathana's four industrial estates in Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor.

POLICY AND REGULATION

* The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved Bharti Global Ltd. and the U.K. government's joint US$1 billion investment into OneWeb Ltd., BBC News reported. OneWeb expects the sale process to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2020.

MARKETS

Click here for a summary of indexes on the MI platform.

John Chan, Hyegyu Park, Frances Wang, Kevin Osmond and Patrick Tibke contributed to this report.

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