2025 milestones: March

Tech highlights for March 2025 included: 

- 23AndMe filed for bankruptcy. While the company deals with genetic data, there are implications for the security of immutable data, said Check Point Software Technologies.

Said Aaron Rose, Office of the CTO, Check Point Software Technologies: "The recent bankruptcy filing by 23andMe isn’t just another financial crisis - it’s a stark warning for the cybersecurity community. When a company entrusted with immutable, sensitive genetic data collapses, it forces us to reexamine how we protect data assets that can never be 'reset'. This development should serve as a catalyst for organisations to prioritise robust data protection measures."

Rose elaborated: "In today’s threat landscape, data breaches are often viewed as isolated events - something you recover from by changing a password or canceling a credit card. However, genetic data is fundamentally different. Once it’s out there, it’s permanent."

"Check Point’s research emphasises that the integration of privacy into core business processes is not only about regulatory adherence but also about safeguarding consumer trust and ensuring operational resilience. With our world increasingly reliant on AI and cloud computing, the risk associated with data that cannot be 'changed' or 'reset' is higher than ever," Rose added.

"This is where a proactive cybersecurity posture comes into play. A privacy-centric approach isn’t just about minimising breaches; it’s about creating resilient systems that can withstand the evolving tactics of cybercriminals, particularly as adversaries increasingly employ AI-driven methods to exploit vulnerabilities."

- Arm was selected by the Malaysian government to be a key strategic AI technology partner as part of its strategy to build an AI chip ecosystem as part of its Silicon Vision. Arm will train 10,000 semiconductor talents, equipping them with Arm technology expertise that will help foster talent essential to advancing AI projects in the region, the company said. The partnership also allows the Malaysian government to leverage Arm Compute Subsystem (CSS) technologies and the Arm Flexible Access programme to build the country’s own integrated circuit (IC) design environment. The terms of the agreement include a Malaysian investment of US$250 M over 10 years.

- Global smartwatch shipments fell 7% YoY in 2024, the market’s first-ever decline, said research firm Counterpoint. According to Counterpoint's Global Smartwatch Shipments Tracker by Model, Q4 2024, the downturn was due mainly to a decline in Apple’s shipments. 

- Cisco unveiled an AI factory architecture with NVIDIA that puts security at its core. The announcement builds on an expanded partnership that was announced in February.

- Google announced the acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz for US$32 B. Once closed, Wiz will join Google Cloud.

Shai Morag, Chief Product Officer, Tenable said: "This marks the end of Wiz’s independence and the neutrality its customers have come to expect when using any of the major cloud service provider platforms. When a security vendor is owned by a cloud provider, the lines can quickly become blurred and product decisions can start to favour one platform at the expense of all others. Neutrality becomes nearly impossible and the risk of competitive conflict is off the charts. 

"Independent and cloud-agnostic security providers need only focus on protecting their customers’ cloud and hybrid environments, regardless of what platform or platforms they use. This deal is indeed a fundamental shift in the cloud security marketplace, and Wiz customers should closely monitor any changes it brings."

Google also launched Gemini 2.5, which it said in a blog post are thinking AI models, "capable of reasoning through their thoughts before responding, resulting in enhanced performance and improved accuracy".

Source: Manus website. Manus surpassed OpenAI Deep Research on GAIA benchmarks across all three difficulty levels, claiming a new state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance record. GAIA evaluates general AI assistants on solving real-world problems. Manus was evaluated in standard mode using the same configuration as its production version for reproducibility. Comparative data from OpenAI Deep Research - an AI agent integrated in ChatGPT - and other systems was sourced from OpenAI's release blog.

- China's Manus launched the Manus AI agent, which it says surpasses OpenAI models on various benchmarks.

- Microsoft announced new collaborations with the public and private sector in Singapore through its AI Pinnacle Program.  

Microsoft and A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (A*STAR I2R) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop MERaLiON (Multimodal Empathetic Reasoning and Learning in One Network) using Microsoft Azure. The collaboration will result in Singapore’s first national multimodal large language model. 

- NCS set up a joint venture with Globe Telecom in the Philippines. The new entity is to be named NCS Philippines post-transaction.

- NVIDIA unveiled partnerships with T-Mobile, MITRE, Cisco, ODC, a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management, and Booz Allen Hamilton on the research and development of AI-native wireless network hardware, software and architecture for 6G. 

At GTC 2025, NVIDIA's founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, unveiled NVIDIA Halos, a safety system that combines NVIDIA's automotive hardware and software safety solutions with advanced AI research in autonomous vehicle safety. Huang also announced NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1, the world's first open and fully customisable foundation model for generalised humanoid reasoning and skills. 

Further, NVIDIA introduced a major update to its NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models, offering an open and customisable reasoning model for physical AI development. NVIDIA Omniverse also expanded to more industries, enhancing digital twins with Blackwell acceleration and Earth-2 weather analytics.

DGX Spark, billed as the world’s smallest AI supercomputer, was also unveiled at GTC. 

- Palo Alto Networks invested in new cloud infrastructures in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.

- Singapore Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen launched the Digital and Intelligence Service’s (DIS) Defence Cyber Command (DCCOM) and SAF C4 & Digitalisation Command (SAFC4DC). The DIS is the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF's) fourth service, protecting the digital domain in addition to air, sea and land defences.

Speaking at the inauguration, Dr Ng said: “The SAF must step up to this challenge to protect our digital backbone and critical IT infrastructures…We have seen an alarming increase in the frequency, sophistication and scale of cyberthreats.

"The recent inauguration of two new cybersecurity commands by Singapore’s SAF Digital Service along with the city-state’s initiative to educate 500 board directors on cybersecurity serve as timely reminders of how critical proactive cybersecurity strategies are in safeguarding both national infrastructure and businesses from evolving threats," said Chaim Mazal, Chief Security Officer of Gigamon. 

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) will expand the Cyber Essentials and Cyber Trust standards to cover the security of digital technologies cloud and AI.

- Tencent introduced Hunyuan-TurboS – the first ultra-large AI model that combines Transformer and Mamba MoE models and techniques. The model outperforms OpenAI's GPT-4o-0806, DeepSeek-V3, and open-source models on math, reasoning, and alignment, at a lower inference cost, the company said in a tweet. 

Lim Wee Tee, Regional VP, Growth & Emerging Markets (Southeast Asia & Taiwan), Cloudera, observed that energy-efficient AI models are nothing without reliable data. "Models like DeepSeek’s have the potential to ignite the next wave of AI breakthroughs, but their true power relies on one crucial element—data. Without trusted, accurate data, even the most sophisticated algorithms fall short," he said. 

"At Cloudera, we believe the future of AI lies in both private and open AI, where enterprises can build, deploy, and scale AI securely within their own environments, maintaining full control over their data. Openness in AI—through open data formats and interoperable frameworks—ensures flexibility and prevents vendor lock-in. This echoes our own open-source roots, and we know firsthand the immense value of open-source, open standards, and open markets as catalysts for industry innovation." 

- Ubisoft announced a new subsidiary based on its Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six brands. Tencent will invest €1.16 B for a minority stake in the new subsidiary, which will focus on building truly evergreen and multiplatform game ecosystems, Ubisoft said. "Backed by greater investment and boosted creative capacities, [the subsidiary] will drive further increases in quality of narrative solo experiences, expand multiplayer offerings with increased frequency of content release, introduce free-to-play touchpoints, and integrate more social features," shared Ubisoft in a statement.

- The US is to have a reserve of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP from Ripple Labs, Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA.

Nigel Green, CEO, deVere Group said: “Other nations will likely feel compelled to respond, and in doing so, Bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency market are primed for unprecedented gains.

“This move cements the legitimacy of digital assets in a way that will redefine global finance, with Bitcoin potentially soaring to all-time highs of US$200,000 by the end of 2025, we predict.”

- Verizon, in collaboration with Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm Technologies, deployed multivendor RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) functionality in its commercial network. In this first multivendor deployment, Verizon integrated Samsung's AI-powered Energy Saving Manager (AI-ESM) with Qualcomm Dragonwing RAN Automation Suite’s RIC to achieve energy savings of 15% on average, with a maximum of 35% per sector during low traffic periods. The software-based RIC uses AI and automation to optimise the performance of a mobile network's radio access network (RAN) and is a key part of the Open RAN architecture. 

- In a post on X Elon Musk announced that AI lab xAI has acquired X, formerly known as Twitter. According to Musk, this now values xAI at US$80 B and X at US$33 B. 

Musk founded xAI and bought over Twitter for US$44 B. Musk said in his post: "XAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach. The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge. This will allow us to build a platform that doesn’t just reflect the world but actively accelerates human progress."

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