■ Macroeconomics
No hard landing for China
US Treasury Secretary John Snow predicted Friday that China would avoid a "hard landing" as it tried to bring soaring growth back to Earth. But, in an interview with CNBC television, he also renewed a call for Beijing to loosen the yuan-dollar peg. "There has been overheating in the Chinese economy," the chief US economic policymaker said. The Chinese authorities were trying to dampen inflationary pressures without slowing growth so far that the economy no longer produced a lot of jobs, Snow said. "It is a difficult thing to do. I think they will be successful in avoiding the so-called hard landing," the treasury secretary said. "But, again, the procedures and processes being used to slow the economy down don't include something that we think should be there, and that is reliance on greater flexibility in the yuan."
■ Scandals
UN corruption probe widens
Exxon Mobil Corp and ChevronTexaco Corp confirmed Friday that they have been subpoenaed for records related to a United Nations oil-for-food program in Iraq. The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York is investigating alleged improprieties in the program. A spokeswoman for Exxon Mobil said the subpoena covered only documents related to the program and did not accuse the Irving-based oil giant of wrongdoing. "We are in receipt of the subpoena, and we are responding accordingly," said the spokeswoman, Prem Nair. "We follow all laws and regulations." Exxon Mobil declined to comment further on the subpoena or say exactly when it received the subpoena.
■ Automobiles
Carmaker orders recall
A Chinese joint venture with Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co has ordered the recall of more than 70,000 cars because of potential fuel tank problems, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The recall covers 70,240 Honda Accord sedans produced by Guangzhou Honda Automobile Co Ltd in southern China between Jan. 15, 2003, and Oct. 29, 2003, Xinhua said. They will be inspected beginning Monday for welding cracks in fuel tanks, it said. So far, no accidents have occurred because of the defect, which road tests have found was aggravated when the car travels at high speeds on rough roads, Xinhua said Friday.
■ Internet
Transfer speed record set
US telecom group Sprint and a Swedish partner said Friday they set a new world speed record of data transport over the Internet of 4.23 gigabits per second. "This result is almost three times better than the current record listed in the 2004 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records," Sprint said in a statement. "For Internet users whose need for speed is a priority, this feat would be equal to streaming 600 full-length movies simultaneously out to movie theaters," said Chase Cotton, director of data systems engineering for Sprint. Sprint said its engineers and a team from the Swedish National Research and Education Network (SUNET) in April sent nearly 840 gigabytes of data from a computer in San Jose, California, roughly halfway around the globe to associates at another PC at the University of Lulea in northern Sweden in under 27 minutes. The data traveled across Sprint's Internet backbone and the SUNET network at 4.23 gigabits per second "using commercial networks and commonly available computer networking hardware."
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six