■ Surveys
Executives less upbeat
Global executives have become less upbeat about the economic outlook, but concerns are most pronounced in the developed Asia-Pacific economies, a survey showed yesterday. Across every region, confidence levels have fallen 6 per cent since the start of the year, according to the McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives. Concern over the near term is greatest in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The majority of the 5,500 senior corporate and business leaders polled in May remain broadly positive with the confidence index above 50 for all regions, indicating positive responses outnumber negative ones. The Asia-Pacific has the lowest confidence index of 61, down from 64 previously. Less than half of the region's executives expect conditions in either their economies or industries to improve in the next six months.
■ Mobile phones
Chip spin-off moves ahead
Motorola Inc pressed ahead with the spin-off of part of its computer-chip subsidiary Friday, in spite of less than favorable market conditions. The troubled tech giant offered about 30 percent of the shares in Freescale Semiconductor, its Austin, Texas-based chip unit, at US$13 per share in an initial public offering managed by Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan. The offering price was well below the US$17.50 to US$19.50 per share envisioned by Motorola as recently as a month ago. At that price the IPO would have netted the Schaumburg, Illinois wireless tech giant at least US$2.13 billion. Motorola said the net benefit from Friday's IPO is more likely to be US$1 billion, according to the Chicago Tribune. The IPO comes at a tough time for tech stocks -- on the heels of disappointing results from Intel earlier this week and downgrades in the sector.
■ Banking
UFJ to get cash injection
Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group is likely to inject up to US$2.75 billion into UFJ to help it dispose of bad loans ahead of a merger between the two major Japanese banking groups next year, reports said yesterday. MTFG is likely to buy ¥200 billion to ¥300 billion (US$1.83 billion to US$2.75 billion) worth of new shares from UFJ Holdings possibly by the end of September, the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun said without citing sources. MTFG and UFJ announced Friday they have agreed to work on a merger to create the world's biggest banking group by September next year. UFJ Holdings is struggling under a mountain of non-performing loans.
■ Computers
Global PC sales climb
Global sales of personal computers grew at a stronger-than-expected pace of 13 percent to 15 percent in the second quarter, two market research firms said. International Data Corp (IDC) said late Thursday its quarterly survey showed that strong demand in Europe and better-than-expected results in Canada and Latin America boosted shipments to 39.7 million, representing 15 percent growth. A separate survey by Gartner Inc. said its preliminary data showed worldwide PC shipments totaled 43 million units in the second quarter, a 13.3 percent increase over the same period last year. "Demand in Europe, supported by the strong euro and aggressive promotions, was the biggest driver of the quarter," said IDC's Loren Loverde. "Consumer demand and commercial replacements seem fairly steady across the major regions, with growth slightly slower than expected in Asia and faster in Europe, Canada and Latin America.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”